• 01/19/2024

    Saturday should be bright and clear and mostly dry with day temperatures between -3 and 1 degrees Celsius.

  • 01/19/2024

    The baby lowland gorilla, which was born two weeks ago in Prague's zoo, is a female, the zoo's director Miroslav Bobek told reporters on Friday. The sex was confirmed with the help of an umbilical cord blood test. People can now vote for the name of the young female from a dozen names the zoo has pre-selected on the basis of suggestions from children in Cameroon, Africa.

  • 01/19/2024

    The ANO party would presently win general elections by a landslide, with 35 percent of the votes, according to the outcome of a poll conducted by the Median agency. The ruling Civic Democratic Party would place second, with 13 percent of the vote, the Pirate Party of the ruling coalition would get 10.5 percent and the opposition Freedom and Direct Democracy Party would get 9 percent of the vote. The Mayors and Independents,also of the ruling coalition, would get 6.5 percent and TOP 09 would get 6 percent. No other party would cross the 5 percent threshold needed to win seats in the lower house.

  • 01/19/2024

    A number of Czech media outlets say they have received an anonymous e-mail containing the names and photographs of the alleged victims of the tragic shooting at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University. The authors of the e-mail, who signed themselves as "grieving students", asked the media to publish the names and stories of the alleged victims as a tribute to their memory. Neither the faculty nor the Charles University administration are aware of such an initiative and do not support this course of action. The police have warned that publishing the list of names is highly problematic from a legal point of view.

  • 01/19/2024

    The case of a man who was found guilty of repeatedly raping his underage stepdaughter and received a three year suspended sentence and a fine for the criminal offense has evoked public outrage in Czechia. The Ministry of Justice has said it is looking into the case to examine whether or not  the law was violated and if so it would file a complaint with the Supreme Court. Justice Minister Pavel Blažek said that the Regional Court in Brno would provide the public with the reasons for its decision in the coming days. According to Seznam Zpravy, which covered the case, a district court originally sentenced the girl's stepfather to three years in prison for rape and child porn, as well as CZK 300, 000 in compensation for the victim. However, a court of appeal lowered the punishment to a suspended sentence. According to an expert assessment, the offense did not have a "significant negative impact" on the victim.

  • 01/19/2024

    Dozens of people protested in front of the Bohemian National Hall in New York City on Thursday night against an event hosted in the building by controversial parental rights group Moms for Liberty, which is regarded as extremist and intolerant of sexual minorities.

    Several US politicians had criticised the event, with Democratic Senator Brad Holyman-Sigal calling on Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala to ban it.

    Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said that while he disagreed with the debate, it was too late to be cancelled. He also said the activities of the organisation did not correspond to the interests of Czech foreign policy.

    The organisation Moms for Liberty leased the premises of the Bohemian National Hall from the expat organization Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association without the knowledge of the Czech Consulate General.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 01/19/2024

    A debate on introducing postal voting for Czechs in the Chamber of Deputies entered its third day on Friday morning. The debate, which started on Wednesday morning, has so far lasted for over 25 hours.

    However, MPs are not expected to reach any conclusion on Friday, given filibustering from the opposition ANO and Freedom and Direct Democracy parties, which are vehemently opposed to the bill on the grounds that it could be abused.

    The debate on the matter may resume on Tuesday morning. Czechia is one of the few states in the EU that do not to allow postal voting.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 01/18/2024

    The Ministry of Education will provide up to CZK 20 million to Charles University’s Faculty of Arts to repair the material damage caused by the tragic shooting incident, the ministry wrote on X on Thursday. The incident, in which 14 people were killed and 25 injured, took place on December 21 at the faculty's main building on Jan Palach Square.

    The dean of the Faculty of Arts, Eva Lehečková, said in the past that more than 130 doors were destroyed during the police raid on the building. Their repair or replacement is expected to cost several million crowns.

    The faculty building has been closed since the tragic event and will remain close at least until the end of January.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 01/18/2024

    Friday will be mostly sunny with day temperatures ranging between -3 and 1 degrees Celsius.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 01/18/2024

    Last year's exports of arms and security material from Czechia are likely to reach the record from 2022, amounting to around CZK 30 billion, Jiří Hynek, president of the Association of Defence and Security Industry said on Thursday, adding that full data will be available later this year.

    While in 2022, a significant part of exports consisted of material from long-term stocks, last year new production was predominant.

    In the long term, Hynek said, weapons and other security materials are most often exported to the United States, EU countries, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, but exports to Africa also strengthened last year.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková

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