• 02/02/2024

    The Czech extremist scene continues to be dominated by anti-establishment groups, whose representatives do not respect state institutions, often admire the Putin regime, and spread false or misleading information and conspiracy theories, according to the Czech Interior Ministry's report on extremism for the second half of last year, published on Friday. More recently, disputes have emerged between members of the Romany and Ukrainian communities over real and fictional incidents, which some disinformers exploit on social media. The police registered close to 200 hate crimes last year, and prosecuted 98 people, mostly for violence against a group of people.

  • 02/02/2024

    The technical error in the electronic application system for secondary schools has been fixed and the system is currently being tested. It should go into operation on Friday evening, Miroslav Krejčí, director of Cermat, tha agency reponsible for its launch,  told the ctk news agency. The system was due to go into operation on Thursday morning but its launch was postponed at the last minute due to malfunction. Education Minister Mikuláš Bek apologized for the delay and asked applicants to wait for it to come into operation rather than filing paper applications as they did in the past.

  • 02/02/2024

    The opposition ANO party has called for an extraordinary meeting of the Czech Chamber of Deputies over Prime Minister Petr Fiala's undeclared property share in the Enterprise Credit Union (PDZ). The newspaper Seznam Zprávy first reported on the possible conflict of interest, saying that Fiala could be fined CZK 50,000 under the Conflict of Interest Act.

    The prime minister explained himself by saying that he held a current account with PDZ and did not realise that this also meant holding a property share. He told journalists in Brussels on Thursday, where he was participating in an EU summit, that he thinks this explanation is sufficient, as he had already explained everything to the public and showed journalists the relevant bank statements. He added that the fact ANO was making something out of nothing was a demonstration of their lack of real policies and ability to focus on important matters.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 02/02/2024

    President Petr Pavel appointed lawyer Milan Hulmák as a Constitutional Court judge on Thursday. The 15-person panel of Constitutional Court judges is thus once again complete. Hulmák replaces Jiří Zemánek in the role, whose 10-year mandate ended two weeks ago.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 02/01/2024

    The Czech police collected almost twice as much money in fines issued for driving offences this January as they did during the same month last year, iRozhlas.cz reports. A new points system that was introduced this year to try to deter drivers from committing serious offences on the roads seems not to have had the desired effect so far, the news site suggests, but has instead lined the police coffers. According to preliminary data, the police recorded over 32,000 driving offences in January and collected over CZK 473 million in fines, almost double the amount compared to last January.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 02/01/2024

    The lightning-fast deal sealed by the leaders of the 27 EU member states in Brussels on Thursday to provide Ukraine with a new 50-billion-euro support package shows the EU's ability to reach agreement even on complex issues, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said afterwards.

    European Council President Charles Michel announced the agreement only about an hour into the extraordinary summit in Brussels, despite Hungary’s weeks of threats to veto the move. The Czech News Agency writes that given the speed with which the announcement was made, it is likely that the groundwork for the agreement had already been laid at preparatory meetings. It was not clear if any concessions were made to secure Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s approval.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 02/01/2024

    Friday should be overcast but dry, with daytime temperatures ranging between 1 and 5 degrees Celsius.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 02/01/2024

    The online application system for Czech secondary schools, which was supposed to open to applicants on Thursday shortly after midnight, was not working on Thursday morning. Miroslav Krejčí, the head of the Centre for Assessing Education Results (Cermat), which created the online system, said on Czech Television that the system will continue to be tested and will probably be launched on Friday. Education Minister Mikuláš Bek apologised for the delay on social media site X, but said that the security of users' data and the whole system has to take priority over adhering to an announced launch date.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 02/01/2024

    A two-year-old Czech boy with a rare genetic disorder, whose treatment was paid for with public donations of more than 150 million crowns, underwent gene therapy in France on Wednesday. The child's parents announced that the procedure at a hospital in Montpellier had been successful and thanked the doctors for their care and the public for their support. Two-year-old Martin will now spend another two to three weeks in the hospital, before returning to Czechia if everything goes well.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 02/01/2024

    The Czech Press Photo main prize has gone to Czech News Agency photographer Roman Vondrouš for an image from his series called “From the Court”, depicting a protest and a subsequent police intervention at a Prague District Court. Vondrouš has won three more awards in the competition in other categories.

    More than 4,000 images taken by 236 photographers from Czechia and Slovakia were submitted for consideration by an international jury.

    An exhibition of Czech Press Photo 2023 winners from various categories will be on display at the National Museum from the beginning of February until the end of July.

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