• 12/11/2023

    The 27th edition of the Made in Prague festival closed in London on Sunday evening with a screening of the new film One Life, a historical drama and biopic about Nicholas Winton, who helped save hundreds of Czech Jewish children from the Nazis on the eve of World War II. Warner Brothers allowed the Czech Centre London to screen the film on the festival's closing night, although the film hasn't been officially released in British cinemas yet.

    The film, starring Anthony Hopkins and Helena Bonham Carter, had its world premiere at this year's Toronto International Film Festival in September. It will have its theatrical release in the United Kingdom on 5 January 2024 and it will come to Czech cinemas in February 2024.

    The multi-genre, several-week-long Made in Prague festival is an annual showcase of Czech culture organised by the Czech Centre London.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 12/11/2023

    The ski season has fully begun in Czech mountain resorts, with thousands of people heading to the slopes for downhill and cross-country skiing over the past weekend. Saturday saw a larger number of skiers, with visitor numbers declining a little on Sunday due to the inclement weather. Although it is supposed to get warmer over the coming days, ski resort operators told the Czech News Agency that they don't expect snow conditions on the slopes to significantly deteriorate.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 12/10/2023

    The current thaw is expected to continue on Monday, with daytime temperatures reaching an average high of 7 degrees Celsius and a low of 4 degrees Celsius. Skies will be mostly cloudy to overcast with a chance of some light showers throughout the day.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 12/10/2023

    The number of drivers in Czechia who are over 80 years old is increasing, according to the latest figures released by the Czech Statistical Office. Over the last five years, the number of people in this age range who are still driving has increased by 41 percent. Around 135,000 people in Czechia aged over 80 have driving licences, over three-quarters of whom are men.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 12/10/2023

    Only 16 percent of Czechs said they were happy with the current political situation in their country, according to a survey published on Sunday that was conducted by the Kantar agency for Czech Television. This is the lowest result since the start of 2021, a time when Czechia, along with most of the rest of the world, was in the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic. 80 percent of those surveyed rated the current political situation as bad.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 12/10/2023

    The cremated remains of Karel Schwarzenberg were buried in the family tomb at Orlík Castle in a private ceremony for friends and family on Sunday afternoon, the day on which he would have celebrated his 86th birthday. The castle in South Bohemia has been owned by the Schwarzenberg family for over 300 years and the family tomb there was chosen by the late politician as his final resting place.

    The official funeral mass for Schwarzenberg, a member of the Czech nobility and one of the country’s most prominent post-1989 politicians, was held with state honours in St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle on Saturday. The urn with Schwarzenberg's ashes was subsequently transported to Orlík Castle and arrived by hearse in the afternoon.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 12/10/2023

    Ice on the roads is slowing down traffic in many parts of the country, with some public transport connections delayed due to the poor driving conditions. Several centimetres of snow fell overnight in the north and west of Bohemia and there were snow showers in most parts of eastern Bohemia on Sunday morning. There is ice and slush on some roads in the south of Moravia and in the Olomouc region, and the D1 and D35 highways are also experiencing icy conditions.

    The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute warns that ice is expected to form again overnight and on Monday morning in Vysočina and parts of Moravia. Due to the melting snow, a level-one flood alert has been declared for the Lusatian Neisse basin in the Liberec region on Monday.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 12/10/2023

    The late Karel Schwarzenberg’s daughter Anna Carolina Antoinette Elisabeth Theresia Olga Adelheid Maria of Schwarzenberg (conventionally known as Lila Morgan-Schwarzenberg) was the surprise guest at Saturday evening's informal memorial event to her father, "Karel Lives On", which was held in Prague's Lucerna Music Bar. Her unexpected appearance and speech caused a stir in the packed hall, according to the Czech News Agency.

    Lila Morgan-Schwarzenberg co-wrote and co-directed a documentary called "My Father the Prince" about her father and their complicated relationship, which was released in 2022 and premiered at last year's Karlovy Vary film festival. The documentary was screened on Saturday evening in Lucerna Cinema as part of the memorial event, which included speeches, concerts, a photography exhibition and film screenings.

    The unconventional "punk tribute" farewell to Schwarzenberg, organised by some of his friends and his former presidential campaign team, followed the late politician's official state funeral in St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle.

    Karel Schwarzenberg, a member of the Czech nobility and one of the country’s most prominent post-1989 politicians, passed away on November 12 in Vienna at the age of 85. He would have been 86 on Sunday.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 12/10/2023

    Czech scouts have brought the Light of Bethlehem, a post-Velvet Revolution symbol of the Christmas season, from Austria to the Czech Republic. Austrian scouts handed the light over to them, as well as to other scout delegations from all over Europe, on Saturday in Linz. Having collected the light, the Czech scouts travelled with it by train from Linz to Brno, where they arrived on Saturday evening shortly after 8.30 pm. On Sunday they will carry the light into the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul in Brno, before distributing it around churches and institutions across the country next Saturday, from where people can use it to light their own lamps.

    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.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 12/09/2023

    A young skier was caught and partially buried in a small avalanche in the Šumava mountains on Friday, the Czech News Agency reports, citing a mountain rescue service press release published on Saturday. Although the man had to be rescued, he managed to escape without injury. The mountain service issued a low-level avalanche warning on Friday for almost the entire area of Šumava.

    Author: Anna Fodor

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