• OKD resumes operation in all its mines
    08/14/2020

    The coal mining company OKD is renewing operation in all its mines on Friday, which were closed down for six weeks due to the spread of coronavirus infection among the miners.

    The infection was first registered at the mines in mid-May.  Altogether, some 1,700 miners, their relatives and other contacts tested positive for Covid-19.

    According to the company’s spokeswoman, more than 900 employees have already returned to work. To avoid a new wave of contamination, the company will be carrying out preventive testing for the disease.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Valuable artefacts from Egypt transported to Prague’s National Museum
    08/14/2020

    Dozens of artefacts discovered by Czech archaeologists in Egypt’s Abusir have been transported under strict security measures to the National Museum in Prague.

    The items, loaned from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and several other institutions, will be part of an exhibition called Kings of the Sun, which opens on August 31.

    The most valuable item on display will be a basalt statue of King Raneferef, made around the year 2460 B.C.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Thursday saw 330 new cases of Covid-19, highest number since August 3
    08/14/2020

    Thursday saw 330 freshly detected cases of Covid-19 in the Czech Republic, which was the highest one-day rise since April 3, according to Czech Health Ministry statistics. It is also the third highest figure since the outbreak of coronavirus in the country at the start of March.

    The total number of known cases of the virus since the start of March stood at 19,401 on Friday morning. To date 391 people have died with Covid-19 and 13,574 have recovered from the disease.

    At present Frýdek-Místek in the east of the country has the highest incidence, followed by Prague.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Prague police arrest Russian diplomat over illegal ammunition

    08/14/2020

    Police in Prague last month arrested a Russian diplomat over the purchase of illegal ammunition, iRozhlas.cz reported on Friday. Sources in the Czech secret services told the news site that he was employed in the military section of the Russian Embassy in Prague.

    Following his detention in Říčany for buying illegal ammunition for sniper rifles and other kinds of ammunition he was released in view of his diplomatic immunity. He then immediately left the country for Russia, iRozhlas.cz said.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Babiš calls for urgent EU talks on situation in Belarus
    08/14/2020

    Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has made an urgent call on European Union leaders to hold a video conference on the situation in Belarus. He made the appeal after reaching agreement on the matter with his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki.

    Mr. Babiš called on the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to send a clear signal over sanctions on Belarus, where there has been a brutal crackdown on protesters questioning the results of presidential elections held last Sunday.

    The Czech PM said Europe’s leaders must insist on fresh elections taking place.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Greece not to require Czechs to produce negative Covid tests
    08/13/2020

    The Athens government is to remove the Czech Republic from a list of states whose citizens can only enter Greece with a negative Covid-19 test. The news was announced by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, who said he had secured the concession after speaking to his Greek counterpart, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

    Mr. Babiš said the decision had been reached after the Czech Republic had provided new information to Greece on the coronavirus situation in the country. The negative test requirement had been due to enter force on Monday.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Weather forecast
    08/13/2020

    It should be largely overcast in the Czech Republic on Friday, with temperatures of up to 27 degrees Celsius. Similar weather is expected over the weekend.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Blesk remains most popular daily but readership down
    08/13/2020

    The tabloid Blesk remained the Czech Republic’s most read newspaper in the first half of 2020, according to figures released on Thursday. Blesk recorded an average daily readership of 827,000 between January and July, which was a fall of 8 percent on the same period last year.

    The second most read newspaper was Mladá fronta Dnes, with almost 480,000 readers a day; this was a decline of 3 percent.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • No injuries as part of train derails near Brno
    08/13/2020

    Part of a train was derailed at Tišnov outside Brno on Thursday morning. The last two wagons of an express train heading from Prague to Brno came off the tracks when the train took a turn at a switch but did not turn over. Fire officers evacuated 150 people from the train and there were no injuries. The cause of the accident is now being investigated. It follows a number of such incidents in recent weeks in the Czech Republic.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Babiš: Prague will not exclude Russians from nuclear unit tender
    08/13/2020

    Prime Minister Andrej Babiš says the Czech Republic will not exclude a Russian bidder from a tender process to build a new nuclear unit. On Wednesday the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said in Prague that partnership with the Russians would undermine Czech national security and sovereignty. Speaking in an interview for Mladá fronta Dnes, Mr. Babiš said that he had made clear to Mr. Pompeo that the Czech Republic could not eliminate bidders from a tender under EU rules.

    Russian state company Rosatom is among the bidders for a contract to build a new unit at Dukovany, one of the Czech Republic’s two nuclear power stations.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

Pages