• 07/06/2024

    Czech tennis player Barbora Krejčíková has advanced to the round of 16 at Wimbledon for the second time in her career. She won against Spain's Jessica Bouzas 6-0, 4-3 on Saturday after the Spaniard dropped out due to a back injury. Krejčíková will next play the American Danielle Collins on Monday for a place in the quarterfinals.

    In the women's doubles, Krejčíková's former partner Kateřina Siniaková and the American Taylor Townsend beat France's Elixane Lechemia and the Australian Olivia Gadecki 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 in the second round on Saturday after resuming play. The match was suspended on Friday in the first set due to bad weather.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/06/2024

    The legacy of Jan Hus was commemorated on Saturday with church services in Prague's Bethlehem Chapel and the South Bohemian town of Husinec. Roughly 100 people attended the ecumenical service in Husinec, where the priest and church reformer was born around 1370. The town's mayor said that more people are expected to attend next year when it will be 610 years since Hus was burned at the stake. July 6 has been a public holiday in the Czech calendar since 1990.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/06/2024

    The Czech team beat Vietnam 3:0 at the Women's Volleyball Challenger Cup in Manila, the Philippines on Saturday. The highest-scoring player was Gabriela Orvošová with 16 points.

    The Czechs are now in the final of the qualifying tournament for the Nations League. They will be playing Puerto Rico at 12:30 CEST on Sunday for a chance at promotion to the elite women's volleyball league.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/06/2024

    Dutch politician Geert Wilders' far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) is set to join the new political alliance Patriots for Europe in the European Parliament (EP), recently formed by right-wing parties from Czechia, Hungary and Austria: Andrej Babiš's ANO party, Viktor Orban's Fidesz party, and the right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). In a post on social media site X, Wilders announced the move, wrote that he rejected "illegal migration" and expressed support for Ukraine.

    The formation of the Patriots for Europe alliance was announced in Vienna last week by Orban, Babiš, and FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl. Between them, the three founding parties have the minimum number of 23 MEPs required to establish a political group in the European Parliament, but they still need parties from at least four other countries to join them, as the prerequisite also stipulates that an alliance must have MEPs from at least seven EU member states in order to register as an officially recognised parliamentary group.

    In addition to Wilders' party, which has six seats in the European Parliament, the far-right Portuguese Chega party and the Spanish Vox party have also said they will join, meaning Patriots for Europe have so far secured MEPs from six countries out of the required seven.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/06/2024

    The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute has expanded its storm warning for Saturday evening to the whole of Bohemia and Vysočina in addition to south Moravia. The heaviest storms are expected to hit southern Bohemia, with wind speeds of up to 90 km/h.

    A high-temperature warning is also in force for South Moravia, Prague, most of central Bohemia and parts of surrounding regions to the north and east, where temperatures are predicted to rise above 31 degrees Celsius on Saturday. The Hydrometeorological Institute advises people to drink lots of fluids, limit outdoor afternoon activities, and not to leave children and pets in direct sunlight, especially in parked cars.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/06/2024

    President Petr Pavel has joined the Czech head of government Petr Fiala in congratulating Labour leader Keir Starmer on becoming the new UK prime minister. On social media site X on Friday evening, the Czech president said that their two countries were like-minded on many issues and that he looked forward to further advancing bilateral cooperation and enhancing security in Europe and beyond, starting next week at the NATO summit in Washington.

    The UK parliamentary elections took place on Thursday, with the Labour landslide victory announced on Friday after 14 years of Conservative rule.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/05/2024

    Czech Marie Bouzková lost her doubles match with Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-3, 6-4 against the French duo of Kristina Mladenovic and Caroline Garcia at Wimbledon on Friday. Whether her compatriots Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková will advance to the next round is uncertain as their matches, also scheduled for Friday, were both suspended partway through due to rain.

    Krejčíková and her German partner Laura Siegemund were a game away from victory when the weather put a stop to play, leading 7-6(1), 5-4 against the British pair Eden Silva and Samantha Murray Sharan. Meanwhile, Krejčíková's former doubles partner Kateřina Siniaková's match with the American Taylor Townsend had barely got off the ground before it was suspended due to the bad weather. Still only in the first set, Siniaková and Townsend were however leading over the Australian Olivia Gadecki and the French Elixane Lechemia 2-1.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/05/2024

    Saturday will see high temperatures reaching above 31 degrees Celsius in some parts of Czechia, with air humidity increasing throughout the day. Most of the country will be hit by thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening that could include torrential rain, hail and 70 kph wind in some places.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/05/2024

    Viktor Orban does not represent Czech or EU interests in Moscow nor does he have any mandate to negotiate on behalf of either, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala wrote on social media site X following the Hungarian prime minister's bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday. Mr Fiala reiterated that the Czech position on the war in Ukraine is clear in that Putin is the aggressor and that Czechia stands with Ukraine.

    Hungary took over the rotating six-month presidency of the EU Council on Monday and soon afterwards Orban met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Tuesday. According to Reuters, Mr Orban described his trip to Moscow as a continuation of the "peace mission" which he started with his visit to the Ukrainian capital. Orban arrived in Moscow on Friday morning to hold talks with Putin and following the meeting, the Russian News Agency TASS reported that Putin had said the two had discussed possibilities for settling the war in Ukraine. The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, emphasised that Orban's trip is a bilateral visit without an EU mandate.

    Despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Hungary maintains good relations with the country, refusing to provide military aid to Kyiv and criticising the EU's sanctions on Russia. Orban is one of the few Western leaders to have met with Putin since the beginning of the invasion. Before the meeting, Orban said that Hungary is the last European country that can still have a dialogue with both Russia and Ukraine.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 07/05/2024

    Barbora Krejčíková is the only Czech left in the singles tournaments at Wimbledon after her fellow Czech tennis players Kateřina Siniaková, Brenda Fruhvirtová, Marie Bouzková and Tomáš Macháč failed to advance to the third round in their matches on Thursday. Krejčíková, currently ranked world No. 32 in women's singles by the WTA, was the only Czech to win in the second round, beating the USA's Katie Volynets 7:6, 7:6.

    In the third round on Saturday, she will next face Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, who defeated world No. 6 and Wimbledon defending champion Markéta Vondroušová in the first round on Centre Court on Tuesday.

    Author: Anna Fodor

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