• 04/22/2024

    Czech actress Hana Brejchová, who is perhaps best known for the title role in Milos Forman’s 1960s film Loves of a Blonde, has died at the age of 77. Brejchová was still a secondary school student when she got the part in the Czechoslovak New Wave classic.

    The sister of better known actress Jana Brejchová, her other roles included a part in The Most Beautiful Age, while Forman also cast her in Amadeus.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 04/22/2024

    A painting by František Kupka has become the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction in Czechia. Conception/Danae, which was created in 1930, was sold for CZK 115 million in Prague on Sunday evening.

    With the buyer’s premium the total price reached CZK 126.5 million, ensuring it edged past the previous record seller, Old Prague Motif by Bohumil Kubišta.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 04/21/2024

    The Czech minister of the interior, Vít Rakušan, says that Czechia will pay around CZK 480 million annually toward the EU’s Asylum and Migration Pact. He made the comment in a Czech Television debate show on Sunday.

    The agreement, which has been passed by the European Parliament, says that member states will have to either accept a share of refugees from 2026 or opt out of this obligation and provide financial support to other member states.

    Mr. Rakušan said suggestions that Czechia would have to pay CZK 15 billion amounted to scaremongering.

    Radek Vondráček of main opposition party ANO said that the financial support in fact amounted to a quota.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 04/21/2024

    Temperatures in the Jizera Mountains in North Bohemia dropped below minus 10 degrees Celsius on Sunday morning as a cold weather spell continued in Czechia.

    About 15 centimetres of snow fell on the ridges of the Krkonoše Mountains in the north of the country within a 24-hour period, bringing the snow there to a depth of around 250 centimetres on Sunday morning.

    There has also been heavy snowfall in the Šumava and Beskid ranges.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 04/21/2024

    A female co-driver was killed in a Rally Šumava race in the Plzeň area on Saturday. Navigator Alena Krejčíková died later in hospital after injuries sustained in the opening stage of the rally, a local police spokesperson told the Czech News agency.

    The first event in the Czech national rally championship was initially halted before being abandoned completely.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 04/21/2024

    The Pirate Party are keen to hold a debate on the Istanbul Convention in the Czech lower house but the other four parties in the coalition government are against, Czech Television reported on Sunday. The other government partners are keen to keep the divisive issue on the back burner until at least after Senate elections in the autumn, Czech TV said.

    Czechia signed up to the convention, which is designed to protect women from violence, eight years ago but has yet to ratify the document. The Czech upper house voted against ratification earlier this year.

    The speaker of Chamber of Deputies, Markéta Pekarová Adamová of government party TOP 09, recently said it would be irresponsible to hold a vote on ratifying the Istanbul Convention at present, given the unclear level of support for it among MPs.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 04/21/2024

    The number of people filing complaints with the Czech Ministry of Health over difficulties accessing care has risen sharply, the news site Novinky.cz reported on Sunday. The ministry has already received 23,000 complaints; two years ago only one-fifth of that number had been submitted by members of the public.

    Most communications of this type concern dentists. Indeed of the 23,000 complaints registered, nearly 16,000 were in this area. Finding a dentist in the South Moravia Region is particularly difficult, Novinky.cz said.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 04/21/2024

    The use of solar energy in Czechia has skyrocketed in the last five years, the Czech News Agency said on Sunday. While just over 3,400 new solar power systems were installed in 2019, last year that figure had reached nearly 83,000. Investments in this type of technology are also growing considerably, amounting to almost CZK 45 billion last year; five years ago the figure was less than CZK 1 billion.

    The recent development in this area differs significantly from a solar boom the country experienced 15 years ago, the Czech News Agency said.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 04/21/2024

    It should be mainly overcast in Czechia on Monday, with an average high temperature of 7 degrees Celsius. Warmer temperatures are expected later in the next week.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 04/21/2024

    Czech leaders have welcomed a decision by the US House of Representatives to approve USD 61 billion in military aid for Ukraine. Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Saturday evening that he greatly appreciated the move and pointed out that he had discussed the matter just days ago in Washington with House Speaker Mike Johnson.

    The Czech minister of foreign affairs, Jan Lipavský, said the American legislators’ decision had come at the most opportune time. He said on social media that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, freedom and democracy could only be stopped by joint action, adding that Europe must also do more.

    Author: Ian Willoughby

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