Daily news summary

Young Czech gets suspended sentence for sympathising with terrorists

A regional court has served a twenty- year-old Czech man a seven month suspended sentence for approving the terrorist attacks in Berlin and Ankara. He is the second Czech to be sentenced for sympathising with terrorist groups.

The young man repeatedly expressed these views in public, saying there should have been more people killed in Berlin. Twelve people died in the terrorist attack in Berlin in which a truck rammed into passers-by. One of the victims was a Czech woman. The man also approved the murder of the Russian ambassador in Ankara. He has not appealed the verdict.

The other Czech convicted for sympathising with the terrorist cause wanted to join the IS. He was sentenced to six years in prison.

Prague taxi drivers planning fresh protest against Uber

Prague’s taxi drivers are planning another protest action against the ride-sharing service Uber.The Prague taxi drivers association is vehemently opposed to the Uber service arguing that it is unfair competition since Uber drivers do not have to meet any of the demands levelled on the Prague taxi service.

The protest is scheduled for November 15, though no details have been released. A previous protest against Uber in Prague saw taxi drivers moving at snails pace, effectively blocking traffic along the main route to Prague’s international airport.

The Prague Transport Ministry says it is working to resolve the problem with a new draft law which would put on par a taxi metre and mobile application as well as set down certain ruled for the ride-sharing service such as having compulsory car labels.

MEP Ludek Niedermayer to join ranks of TOP 09

MEP Ludek Niedermayer has confirmed his intention to join the ranks of the centre-right TOP 09 party. Niedermayer, who currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs in the European Parliament, was elected to the EP on the TOP 09 ticket.

He and MEP Jiri Pospisil who recently also joined TOP 09 ranks are considered as possible candidates for party chairman. The party’s current leader Miroslav Kalousek will not run for re-election following the party’s poor showing in the elections.

Social Democrats to hold early election conference

The Social Democratic Party will hold an election conference in February 2018, rather than in April as originally planned the ctk news agency reports, citing party sources. A proposal for the party chairman to be elected by a direct vote, has failed to win approval and the next chairman will be elected by delegates as usual. Candidates for the top post must be party members.

The Social Democrats are striving to recover from their poor showing in October’s general elections where they only collected 7.2 percent of the vote. The party has said will now go into the opposition.

Dukovany nuclear power plant fully operational again

The nuclear power plant in Dukovany is fully operational once again, after undergoing maintenance on its third reactor, which was out of operation for a period of four months. It was reconnected to the power grid on Friday.

The reactor underwent a change of fuel, a maintenance check and minor repair-work. The reactor should be producing at full capacity by Monday.

Priceless wooden church gets protection against fire

A priceless wooden church in Hradec Kralove –the Church of St.Nicolas- dating back to the beginning of the 17th century is getting special protection after two wooden historic buildings were ravaged by fire and completely destroyed.

The most recent loss was the wooden church in Trinec Guty from 1563 which was burnt to the ground in August. Even its bells melted in the blaze and its wood carved interiors and precious paintings from the first half of the 16th century were irretrievably lost.

The wooden church in Hradec Kralove now has an early fire alarm system which would set off a mechanism to put out the fire within minutes if no immediate response to the alarm is registered. The church in Guty burnt down in the middle of the night in a case of suspected arson.

Weather forecast

Sunday should be partly cloudy to overcast with day temperatures between 10 and 14 degrees Celsius.