• Foreign Minister Lipavský sets up personal cabinet
    04/02/2022

    A new personal cabinet was set up for Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský on Friday, the ministry announced on its website. The cabinet will be headed by Lenka Do, who was until now the director of the ministry’s press office. The later position will now be held by Jan Marian, but Do will remain the ministry’s official spokesperson.

    The department also announced that it is planning to set up a department for strategic communications.
    Author: Thomas McEnchroe

  • Czech association wants to add Czech beer culture to UNESCO list
    04/02/2022

    The Czech Association of Breweries and Malthouses is trying to get Czech beer culture added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list, the head of the association František Šámal announced on Friday.

    Thus far, the association has proposed listing Czech beer culture on the regional level. The next step will be to secure a listing on the national level. Mr Šámal said that it could take at least four years until Czech beer culture is put on the UNESCO list.
    Author: Thomas McEnchroe

  • Education minister suggests giving teachers protected persons status
    04/02/2022

    Education Minister Petr Gazdík says he is not ruling out the possibility of teachers receiving the status of protected persons. Mr Gazdík said on Friday that he intends to discuss the question with the government’s coalition partners and members of the education committee in the Chamber of Deputies once the murder of a teacher in Prague, which took place earlier this week, is examined thoroughly.

    It is not the first time that an education minister has brought up the subject. In 2014, Social Democrat Marcel Chládek proposed the same idea after an attack on teachers in the Králíky education facility.
    Author: Thomas McEnchroe

  • Prominent psychiatrist accused of 29 cases of rape and blackmail
    04/01/2022

    Prominent psychiatrist and writer Jan Cimický, who was nominated for a state award by President Miloš Zeman last year, is now being prosecuted for 29 cases of alleged rape and blackmail committed between the years 1980 to 2016. The Czech Police did not specify the name of the prosecuted individual in their statement on Friday. However, it was clear from the context that the subject in question was Mr Cimický, the Czech News Agency reports. The psychiatrist has already denied that he acted illegaly in any way.

    The accusations of mistreatment first started appearing from Cimický’s former patients last year, after the psychiatrists nomination was announced. The police then asked any other potential victims if they had allegations that they wanted to bring up.
    Author: Thomas McEnchroe

  • Fusion of antivirus companies Norton and Avast delayed
    04/01/2022

    The acquisition of Czech antivirus company Avast by American software firm NortonLifeLock will not take place on the scheduled date of April 4 and will have to be delayed possibly until the end of 2022, with the fusion of the two antivirus providers still to be approved by British regulators, the two businesses have stated.

    Avast spokeswoman Dominika Kalašová said that only UK regulators have not yet approved the fusion of the two companies. US, German and Spanish regulators have already approved the acquisition. The two companies were originally scheduled to combine in February.
    Author: Thomas McEnchroe

  • “Child aggressiveness growing”, says Education Minister after machete attack

    04/01/2022

    Child aggressiveness is growing thanks to the influence of social media, computer games and even coronavirus, Education Minister Petr Gazdík told Czech Radio on Friday after the country was shocked by the killing of a vocational school teacher who was attacked by his 19-year-old student with a machete. The attack took place in Prague on Thursday. The killer was apprehended by police shortly after the murder.

    Mr Gazdík highlighted that this was the first attack of this kind to happen in the Czech Republic. He also said that the loss of social connections due to distance learning during the coronavirus period certainly played a role in what happened.
    Author: Thomas McEnchroe

  • European Commission: EU funds will be used to help with refugee crisis
    04/01/2022

    The European Commission is planning to use EU funds to help Ukrainian refugees, the EC’s Director-General for Employment Joost Korte said during a visit to the Czech Republic on Friday. Czechia could therefore receive unused funding from several of the EU’s operational subsidy programmes. The proposal counts on allocating EUR 40 a week per refugee for a period of three months.

    Labour Minister Martina Štěpánková, who visited a Prague hotel that in now housing refugees together with Mr Korte on Friday, said that these funds will primarily come from programmes that are active through the EU‘s budget and have therefore been already mostly used up. She said that it will be necessary to look for new forms of funding as well.
    Author: Thomas McEnchroe

  • Weather
    04/01/2022

    Temperatures are expected to lie just above zero on Saturday, with overcast skies and snowfall expected in the southern and eastern parts of the Czech Republic.

  • Trade Minister: Gas deliveries stable, EU will not pay Russia in roubles
    04/01/2022

    All deliveries of gas to the Czech Republic are currently stable, with the country also possessing gas reserves that could be used for a period of one month, Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Síkela said after a government crisis staff meeting on Friday. He said that EU companies will continue to pay Russia for energy supplies in the currencies that were approved via contracts and not in rubbles.

    The Czech Republic is ready for any possible development in relation to gas and oil deliveries from Russia, according to the minister. When it comes to oil reserves, the Czech Republic possesses enough supplies to last 90 days, he said.

    Another meeting between representatives of the state and the country’s major energy providers is expected to take place next week.
    Author: Thomas McEnchroe

  • Police investigating top civil servants in connection to Agriculture Ministry IT tender
    04/01/2022

    The Czech Police have arrested several individuals in connection to alleged corruption related to IT tenders at the Ministry of Agriculture during the tenure of previous minister Miroslav Toman, news site Seznam Zprávy reported on Friday. Detectives of the National Centre for Combating Organised Crime (NCOZ) have been conducting home searches since Thursday evening and are investigating several leading civil servants who served under the ex-minister, Seznam Zprávy writes.

    The news was also confirmed by NCOZ head  Jaroslav Ibehej, who said that the investigation was being supervised by the High Public Prosecutor's Office in Prague.
    Author: Thomas McEnchroe

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