• 01/04/2024

    The Telegram account which was widely reported to belong to the perpetrator of the mass shooting at Charles University's Faculty of Arts in December may not actually be his after all, Czech daily Deník N reports. According to their sources, the police are now 90 percent sure that the account does not in fact have anything to do with the killer.

    Investigators are currently waiting for more information that they requested from Telegram, after which they will come to their final conclusion, but Deník N's sources said that so far, all the evidence points to the account not belonging to the perpetrator.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 01/04/2024

    Some 60 places in Czechia were under flood alert on Thursday morning after several days of heavy rain and melting snow. The highest of the three flood alert levels was reported in Český Krumlov, while around ten measuring stations reported reaching the second level. Another 50 places had the lowest flood warning level.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 01/03/2024

    Due to rising water levels in the Vltava, members of the public are no longer allowed to access the river's embankments in Prague as of 4 pm on Wednesday until further notice. Ferry services across the Vltava have also been suspended and the gates to the Four Seasons Hotel by the river near the Staroměstská tram stop have closed. The gates to the Čertovka canal in Prague's Malá Strana district, which have been closed since Christmas, will continue to be so.

    Around 50 places in Czechia were under flood alert on Wednesday morning, with water at dangerously high levels especially in the Elbe and Otava rivers.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 01/03/2024

    A parliamentary proposal to allow Czech citizens abroad to vote by post in elections has received the support of the government, one of the government's five coalition partners, the Pirate Party, said in a press release. The government discussed the proposal at their first cabinet meeting of 2024 on Wednesday. Czechs abroad could vote by post for the first time in the 2025 parliamentary elections to the lower house, and then utilise the option in presidential, parliamentary and European elections from 2026.

    The opposition is against the introduction of postal voting, saying it represents a possible threat to democracy and goes against the constitutional rule guaranteeing that ballots are secret.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 01/03/2024

    Czech universities will be stepping up their security measures using EU money, Education Minister Mikuláš Bek said after meeting with the Czech Rectors' Conference on Wednesday. These could include new rules on bringing luggage into university buildings and staff and students receiving security training.

    Mr. Bek said that the measures would be adapted to each particular building. However, he said that he doubted that metal detector frames would be a widespread solution, although he could not rule it out in some cases. A new working group will discuss what precise steps are to be taken and will meet for the first time next Wednesday.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 01/03/2024

    An 18-member team of Czech firefighters set off at noon on Wednesday for France, which is experiencing floods in the north of the country. They are bringing 15 pieces of firefighting equipment with them, including two large-capacity pumps, an amphibious firefighting vehicle and a rescue boat, to the French city of Saint-Omer, where they are expected to stay for two weeks. In doing so, Czechia is responding to France's request for help with the floods at the EU level.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 01/03/2024

    Thursday is expected to be overcast and rainy with strong winds. Some patches of sun may appear amid the rain in the afternoon. Daytime temperatures should hover around 5 to 8 degrees Celsius.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 01/03/2024

    Tuesday's heavy rain has once again raised water levels in many Czech rivers, with first or second-degree flood alerts reported at around 50 measuring stations at 9:00 am on Wednesday. Earlier in the morning, water levels in the Elbe River in the village of Vestřev and the Otava River in the town of Rejštejn reached the third and highest degree flood alert level, but have since receded, according to the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute.

    Heavy rain is expected in the Šumava, Krkonoše and Jizera Mountains until Thursday morning. A flood warning is in place until further notice.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 01/03/2024

    The UK's Daily Mail newspaper has unearthed information from newly declassified archive files revealing that Terézia Javorská, the London-based director of the BBC World Service's Slovak section until 2005, was a Cold War spy for the notorious communist-era Czechoslovak StB or State Security Service. According to the files, she was recruited by an StB agent posted to London who met her at a cocktail party in the mid-1980s. The Daily Mail writes that security experts believe it to be the first known case of an agent from a foreign intelligence agency infiltrating the BBC since the start of the Cold War.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 01/03/2024

    At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the government is expected to discuss a parliamentary proposal to allow Czech citizens abroad to vote by post in elections. The Czech Republic is one of only four EU countries that currently do not allow postal voting, the others being France, Croatia, and Malta. However, France has allowed its citizens to vote online from abroad since 2020, while Czechia doesn't currently allow this option either. Czechia's neighbour, Slovakia, has allowed citizens abroad to vote by post in parliamentary elections and nationwide referendums since 2006.

    Author: Anna Fodor

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