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08/23/2023
Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Wednesday that Justice Minister Pavel Blažek has received a warning from the party leadership over his meeting with Martin Nejedlý, the controversial political lobbyist and former advisor to ex-president Miloš Zeman who is believed to have close ties with Russia. Many of the government's coalition partners and civic action groups are calling for Mr Blažek to resign over the incident. The prime minister told journalists that in making his decision about whether the minister would be allowed to keep his post, he took into account Mr Blažek's good work heading the Justice Ministry.
On Wednesday morning, Mr Blažek explained the circumstances surrounding his five-hour encounter with Mr Nejedlý at a Prague restaurant last week, which he says was coincidental, to the leadership of the Civic Democrat party, which both he and the prime minister belong to. He also defended himself before the Senate on Wednesday, saying that he had ducked into the restaurant to take cover from a heavy storm, and the reason for his long stay was simply his talkativeness. He told them that the content of his conversation with Mr Nejedlý was not political or anything to be ashamed of, and also pointed out that Mr Nejedlý was not the only person he spoke to in the restaurant. However, he admitted that he didn't sufficiently think through the political implications of his actions.
The coalition party leaders are due to discuss the affair at a meeting on Wednesday evening.
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08/23/2023
Thursday will continue to be warm and sunny with no rain, although it may become more overcast during the afternoon. Temperatures should range between 22 and 29 degrees Celsius.
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08/23/2023
The upper house of the Czech parliament approved an amendment to the law dealing with health insurance for foreigners on Wednesday. The change will allow people from non-EU countries who have residence in Czechia to take out health insurance with any insurance company they like, rather than being mandated to have it with the largest health insurance company in Czechia, VZP, as is the case at present.
The bill will now go to the president to be signed, following which it is expected to come into effect in September. Non-EU citizens who already have insurance with VZP will be able to terminate their contract with the company within three months of the law coming into effect.
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08/23/2023
The European Commission has approved an 800 million euro scheme for Czechia to support businesses facing increased energy costs due to Russia's war in Ukraine. Large businesses from all sectors will be eligible to receive the financial support, which will be provided until December 31, 2023 and will take the form of direct grants.
Beneficiaries will be entitled to the support as soon as the market prices of natural gas and electricity exceed the maximum prices set in the scheme, i.e. approximately EUR 210/MWh for natural gas and EUR 105/MWh for electricity.
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08/23/2023
The Czech police have extradited Barbora Plášková, the convicted associate of the man nicknamed "Guru Jára", from the Philippines to Czechia. The pair had been on the run since 2012 to avoid serving prison sentences for rape. "Guru Jára", whose real name is Jaroslav Dobeš, was extradited via Taipei to a Prague prison on August 9. Police said at the time that the same fate would await his associate within a few weeks.
Plášková faces a five-year prison sentence for helping Dobeš to rape a number of women between 2004 and 2007. According to the court ruling, she assisted him in pressuring his female pupils into having ritualised sex with him under the pretence of offering lessons in yoga and Eastern philosophy. Some of the victims suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result.
The pair were arrested in the Philippines in 2015 and then spent over eight years in an immigration detention centre in Manila. The final decision on their extradition took the local authorities over seven years, as they took advantage of all the available possibilities for appeal and judicial review, and also tried applying for religious asylum in the Philippines. All court proceedings therefore had to take place in their absence.
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08/23/2023
Interior Minister Vít Rakušan has condemned an attack that took place on two Ukrainian women in the Plzeň region ten days ago. Linking to an article about the incident published on news site Novinky.cz on Wednesday, the interior minister wrote on social media site X, formerly Twitter, than the attack was an abomination and that the political responsibility for it falls on those who have been spreading hate speech about Ukrainians.
The police are investigating the incident that took place on Sunday, August 13 in the town of Plasy, north of Plzeň, in which a driver reportedly pulled up beside the two women, who were sitting and chatting by the side of the road, and asked them if they were Ukrainian. After they answered in the affirmative, he proceeded to brutally assault them. The younger of the two, a 34-year-old mother, ended up in hospital with an open fracture of the jaw, a fractured cheekbone, and a broken nose.
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08/23/2023
Chimneysweeps are once again in demand and their numbers are rising, according to the Czech Chimneysweepers Association. In the last four years, the number of chimneysweepers increased by more than a tenth to 3,351. They reportedly have more work than they can handle, because due to higher energy costs, people are increasingly switching back to wood and coal heating.
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08/23/2023
Environment Minister Petr Hladík has proposed a change of legislation that would improve the protection of plant and animal species by protecting whole biotopes. The protection of endangered species would thus be based on the protection of their habitat and local populations. The amendment would establish three categories of protection, with plants and animals in the highest category receiving special attention. Care for individual biotopes would be based on regularly updated Red Lists published by the Nature Conservation Agency.
Animal and plant species have been disappearing at an alarming rate around Europe. Flying insect populations are particularly at risk. More than 75 percent of them have been lost over the last three decades.
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08/22/2023
Health Minister Vlastimil Válek has promised to resolve the ongoing shortage of some basic medicines on the Czech market by the end of September. At a press briefing in Prague on Tuesday, Mr. Válek said that the ministry had secured sufficient supplies of antibiotics and other now unavailable medicines to fully cover the nation’s needs in the autumn and winter season and leave a sufficient reserve. He said the deliveries should reach pharmacies by the end of September.
The health minister also noted that the EU was working hard to amend pharmaceutical rules so as to address the risks of drug shortages by making the industry more responsible for the security of supply and granting the EU Medicine Agency an increased coordination role.
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08/22/2023
Wednesday should be clear to partly cloudy with daytime temperatures between 27 and 31 degrees Celsius.
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