• 11/25/2023

    The Czech Ministry of Health have advised Czechs who are in or travelling to China to exercise caution due to a new viral outbreak in the country causing respiratory illnesses. Czech health officials made the announcement on the social network X on Saturday.

    Among the precautions they mentioned vaccination, avoiding contact with sick people, staying at home when not feeling well, wearing masks and regular hand washing.

    A new virus in China is causing pneumonia, especially in children. Earlier this week, the WHO expressed concern about the rise in respiratory illnesses in China, but also said the country had not detected any new pathogen.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 11/25/2023

    Czech parliament speakers Markéta Pekarová Adamová and Miloš Vystrčil paid tribute to the victims of the Soviet-era Ukrainian famine during their visit to Kyiv on Saturday. The Czech politicians, along with their EU counterparts, lit candles at the memorial for the Great Famine.

    Last year, the Czech Parliament officially recognized the Holodomor – a man-made starvation of Soviet Ukraine in the 1930s that killed millions of people – as an act of genocide.

    The speakers of both houses of the Czech parliament also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the head of Ukraine’s parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk.

    Speaking to the Ukrainian MPs, Czech lower house speaker Markéta Pekarová Adamová said Czechia will continue to supply weapons to Ukraine. According to the Senate Speaker Miloš Vystrčil, Ukraine deserves further support because it is not only fighting for itself, but also for other European democracies.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 11/25/2023

    Czech tennis player Kateřina Siniaková will start a new doubles partnership with Australia’s Storm Hunter after ending her collaboration with Barbora Krejčíková. The two tennis players are expected to play together at the Australian Open in January.

    Siniaková and Krejčíková, former world No. 1s, announced earlier this month they were parting ways after winning seven Grand Slam titles and Olympic gold together. Storm Hunter, who is 29, played alongside Belgium’s Elise Mertens this year, winning two titles and reaching the Wimbledon final.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 11/25/2023

    Winners of the 31st annual Building of the Year contest were announced by the Foundation for the Development of Architecture and Civil Engineering at a ceremony at Prague’s Rudolfinum on Friday night.

    Among the ten winners are the Štvanice footbridge connecting Prague’s districts of Holešovice and Karlín, the family care pavilion at the Pelhřimov Hospital or the multifunctional sports hall Kapka near Vsetín.

    The title of Foreign Construction of the Year was awarded to the Milochov Tunnel on the railway line between the Slovak towns of Žilina and Púchov.

    This year’s Building of the Year contest saw 110 applications, with the expert jury nominating 38 of them.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 11/25/2023

    Singer Ewa Farna was the overall winner of the 61st Czech Nightingale (Český slavík) awards in Prague on Friday night. The top men’s prize went to Marek Ztracený, while the heavy metal band Kabát triumphed in the group category of the competition, which is decided by a public poll.

    Veteran singer and actor Václav Neckář, who has recently turned 80, entered the Czech Nightingale Hall of Fame. The event took place at Forum Karlín.

    The organisers said over 2,110,000 votes had been cast, which is a new record. The competition was created in the early 1960s and was previously known as the Golden Nightingale (Zlatý slavík).

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 11/24/2023

    Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala received his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico on Friday. Mr. Fico, who is in Prague for his first official foreign visit since his election, told reporters that the two countries have similar views on most issues, with the exception of arms deliveries to Ukraine.

    Among the topics discussed by the Slovak and Czech prime ministers were energy, transport, security and defence. Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Mr. Fico said Slovakia was fully committed to EU and NATO membership and was ready to fulfil its obligations.

    He also welcomed Mr Fiala's readiness to call a meeting of the Visegrad Four countries after the formation of the new Polish government, adding that the current format of the V4 is stalled.

    The two politicians agreed on continuing the tradition of joint meetings of the Czech and Slovak governments. The next joint session is due to take place in Prague in the spring of next year.

    Mr. Fico’s visit is taking place amid heightened media interest caused by critical comments made by Czech and Slovak politicians during the campaign preceding Slovak elections in late September.

    Several dozen people gathered on the Vltava embankment near the seat of the Czech government on Friday morning to protest against the Slovak Prime Minister, carrying EU and Ukrainian flags; Mr. Fico has halted Slovak support to Ukraine.

    Earlier on Friday, Mr. Fico met for a working breakfast with Senate Speaker Miloš Vystrčil and laid flowers at the memorial to Czechoslovakia's co-founder Milan Rastislav Štefánik at Strahov.

    Later in the day, he was also due to meet with President Petr Pavel and the leader of the opposition ANO party and former prime minister Andrej Babiš.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 11/24/2023

    The Czech Head (Česká Hlava) awards were presented to outstanding Czech scientists in Prague on Friday. The main award went to cardiologist Zuzana Moťovská, a Charles University professor and an expert in cardiovascular and coronary artery diseases. She is the first woman to receive the top prize.

    Other awards went to Jan Martínek for new minimally invasive treatments of stomach and esophageal diseases and archaeologist Jiří Macháček for the discovery of Germanic runes at a Slavic settlement.

    The Czech Head Awards were launched in 2002 by a team of scientists and marketing experts in order to support and promote Czech science among the public as an "attractive brand". It includes several sub-awards for work in distinct areas of science.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 11/24/2023

    Saturday will be mostly overcast with occasional snow showers and day temperatures ranging between -1 and 3 degrees Celsius.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 11/24/2023

    Gas consumption in Czechia continues to decline. According to newly released data by the Czech Energy Regulatory Office, it fell by 11 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of this year.

    Among the factors contributing to the drop in gas consumption are favourable weather and energy saving measures. Businesses reduced their consumption by nearly 35 percent, followed by households with 28 percent and large consumers with nearly six percent.

    People are also saving on electricity, with consumption down 4.8 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of the year.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 11/24/2023

    The promotion of democracy, human rights and civil society as part of Czech foreign policy since the 1990s is also a legacy of the late politicians President Václav Havel and Karel Schwarzenberg, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said at the opening of the informal session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Prague on Friday.

    Mr Lipavský also said that protecting human rights can reduce the emergence of security threats such as terrorism or illegal migration.

    Czechia is running for the UN Human Rights Council for the period 2025 to 2027 and for the position of non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the years 2032 and 2033. The current chair of the Human Rights Council is Václav Bálek, Czechia’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková

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