News

Dozens of people gathered on Prague’s Petřín Hill on Sunday to commemorate the 144th anniversary of the birth of Milan Rastislav Štefánik, one of the founding fathers of Czechoslovakia.

The participants, who included the Slovak Ambassador to Czechia, Ingrid Brocková, and representatives of Sokol, laid flowers at the statue of the Slovak astronomer and politician.

Štefáni was born on July 21, 1880. He first studied in Prague where he met his professor and future collaborator Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. He later moved to France and together with Masaryk and Edvard Beneš endeavored to establish an independent Czechoslovak state.

Firefighters are battling a fire near Domažlice in west Bohemia involving a pile of rubber tyres. The blaze has spread to several surrounding buildings, including a family house.

Eighteen units are currently trying to prevent the fire from spreading further. A third-degree alert is in place. The rescue service is also at the scene as several fire officers have collapsed due to high temperatures.

The Czech National Bank bought almost six tonnes of gold in the second quarter of 2024, Czech Television reported on Sunday, citing the central bank's data on the structure of foreign exchange reserves.

At the end of July, the amount of gold in the central bank's reserves reached 41.49 tonnes. Over the past twelve months, the Czech National Bank's gold reserves have more than doubled.

The Prague Open women’s tennis tournament gets underway in the Czech capital on Sunday. Sara Bejlek will be the first local tennis player to appear in the singles, taking on the third seeded Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina in the afternoon.

Fresh Wimbledon winner Barbora Krejcikova withdrew from the women’s singles due to a busy schedule before the Olympics. However, she will appear in the doubles alongside Kateřina Siniaková. Wimbledon doubles champion Siniaková will also play singles.