• Czechia wins four-year place on UNESCO Executive Board
    11/16/2023

    Czechia has been elected to the Executive Board of UNESCO for the period 2023 to 2027, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday night. The country won a seat on the body at a meeting in Paris.

    During its mandate, Czechia plans to focus on the transformation of education and the protection of cultural and natural heritage, officials said.

    Along with the General Conference, the Executive Board is the governing body of UNESCO.

    Czechia was last a member of the Executive Board within the Central and Eastern European Group from 2012 to 2015.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Čaputová meets Pavel at start of visit on eve of Velvet Revolution anniversary
    11/16/2023

    The Slovak president, Zuzana Čaputová, visited Prague on the eve of the anniversary of the start of the Velvet Revolution on November 17. She was welcomed at Prague Castle by her Czech counterpart, Petr Pavel, on Thursday morning.

    After an official ceremony that also included both presidents’ partners, the national anthems of the two states were played. The heads of state inspected members of the Prague Castle Guard and Zuzana Čaputová signed a guest book.

    The Slovak head of state also had a number other engagements planned in Prague, including laying a wreath at a memorial to the Velvet Revolution in the downtown area.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová to visit Czechia ahead of freedom celebrations
    11/16/2023

    Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová will pay a one-day working visit to Czechia on Thursday, on the eve of the country’s Freedom and Democracy Day celebrations. She will be received with state honours at Prague Castle by President Pavel. A private meeting between the heads of state will be followed by a working lunch. In the afternoon, the two presidents will meet with students to debate current affairs and issues linked freedom and democracy.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Six banks launch payment-to-contact service
    11/16/2023

    Six banks have launched a service that will enable clients to send payments using only a person’s phone number. The payment-to-contact service aims to simplify transactions and reduce errors. Clients who wish to use the service will have to register their phone number with the bank. Two more banks expect to launch the service within the next year. The banks which have already launched the service are Air Bank, Česká spořitelna, ČSOB, Fio banka, Komerční banka and Raiffeisenbank.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Company managing Russian assets in Czechia put on national sanctions list
    11/16/2023

    A company managing property owned by the Russian state in the Czech Republic has been placed on the national sanctions list, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said after Wednesday’s cabinet session. The company’s accounts will be frozen and the property owned will be blacklisted in the land register to prevent its sale to a third party. This will not apply to the Russian Embassy’s facilities. The move, initiated by the Czech Foreign Ministry should guarantee that income generated by the company in this country will not be used to finance the war in Ukraine.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Labour minister presents outline of pension reform
    11/16/2023

    Labour and Social Affairs Minister Marian Jurečka on Wednesday presented the outlines of a proposed pension reform that should ensure a sustainable pension system for future generations. The proposal envisages a gradual increase in the retirement age linked to a higher life expectancy, a different basis for calculating old-age pensions, a lower indexation of pensions and a minimum pension amounting to 20 percent of the average wage. The changes, which must still be approved by Parliament, should come into effect as of 2025. Most of the changes would affect people born after 1966. The present retirement age is 65 for both men and women.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Numbers relating to date of birth will remain on Czechs’ ID cards
    11/15/2023

    Numbers relating to people’s date of birth will remain on Czechs’ ID cards, despite the fact that the numbers can be used to decipher the age and gender of the bearer. The lower house passed an amendment to that effect on Tuesday, backtracking on earlier plans to stop using birth numbers on ID cards as of 2025. The amendment still recons on their being removed in due time, but there is no deadline by when the transition should take place.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Military vehicles collide on D6 motorway
    11/15/2023

    A passenger car and three Pandur armoured personnel carriers collided on the D6 motorway near Prague on Wednesday morning, the ctk news agency reported. Four soldiers suffered light injuries and were taken to a hospital in Kladno. According to early reports the military vehicles crashed into each other as they were braking. The cause of the accident is being investigated.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Weather forecast

    11/15/2023

    Thursday should be partly cloudy to overcast with rain showers and day temperatures between 9 and 11 degrees Celsius.

  • One million Czechs overusing psychoactive drugs
    11/15/2023

    One million people in the country are overusing psychoactive drugs such as tranquillizers, insomnia or strong painkillers, according to Czechia's national anti-drug coordinator, Jindřich Vobořil. According to his data, nearly 200,000 people take them daily, and women are about twice as likely to take them as men. According to Vobořil, patients often go to different doctors to get prescriptions for these drugs and doctors frequently fail to check the central database to see what else they are taking. He warned that withdrawal from these drugs can be difficult to manage without medical help, as the symptoms can be life-threatening.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

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