• 10/25/2023

    Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala will seek unequivocal support for Israel and its right to self-defence at Thurday’s summit in Brussels. Mr Fiala made the statement on the social network X after a meeting with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.

    Mr Fiala also noted that Israel was Czechia’s key ally and had the right to peace and security, adding that Czechia stands firmly by its side.

    Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, the Czech prime minister said Czechia was ready to provide assistance to Israel thanks to its strong defence industry, but refused to outline any further details.

    Mr Fiala, who is visiting Israel together with the Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, also held talks with the country’s president, Isaac Herzog. They discussed, among other things, the Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 10/25/2023

    Thursday will be partly cloudy to overcast with occasional rain showers and day temperatures ranging between 12 and 16 degrees Celsius.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 10/25/2023

    The police have announced planned checks on outlets selling alcohol during school autumn holidays set to begin on Thursday, Veronika Hodačová from the police’s prevention department said on Wednesday. Police officers will be targeting clubs, bars, restaurants and shops to make sure minors are not served alcohol or allowed to gamble.

    One of the reasons is that Czech youngsters have been regularly topping the European ladder in the consumption of alcoholic beverages and cigarettes. Similar checks have also been carried out in previous years.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 10/25/2023

    Germany will extend border controls with Czechia, Poland and Switzerland by at least 20 days, the German interior minister, Nancy Faeser, announced on Wednesday. She said she had already discussed this with the neighbouring countries and did not rule out further extensions of controls.

    Germany resumed border controls with Czechia, Poland and Switzerland on 16 October in a bid to fight human trafficking. It also extended controls with Austria, which were introduced in 2015, for another six months.

    The checks are not carried out across the entire length of the border, but only at selected points. In the case of the Czech-German border, German police patrol the motorway between Prague and Dresden.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 10/25/2023

    Some 73 percent of Czechs read at least one printed or electronic book per year, according to new research by the National Library and the Institute for Czech Literature of the Czech Academy of Sciences presented on Thursday. That figure is the lowest since 2007, when the survey was carried out for the first time.

    The results of the research also show that every Czech over the age of 15 reads 9.9 books a year on average, spending 33 minutes a day reading. Women read on average 12.8 books, while men only about half of that amount. According to the survey, some 28 percent of Czechs go to the library at least once a year, compared to 40 percent in 2007.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 10/25/2023

    Czechia will be hosting its first-ever World Rally Championship this week. The penultimate round of the Central European Rally, part of the World Rally Championship, is due to start in Prague on Thursday.

    This year's world champion could be crowned at the event, with the defending champion Kalle Rovanperä of Finland currently having a 31-point lead over second-placed Elfyn Evans of Great Britain.

    The first-ever Central European Rally on Czech territory will be officially launched on Thursday afternoon on Hradčany Square in the presence of Czech President Petr Pavel.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 10/25/2023

    Czechia is 25th among European Union states when it comes to ensuring equal opportunities and conditions for women and men, according to this year’s Gender Equality Index, put together by the European Institute for Gender Equality.

    The country has fallen two places since 2020, receiving 57.9 points out of 100. The EU average is 70.9 points. The survey found that Czechia is  particularly weak when it comes to women’s participation in decision making.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 10/25/2023

    Research and development spending in Czechia increased by 9.3 percent year-on-year to a record CZK 133.3 billion in 2022, the Czech Statistics Office reported on Wednesday. The increase was driven mainly by private companies, which invested CZK 85.6 billion into research and development, 11.8 percent more than in the previous year.

    The share of total spending in GDP fell to 1.96 per cent last year, down from two per cent in 2021, and remains below the European Union average, which has been around 2.3 percent of GDP in recent years.

    There were 123,000 people working in research and development in Czechia at the end of last year, an increase of 15,000 over the past five years.

    Author: Ruth Fraňková
  • 10/25/2023

    Tour guide publishers Lonely Planet have named Prague among the best cities in the world in the latest edition of their annual Best in Travel survey. The Czech capital is ranked eighth in the top 10 cities, with the list headed by Kenya’s Nairobi.

    The authors of the report describe Prague as a pulsating capital cloaked in a Gothic cityscape and say the attractions such as Prague Castle and Charles Bridge “almost feel too beautiful to be real”.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 10/25/2023

    Leaders of individual groups within the Czech Confederation of Trade Unions will announce on October 31 what form planned protests against the government will take, the head of the confederation, Josef Středula, told journalists on Tuesday evening.

    Union chiefs have previously raised the possibility of strike action in response to the government’s austerity measures and reforms of the pension system.

    The Czech Confederation of Trade Unions brings together 31 unions with around 270,000 members in total.

    Author: Ian Willoughby

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