• 07/08/2024

    MEPs from Marine Le Pen’s National Rally are set to join the Patriots for Europe faction, making the new far-right group the third-largest in the European Parliament, several people involved in the discussions told POLITICO. The new right-wing alliance Patriots for Europe, formed at the end of June by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Czech opposition leader Andrej Babiš and Herbert Kickl head of the Free Party of Austria (FPÖ) has already met the basic conditions to become a faction in the European Parliament. The grouping will be joined by the Danish People's Party and the Belgian party Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest), the Dutch far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) of Geert Wilders, the Portuguese party Chega and the Spanish party Vox . European Parliament rules require official grouping to have 23 MEPs from seven countries. The faction will focus on greater sovereignty for EU member states, stronger measures against illegal migration and a revision of the Green Deal.

  • 07/08/2024

    Prague Castle’s Gate of the Giants closed on Monday for the next seven weeks so that the bollards between the entrance posts, which the Castle says are nearing the end of their useful life, can be replaced. The main entrance to Prague Castle, which is recognisable for its pillars with statues of fighting giants on top, will re-open in the last week of August. In the meantime, visitors can exit the Castle via the southern side gate in the first courtyard to get to Hradčanské náměstí, the main square in front of the Castle grounds.

    The Castle Guard will also temporarily not be posted at the Gate of the Giants during this time nor will the changing of the guard ceremony take place in the first castle courtyard. Instead, every day from 12:00 to 12:15, members of the Castle Guard Orchestra will perform.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/08/2024

    The average temperature in Europe this June was 1.57 degrees above the average for that month from 1991 to 2020, making it the continent's second warmest June on record, the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service has announced. June was also the twelfth month in a row with an average global temperature of at least 1.5 degrees higher than the pre-industrial average between 1850-1900. The average global temperature for the last 12 months from July 2023 to June 2024 is also the highest on record overall, namely 0.76 degrees above the 1991 to 2020 average and 1.64 degrees above the pre-industrial average.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/07/2024

    Barbora Krejčíková and her German doubles partner Laura Siegemund beat the American duo of Alycia Parks and Hailey Baptiste 6-3, 6-3 in the second round of the women's doubles at Wimbledon on Sunday, after the match had been postponed and then suspended due to rain.

    On Monday, Krejčíková will face the American Danielle Collins in the women's singles round of 16 to fight for a place in the quarterfinals.

    Meanwhile, Krejčíková's former doubles partner Kateřina Siniaková and the US Taylor Townsend's round of 16 match against Canada's Leylah Annie Fernandez and Japan's Ena Shibahara was postponed several times from its original scheduled start time in the early afternoon, before eventually being suspended in the second set, with Siniaková and Townsend leading 6-2, 3-2.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/07/2024

    On Sunday rain once again caused difficulties for Czech tennis players at Wimbledon.

    Kateřina Siniaková and her US partner Taylor Townsend's round of 16 match against Canada's Leylah Annie Fernandez and Japan's Ena Shibahara was postponed several times from its original start time in the early afternoon. Meanwhile Barbora Krejčíková and her German doubles partner Laura Siegemund's second-round match against the American duo of Alycia Parks and Hailey Baptiste was suspended during the second set due to the inclement weather. However, at the time the match was put on hold, Krejčíková and Siegemund were leading 6-3, 3-2.

    On Monday, Krejčíková will face the American Danielle Collins in the women's singles round of 16 to fight for a place in the quarterfinals.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/07/2024

    Monday is expected to be overcast with a chance of showers. Daytime temperatures should range between 19 and 25 degrees Celsius.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/07/2024

    Four baby capybaras were born at Prague Zoo on Sunday morning, the zoo's director Miroslav Bobek told the Czech News Agency. However, one of them, which the parents left in the inner part of the enclosure while going outside with the other three, is unlikely to survive.

    The capybara, native to South America, is the largest living rodent on Earth. Prague Zoo acquired the parents of the new litter of capybara pups last autumn, the female from Germany and the male from Denmark. Prior to that, there hadn't been any capybaras in the zoo since the 2013 floods, but the zoo decided to start keeping them again due to their immense popularity.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/07/2024

    A record 50,000 people came out to watch the headline closing act, world-famous French DJ David Guetta, at the electronic dance music festival Beats for Love in Ostrava on Saturday night. More than 162,000 people attended the festival this year over the course of four days of programming, beating the previous record of 160,000 from 2022, the organisers said on Sunday. According to festival director Kamil Rudolf, they were helped by the fact that they were able to significantly increase capacity and sell more tickets for the festival's tenth anniversary this year.

    Beats for Love touts itself as the biggest music festival in the Czech and Slovak Republics and the best electronic dance music festival in Central Europe.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/07/2024

    The Czech women's volleyball team have made it through to the elite Nations League for the first time after winning the Challenger Cup in Manila on Sunday. The Czechs beat Puerto Rico 3:1 in four sets of 25:23, 25:20, 18:25 and 25:18 in the final of the qualifying tournament in the Philippines. They will now compete against 17 other national teams next season in the 2025 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League.

    This is the Czech team's third attempt at winning the Challenger Cup. In 2019 in Peru, they lost 2:3 to Canada in the final, and in 2022 they got knocked out in the quarterfinal, losing to Belgium.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/07/2024

    A new cultural and leisure centre is set to open on the site of the former railway station Praha-Bubeneč in Prague 6. The former station building on the western edge of the popular Stromovka Park is being repurposed as a multifunctional space including a bistro, gallery, and hall where concerts, exhibitions, sports, debates and other community events can take place. The new centre, named Stanice 6 (Station 6), is due to open on 28 August, 10 years to the day since the last train stopped at the station.

    The Prague 6 district, which manages the site, says this is the first time a railway station building in Prague has been permanently remodelled for a different use.

    Author: Anna Fodor

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