• Leo Express enters Polish market
    06/25/2018

    The private Czech train and bus operator Leo Express has announced the launch of a new railway link from Prague to Warsaw. In a press release on Monday, the company said the twice-a-week connection would be in operation as of July 20.

    According to the news website e15.cz, Leo Express paid around 15 million crowns to enter the Polish market and has become the first private operator on the Polish railways.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Weather
    06/25/2018

    Tuesday is expected to be slightly overcast with occasional rain showers and daytime highs ranging between 19 and 23 degrees Celsius.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • President Zeman meeting with ministerial candidates
    06/25/2018

    President Miloš Zeman has met with several prospective ministers nominated by both ANO and the Social Democrats, who are set to form a two-party minority coalition backed by the Communists.

    The candidates who met with President Zeman on Monday include slated industry and trade minister Marta Nováková, labour minister candidate Petr Krčál, culture minister nominee Antonín Staněk and Taťána Malá, the ANO party’s nominee for justice minister.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • ANO leader Babiš presents president with government line-up
    06/25/2018

    ANO leader and prime minister designate Andrej Babiš has presented President Miloš Zeman with an official list of nominees for his second cabinet, formed together with the Social Democratic Party.

    The list includes the Social Democrats’ nominee for the foreign affairs portfolio, Miroslav Poche, to whom the president has serious reservations. The Communists are also against his appointment.

    Mr. Zeman is due to name the new government on Wednesday morning. According to Mr. Babiš it could undergo a vote of confidence in the lower house on July 11.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Confidence in economy rises by 0.8 points in June
    06/25/2018

    Confidence in the Czech economy rose in June with the main index increasing by 0.8 points to 100 points compared with May’s score, according to data released by the Czech Statistics Office on Monday.

    Confidence among entrepreneurs was up by 1.2 points to 97.4 points, while consumer confidence dropped by 0.8 percent month-on-month to 113 points.

    Compared to figures from this time last year, the overall indicator is up by nearly three points.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Berdych drops out of men’s top 20
    06/25/2018

    Czech men’s number one singles player Tomáš Berdych has dropped out of the top 20 rankings for the first time since 2010, following a series of defeats and prolonged health problems. The 32-year-old Czech is currently ranked 23rd in the ATP rankings.

    Berdych might also drop out of the top 50, due to persistent back pain which forced him to pull out of Wimbledon. The Czech number one reached his only Grand Slam final at Wimbledon in 2010, losing to Rafael Nadal, and has been a semi-finalist for the last two years.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Verdict in second David Rath trial due this week
    06/25/2018

    A six-year legal case involving former health minister and regional governor David Rath should reach a conclusion on Wednesday when a first-instance verdict is delivered by the Regional Court in Prague, Czech Television reported. Last week Mr. Rath’s final attempt to have the case moved to another court was rejected by Supreme Court judges.

    Three years ago the Prague Regional Court sentenced Mr. Rath to eight and a half years in jail for allegedly taking kick-backs to rig public contracts. However, he was freed by an appeals court, which ruled that wiretaps used to prosecute him were inadmissible. The Supreme Court subsequently ruled such that recordings could be used as evidence.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Kvitová wins in Birmingham for fifth title of season
    06/24/2018

    Petra Kvitová has won her fifth tennis title of the season. The Czech player came from behind to defeat Magdaléna Rybáriková of Slovakia 4-6 6-1 6-2 on Sunday to lift the title at the Birmingham Classic in the UK. Kvitová did not drop a set on her route to the final in Birmingham, where she also took last year’s trophy.

    The two-time Wimbledon winner suffered a terrible hand injury when she was stabbed in late 2016 but has made an impressive recovery and is now ranked eighth in the world.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • RAF veteran Pavel Vranský dies at 97
    06/24/2018

    One of the last remaining Czechs who served with Britain’s RAF during World War II, Pavel Vranský, has died at the age of 97. Mr. Vranský was promoted to the rank of brigadier general by the president last year.

    The war hero, who came from a Jewish family in Ostrava, joined the RAF in 1942 and served with the 311 Squadron, which was a Czechoslovak-manned bomber squadron. Prior to that he had fought in Syria and at Tobruk.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Ceremony marks 76th anniversary of annihilation of village of Ležáky
    06/24/2018

    The razing to the ground of the village of Ležáky in Eastern Bohemia and the murder of the local community by the Nazis was remembered on Sunday, 76 years after those terrible events took place. Hundreds of people attended a memorial at the spot where the atrocities occurred.

    Among those who spoke at the ceremony was Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, who highlighted the importance of the EU and NATO in safeguarding peace in Europe.

    Some 33 residents of Ležáky were executed by the Nazis on 24 June 1942 as part of reprisals for the assassination of governor Reinhard Hedyrich. A similar fate had earlier befallen the village of Lidice near Prague.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

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