• One in five Czechs has a university education
    07/23/2018

    The percentage of Czechs with a university education has increased significantly over the past 10 years, data published on Monday by the statistical office (ČSÚ) shows. Last year, roughly 20 per cent of Czechs had a university degree, up from 12.1 per cent in 2007. However, the figure still lags behind the European Union average, which is about 6.4 percentage points higher.

    The most educated population lives in Prague, where nearly four out of 10 adults hold a university degree. The regions with the lowest percentage of degree-holders are Karlovy Vary and Ústí nad Labem, according to the data, which was drawn from the most recent Labour Force Survey.
    Author: Brian Kenety

  • Ministry plans training for cyber warfare specialists
    07/23/2018

    The Czech Ministry of Defence plans to have dozens of specialists in cyber warfare trained by the end of this year, iHned.cz reported on Monday. They will receive instruction in how to protect websites from hackers from the Czech-Israeli owned firm CyberGym Europe, the news website said.

    A company representative said it was able to draw on Israeli know-how in the cyber warfare field.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Report: EU farm subsidies causing decline of some bird species
    07/23/2018

    Numbers of some bird species have greatly declined in the Czech Republic since the country joined the European Union, iDnes.cz reported, citing a Charles University study. The researchers behind the report say that EU agricultural subsidies have led to a change in farming methods and subsequently caused the crested lark, meadow pipit and other birds to become increasingly rare.

    Agricultural output has jumped by around one-quarter per hectare since 2004, when the Czechs joined the EU. In the same period the population of field birds has declined by around one-third.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Fire fighters dealing with second Kokořín blaze
    07/22/2018

    A second fire broke out on forested land in Kokořín, a protected wildlife zone in central Bohemia, on Sunday. Earlier 20 fire units had been called out to deal with a blaze a few kilometres away and had succeeded in bringing it under control.

    In the early evening a fire service spokesperson said that a helicopter was again being deployed, this time to deal with an area of around 100 metres by 150 metres. The place where the second fire occurred is described as hard to reach.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Prague population growth mainly due to new arrivals
    07/22/2018

    The population of Prague has increased every year but one for the last 16 years, with growth of around 14,000 people recorded in 2017, according to official figures cited by the Czech News Agency. The rise last year was mainly due to new arrivals (almost 11,000), with around half being from abroad.

    Natural growth is also a factor, with the capital’s birth rate having constantly exceeded the mortality rate since 2006.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Around 900,000 Czechs believed dependent on medication
    07/22/2018

    Czechs are consuming more and more medicines. According to official figures, 107 million more daily doses were taken last year than in 2016, Czech Television reported.

    The state anti-drug coordinator told the station that around 900,000 people in the Czech Republic were dependent on medication. Just a fragment of that number seek help with their addictions, the official said.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Maláčová to become labour minister on July 30
    07/22/2018

    President Miloš Zeman is due to appoint Jana Maláčová as minister of labour and social affairs on July 30. before that he will meet Ms. Maláčová, who has hitherto been a senior official at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, on Tuesday.

    She will replace the Social Democrats’ Petr Krčál, who stepped down within a few weeks of taking the post after being accused of plagiarism during his student career.

    Unusually the appointment ceremony will take place not at Prague Castle but at Lány, the presidential residence near the Czech capital.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Grace Jones among headliners as Colours of Ostrava concludes
    07/22/2018

    The 17th edition of the Colours of Ostrava music festival came to a close on Saturday with performances by 1980s star Grace Jones, her Jamaican compatriot Ziggy Marley and US artist Seasick Steve, among others.

    The organisers refuse to release attendance figures but it is believed that the event – which takes place in a former ironworks in Ostrava’s Vítkovice district – draws around 50,000 people every year.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • UK gallery hangs huge red boxers in Zeman protest reference
    07/22/2018

    A huge pair of red boxer shorts have been hung on the façade of the London art venue Red Gallery in support of Czech artists. The exhibit was created by the Prague art group Ztohoven, who were taken to court after placing similar outsized underwear on a flagpole at Prague Castle in protest at the policies of President Miloš Zeman.

    Czech curator Jaroslav Krampol organised the outdoor exhibit in the UK capital, which Red Gallery has titled the ‘Aint No Politician Will Burn These Red Pants (sic). President Zeman recently burned a large pair of red boxers in a “happening” in Prague to which journalists had been invited.

    Mr. Zeman’s spokesman said the red boxers were not a symbol of populism but a flag of spiteful “liberals” (his quotation marks).
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Weather forecast
    07/22/2018

    It should be quite sunny in the Czech Republic on Monday, with temperatures of up to 27 degrees Celsius expected. Daytime highs will then climb to reach around 30 degrees Celsius by the end of the week.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

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