• 03/01/2024

    Czech Tennis Association president Ivo Kaderka, and Vojtěch Flégl, member of the supervisory board, who are accused of massive fraud, have been taken into custody for fear that they might try to influence witnesses.

    According to the police, the two men are key figures in a scam involving millions of crowns in state subsidies intended for tennis and youth sports organizations.

    Five people and five legal entities were charged by the police following Tuesday’s raid on the headquarters of the Czech Tennis Federation.

    Both Kaderka and Flégl claim they are innocent and have filed a complaint against the decision to hold them in custody.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 03/01/2024

    Czech deputy ambassador to Moscow Jiří Čistecký is due to attend the funeral of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Friday. The last farewell to Navalny, who died two weeks ago in an Arctic penal colony at the age of 47, will take place on Friday afternoon in Moscow.

    Afterwards, the Kremlin critic will be buried at Borisovskoye Cemetery on the southern outskirts of the Russian capital. The burial takes place amid tight security measures and fears of a police crackdown.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 02/29/2024

    Friday will be mostly sunny with day temperatures ranging between 12 and 16 degrees Celsius.

  • 02/29/2024

    The Czech state collected CZK 6.49 billion from motorway vignettes last year, up by nearly 11 percent year-on-year. The total number of vignettes sold in 2023 rose by almost 13 percent to 8,331,877, the state-owned enterprise Cendis, which manages the sale of electronic vignettes, said on Thursday. The sales are expected to grow even further this year, due to an increase in the price of vignettes from March.

    Since the introduction of the online motorway vignette system in December 2020, sales of vignettes increases by about one million units each year. The most popular motorway stamps sold last year were the ten-day vignettes, followed by annual vignettes and monthly stamps.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 02/29/2024

    The zoo in Dvůr Králové nad Labem in east Bohemia has acquired a pair of brown hyenas from South Africa, becoming the only zoo in the world to breed all four species of hyena, the Czech News Agency reported on Thursday. The hyenas have already undergone quarantine and are getting gradually used to the outdoors.

    In addition to the newly acquired couple, the zoo also breeds two spotted hyenas, two aardwolfs and a male striped hyena. The Dvůr Králové Zoo is mainly known for spearheading international efforts to save the northern rhino from extinction.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 02/29/2024

    Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský met with his Japanese counterpart Yoko Kamikawa in Tokyo on Thursday. The two politicians signed an agreement that will pave the ground for the introduction of a direct air link between Czechia and Japan.

    Mr. Lipavský’s visit to Japan is the last stop on his Indo-Pacific tour, which started in New Delhi on Friday and continued in Australia. Minister Lipavský will conclude his trip in Osaka, where his program will focus on supporting the Czech participation in the EXPO 2025 World Exhibition.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 02/29/2024

    The heads of parliament of the Visegrad Group countries, comprising Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary, agree that Russia is the aggressor in Ukraine, the head of the Czech lower house, Markéta Pekarová Adamová said after their meeting in Prague on Thursday.

    The V4 parliament heads met at the Liechtenstein Palace to discuss energy, migration policy, and Russia’s war on Ukraine. The meeting, which came two days after the V4 summit of prime ministers, was also attended by the Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk.

    Ms. Pekarová Adamová also said she regretted the differences in the V4 countries’ views on the conflict as well as statements by some of the V4 leaders regarding Russia’s war on Ukraine.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 02/29/2024

    Czech President Petr Pavel, who is on a two-day official visit to Luxembourg, held talks with Grand Duke Henri and local government representatives on trade cooperation, Russia’s war on Ukraine and the Middle East. The Czech head of state, who is accompanied by his wife and a business delegation, also met with Prime Minister Luk Frieden, Speaker of the House Claude Wiseler and deputy Prime Minister Xavier Bettel.

    Later on Thursday, President Pavel and his wife will pay their respects at the national monument of Luxembourg Solidarity and lay a wreath at Jan Palach Square. They will also visit the tomb of Czech king John of Luxembourg and visit the headquarters of the SES satellite telecommunications network and the Satellite Operations Centre.

    On Friday, the Czech head of state is scheduled to meet with Czech expats living in Luxembourg.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 02/29/2024

    Belgium will support the Czech initiative to buy artillery ammunition for Ukraine from outside the European Union at a cost of 200 million euros. The deliveries could reach the country, which has been resisting Russian military aggression for over two years, by the end of March. In addition to Belgium, 15 other states have pledged to support the initiative financially, including Britain, Denmark, Canada, Sweden and the Netherlands. President Emmanuel Macron said at the Paris summit earlier this week that France will also be involved in the project.

  • 02/29/2024

    Eight European Union countries, including Czechia, are calling for sanctions on Russia's prosecutors, courts and penitentiary officials over the death earlier this month of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. A letter to the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell was signed by the foreign ministers of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Sweden and Romania. Officials later said it was also supported by the Netherlands, France, Ireland and Denmark, bringing total number to 12 countries. "Mr Navalny's death is yet another sign of the accelerating and systematic repression in Russia. This calls for collective action," the foreign ministers' letter, cited by Reuters, said.

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