• 01/08/2024

    Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský has awarded a Medal of Merit in Diplomacy to the outgoing French ambassador Alexis Dutertre for his "extraordinary contribution" to Czech-French relations and his role in shaping the French position towards events in Ukraine, the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on social media site X on Monday.

    At the beginning of his career at the French Foreign Ministry, Alexis Dutertre led negotiations on the accession of central and eastern European countries, including the Czech Republic, to the European Union. He took up his post in Prague in October 2020 and is now leaving to serve as an advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 01/08/2024

    Two out of ten Czechs have used hard drugs at some point in their lives, according to a survey conducted for a new addiction prevention campaign, most often for recreation or as an escape from reality. Eighty percent of those surveyed said they understood why someone would try taking drugs, and a third said they approved of their recreational use.

    The prevention campaign has been organised by the Czech police together with the Czech Association of Insurance Companies and includes television and social media advertisements as well as a series and documentary film co-produced by Czech Television.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 01/08/2024

    Tuesday is expected to be sunny and bright but extremely cold, with temperatures well below zero throughout the day and night. The highest daytime temperature is predicted to be minus 2 degrees Celsius, dropping to a low of minus 9 at night. No precipitation is expected.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 01/08/2024

    The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute has slightly amended its warning for extreme cold weather, strong winds, snowdrifts and floods, which was issued on Sunday.

    Strong winds of over 65 km/h are expected on Monday in Moravia and Silesia, which may cause snowdrifts in certain areas. From Monday evening to Thursday morning, temperatures at night and early in the morning could fall below -12 degrees Celsius. On Monday and Tuesday night this applies to most of the country, except for parts of central and western Bohemia. On Wednesday night it will only apply to certain areas, mostly in south Bohemia, Vysočina, and the Olomouc and Moravia-Silesia regions.

    Water levels in the lower reaches of the Elbe river are continuing to fall, with the flood alert dropping below the second level in Ústí nad Labem on Monday morning and the same expected to happen in Děčín in the evening.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 01/08/2024

    Labour and Social Affairs Minister and head of the Christian Democrats Marian Jurečka has said that he himself will not propose his own departure from his ministerial post at the Christian Democrat Party leadership meeting on Tuesday evening, nor does he expect any of his party's coalition partners to suggest it. The deputy head of the party, Šárka Jelínková, said that the party leadership will support Mr. Jurečka in remaining in his post.

    Mr. Jurečka is under fire for attending a ministry Christmas party at the time of the shooting at Charles University's Faculty of Arts on 21 December last year, with some calling for his resignation as labour minister. The Christian Democrat Party leadership, which consists of 39 people, moved its meeting from the end of January to Tuesday evening in order to discuss the matter.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 01/08/2024

    The weather station at Prague's Václav Havel Airport that was hit by lightning on Thursday has been repaired, the Czech News Agency reports. However, the online data transmission system is still not working. Technicians are currently testing it but it is unclear how long this will take. If there is poor visibility as there was on Saturday, then planes will probably have to be diverted again.

    Some 21 planes had to be diverted to other airports on Saturday and nine connections were cancelled due to thick fog and the malfunctioning weather station.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 01/08/2024

    Czechia’s foreign trade balance ended in a surplus of CZK 30.8 billion in November, an increase by CZK 57.2 billion year-on-year, according to the freshly released data by the Czech Statistics Office. It was the best result so far in 2023.

    The positive trade balance result was mainly affected by higher car exports and a smaller deficit in oil and gas trade. According to the report, exports dropped by 2.6 percent year-on-year to CZK 403.6 billion and imports by 15.4 percent to CZK 372.8 billion.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 01/08/2024

    The border crossing from Czechia to Germany in Strážné in the Prachatice region in south Bohemia was blocked on the German side on Monday morning by protesting farmers.

    As a result, a queue of trucks started forming on the Czech side. At 9 a.m. on Monday, it was about one kilometre long, Štěpánka Schwarzová, a spokeswoman for the South Bohemian police, told the Czech News Agency.

    German farmers blocked a number of motorway entries and roads across the country on Monday in protest against the government's planned cuts to agriculture.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 01/07/2024

    Monday will be mostly cloudy with day temperatures ranging between -8 and -4 degrees Celsius.

  • 01/07/2024

    Czech Labour and Social Affairs Minister Marian Jurečka is "ready to consider his resignation" over a Christmas party held at the ministry at the time of the tragic shooting at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University. The Minister made the statement in a debate program on Czech Television on Sunday.

    In an interview for CNN Prima, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said he was not planning to dismiss Jurečka’s at the moment. He said the minister had apologized, but he should explain the situation better.

    According to witnesses, the party at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on the day of the shooting continued until midnight, despite the ministry’s earlier claims that the event had been prematurely terminated around 9 p.m. Jurečka had previously acknowledged that the event should have been canceled earlier and apologized if it offended anyone.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková

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