• 08/01/2024

    The Czech National Reference Laboratory has confirmed rabies in a bat which bit a person last week. The incident happened in the North Moravian city of Ostrava. Transmission of this specific rabies virus variant to humans is rare and the bitten person is under medical supervision. Nevertheless, the public is advised to avoid contact with suspicous acting wild animals and report them to the authorities. This is the sixth rabies case in bats in Czechia. The last rabies case in other animals was in 2002.

    Author: Vít Pohanka
  • 08/01/2024

    Starting on August 1, people interested in sharing electricity can register with the Electroenergetic Data Center (EDC) in Czechia, marking the beginning of community energy in this country. The EDC system allows for the registration and sharing of locally produced electricity. Full operations, including storage and aggregation services, are expected by mid-2026. Last year’s amendment to the energy law facilitates this by enabling electricity sharing within and between different locations. Households, municipalities, and businesses can participate in two regimes: active customer mode for up to 11 transfer points and energy communities for up to 1000 points within contiguous administrative areas.

    Author: Vít Pohanka
  • 08/01/2024

    Andrej Babiš, the former Czech prime minister and leader of the opposition ANO party, has succeeded in his appeal to the Supreme Court in a dispute with the governing Pirate Party over a social media post about migrants. Babiš suggested that the Pirates wanted to settle migrants into people's homes. The Prague High Court had previously ordered Babiš to delete the post, but the Supreme Court decision requires the High Court to reconsider the case. The dispute began in 2021 before the parliamentary elections. Babiš argued that his comments about the Pirates' plans were exaggerated campaign rhetoric. The final decision from the High Court is still pending.

    Author: Vít Pohanka
  • 08/01/2024

    President Petr Pavel has published the results of a preventive health check-up, which he underwent at Prague’s Central Military Hospital. The health report states that the 62-year-old president is fully fit to undertake the duties of head of state. The examination revealed only higher levels of uric acid and cholesterol in the blood, for which the president received medication. Pavel announced a month ago that he had undergone a preventive health check-up and said he would made its findings public. He wrote on the X network that he perceived this as his responsibility towards the public, given his high office.

  • 08/01/2024

    Czechia has sent a Blackhawk helicopter equipped with a Bambi bucket and three firefighters to North Macedonia to help contain the forest fires that have been raging in the Negrevo and Kumanevo districts for three days now. One person died in the blaze and several villages have had to be evacuated. Extreme temperatures and strong winds in the Western Balkans are complicating the rescue effort. The Czech emergency team left for the Macedonian capital Skopje on Wednesday evening and joined the rescue effort on Thursday.

  • 08/01/2024

    Around one hundred people, mainly Communist Party supporters, gathered in the centre of Prague on Wednesday evening to protest against the presence of members of Ukraine’s Azov brigade in the Czech capital. Its members visited Prague within a European tour aimed at informing Ukrainians outside of the country about the situation in Ukraine and encouraging more men to enlist.

    The Azov brigade has raised controversy over its early and allegedly continuing association with far-right groups and neo-Nazi ideology, but earlier this month the US lifted its long-standing ban on weapons supplies and training to the unit saying it had "found no evidence of gross violations of human rights" by the brigade.

  • 07/31/2024

    Thursday should be partly cloudy with scattered showers and heat storms in the afternoon hours. Day temperatures should range between 24 and 29 degrees Celsius, possibly as high as 32 degrees in Moravia.

  • 07/31/2024

    Czechia will receive 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks and one Büffel 3 recovery tank on a Leopard 2A4 chassis as a gift from Germany, the ctk news agency reported on Wednesday, citing Czech Defense Ministry sources. The tanks are being donated as compensation for Czech supplies of military equipment sent to Ukraine. The first deliveries of tanks should arrive in the Czech Republic by the end of this year, the rest by 2026.

    Germany donated 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks and one recovery vehicle to the Czech Republic in 2022 and 2023 in return for its support for Ukraine.

  • 07/31/2024

    Countess Diana Phipps Sternberg, a member of the old Czech nobility, has died in Vienna at the age of 88. The Committee of Goodwill - Olga Havel Foundation, which she actively supported for many years, paid tribute to her memory, saying she had been the driving force behind many of its charity projects.

    Diana Sternberg was 12 years old when her family fled from communist Czechoslovakia. She lived in various corners of the world and became a renowned interior designer. After returning to her homeland in 1990 she worked at the Office of the President under Václav Havel, where she chiefly focused on the interiors at Prague Castle and Lány Chateau, as well as founding the Committee of Goodwill with Olga Havlová.

  • 07/31/2024

    Meteorologists have issued a heatwave warning for most of the Czech Republic on Wednesday, particularly Prague and Central Bohemia. Temperatures in the afternoon hours may reach 34 degrees Celsius. People have been warned to stay out of the sun as much as possible, avoid physical exertion  and increase their intake of liquids. The warning is in place from midday until 8pm on Wednesday.

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