• 10/17/2025

    A 43-year-old Czech tourist has died after falling about 300 meters on Mount Rysy in Slovakia’s High Tatras, the Slovak Mountain Rescue Service reported. He likely slipped on icy terrain. The Czech Foreign Ministry confirmed the man’s death. Rescuers began searching after his family lost contact with him on Tuesday. Poor weather prevented the use of helicopters, and his body was later found below the Žabie Pleso area, on the trail leading to the popular summit at the Slovak-Polish border. In a separate incident, another Czech tourist was seriously injured in the Western Tatras.

    Author: Vít Pohanka
  • 10/17/2025

    More than 112,000 people in Czechia have been vaccinated against hepatitis A this year — nearly twice as many as in 2024, the Health Ministry said. The Czech Medical Society of Jan Evangelista Purkyně considers the more than 1,800 reported cases this year — the second-highest number since 1989 — an epidemic. Experts say the main reason for the surge is low vaccination coverage and the loss of natural immunity after decades without a major outbreak. “Since the large 1979 epidemic linked to imported Polish strawberries, most of our population hasn’t been exposed to the virus,” said Pavel Dlouhý, head of the Infectious Diseases Society.

    Author: Vít Pohanka
  • 10/17/2025

    ANO party leader and likely future prime minister Andrej Babiš calls on the outgoing government not to make major decisions before leaving office. In a video posted Friday, he criticizes the cabinet for launching a selection process to replace the late Dana Drábová as head of the State Office for Nuclear Safety and for reports about the purchase of luxury BMW cars for state agencies. “Do you want to install your own people there? Stop doing deals,” Babiš says. The Finance Ministry says the framework contract does not oblige any agency to buy the vehicles.

    Author: Vít Pohanka
  • 10/17/2025

    Fishermen from Třeboň start harvesting the Rožmberk lake on Friday morning. The country’s largest artificial body of water is expected to yield around 100 tonnes of fish, similar to previous years. The three-day event traditionally attracts tens of thousands of visitors. Jan Hůda, chairman of Rybářství Třeboň, says carp will again make up about 90 percent of the catch. He expects Christmas market prices to stay the same as last year, when the company sold carp for 119 crowns per kilo.

    Covering 647 hectares, Rožmberk is the largest lake in Czechia, though its yield per hectare is average. Hůda says the harvest is a celebration rather than a race: “We take our time here to give people an experience.” The company manages about 450 ponds and expects a total autumn yield of around 1,700 tonnes of market fish.

    Author: Vít Pohanka
  • 10/17/2025

    Representatives of environmental NGOs meet Friday morning with ANO party leader Andrej Babiš, who is forming a coalition government with the Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party and the Motorists’ party. They discuss the future direction of the Environment Ministry and priorities in protecting nature and the climate. The meeting follows criticism of a possible nomination of Motorists’ leader Petr Macinka as environment minister. Over 20 environmental groups urge Babiš not to appoint anyone from the Motorists’ party, calling instead for a candidate who can balance environmental protection with modern industry, energy, and agriculture, based on science and expert dialogue.

    Author: Vít Pohanka
  • 10/16/2025

    The original founding charter of Vyšší Brod Monastery is now on public display for the first time at the Famed & Flowing: Vltava exhibition in the Riding Hall of Prague Castle. Dating back to the 13th century, the Latin document is notable for being one of the earliest sources to use the original Czech name for the Vltava River.

    Curator Petr Pavelec told reporters that visitors can view the charter until November 14. The exhibition runs until January 4 and marks the conclusion of the Famed & Flowing: Vltava project by the National Heritage Institute, with contributions from other institutions.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 10/16/2025

    Friday will be mostly overcast with occasional rain. Day temperatures will range between 10 and 14 degrees Celsius.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 10/16/2025

    Czech police have charged seven people with VAT fraud in electronics trading, causing a record CZK 4.7 billion in losses. If convicted, they face five to ten years in prison.

    The investigation, led by the National Centre for Combating Organized Crime (NCOZ), found that the group imported electronics from the US, UAE, and Hong Kong through Czech companies, then declared shipments to firms in Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia that never received the goods. The electronics went to other buyers not yet identified.

    Police raided homes on Monday, detaining ten people, with six placed in custody on October 15. NCOZ worked with European and Slovak partners, conducted 19 searches, and seized assets worth CZK 42 million.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 10/16/2025

    The annual Signal Festival opens in Prague on Thursday, turning parts of the city center and the Vinohrady district into an open-air gallery of light and digital art.

    This year’s novelty is a 3D projection on a 10-by-20-meter water screen at Dvořák Embankment. Videomapping also returns to the Basilica of St. Ludmila at Náměstí Míru, and for the first time, projections will light up the Old Town Hall Tower.

    Visitors can explore 17 installations, ten of them free to enter. The shows run every evening from 7 p.m. to midnight through Sunday.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 10/16/2025

    A runaway dog brought part of Prague’s metro line A to a halt on Thursday, with service disrupted for around five hours. Service was first suspended between Dejvická and Nemocnice Motol around 9 a.m., later expanding to Náměstí Míru–Nemocnice Motol. Replacement buses ran in the affected section, the transport company and police said.

    Police reported the dog, a young German Shepherd, entered the tracks at Motol station, forcing power to be switched off during the search. The dog was caught at around 2 p.m. after running through the tunnel toward Bořislavka.

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