• Zaorálek reiterates Czech priorities on Brexit to UK negotiator Davis
    07/25/2017

    The Czech minister of foreign affairs, Lubomír Zaorálek, reiterated the Czech Republic’s priorities with regard to the UK’s departure from the EU with that country’s chief Brexit negotiator, David Davis, in Prague on Tuesday. Mr. Zaorálek told Mr. Davis that the Prague government wished to see the rights of Czech citizens in the UK preserved, continued good relations with London and the resolution of the UK’s financial commitments to the EU budget. For his part, Mr. Davis said there was a moral obligation to clear up uncertainties surrounding EU citizens living in the UK and vice versa. He said under current proposals Czechs living in the UK would have the same rights as British people, apart from the right to vote.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Weather forecast
    07/25/2017

    It should be cloudy with spells of rain in the Czech Republic on Wednesday, with temperatures of up to 18 degrees Celsius. Daytime highs should be marginally higher later in the week before warm weather approaching 30 degrees Celsius returns at the start of next week.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Man facing five years for switching pills at pharmaceuticals plant
    07/25/2017

    The trial has begun in Prague of a man accused of deliberately switching the medication in boxes when he worked for the pharmaceutical company Zentiva. The firm was forced to recall certain medications when the case came to light last September. The newspaper Mladá fronta Dnes reported that the defendant had switched the pills in two boxes in revenge for being informed that he was being let go by Zentiva. If found guilty he could receive a five-year jail term.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • MPs charged over abuse of EU subsidies
    07/25/2017

    The police have charged MPs Josef Novotný of the Social Democrats and Jaroslav Borek of the Communist Party with the abuse of European Union subsidies. The move comes a month after the Chamber of Deputies voted to lift their parliamentary immunity in connection with the case, which centres on a regional fund in northwest Bohemia. Two dozen others, including former senator Alexandr Novák and former regional governor Jana Vaňhová, are also facing trial. Several people have already been convicted over the matter.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czech Army will commission more than 140 new armoured vehicles in coming years
    07/25/2017

    The Czech Army will commission more than 140 armoured vehicles in the coming years at a projected cost of 9.2 billion crowns (the equivalent of around 353 million euros) Defence Minister Martin Stropnický confirmed. The plan was approved by the government on Monday. Around 4.4 billion crowns will go towards buying some 80 lighter vehicles and 4.8 billion will go towards buying 62 heavier armoured transporters produced by Tatra Export. The deal is the largest of its kind put forward by the current government and the third largest army commission in the past decade or so.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Prague Black Panthers crush Ostrava Steelers in Czech Bowl
    07/25/2017

    In American football, the Prague Black Panthers won their fifth straight Czech Bowl on Monday, crushing the Ostrava Steelers by a score of 28:0. The Steelers had hoped to build on success against the Panthers in the regular season, when they drew. The prestige final was broadcast live on Monday by Czech TV.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Health of Czech national injured in Hurghada, hospitalised in Cairo, worsens
    07/24/2017

    The health of a Czech national injured in a knife attack in Hurghada, Egypt, two weeks ago, rapidly worsened on Monday, the Czech Foreign Ministry confirmed, adding no additional details would be released at her family’s request. In the attack, the 36-year-old suffered a leg injury that left two German women dead. The Czech had been recovering at a hospital in Cairo. Before her condition worsened, plans were underway for her to be flown home. The Foreign Ministry confirmed that a specialist would depart from the Czech Republic on Monday to be able to examine the patient.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Prague finishes in middle of pack of top cities
    07/24/2017

    Prague has finished in the middle of the Ipsos Top Cities Index for 2017, ranked 30th along with Rio de Janeiro among 60 global cities. In the survey, people in 26 countries ranked the world’s “best cities” for “work, rest, and play”. New York finished first with 50 points, followed by Abu Dhabi, London and Paris; Prague, with 11 points, finished just ahead of Boston and Chicago in the US. Nairobi and Tehran finished 59th and 60th on the list.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Applications for asylum drop by 52 year-on-year
    07/24/2017

    Seven hundred-and-thirteen foreigners applied for asylum in the Czech Republic in the first in the first six months of 2017, the Department of Asylum and Migration Policy at the Czech Interior Ministry has revealed. The number is 52 fewer than over the same period last year. The largest number of applicants the bureau said were from Ukraine (254) followed by Azerbaijan (56) and Georgia (52).
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Navrátil to head new cyber security office
    07/24/2017

    Dušan Navrátil, the former head of the country’s National Security Authority (NBÚ), will head the new national bureau for cyber security, after receiving approval by the Czech government on Monday. The decision was tweeted by Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka. The new bureau will eventually be housed in a new centre to be built between 2018 and 2023 - partly at a former army barracks site - outside Brno, with a capacity for some 400 employees.
    Author: Jan Velinger

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