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A Prague local politician, Pavel Novotný, is facing court over comments he made about Palestinians on the internet, Czech Television reported on Tuesday. The Civic Democrat mayor of the Řeporyje district said on X (formerly Twitter) in December that Palestinians were nothing but monkeys. In response to a reply he said the Palestinians should be bombed.

Mr. Novotný, who later deleted the post and apologised for it, faces charges of defamation and hate speech.

Seznam Zpravy reported that the Czech minister of defence, Jana Černochová of the Civic Democrats, was among those who had liked the tweet.

Industrial output declined by 0.4 percent in Czechia last year, according to data from the Czech Statistics Office published on Tuesday. The 2022 result was the worst seen since 2020, a year impacted by restrictions aimed at containing the Covid-19 pandemic.

Analysts say they expect industrial output to grow only slowly this year, predicting growth of 2 percent for 2024.

It should be mainly overcast in Czechia on Wednesday, with an average high temperature of 8 degrees Celsius. Similar weather is expected on the following days.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala has called a conciliation procedure of the ruling parties in government following disagreement over the decision of European Affairs Minister Martin Dvořák, from the Mayors and Independents, to appoint a commissioner for euro adoption without consulting his coalition partners. The move came not long after Prime Minister Fiala made it clear that this coalition will not set a date for euro adoption during its term in office.

The remaining four parties in government have slammed the Mayors and Independents for breaking coalition ranks in order to boost their image ahead of the European elections. The conciliation procedure on Tuesday is to clarify the competences of individual parties and ministers and focus on the need to maintain a common position on key issues.