• 01/11/2024

    Inflation in Czechia for the whole last year reached 10.7 percent, according to data published by the Czech Statistics Office on Thursday. That was 4.4 percentage points below the level for 2022, when the country saw the second highest rise in consumer prices in its history.

    December saw inflation slow to 6.9 percent from the 7.3 percent recorded the previous month. The slowdown in December was driven by alcohol and food prices.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 01/11/2024

    Most anti-flood measures employed in Prague in response to rising river levels were discontinued on Thursday. All the city’s embankments were reopened to the public at 8 am, while cars are also now allowed to drive on riverside walkways. The flood gates on Čertovka stream have been reopened.

    Only the pedestrian walking section of the Rašín embankment will remain closed for the time being, an official said. The Czech Hydro-Meteorological Institute will end a flood alert for Prague on Thursday evening.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 01/10/2024

    An apology proffered by MP Jiří Kobza of the Freedom and Direct Democracy party over statements he made following a mass shooting at Prague’s Charles University is insufficient, the institution said on Wednesday.

    The university said it would file criminal charges of spreading false alarm and using hate speech against the politician after he blamed the institution for the shooting, which was carried out by a student there, saying it had helped shape his outlook through “inclusive progressive education”.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 01/10/2024

    In view of the crisis situation, the Czech police and the Ministry of the Interior handled communication correctly with regard to a mass shooting at a Prague university last month, the interior minister, Vít Rakušan, said on Wednesday.

    The minister told reporters that he would task the head of the Czech police force with improving channels of communication with other “soft targets” in case of future tragic events.

    Fourteen people lost their lives when a student at the Faculty of Arts in central Prague went on a shooting spree before killing himself. He had earlier murdered a man and his two-month old baby as well as his own father.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 01/10/2024

    The Czech prime minister, Petr Fiala, and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, discussed strengthening Czech-Indian cooperation at a meeting in the Indian city of Gandhinagar on Wednesday. Mr. Fiala said his host had, for instance, expressed interest in the development of small modular nuclear reactors.

    The two leaders also agreed on a strategic partnership on innovation in such fields as medicine, AI and cybernetics, Mr. Fiala told reporters.

    At an economic forum in Gujarat the Czech leader said his country was looking for reliable democratic partners in the wake of the war in Ukraine and that India had a key role to play in this regard.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 01/10/2024

    Memorial organisations at Lidice and Ležáky, two Czech villages destroyed by the Nazis in World War II, are cancelling some events this year due to a lack of money, the Czech News Agency reported. The head of the Lidice Memorial, Eduard Stehlík, said that two concerts planned for 2024 had been cancelled while an exhibition may also have to be called off.

    An annual event involving children’s choirs named Light for Lidice will now be held only once every five years. A concert of thanksgiving at Ležáky has been cancelled after the first year and will take place only on round anniversaries in future.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 01/10/2024

    The lower house should discuss the introduction of postal voting for Czechs living abroad at a special session next Wednesday. The debate has been called by the chair of the Chamber of Deputies, Markéta Pekarová Adamová of government party TOP09.

    The opposition parties ANO and Freedom and Direct Democracy are against the bill, which they say would be a threat to democracy. They are expected to continue a previous tactic of filibustering in debates on postal voting. Observers say such a change could impact their support.

    Most European Union countries allow postal voting.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 01/10/2024

    The minister of culture, Martin Baxa, says he agrees with trade unions that wages in the arts sector should be higher, but Czechia’s economic situation means that expectations in that regard cannot be met this year. He made the comments before a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

    Unions accuse the government and the minister of failing to address problems in the culture sector, saying a promise of salary increases in 2023 was not met. They say the government pledged to bring spending on culture closer to one percent of the state budget but in fact underfunding is getting worse.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 01/10/2024

    It should be mainly overcast in Czechia on Thursday, with an average high temperature of 1 degree Celsius. Similar weather is expected on the following days.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 01/10/2024

    Jiří Kobza, an MP for the Freedom and Direct Democracy Party, who suggested in a post on social networks that the Faculty of Arts had only itself to blame for the tragic shooting on its premises because it has “molded the student responsible for the attack” has publicly apologized for the comment. He published the apology shortly after the rector of Charles University, Milena Kralíčkova, announced that the faculty would sue him for slander.

    Just hours after the tragedy, Kobza wrote on social networks that the Faculty of Arts should take the blame for having helped mold the shooter by the “inclusive progressive education”  it provided, which he said "begged the question what kind of indoctrination program of hate was being taught there".

    In a joint statement the rectors of Czech universities said they consider the post to be “absolutely shocking, crossing the boundaries of decency, morality and good taste."

    In his apology Kobza said he had been in a highly emotional state when he posted the comment.

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