• Weather forecast
    04/18/2023

    Wednesday will be mostly overcast with occasional rain showers and day temperatures ranging between 7 and 11 degrees Celsius.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Highest number of ISIC cards issued in Czechia
    04/18/2023

    Some 593,000 International Student Identity Cards or ISICs were issued in Czechia last year, which is the highest figure out of all the 130 countries where the document is used to certify a student status. France, which is roughly six times larger in terms of population, came second.

    The company GTS Alive, which manages ISIC cards in Czechia, says the main reason behind their popularity is that they are used not only for a fare discount, but also as a student identification card.

    The ISIC Association, which is part of UNESCO, has been issuing the card for more than 65 years. In Czechia, it has been used since the 1990s.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Experts: minimum gross decent wage should be CZK 40,912
    04/18/2023

    The minimum gross decent wage for a full-time job in Czechia that would cover the needs of an adult with a child, as well as leisure time and small savings, should be CZK 40,912. In Prague, it should be CZK 42,776 due to the higher cost of living. The estimate was presented by a team of experts from the independent and informal Platform for a Minimum Decent Wage at a press conference on Tuesday.

    With such a wage, people would be able to cover the costs of food, housing, clothing, transportation, healthcare, education, and free-time activities but also be able to pay for other important expenses, including savings for unexpected expenditures. According to the experts, 63 percent of Czech employees don’t reach the minimum gross decent wage.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Indonesian President invites Czech companies to take part in building new capital
    04/18/2023

    Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala held talks with Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Jakarta on Tuesday. During the meeting, Mr. Widodo invited Czech companies to participate in the project of building the new Indonesian capital Nusantara, which is to replace Jakarta.

    The Czech Prime Minister’s visit to Indonesia is his second stop after the Philippines on his tour of six Asian countries. Mr. Fiala’s next destination will be Singapore.

    Speaking ahead of his trip, the Czech prime minister said that Indonesia was an extremely promising market for Czech entrepreneurs with a huge potential for arm suppliers.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Czechia will not ban grain imports from Ukraine
    04/18/2023

    Czechia is not planning to follow Poland, Slovakia and Hungary in introducing a ban on grain imports from Ukraine, Agriculture Minister Zdeněk Nekula announced  on Monday. He said such a ban would violate the trade conditions of the European single market and the World Trade Organisation. Responding to concerns regarding the fact that Ukrainian grains are not produced in line with strict European quality norms, the minister said Czechia had intensified import controls on cereals intended for food use.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Labour minister unveils proposed amendment to pension system
    04/18/2023

    Labour Minister Marian Jurečka on Monday unveiled a proposed amendment to the pension system under which pensions would be indexed by one-third of the rise in real annual wages, rather than by 50 percent as is the case now, and the state would make up for high inflation by one-off contributions, which would not raise pensions permanently.

    Jurečka also wants to tighten the criteria for early retirement. Under the proposal, early retirement would only be possible three, rather than five, years before the standard retirement age and applicants will need to have worked for 40 years in order to be eligible, up from the present 35.

    The labour minister said the proposal aims to ensure the long-term sustainability of the system and he sees it as a preparatory step for a broad pension reform. The opposition parties have rejected the proposal.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Russia’s Maria Zakharova: Czech arms factories working for Ukraine like they did for the Nazis
    04/17/2023

    Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Monday compared the work of Czech arms factories helping to arm Ukraine to armaments factories in the occupied Protectorate forced to produce weapons for the German Third Reich. Zakharova said it was outrageous that Czechia had upgraded tanks from Morocco and then handed them over to the “neo-Nazi” Ukrainian government.

    "We observe with regret that the Russian Foreign Ministry has become a ministry of lies and war," Czech Foreign Ministry spokesman Daniel Drake said in response to the attack.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Weather forecast
    04/17/2023

    Tuesday should be partly cloudy to overcast with scattered showers and day temperatures between 11 and 15 degrees Celsius.

  • Five people charged with fraud at Prague Transport Company and health insurer VZP

    04/17/2023

    Police officers from the National Centre against Organized Crime have charged five people in a case of large-scale fraud related to the management of the country’s largest health insurance company VZP and the Prague Transport Company. The five suspects have been charged with bribery, manipulating public tenders and money-laundering, among others. According to the news sites Seznam and Deník N  former Civic Democrat deputy Marek Šnajdr is among those charged.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Case of large-scale football fraud in court
    04/17/2023

    The regional court in Plzen has opened a case of large-scale football fraud in which the police charged 20 people, including the former deputy head of the Czech Football Association Roman Berbr, a number of referees and a first-league player. Berbr and several others are accused of match-fixing and embezzlement, having abused sports funds to the tune of 2.3 million crowns.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

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