News

The Czech tennis player Tomáš Berdych has been beaten by Roger Federer of Switzerland in the semi-final at Wimbledon. The 11th seeded pushed Federer hard on Centre Court, but went down 7-6(4) 7-6(4) 6-4. “I think I played really good tennis throughout the whole tournament. But I just unfortunately faced a guy who's playing his best,” Berdych said after the game.

Security checks at Prague Castle, which were introduced last August, will remain in place, the president’s spokesman Jiri Ovčáček informed on Friday, adding that it was recommended by the country’s security services. As of last summer, all visitors to the Prague Castle compound are asked to undergo security checks by police officers stationed at the gates, which has resulted in long queues forming. According to Jiří Ovčáček, more police officers will be earmarked to speed up the security checks.

Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka has sent a condolence letter to the widow of the late Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo. The Prime Minister said Czech citizens share the values for which her husband had fought all of his life. Bohuslav Sobotka also mentioned that Liu Xiaobo had been inspired by the legacy of the former Czech president and dissident Václav Havel. The Chinese political activist succumbed to cancer on Thursday at the age of 61 after the Chinese authorities had denied him a treatment abroad.

Members of the government met with representatives of the company AGPI on Thursday to discuss the buyout of land and removal of a pig farm in Lety near Písek, which stands at the site of a WWII Roma concentration camp. According to the spokesman for the Ministry for Human Rights, Michal Kačírek, the selling price has not been negotiated so far. Culture Minister Daniel Herman said earlier this week that the negotiations should be completed by the end of the summer and a proposal put to the government in September.