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Budějovický Budvar brewed a record 1.865 million hectoliters of beer last year, up 4.3 percent year-on-year, the head of the brewery Petr Dvořák told the ctk news agency. He says the brewery expects record sales of more than CZK 3 billion in 2023. This year, Budvar is planning to spend CZK 60 million to expand its capacity to gradually increase production to 2.1 million hectoliters. In 2026, it plans to start upgrading its visitor center and grounds at a cost of hundreds of millions. Budvar raised the price of its beers between 5 and 8 percent at the end of last year, and says it is not planning a further increase this year.

Consumer prices in Czechia rose by 6.9 percent year-on-year in December, with a slight decrease of 0.4 percent month-on-month, according to data released by the Czech Statistics Office. The average inflation rate for the whole of 2023 was 10.7 percent. The slight drop in inflation in December was due to lower prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages as well as gas and fuel prices. On the other hand, the cost of housing and electricity increased.

The Czech cabinet has asked Interior Minister Vít Rakušan to present a comprehensive crisis response strategy for the future, complete with financial requirements for implementing the said measures. Moreover, the Interior Ministry is to give the National Security Council a detailed assessment of the crisis response of the police force to the tragic shooting at Prague’s Faculty of Arts on December 21, which saw 14 people killed and 25 injured, bz the end of the month . At a press briefing in Prague on Friday Minister Rakušan said he considered security measures to be of key importance. He said that while no state could guarantee preventing such attacks, it was essential to take all possible measures to minimize the risks and impacts of such incidents.

An internal check into the police response to the shooting at the Prague Faculty of Arts, the results of which were made public this week, concluded that the police intervention was “fast, professional and fully in line with internal regulations”. However experts said crisis communication could have been better, pointing out that the faculty and university management was not informed immediately about the danger.

Responding to criticism from one Czech MP, whose daughter was seriously hurt in the shooting, Rakušan said he could not rule out isolated lapses by individuals.

František Janouch, nuclear physicist and founder and long-time chairman of the Charter 77 Foundation, died in Sweden on Friday at the age of 92. The news of his death was announced by the Charter 77 Foundation which wrote that Janouch was one of the most important figures in Czech public life in the second half of the 20th century. He authored scores of scientific papers, was a member of international scientific organizations and lectured at a number of universities.