Daily news summary
Prague Pride parade draws over 30,000
The ninth edition of the week-long Prague Pride festival celebrating sexual minorities culminated on Saturday afternoon with a massive parade through the Czech capital.
Despite the rain, organisers said more than 30,000 people turned out to watch or take part in the colorful event, marked by wild costumes and floats.
Among the marchers in procession under the rainbow flag from Wenceslas Square to Letná Park, on the other side of the Vltava River, were representatives from 11 embassies. They marched under the banner Diplomats for Equality.
The festival’s theme this year is ‘Together Within Reach’. It notes that 50 years since the birth of the gay rights, in the Stonewall protests in New York, many same-sex couples still shy from public displays of affection due to intolerance.
For the first time this year, the LGBT rainbow flag will be flown at the city’s Town Hall in support of the Prague Pride festival. After the parade, a dance party will continue in the Letná Park area.
Post-1989: Average Czech lifespan and immigration jumps, fewer marry or have children
Czech society has changed dramatically since 1989, and not only politically. Czechs are living longer and having fewer children, but while the population is aging it is not declining, thanks to an influx of immigrants. These are among some of the more striking findings of the Czech Statistical Office.
At the time of the Velvet Revolution, the life expectancy for a Czech man was 68, eight years lower than today at 76. In the last year of Communism, a Czech woman could expect to live to 75.5, compared to 82 now.
Seniors now account for nearly 20 percent of the population, up from 13 percent in 1989. Meanwhile, children under the age of 15 make up 16 percent of the population, down from 22 percent three decades ago.
The Czech Republic experienced a baby boom around 2008, when the so-called Husák's children generation of the 1970s, began having children of their own. Even so, the annual birth rate reached a maximum of 120,000. In recent years, it has been around 114,000.
At the time of the Velvet Revolution, there were 3.4 foreigners for every 1,000 Czechs compared to 53 today. Thirty years ago, one in 294 residents were born abroad, compared to one in 19 today.
Czech national 10-year census proposed for March 2021
The 2021 national census should be carried out in March so as not to clash with state holidays or school breaks, the Czech Statistical Office has said.
Under a draft law prepared by the office, only households that do not complete an online questionnaire will be surveyed in person.
Some questions included in the 2011 national census have been dropped. For example, as to whether the household has hot water, a private bathroom and toilet, and an internet connection.
Questions regarding occupants’ religion or level of formal education will also be dropped as such information is registered in other forms.
The online census will last 14 days, after which surveyed will visit households in person over a 24-day period. Participation is compulsory.
Prague working to create emergency drinking water supply network
Prague City Council has been mapping wells through the capital towards creating a drinking water supply network that can be in emergencies, the newspaper Lidové Noviny reports.
Experts have surveyed and tested some 12,500 wells, of which specialists have chosen 45 that could serve in cases of emergency, such as drought or contamination of the greater supply.
Prague aims to have the system in place within two years, the daily reports.
Marie Bouzková makes WTA semi-finals in Toronto, faces Serena Williams
Czech tennis player Marie Bouzková has reached the semi-finals of the WTA tournament in Toronto following a win against Simona Halep of Romania, who suffered from a heel injury.
The 21-year-old qualifier, ranked No 91, has gone six matches without dropping a set. Bouzková next faces the heavily favoured American star Serena Williams, the No. 10 seed, on Saturday.
Bouzková won the 2014 US Open girls’ singles title. She made her WTA debut the following year at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, where she lost in the first round. She made it to the second round of Wimbledon this year.
Her compatriot Karolína Plíšková, seeded No. 3, lost to Canadian Bianca Andreescu.
Weather outlook
Sunday should be clear to partly cloudy throughout the country with average daytime highs of 27 to 31 degrees Celsius. Rain is in the forecast for the start of the work week.
