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09/14/2023
People in Czechia should soon be able to use digital credentials instead of the paper or plastic ID cards that are now essential in dealing with the authorities, according to an amendment to the law approved by the government on Wednesday. Digital identification will not replace physical IDs, but people will no longer have to carry them. The digital document will require a mobile phone app, to be developed by the Digital and Information Agency. People will send a request for identification through the app, proving their bank identity or other means of electronic identity verification. The app will then generate a code which the verifying authority, such as the police or the post office, can check in its own reader app. The project should cost the state administration about half a billion crowns to launch, while annual operating costs are estimated at around 50 million crowns.
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09/14/2023
The West needs to prepare for a long war in Ukraine and to deal with an increasingly hostile Russia even after it is over, Czech Chief of the General Staff Karel Řehka said in an interview for Reuters. He said he was not frustrated with the pace of Ukraine's counter-offensive, although some Western military officials have expressed concern about its slow progress. “This is what a military offensive looks like. It's not like a World War II movie. It takes time," Řehka said, noting that neither of the warring sides has the capacity to achieve their stated goals anytime soon. He stressed it was important to keep supporting Ukraine, adding that Czechia still has arms in storage that it can provide.
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09/14/2023
Old-age, disability and widows’ and widowers’ pensions will increase by CZK 360 a month for all recipients from January, the minister of labour and social affairs, Marian Jurečka, said after the cabinet approved a regular indexation on Wednesday.
According to data from his ministry, the average old-age pension should be above CZK 20,600 a month in January. Mr. Jurečka said last week that the increase would increase pensions spending by CZK 12.3 billion next year.
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09/14/2023
The Czech government has approved a plan to renovate and develop the fortress towns of Terezín in the Ústí nad Labem Region and Josefov in East Bohemia. In the coming five years up to CZK 1.7 billion will be invested in saving the most derelict buildings in the towns, while another CZK 1.2 billion will go into development between 2024 and 2033. The decision was announced by the minister of regional development, Ivan Bartoš, and the arts minister, Martin Baxa.
Terezín and Josefov were built in the 18th century by Emperor Joseph II as a defence against invasions from Prussia. During World War II, the former, known as Theresienstadt in German, became a symbol of persecution and genocide when the Nazis set up a Gestapo prison and Jewish ghetto there.
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09/13/2023
The stories of the Czechoslovak airmen of the UK’s Royal Air Force show that even in a small country there are individuals who can make an indelible mark on world history, the Czech Air Force Commander, Petr Čepelka, said at a commemorative meeting at Prague’s Klárov on Wednesday afternoon. He said the army’s present day aviators were building on the legacy of their predecessors, trying to develop it and pass it on to the next generation.
The commemoration of the heroes of the WWII resistance, which took place as part of celebrations of a special air force day, began with a flyover of two Gripen jets. There was a minute’s silence before the national anthems of Czechia, Slovakia and the UK were played.
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09/13/2023
Czechia will push for support for Ukraine and the punishment of Russia for its war on that country during a visit to the United States by President Petr Pavel and Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský starting on Sunday, the former’s office said on Wednesday.
Mr. Pavel is due to speak at the 78th UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday and will also hold talks with a number of leaders, including UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres.
He and Mr Lipavský plan to present the Czech candidacy for the UN Security Council for the years 2032 and 2033.
Mr. Lipavský will also meet high-level UN officials and counterparts from various countries and will use bilateral meetings to conduct outreach to the countries of the Global South, a spokesperson said.
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09/13/2023
Two Czechs have been arrested in Germany after being caught on Tuesday smuggling migrants in a van in inhumane conditions, Germany’s Bild reported. Police in Saxony discovered 49 refugees from Syria and Turkey, including 20 children, in the back of the Czech-registered vehicle on a day when temperatures were at around 30 degrees, the news site said.
The people had been locked in the back of the white van for 12 hours on a journey that evidently began in Slovenia and their lives were in danger in such conditions, Bild said.
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09/13/2023
Czech historical landmarks welcomed 3.3 million tourists in the first eight months of this year, officials from the National Heritage Institute said on Wednesday. That figure was 8 percent higher than for the same period last year but is still one-fifth down on the number recorded in 2019, the year before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country.
The National Heritage Institute said numbers had fallen most markedly at its most popular sites, such as Český Krumlov, Hluboká and Karlštejn. This is in part due to a decline in foreign visitors, especially from Asia and Russia.
Admission fees for facilities operated by the National Heritage Institute were not increased in 2023, but next year they should rise by around 10 percent.
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09/13/2023
Prague’s Municipal Court has ordered a review of expert opinions in the case of killings centred on a cult based in Kutná Hora, Central Bohemia, iRozhlas.cz reported. The head of the judges panel said on Wednesday that it was not possible to decide whether two women accused of killing the cult’s leader and another person were of unsound mind at the time.
The results of the review should be ready by next March at the latest.
Last week court appointed experts gave differing opinions with regard to the sanity of the women, who say that they carried out the killings last year at the leader’s request.
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09/13/2023
Police in Nový Jičín uncovered a four-member Polish gang stealing railway cables in Czechia. The group are accused of taking seven kilometres of copper electricity cables on the line from Ostrava to Prague since 2019, causing CZK 2.5 million in damage to operators.
The stolen materials, which are used to power electric trains, were sold for scrap in Poland. The four were charged in late June and are still in custody, the police said. A spokesperson for the railways administration said such large-scale theft of overhead lines was rare.
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