• 11/23/2023

    Around 200 people took part in a rally in support of the Palestinians on Prague’s Wenceslas Square on Wednesday evening. Speakers at the gathering criticised a recent statement from the Czech minister of the interior, who said using the line “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” could become classified as hate speech, supporting terrorism or expressing approval of genocide. Some people see the slogan as a call for the destruction of Israel.

    The meeting’s organisers also called on the Czech media to report objectively on the situation in Gaza, which they say is not currently happening.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 11/23/2023

    It should be mainly overcast in Czechia on Friday, with an average high temperature of 5 degrees Celsius. Temperatures are expected to fall to around freezing at the weekend.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 11/23/2023

    The Czech men’s tennis team have failed to reach the semi-finals of team competition the Davis Cup. The Czechs took the lead against Australia but eventually lost the tie 2:1 on matches, after Jiří Lehečka and Adam Pavlásek lost 4-6 5-7 in the doubles to Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell.

    Speaking after that defeat in Spain’s Malaga on Wednesday evening, the Czechs’ non-playing captain Jaroslav Navrátil said it was a great pity but they had lost with honour.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 11/23/2023

    Czech football club Slavia Prague have been fined over EUR 91,000 (more than CZK 2 million) in connection with a Europa League game against Roma in the Czech capital earlier this month.

    The punishment is for offensive chants, fireworks and thrown objects, among other things. The Czech News Agency says it is the highest ever fine levied by the Disciplinary Committee of UEFA, European football’s governing body.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 11/22/2023

    The heads of state of the four Visegrad Group countries (Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary) all expressed their support for Ukraine at a press conference after Wednesday's V4 summit at Prague Castle. Even Hungary's president, Katalin Novák, said that the common position of the V4 is that Russia must not win the war.

    Recently the V4 countries appeared to have differing opinions about the war in Ukraine, with Hungary refusing to supply weapons to the country and the new Slovak prime minister Robert Fico running on a campaign to cease military support to the country, while Czechia and Poland continue to staunchly provide support.

    The V4 presidents also discussed Ukraine's potential accession to the EU, a point of contention because while Czechia strongly supports Ukraine's membership and has advocated for it to join as quickly as possible, Hungary has reservations regarding the protection of the rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine. Hungarian president Katalin Novák said after the summit that the protection of minorities should not be up for negotiation and that Kyiv should repeal the statute that Hungary considers a restriction on minority rights.

    According to Czech President Petr Pavel, the summit helped to find areas of intersection where the neighbouring central European countries could agree. Aside from Ukraine, the heads of state also discussed the conflict in the Middle East following the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas, the development of infrastructure, and projects financed by the joint International Visegrad Fund, which Mr Pavel said could expand to Ukraine and also to other Eastern Partnership countries and the Western Balkans in the future.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 11/22/2023

    Children's motivation to learn a second foreign language is lower than for their first foreign language, according to the findings of the Czech School Inspectorate. Most primary and secondary school pupils recognise the usefulness of learning another foreign language, but only a minority of them would choose to study one if they did not have to. The exception is English, which 76 percent of primary school students and 92 percent of secondary school students would choose to study, even if they didn't have to. However, most students study English as their first foreign language.

    Three-fifths of the surveyed foreign language teachers at primary schools agree with the proposal to make second foreign languages a non-compulsory subject.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 11/22/2023

    Thursday should be overcast but dry, with daytime temperatures hovering around 6 degrees Celsius.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 11/22/2023

    Chair of the NATO Military Committee Rob Bauer met with Karel Řehka, Chief of the Czech Army General Staff, in Prague on Wednesday to discuss current threats to the security of the alliance. Mr Bauer said at a press conference after the meeting that Ukraine needs to be supported for as long as it takes to win, as if Russia succeeds in its war against Ukraine, it would not be the end of uncertainty in Europe, but the beginning of even more uncertainty. He praised Czechia's support for Ukraine in the form of military equipment supplies, training of Ukrainian soldiers and welcoming of refugees.

    Karel Řehka said that Bauer's visit to Czechia is an important event and an opportunity to bring a Czech perspective. In addition to Řehka, the chair of the NATO Military Committee is also meeting with Deputy Defence Minister Daniel Blažkovec and President Petr Pavel.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 11/22/2023

    The Ministry of Industry and Trade is planning to offer subsidies to private companies for the purchase of electric cars, news site E15 reports. The program, called "Electromobility Guarantee", is being financed by EU funds and is intended to increase electric car sales in Czechia, which are among the lowest in Europe. CZK 1.65 billion has been earmarked for financial support for business owners to invest in electric cars, while the remaining CZK 300 million is reserved for the construction of charging stations.

    Author: Anna Fodor
  • 11/22/2023

    President Petr Pavel has signed off on the government's austerity package, the final step required for it to be passed into law, the Office of the President announced on its website. President Pavel announced his decision to sign the bill earlier on Wednesday. In a video posted on social media site X, he said that he had decided to approve it because of the unsustainable growth rate of Czechia's national debt, adding that if something wasn't done about the state's budget deficit, the country would be passing on the debt to its children and grandchildren.

    He met with three members of the opposition ANO party on Tuesday, who urged him not to approve the bill, which the opposition have fiercely contested from the outset. ANO politician and former finance minister Alena Schillerová said after the meeting that if the president approves the measures, then they will almost certainly take the matter to the Constitutional Court.

    Author: Anna Fodor

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