• 08/19/2024

    Czech firefighters handled 878 incidents during weekend storms, with the most significant impact in the Central Bohemian Region, where they responded to 289 cases. The storms, marked by heavy rain and strong winds, caused widespread flooding, particularly on Sunday and early Monday. Firefighters mainly focused on pumping water from flooded areas and removing fallen trees from roads. Notably, they also assisted with vehicle rescues from flooded areas and monitored river levels. The storms disrupted transportation and caused significant damage, particularly in Prachatice, Rokycany, and parts of Prague.

    Author: Vít Pohanka
  • 08/19/2024

    In 2023, the Czech Republic provided approximately CZK 15 billion in official development aid. The aid has increased significantly since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with much of the funding directed to assist Ukrainian refugees. According to Petr Gandalovič, Director of Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, development projects, administered by the Czech Development Agency, continue to focus on six priority countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Moldova, and Zambia.

    Author: Vít Pohanka
  • 08/19/2024

    Defence Minister Jana Černochová wants a record CZK 169 billion for her ministry next year, she told Czech Television. The main reason, she said, is the ongoing modernisation of the army and the need for Czechia to meet its commitment to NATO to spend two percent of GDP on defence. The ministry wants to invest in the purchase of supersonic aircraft, infantry fighting vehicles and missiles to secure the country’s air defence.

    Other sectors have also requested an increase in funding. The State Office for Nuclear Safety (SÚJB) has asked for more money from state coffers next year in view of the planned expansion of the nuclear power sector. The finance ministry is expected to publish the first draft of the state budget for 2025 by the end of August.

  • 08/19/2024

    A clean-up operation is underway in the south-western parts of the country which were hit by severe storms on Sunday afternoon. The Strakonice and Prachatice regions were particularly hard hit, with flash floods reported in the town of Stachy and its surroundings.

    Rain water and mudslides from fields made a number of smaller roads impassable and train traffic was suspended between Dačice and Slavonice in the Jindřichův Hradec region due to suspected erosion beneath a section of the railway line. The extent of the damage is being investigated.

    Trains on the line from České Budějovice to Linz in Austria were also suspended due to fallen trees on the tracks, resulting in delays.

    Prague’s international airport had 60 mm of rainfall in an hour and had to suspended check-ins until the storm abated.

  • 08/18/2024

    The State Office for Nuclear Safety (SÚJB) has asked for more money from state coffers next year in view of the planned expansion of the nuclear power sector. The Office said its agenda would grow in the coming years due to the planned construction of two new units at the Dukovany power plant, and it needs to increase the number of its employees by a quarter.  The Office moreover pointed out that they may not be easy to find since there is a shortage of experts, and state institutions are often unable to compete with wages in the private sector. The finance ministry is expected to publish the first draft of the state budget for 2025 by the end of August.

  • 08/18/2024

    The government has agreed to waive the demand for regular license renewal tests for forensic experts that threatened to bring about a collapse the judicial system. Only a minimum number of experts have so far been examined under the new law, meaning that their license as forensic experts would expire at the end of next year. The number of experts has been declining for a long time and has almost halved in the past ten years. Only around 300 out of almost 6,000 forensic experts have applied for a new license.

  • 08/18/2024

    Monday should bring overcast skies and rain around most of the country with day temperatures between 18 and 23 degrees Celsius.

  • 08/18/2024

    Firefighters were out in force on Sunday as heavy storms hit the south-western parts of the country, flooding roads and gardens. The Strakonice and Prachatice regions were particularly badly hit, with flash floods reported in the town of Stachy and its surroundings.

    Clean-up work is also underway in the eastern parts of the country  following heavy storms in the Vysočina and Pardubice regions. Firefighters and emergency crews were called to dozens of emergencies, pumping water from cellars, clearing fallen trees from roads and rail tracks and in one case a mudslide from afield onto a local road. Some areas had torrential rain, with over fifty millimeters of rain falling in the space of half an hour. Several roofs are reported to have been damaged.

  • 08/18/2024

    Experts from the Institute of Global Change Research of the Academy of Sciences are mapping the city of Brno and its surroundings from an altitude of one and a half kilometres. Hyperspectral sensors allow them to detect the temperature and material of surfaces, enabling them to produce a complex temperature map of Brno. The city has requested these data once in five years so that it can better cope with climate change. The map serves the Brno City Architect's Office in making decisions in city planning, for instance by providing them with precise data on the temperature of various paving materials.

  • 08/18/2024

    The Ministry of Health is preparing a decree to ban sweet-flavoured electronic cigarettes in order to curtail the growing popularity of e-cigarettes especially among the young. Although by law they cannot be sold to people under 18, many salespeople do not respect this condition and flavoured electronic cigarettes are becoming increasingly popular among teenagers. According to the ministry’s decree only one flavor, tobacco, would remain. Robert Hrdlička, head of the Chamber of Electronic Vaping, has protested against the move, saying that as drafted, the decree would mean the end of vaping in Czechia.

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