• Unemployment decreases slightly to 7.3 percent
    10/08/2014

    The national unemployment rate decreased in September to 7.3 percent, 0.1 percentage point lower than in the previous month, the Czech Labour Office said on Wednesday. Compared to the same month last year, the unemployment rate dropped by 0.3 percentage point. Some 530,000 people were seeking jobs in September which was 6,100 fewer than in August. The number of vacancies grew slightly to over 56,000. The Ústí region registered the highest unemployment level of 10.2 percent; the lowest rate – 5.2 percent – was recorded in Prague.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • Lower house committee backs draft budget for 2015
    10/08/2014

    The budget committee of the lower house on Wednesday voted to recommend the draft state budget be approved by MPs. The draft budget projects a deficit of 100 billion crowns which represents some 2.3 percent of gross domestic product. The committee’s members for the opposition voted against the recommendation, arguing the deficit should be cut by another 20 billion crowns and capital investment increased by eight billion. The lower house is set to start debating the draft budget by the end of October, with a final vote scheduled for December.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • New regional development minister appointed
    10/08/2014

    President Zeman on Wednesday appointed Karla Šlechtová the minister for regional development. Ms. Šlechtová, who was in charge of the department for drawing EU subsidies at the Office of the Government, was nominated by the ANO party. She succeeds the outgoing minister Věra Jourová who is set to become the EU Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality next month.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Czech author Jan Němec receives EU Prize for Literature
    10/08/2014

    Czech writer Jan Němec is among 13 European authors who have won the EU Prize for Literature for 2014, EU Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassiliou said at the Frankfurt Book Fair on Wednesday. Mr Němec has been awarded for his novel A History of Light, a biographical piece about the Czech photographer František Drtikol. The prize is dedicated to new and emerging European authors. The 33-year-old Jan Němec is the second Czech writer who received the prize after Tomáš Zmeškal who was awarded in 2011.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • Deputy Head of Czech Bar Association nominated for constitutional judge
    10/07/2014

    Czech President Miloš Zeman on Tuesday nominated David Uhlíř, the deputy head of the Czech bar Association, for a judge of the Constitutional Court. The nomination has to be approved by the Senate within the next two months. David Uhlíř has been working as a lawyer since 1979, specializing mainly in civil and business law. He is also teaching at the Faculty of Law at the Charles University in Prague.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Contract to build unique laser system for ELI Beamlines centre signed
    10/07/2014

    The Czech Academy of Sciences’ Physics Institute has signed a contract with a US-European consortium, led by the US National Energetics company, for the development and delivery of a unique laser system for the ELI Beamlines centre. The 10-PW laser system will be one of the key technology elements of the facility. The world’s most efficient laser will produce the brightest pulses of light ever generated, with the intensity exceeding about 10 times values currently available from the existing lasers. According to the director of the Czech Academy of Sciences’ Physics Institute Jan Řídký, its costs are expected to amount to 40 million US dollars. The construction of the ELI Beamlines centre in Dolní Břežany began in 2012. The centre is set to begin operation in 2016.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Czech winemakers expect low production
    10/07/2014

    Czech winemakers are cutting their wine outlook this year due to poor weather conditions. Heavy rains in late August and early September, resulted in grape losses due to rotting. The production of wine is expected to reach around 500,000 hectolitres, which is nearly 30 percent less than in the previous year.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Finance Ministry evacuated over hoax bomb threat
    10/07/2014

    The seat of the Ministry of Finances in Prague was evacuated on Tuesday at around 1.30 PM after receiving an anonymous bomb threat. More than six hundred employees and members of the public had to leave the building. Police search revealed that the phone call had been a hoax and the ministry reopened some two hours later.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Foreign Minister defends Czech embassy over Volynhia Czechs issue
    10/07/2014

    Czech Minister for Foreign Affairs Lubomír Zaorálek on Tuesday defended the work of the Czech ambassador to Ukraine Ivan Počuch. Mr. Zaorálek said he did not agree with President Miloš Zeman’s claim that the Czech embassy in Ukraine had neglected its duty by failing to register the demands of over 200 Volynhia Czechs for repatriation to their old country. Speaking at a meeting with journalists minister Zaorálek said that the president had not asked him to dismiss the Czech ambassador. The Foreign Minister said while he understood the concerns of Volynhia Czechs their situation had to be evaluated realistically.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Designblok gets underway
    10/07/2014

    The biggest annual design festival in the Czech Republic, Designblok, gets underway in Prague on Tuesday. Now in its sixteenth year, the festival brings a record number of more than a hundred designers from sixteen countries of Europe. Their works will be displayed in five different venues in the centre of Prague, including the Art-Nouveau Hotel Evropa at Wenceslas Square. The festival will be running until Sunday.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

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