Daily news summary

Czech president, in TV interview, expresses doubts about Trump’s approach to North Korea

Czech President Miloš Zeman has expressed doubts that threats by US President Donald Trump against North Korea aren’t ridiculous as opposed to productive; he made the comments in an interview for broadcaster TV Barrandov in which he was asked about the situation in North Korea.

The president added that sanctions against the Kim regime were not working and reiterated an earlier comment that the stand-off against North Korea could be resolved by a commando who would take the leader out. There were reports recently that South Korea was planning to put together a strike team capable of taking out North Korea’s leadership.

Volkswagen boss calls for clearer role for Škoda Auto

The Škoda Auto brand and that of Volkswagen and Spanish manufacturing unit SEAT should be more clearly distinguished from each other according to the general manager of the Volkswagen Group, Matthias Müller.

The move should, it is claimed, help reduce conflicts and tension between the companies targeting the same mass market. Production should be targeted at 14 different customer segments, according to the declaration made to managers in Volkswagen’s home city of Wolfsburg.

Media reports have recently suggested tension within the group particular focused on suspicions that the success of Škoda Auto could be coming at the expense of other Volkswagen companies .

RAF veteran Arnošt Polák, who served with 311th squadron, dead at 94

World War II veteran Arnošt Polák, a Czech who served with the British RAF, has died at the age of 94. The news was announced on Thursday by the Czech Embassy in London. The group captain passed away on September 27th; he had received a Medal for Bravery from the Czech head of state weeks earlier.

Polák had served with the Czechoslovak-manned 311th bomber squadron, flying in the Vickers Wellington and B-24 Liberator, Euro.cz reported.

Agriculture minister calls on regional governor’s office not to fund presidential visit

Agriculture Minister and regional council member for Olomouc Marian Jurečka has requested the regional governor to not help fund an upcoming visit by the head-of-state - set to take place in November.

The president regularly travels to regions in the Czech Republic as a means of meeting with local representatives, businesses and others. Critics have charged the visits are tantamount to a pre-election campaign. The regional governorship covered costs in the hundreds of thousands of crowns for four previous visits.

The Czech president recently scratched a planned visit to Zlín after the governor there, Jiří Čunek, made clear his office would only cover the costs for the delegations’ lunch and dinner up to a maximum 30,000 crowns.

Euro MP Pavel Telička sees no reason to step down despite departure from ANO

Euro MP Pavel Telička has said he sees no reason to give up his mandate despite his departure from the ANO party. He said that he would continue to meet goals he ran on in 2014. He told journalists on Friday there were no signals from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe that he should step down.

Mr Telička said that originally he had seen eye-to-eye on many issues with ANO party leader Andrej Babiš but made clear their paths had since diverged on issues such as the adoption of the European currency and EU integration.

Slavia boss threatens to refuse players for national squad

A row has broken out at the top of Czech football with the head of the reigning champions, Slavia Prague, warning that it will refuse to allow players to be released to play for the national team.

The warning has come from Slavia head Jaroslav Tvrdík, who said he was disgusted by the attacks on national manager, Karel Jarolím, by the deputy chairman of the football association, Roman Berbr.

Jarolím was confirmed in his position on Tuesday in spite of the Czech failure to qualify for next year’s World Cup in Russia. Berbr, according to the news site Aktualne.cz, has continued his attacks on the manager and said that the only reason he has not been sacked is that the contract is difficult to terminate.

Weather

Saturday is expected to be sunny; daytime temperatures should reach highs of around 19 degrees Celsius.