News

Czechs are marking International Veterans Day, which is celebrated internationally on November 11, the anniversary of the end of World War I. Several events are being held across the country to mark the occasion.

A traditional ceremony took place at the national memorial on Prague’s Vítkov Hill on Saturday morning. The event was attended by defence minister Matin Stropnický, who awarded medals and honours to war veterans, resistance fighters and soldiers. Part of the ceremony was introduction of the book The Other Life, containing photographs and stories of military missions and activities.

The first wine of the season, the so-called Saint Martin’s wine, goes on sale on Saturday in the Czech Republic. Czechs are celebrating the Feast of Saint Martin, which falls on November 11 and which has become an occasion for winemakers to present their young wines.

Events featuring wine tasting are traditionally held at various venues around the country. This year, the main event takes place on Freedom Square in Bnro. In Prague, festivities will be traditionally held in Náměstí Jiřího z Poděbrad and the Rašínovo nábřeží embankment. This year, sellers expect around 2.2 million bottles of Saint Martin’s to go on the market, which is a slight drop on the previous year.

A hepatitis A epidemic has continued to spread in the region of Ústí, with 30 new cases registered. The epidemic led towns in the region to take special hygienic measures, for example, at a voting booth at an elementary school in the recent elections where disinfectant gel and napkins were offered.

In all, 237 people in the region have contracted the disease since August. Ground zero for the epidemic was originally in socially-excluded areas, a local epidemiologist confirmed.

Andrej Babiš, tasked with forming a new government after his party ANO won a decisive victory in the election in October, is looking to tax church restitution funds, the daily Lidové noviny writes. The funds until now were exempt in a deal agreed between a previous center-right government and religious organizations, to offset damages caused by the communist regime when it unlawfully seized church property in Czechoslovakia after 1948. Over 30 years, the state is to pay some 59 billion crowns, adjusted for inflation for property which could no longer be returned (while property worth 75 billion crowns, was).

Not only Mr Babiš is in favor of taxation, according to the daily, but also the Communist Party, which cited taxation of the funds as crucial for its support of an ANO-led minority government. The Freedom and Direct Democracy Party, led by businessman turned politician Tomio Okamura has also backed the idea.

ANO, the communists and Mr Okamura's party could together easily pass the changes in the new Chamber of Deputies. The change would not, however, be retroactive and could not affect funds returned since the deal went into effect in 2013.