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Cardinal Dominik Duka, former Archbishop of Prague and one of the most prominent figures in the Czech Catholic Church, has died at the age of 82. The Prague Archdiocese announced his death on Facebook, saying he passed away early Tuesday morning. Born in 1943 as Jaroslav Duka, he entered the Dominican Order in 1968 and served as a priest until communist authorities revoked his state license in 1975. He then worked in an engineering plant while continuing religious activities underground, for which he was imprisoned in the early 1980s alongside future president Václav Havel.

Appointed Bishop of Hradec Králové in 1998 and Archbishop of Prague in 2010, Duka became a cardinal two years later. He played a key role in negotiating church restitution with the Czech state and was awarded the Order of the White Lion in 2016. He led the Czech Catholic Church until 2022.

Czech winemakers will deliver around 1.9 million bottles of St. Martin’s wine to the market this year, about the same as in 2024. Consumers will be able to choose from 323 wines produced by 73 wineries, representatives of the Czech Winegrowers’ Union and the Wine Fund announced. Sales will start on Friday, November 7, and prices remain unchanged from last year. According to the fund’s director Zbyněk Vičar, the 20th edition of the St. Martin’s wines is “fresh, aromatic and juicy, with lower alcohol content and a clear Moravian style.” About half of this year’s batch are white wines, mainly Müller Thurgau and Moravian Muscat.

Representatives of the ANO party, the Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party, and the Motorists’ party have signed a coalition agreement in the lower house of parliament. The document confirms the division of ministerial posts and states that the next prime minister will come from ANO, while the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies will be nominated by SPD. The emerging coalition will hold a majority of 108 seats in the 200-member parliament. According to ANO leader Andrej Babiš, the parties were united by their goal to replace the outgoing government. SPD chairman Tomio Okamura described the deal as “the end of a government that harmed Czech interests,” and Motorists’ leader Petr Macinka called it “the first step toward change demanded by voters.”

ANO will control nine ministries, including finance, industry, health, labour, education, the interior, regional development, and justice. SPD will nominate ministers for defence, agriculture, and transport, while the Motorists’ party will lead foreign affairs, culture, the environment, and a newly created ministry for sport, prevention, and health.

Police arrested 19 people during a raid at the headquarters of the General Health Insurance Company (VZP) in Prague on Monday, the High Public Prosecutor’s Office confirms. The operation, led by the National Centre against Organised Crime (NCOZ), focuses mainly on the company’s contracts, reportedly including IT services. VZP, which manages health insurance for more than six million clients, says it is acting as a damaged party and is fully cooperating with investigators. The company, bound by confidentiality, refers all information requests to the supervising prosecutor’s office. Detectives have also questioned staff from the Office for the Protection of Competition (UOHS).