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12/16/2023
Czech scouts are distributing the Light of Bethlehem, a post-Velvet Revolution symbol of the Christmas season, to churches and other public institutions around the country on Saturday. People can find all the places where the flame will be distributed on the website www.betlemskesvetlo.cz and can use it up to Christmas Day to light their own lamps, lanterns and candles to take home. The flame symbolises the spreading of peace and friendship as it travels across Europe.
The Light of Bethlehem has been in the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul in Brno for the past week, after having been brought by train in two lanterns from Linz, Austria last weekend.
The tradition of the Light of Bethlehem was established by a regional studio of the Austrian state broadcaster ORF in 1986. Czechia has been taking part since December 1989.
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12/16/2023
Polish film director Agnieszka Holland has started work on her latest project, the feature film "Franz" about the Prague-born writer Franz Kafka, the Czech News Agency announced on Saturday. Shooting is set to take place in the Czech Republic and Germany over 40 days starting in April next year, with an expected cinema release date at the end of 2024. The screenplay was written by Marek Epstein in collaboration with Holland.
One of the most successful Polish filmmakers in recent decades, Agnieszka Holland is a graduate of the FAMU film school in Prague and often works on Czech co-productions, collaborates with Czech producers and screenwriters, or makes films about topics relating to Czech history.
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12/16/2023
A memorial service for Karel Schwarzenberg was held on Saturday at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, led by the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. An estimated several hundred people attended the packed ceremony, including members of the Schwarzenberg family, the current and former Austrian presidents, and the Czech ambassador to Austria, Jiří Šitler.
Schönborn, who, like Schwarzenberg, comes from the Czech branch of an aristocratic family and was born in the Czech Republic, later emigrating with his family to Austria, described the former Czech foreign minister as a great man, a patriot and a European.
Karel Schwarzenberg died on November 12 in Vienna at the age of 85. His official funeral mass was held last Saturday in St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle, after which his family buried the urn containing his ashes in a private ceremony at Orlík Castle in South Bohemia.
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12/16/2023
The city government has announced that Prague will not be putting on a public fireworks or projection mapping display on New Year's Eve this year. However, the city is instead offering residents a discounted admission fee to several Prague attractions on New Year's Day.
On presenting proof of residence or employment in Prague, such as a city public transport pass, locals will be able to visit the zoo and botanical gardens for practically free, only paying a symbolic CZK 1 entry fee, and can see the Public Transport Museum and the seven towers managed by Prague City Tourism for a discounted price.
Since 2020, Prague has also tightened the rules for setting off fireworks, with people no longer allowed to set them off in most areas of the city centre.
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12/15/2023
Saturday should be partly cloudy to overcast with daytime highs between 3 and 7 degrees Celsius.
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12/15/2023
As of December 15, the Czech law on whistleblower protection requirements has been extended to small companies with 50 or more employees. Previously, the law setting down the requirements for the protection of whistleblowers was only binding for firms with 250 or more workers. The new norms for companies include identifying secure reporting channels through which people can report corruption and identifying the person responsible for investigating the notification, among others. Companies that fail to guarantee these protection requirements could face penalties of up to one million crowns.
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12/15/2023
The ruling coalition is planning to push a bill on postal voting through Parliament next year, so that it will be in force in time for the 2025 parliamentary elections, Interior Minister Vít Rakušan said in an interview for Czech Radio. The two opposition parties in the lower house – ANO and the Freedom and Direct Democracy Party are both opposed to the bill, on the grounds of possible abuse, but the ruling coalition has a comfortable majority in both chambers.
Minister Rakušan said he expected a constitutional complaint from the opposition, but noted that in other countries, postal voting had been tried and tested in practice and had passed the scrutiny of constitutional courts.
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12/15/2023
Ostrava is sending twenty-five trams to the Ukrainian city of Konotop. The first six vehicles are to be transported to the Ukrainian border on Friday, the rest will follow in the coming days, a spokesperson for the municipality informed journalists. The trams were taken out of operation due to the city modernizing its public transport fleet but are still fully functional and will help keep Ukraine’s public transport in operation. The city earlier dispatched ten Solaris diesel buses to Ukraine.
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12/15/2023
Numbers relating to people’s date of birth will remain on Czechs’ ID cards, despite the fact that the numbers can be used to decipher the age and gender of the bearer. The Senate approved an amendment to that effect on Friday, backtracking on earlier plans to stop using birth numbers on ID cards as of 2025. The bill was approved despite objections from the Office for Personal Data Protection which expressed concern over possible abuse. The amendment still recons on their being removed in due time, but there is no deadline by when the transition should take place.
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12/15/2023
Confidence in the government has fallen steeply, with only 17 percent of Czechs trusting the cabinet of Prime Minister Petr Fiala, according to the outcome of a poll conducted by the Centre for Public Opinion Research (CVVM). The government now has the lowest trust rating among the country’s institutions. At this time last year it had a 30 percent trust rating. President Petr Pavel is trusted by 52 percent of Czechs, the Chamber of Deputies is trusted by 18 percent of Czechs and the Senate by 29 percent. Public trust in both chambers of Parliament has slid in the past year. According to the survey, 69 percent of respondents also expressed dissatisfaction with the political situation in Czechia in general.
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