* ENERGY: Electricity consumption in 2023 reached 57.8 terawatt hours (TWh), 4.1 percent less than in the previous year, according to data published by the Energy Regulatory Office. It is the lowest figure over the past 14 years. Electricity production has also fallen by around 10 percent year-on-year. * WEATHER: Friday is expected to be overcast with rain and day temperatures ranging between 5 and 9 degrees Celsius. * SPORT: The traditional Night Run for Světluška, an annual event in support of people with visual impairments, will take place in seven cities around Czechia this year. People can sign up for the run in Ostrava, Plzen, Brno, Olomouc, Prague, České Budějovice and Jihlava. People can register at www.behprosvetlusku.cz. * PROTEST: Czech farmers drove 3,000 pieces of machinery to the country’s borders with Slovakia, Poland and Germany, while other farmers staged protests in major towns on Thursday, which the government said remained peaceful. Several thousand Czech farmers attended the protests in major towns, the Czech Agrarian Chamber said. * CINEMA: Alcon Entertainment and Ridley Scott Productions’ limited series Blade Runner 2099 for Prime Video will shoot at the Czech Republic’s Barrandov Studios in Prague from June. The series is being directed...
* RUSSIA: Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský on Wednesday summoned the Russian ambassador to the Czech Republic, Alexander Zmejewski, over the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The ambassador was summoned to explain the circumstances of Navalny’s death and the authorities’ refusal to hand over the body to his family. * WEATHER: Thursday should be overcast and rainy with day temperatures between 7 and 11 degrees Celsius. * NATURE: he Czech Republic does not sufficiently protect rare forests in the Natura 2000 network of sites of European importance, the environmental organisation Greenpeace said today. Greenpeace has long drawn particular attention to the authorities’ misconduct in approving forest management plans that allow logging in the Eastern Ore Mountains. * CRIME: The Czech Republic has extradited a suspect to the United States accused of plotting the Tehran-backed murder of a prominent critic of the Iranian government. Polad Omarov was handed over to US authorities at Prague’s Vaclav Havel Airport on Wednesday morning after his arrest in January last year. Omarov is charged with offenses including murder-for-hire and money laundering in connection with an alleged assassination attempt believed to be backed by Tehran. * CINEMA: Alcon Entertainment and Ridley Scott Productions’ limited...
* NEW PROJECTS: The long-planned cable car from Podbaba to Bohnice will not be built. Officials from Prague’s environmental protection department have rejected plans to build it, saying it would cause “non-negligible and irreversible changes” to the character of the landscape. * WEATHER: Wednesday will continue to be overcast with a chance of showers in the morning and early afternoon. Daytime temperatures should range between 5 and 10 degrees Celsius. * PRAGUE: Officials from Prague’s environmental protection department have rejected plans to build a cable car from Podbaba to Bohnice via Troja, saying it would cause “non-negligible and irreversible changes” to the character of the landscape. * POLITICS: Had elections taken place in January, Andrej Babiš’s ANO party would have won with 31.5 percent of the vote, according to the latest Median poll. The Pirate Party would have come in second with 13 percent, narrowly beating Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s Civic Democrats (ODS) party at 12 percent. * TOURISM: A National Helpline for Sexual and Gender Health is being established in the Czech Republic, offering the opportunity to talk confidentially and get a referral to consult a therapist or doctor. The helpline will operate within the framework of the SexHelp...
* ARMY: The Czech Defence Ministry has shrunk to less than half of its military and civilian staff since the Czech Republic joined NATO, with the figure falling from 77,700 at the beginning of 1999 to just over 36,000 25 years later, according to data provided by the ministry to CTK and published on its website. * WEATHER: Tuesday is predicted to be overcast with a chance of rain throughout the day and some wind in the late morning and afternoon. Temperatures should range between 5 and 9 degrees Celsius. * RUSSIA: Czechia supports imposing further sanctions against Russia in response to the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said in Brussels on Monday while attending a meeting of EU foreign ministers. He added that all signs pointed to Navalny’s death being a politically motivated murder and Putin having blood on his hands again. * EVENTS: For three days in May, Prague will become the European centre of community energy. Together with REScoop.eu, the European Federation of Energy Communities, the Union for Community Energy (UKEN) is organising Europe’s largest conference on energy community development – European Energy Communities Forum 2024 – on 13-15 May 2024 at...
* PALESTINE-ISRAEL: Several hundred people gathered to demonstrate in support of Palestine at Prague’s Náměstí míru square on Sunday, demanding an end to Israel’s retaliatory attacks on the Gaza Strip. Participants waved Palestinian flags and banners reading “Free Palestine!” and “End the genocide!” as they marched through the city centre. * PROTEST: Hundreds of dissatisfied Czech farmers are planning to join Monday’s protest in Prague against rising costs, heavy regulation, cheap goods from Ukraine and the Green Deal. According to the organizer of the protest, Zdeněk Jandejsek, chairman of the agricultural holding Rabbit, close to a thousand tractors are expected to enter the capital from six routes as early as 5 am on Monday morning. * UKRAINE: Czechia has found sources abroad for hundreds of thousands of artillery ammunition that could be delivered to Ukraine in a matter of weeks, if it can secure funding with partners in the US, Germany, Sweden and other countries, Czech President Petr Pavel said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. The president said the potential purchase concerned half a million rounds of 155-millimeter caliber ammunition and 300,000 rounds of 122-millimeter caliber ammunition. * NEWS: A two-year-old Czech boy with a rare genetic disorder...
* UKRAINE: A Czech volunteer fighting on the Ukrainian side against the Russian army was killed over the weekend. His death was first reported on the X social network and subsequently confirmed by the Czech Ministry of Defence. In total, four Czech citizens have died in combat since the full-scale invasion by Russia in February 2022. * ECONOMY: Year-on-year consumer price growth in Czechia slowed to 2.3 percent in January, down from 6.9 percent in December, according to figures released by the Czech Statistics Office on Thursday. While the figure is the lowest since March 2021, it is still above the Czech National Bank’s two-percent inflation target. * EUROPEAN COMMISSION: The European Commission has downgraded its Czech growth forecast for 2024, predicting that GDP will grow by 1.1 percent instead of the previously expected 1.4 percent. According to the EC prediction, growth should be supported by the high saving rate of households over the past three years, the projected easing of inflation and rising real wages, as well as by further relaxation of financing conditions. * SPORT: Three times Olympics winner Martina Sáblíková won the bronze medal in the women’s 3,000 meters race at the World Speed Skating Championship in...
* PROTEST: Some farmers’ groups say they plan to block the main “magistrála” through-road cutting through central Prague on Monday in protest at the poor situation in Czech agriculture. The organisers say up to 1,000 tractors or other types of farm machinery could appear on the streets of the Czech capital on Monday. * COURT: Former Prime Minister Andrej Babis was acquitted for the second time in a $2 million fraud case related to European Union subsidies by a Prague court. Babis, who pleaded not guilty, claimed the charges were politically motivated. The prosecution can still appeal the verdict, having requested a three-year suspended sentence and a fine for Babis. * DRUGS: The Czech government has moved to place sweets containing the psychoactive substance HHC on the list of banned addictive substances. According to Agriculture Minister Marek Výborný the measure is temporary and will have to be approved by the European Commission which may take between two to three weeks. It should be enforced in March. * STATISTICS: The number of guns registered in Czechia exceeded one million last year, an increase of almost three percent, the Czech Press Agency reported citing police statistics. Gun license holders also increased by...
* PROTEST: Some farmers’ groups say they plan to block the main “magistrála” through-road cutting through central Prague on Monday in protest at the poor situation in Czech agriculture. The organisers say up to 1,000 tractors or other types of farm machinery could appear on the streets of the Czech capital on Monday. * MOBILE: Some 96 percent of the population of Czechia have access to 5G mobile networks, according to a study produced by Europe in Data and cited by the Czech News Agency on Tuesday. Czechia ranked sixth in the EU in terms of 5G coverage in rural areas, with 78 percent. * POLITICS: According to the latest survey by Kantar for Czech Television (ČT), the ANO movement would secure victory by a significant margin if parliamentary elections were held today, garnering 35 percent of the vote. The ODS would come second with 15.5 percent, while both the SPD and the Pirates would tie at 9.5 percent. * UKRAINE WAR: The Czech Foreign Ministry plans to extend a visa ban on Russians and Belarusians because of the war in Ukraine, according to media reports Tuesday. Prague is considering extending the ban on new visas and residence permits which...
* SEXUAL ABUSES: Victims of sexual abuse by priests in Czechia have called for the establishment of an independent commission to map cases of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. According to the authors of the petition, addressed to the Czech Bishops’ Conference and the Commission of European Bishops’ Conferences, there are hundreds, possibly thousands of victims of abuse by priests in the Czech Republic and the Church remains silent on the matter. * TRAVEL: Turkish low-cost carrier Pegasus Airlines will introduce a new direct flight linking Prague and Antalya, Turkey starting May 19th, 2024. The service, scheduled for Thursdays and Sundays, aims to cater to travelers seeking sun-soaked beaches and convenient connections. * TAX: The government will make a decision on the possible taxation of still wine by the end of June at the latest, Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura told Czech Television. Still wine is now the only alcohol without excise duty, and the ruling coalition is divided on whether or not it should be taxed. * WEATHER: The beginning of February was the warmest in Czechia in more than 100 years, with an average temperature of 6.7 degrees Celsius, the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute reported. Temperatures of over 15...
* POLITICS: Former Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš says he will be ANO’s electoral leader and candidate for PM in next year’s general elections. However, he told CNN Prima News on Sunday that if his presence in those positions was a problem for the party he would stand aside. * REAL ESTATE: The number of apartments and houses sold in Czechia last year was the lowest since 2015, according to data from Valuo, a website that processes data from land registry offices and advertisements. The number of flats sold was down 9 percent year-on-year in 2023, while house sales were 17 percent lower, it said. * SOCIETY: The Czech government has agreed to increase care allowances as of July this year. The planned increase would not be across the board but would vary according to the level of dependency, going up from 11 to 40 percent. The allowance is intended for disabled and elderly people to help them cover the cost of care in a social facility or at home. * NATO: Republican frontrunner and former US president Donald Trump’s recent comments about how he would not protect NATO countries that do not abide by their spending obligations if he...
* JOB MARKET: Unemployment in Czechia climbed to 4% in January, which is an increase of 0.3 percentage points month on month and 0.1 points year on year. It is also the highest unemployment level since 2017, apart from the Covid-19 pandemic-stricken year of 2021, but still enough to be the second lowest unemployment level in the EU, the Czech labour office reported. In January 2022, the unemployment level was 3.6%. * LAWS: The lower house of the Czech parliament has supported changing the definition of rape in Czech law to sex without consent rather than sex by force or physical coercion. Another change proposed by the draft law is that all sexual activity with children under 12 years of age always is treated as rape or assault, rather than the less serious criminal offense of sexual abuse. * CZECHIA: The tabloid Blesk continues to be the most-read Czech daily with an average of 584,000 readers per issue, according to a survey by the Czech Publishers’ Association released on Thursday. Blesk is followed by Mladá fronta Dnes with around 381,000 readers and the Daily Sport with 146,000 readers. * FOREIGN POLITICS: Czech Defence Minister Jana Černochová arrived in Tel-Aviv on...
* RETAIL: The Czech Republic’s retail sales increased for the second successive month in December, driven by more demand for non-food sales, data from the Czech Statistical Office showed on Wednesday. Retail sales, except motor vehicles and motorcycles, rose a calendar-adjusted 1.6 percent year-on-year in December, after a 0.1 percent recovery in the previous month. * LAWS: The lower house of the Czech parliament has supported changing the definition of rape in Czech law to sex without consent rather than sex by force or physical coercion. Another change proposed by the draft law is that all sexual activity with children under 12 years of age always be treated as rape or assault, rather than the less serious criminal offence of sexual abuse. * POLITICS: Former Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš has been unsuccessful in his appeal against the verdicts of the Bratislava regional court and the Supreme Court in his native Slovakia regarding whether he worked as an agent for the Czechoslovak secret police (StB) under communism. * HEALTH: Two retail associations have decided to stop selling edible products containing the psychoactive substance HHc. The products will be withdrawn from sale by the end of the week, the head of...
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