• Weather forecast
    06/24/2024

    It should be mainly sunny in Czechia on Tuesday, with an average high temperature of 25 degrees Celsius. The following days are expected to be slightly warmer, but overcast.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Former javelin world champion Veselý retires
    06/24/2024

    Former javelin world champion and two-time Olympic bronze medalist Vítězslav Veselý has ended his career at the age of 41, the Czech Athletics Federation announced on its website on Monday.

    Veselý, who has not competed in two years, is due to make his final bow at the national athletics championships in Zlín next Sunday.

    His Olympic medals came in 2012 and 2021, while he was crowned world champion in 2013 and European champion in 2012.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Kolya co-producer Jan Jíra dies at 87
    06/24/2024

    The well-known Czech film producer Jan Jíra has died at the age of 87. Jíra started out working in cinemas in the 1960s and became a producer in 1990. One of his biggest successes was as co-producer of Kolya, which won an Academy Award in 1997, while he also had a hand in such popular films as Loners in 2000.

    Last year he received a Czech Lion award for his contribution to the country’s cinema.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Dagmar Havlová sells majority stake in Prague centre Lucerna Palace
    06/24/2024

    Dagmar Havlová, who was the sister-in-law of the late Czech politician Václav Havel, has sold a majority stake in the Prague centre Lucerna Palace for almost CZK 1 billion, Forbes reported on Monday, citing both the seller and the buyer, the company BTL.

    Mrs. Havlová is retaining a 25 percent stake in the Lucerna Palace, which was built by the grandfather of Václav Havel and her late husband Ivan Havel.

    She said money raised in the sale would be put into renovating the building. It was declared a national cultural landmark in 2017.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • David Pastrňák named Czech hockey player of year for seventh time
    06/24/2024

    David Pastrňák has won the Golden Hockey Stick award for Czech ice hockey player of the year for the seventh time. The 28-year-old Boston Bruins forward is currently in the US and was not able to receive the prize in person in Prague on Sunday evening.

    Pastrňák, who recently scored the decisive goal for Czechia in the final of the World Championships, was one of eight members of the Czech team to make the top 10 in the poll of sports journalists.

    Goaltender Lukáš Dostál came second in the Golden Hockey Stick, ahead of forward Martin Nečas.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Prague’s Máj department store reopens after major overhaul
    06/24/2024

    The Máj department store in downtown Prague reopened on Monday following a major overhaul. Across nine floors the well-known building on the corner of the streets Národní and Spálená offers shops, restaurants, entertainment and a rooftop terrace. It also contains a Tesco supermarket.

    The renovation job on the 1970s building was launched in mid 2022 and cost CZK 4.5 billion.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Schick in doubt for Euros game against Turkey with calf injury
    06/24/2024

    The Czech footballer Patrik Schick sustained a calf muscle injury in a European Championships game against Georgia on Saturday, an MRI scan has revealed. Czech Television reported that the injury would rule the striker out of Wednesday’s crucial final group game against Turkey, though the team’s management has not confirmed this.

    A spokesperson said that Schick, who scored in the Georgia game, remained with the rest of the Czech squad at their base in Germany.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Černochová: First artillery for Ukraine under Czech plan to arrive by end of June
    06/23/2024

    The first delivery of munitions to Ukraine sourced under a Czech artillery initiative will reach the country by the end of June, as promised, the Czech minister of defence, Jana Černochová, said on Sunday. Ms. Černochová told CNN Prima News that 18 countries had signed memoranda of understanding with Czechia on funding the artillery drive, with Iceland the most recent.

    Ms. Černochová would not reveal if some of the artillery had already been delivered.

    At the end of May, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said that 15 countries had signed up to the initiative, under which shells are being purchased for Ukraine from states outside NATO and the EU, pledging to contribute EUR 1.6 billion.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Poll suggests ANO still way out in front, Communists would return to lower house
    06/23/2024

    A new STEM opinion poll published on Sunday suggests that ANO would win elections this month, with 32.9 percent support, ahead of the Civic Democrats on 14.8 percent and the Pirate Party on 8.7 percent.

    Freedom and Direct Democracy would receive 7.3 percent, while the Mayors would get 6.8 percent, the survey indicates

    The Communists, who have no MPs at present but found some success in recent European Parliament elections as part of an alliance, enjoy 5.1 support, just passing the threshold for the lower house.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Jurečka proposing pay rises from 7 to 10 percent in public sector
    06/23/2024

    The minister of labour and social affairs, Marian Jurečka, says he will propose salary increases of between 7 and 10 percent from September for civil servants, culture workers, technical or non-teaching staff in education and other state employees.

    Mr. Jurečka said on a Czech Television debate show on Sunday that he would put forward these planned pay rises at a meeting of Tuesday of the tripartite, which comprises government, employers and unions.

    A final agreement on the increases should come in July, the minister said.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

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