• Czechs to face off against Russia in opening 2016 world championship game
    07/15/2015

    The schedule for the opening group games for the 2016 Ice Hockey World Championships were announced on Wednesday. The Czech Republic’s first game will be against championship hosts, Russia, in Moscow’s 12,000 seat ice palace arena on May 6. Sweden will play Latvia in the earlier game from the same group. Group B games will be staged at the second venue of St. Petersburg.
    Author: Chris Johnstone

  • Earnings from ice hockey world championships far exceed first estimates
    07/15/2015

    The Czech Ice Hockey Association says that its earnings from the recent world championships in May far exceeded its expectations. In the immediate aftermath of the championships, head of the association Tomáš Král said that he expected earnings to be several dozen million crowns. In fact, the first accounting estimate now puts the earnings at around 450 million crowns before tax. Ticket sales, which account for around three-quarters of income, surpassed expectations by around 25 percent.
    Author: Chris Johnstone

  • Czech natal mortality rate one of lowest in OECD: minister
    07/15/2015

    The mortality rate during childbirth in the Czech Republic has fallen between 2000 and 2013 to 1.2 per thousand from 2.1 per thousand and is now one of the lowest rates among developed countries, Minister of Heath Svatopluk Němeček announced on Wednesday. He highlighted though the fact that women are now giving birth a lot later with women now on average having their first child at the age of around 28, around six years later than at the start of the 1990s. Older women have a higher risk of complications during childbirth.
    Author: Chris Johnstone

  • Czech police take part in Europe-wide VAT fraud swoop
    07/15/2015

    Czech police have cooperated with forces in seven other countries to crackdown on a gang which was defrauding tax payers across Europe of around 300 million euros in tax revenues, the Europe-wide police cooperation body EUROPOL has announced. The Czech Republic was part of a core investigation team that examined the Value Added Tax fraud. Fourteen people were arrested as part of a crackdown during which 40 sites were searched. The massive fraud involved shipping and selling goods across EU borders without paying VAT.
    Author: Chris Johnstone

  • Czech regions to get funding boost in 2016
    07/15/2015

    Czech regions should receive 3.5 billion crowns more in central government funding next year. The increased funding came after finance minister Andrej Babiš dropped his call for the increase to be postponed until 2017. Regions complained that their funding was cut during the economic crisis and centre-right government of former prime minister Petr Nečas. Head of the Association of Regions Michal Hašek said the regions would use the money for much needed investments such as transport infrastructure and old people’s homes.
    Author: Chris Johnstone

  • Nine Ukrainians arrive in Czech Republic for medical treatment
    07/15/2015

    Nine Ukrainians have arrived in the Czech Republic for medical treatment. Seven were taken to hospitals in Prague after landing on a Czech Army plane at the city’s Kbely military airport on Tuesday. The remaining two are to receive treatment at a teaching hospital in Ostrava as part of the Medevac project. A Czech Interior Ministry spokesperson said the patients were mainly displaced persons from Eastern Ukraine; a number require treatment for injuries sustained due to the conflict in the region.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Prague’s Masarykovo nádraží closed after train derails and enters station
    07/15/2015

    Prague’s Masarykovo nádraží train station was closed on Wednesday morning after a train derailed and came to a stop on a platform around 25 metres inside the station. Three people sustained minor injuries in the incident, which occurred at around 11 PM on Tuesday. Passengers were rerouted to other stations in the capital.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Rath trial continues as ex-minister again fails to finish address
    07/14/2015

    The corruption trial of David Rath will continue for at least another day after the former politician failed on Tuesday to finish a concluding address that had begun the day before. Mr. Rath’s speech has so far gone on for six hours in total. The former Social Democrat regional governor and health minister was arrested in 2012 on suspicion of accepting bribes to rig contracts. Several others accused alongside him have been found guilty in a separate trial.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Number of cyclists up by quarter in Prague last year
    07/14/2015

    The number of cyclists in Prague rose by a quarter last year, according to a city transport yearbook quoted by the Czech News Agency. Around two dozen automatic counting devices in place in the Czech capital put the number of cyclists last year at 3.8 million. June was the month with the highest number of bike rides, followed by July and August. The most popular cycling route by some distance was along the right bank of the Vltava River.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • New museum displaying only extant model of Czech-made motorcycle
    07/14/2015

    The newly opened Old Timer museum in the Moravian town of Kopřivnice boasts a motorcycle that is the only one of its kind in the world, according to the institution’s owner. Only two JKB 450 motorbikes were produced in the 1930s by Czech brothers Josef and Bedřich Káňa and parts from the second have been used in the one on display. The museum also houses rare cars and other historical items.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

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