• 06/19/2024

    Prague has been rated as the best place to live in Czechia for the third time in a row by the Place for Life benchmarking survey conducted by the analytical agency Datank. The South Moravian Region moved up to second place from last year's fourth, while the Hradec Králové Region dropped to third place on the ladder. The Karlovy Vary Region came last this year. The ranking is based on social and environmental criteria and the general satisfaction of the given region’s inhabitants.

  • 06/19/2024

    Roman Berbr, former vice-president of the Czech Football Association, has been found guilty of embezzling money from the Plzeň Regional Football Association, for which he received a suspended sentence, a financial penalty and a ban on further activities in the sports association. The Plzeň District Court which tried the case did not find him guilty of match-fixing or participating in an organized criminal group. Roman Rogoz, the former sports director of Slavoj Vyšehrad, was given a four-year prison sentence. Twenty people are being tried together with Berbr in a scandal that rocked the Czech sports world.

  • 06/19/2024

    Temperatures in some parts of Czechia surpassed 20 degrees Celsius at night, making it the country’s first tropical night of the year.

    The hottest place in the country was Mořkov in Moravia-Silesia, where night-time highs reached 23 degrees Celsius. In most parts of the country, night temperatures ranged between 14 to 19 degrees Celsius.

    The current heatwave is forecast last until Friday, with a drop in temperatures expected at the weekend.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 06/19/2024

    The Czech national soccer team were beaten 2:1 by Portugal in their first game at the European Football Championship in Germany on Tuesday night.

    Lukáš Provod opened the scoring in the 62nd minute in Leipzig, but seven minutes later Robin Hranáč scored an own goal. Portugal’s Conceicao then sealed the win in the second minute of stoppage time.

    The Czech team will next face Georgia on Saturday.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 06/18/2024

    The Supreme Court of Russia's Tatarstan has rejected an appeal by Alsa Kurmasheva, a Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist, against a decision to extend her pre-trial detention.

    Ms. Kurmasheva, who is Russian-American, was arrested in the Russian city of Kazan in October last year after visiting her family and charged with failure to register as a foreign agent, which can carry a five-year jail term.

    The U.S. government and RFE/RL say the charges are punishment for Kurmasheva's work as a journalist for RFE/RL.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 06/18/2024

    Approximately two-thirds of Czechs are in favour of a quick end to the war in Ukraine even at the cost of territorial losses for the country, suggests a poll by the STEM agency carried out in March and released on Tuesday.

    According to the survey, 55 percent of Czechs support the stay of Ukrainian refugees in Czechia. Some 74 percent of people agree with humanitarian aid and 65 percent support infrastructure reconstruction in Ukraine.

    The poll also suggests that 54 percent of Czechs disapprove of the supply of weapons and military equipment to Ukraine and 61 are against negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 06/18/2024

    Wednesday will be mostly sunny with day temperatures ranging between 28 and 33 degrees Celsius.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 06/18/2024

    A commemorative event to honour the memory of the Czechoslovak paratroopers who assassinated Nazi governor Reinhard Heydrich was held on Sunday at Prague’s Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius, where they died after an SS siege 82 years ago today. The event was attended by dozens of people, including the Speaker of the Senate, Miloš Vystrčil, and Minister for Legislation Michal Šalomoun.

    Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, together with five others who were part of Operation Anthropoid hid in this Prague church for five days until they were tracked down by the SS, leading to a final, desperate gun battle on June 18.

    Heydrich’s assassination became a symbol of Czech independence and was later hailed as an important moment in the resistance movement. His death led to a wave of revenge acts, including the Lidice and Ležáky massacres.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 06/18/2024

    Czech-Slovak relations are above-standard and must be nurtured, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said on Tuesday after a meeting with his Slovak counterpart Juraj Blanár in Bratislava, adding that there is a will to do so is on both sides.

    Mr. Lipavský also said the Czech government will "at some point" lead a discussion on the possible resumption of intergovernmental cabinet meetings with Slovakia, which were suspended in March this year due to differences over foreign policy, notably the conflicting stances on the ongoing war in Ukraine.

    After taking office last year, the current Slovak government of Prime Minister Robert Fico halted all state-financed military aid to Ukraine. Mr. Fico has also previously argued that the Western countries' strategy on Ukraine has failed and that Russia cannot be defeated in a conventional war.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 06/18/2024

    Czech students showed average performance in an international benchmarking study on creative thinking. Students from 64 OECD countries were tested in how well they generate creative ideas, as well as evaluate and improve on them in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022.

    A total of 6,600 students participated in the study. Singapore came first in the ranking, followed by South Korea, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Estonia and Finland.

    The results showed a significant performance gap between the best and worst performing countries. They also revealed that countries with above-average scores in maths, reading and science knowledge and skills also outperformed the OECD average in creative thinking.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková

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