Fish are in danger of becoming addicted to methamphetamine when traces of the drug enter our rivers, a new study warns. Researchers in the Czech Republic performed lab experiments with the brown trout (Salmo trutta) in waters contaminated with the illegal drug. After immersion in the meth-contaminated waters, the team found the fish became less active, but also displayed disturbing levels of dependence. Meth – which comes in several different forms including tablets, powder and crystals – enters our waterways directly from the drug user in their home. The research has been conducted by experts at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague in the Czech Republic. ‘Methamphetamines, as well as other contaminants of emerging concern, are similarly introduced to surface waters through discharge from wastewater treatment plants,’ said study author Pavel Horký. ‘Users of these substances excrete them into the sewage collection systems, then the substances enter the wastewater treatment plants that were not designed to treat such contamination. ‘Finally, contaminants enter the freshwater ecosystems at relatively low, but detectable and biologically efficient levels.’ Drug addiction could potentially drive fish to congregate near unhealthy water treatment discharges ‘in search of a fix’. While meth is illegal, prescribed drugs such as fluoxetine – also known as...
The Pope’s visit to Budapest and Slovakia from the 12-15 of September has been warmly welcomed by Slovakia’s president, Zuzana Čaputová. When Pope Francis announced he was going to both Budapest and Slovakia during the Sunday Angelus, Slovak pilgrims in St Peter’s Square responded by waving the flag of their country and applauding loudly. Slovakia’s foreign minister, Ivan Korcok, described the trip as a “great honor for Slovakia,” while the nation’s president, Zuzana Caputova, said, “I believe that the presence of Pope Francis will be for all of us a message of reconciliation and hope in these difficult times.” Francis’ visit to Slovakia will include the cities of Bratislava, Presov, Kosice, the Vatican said in a statement. The program also includes an important pilgrimage site, Šaštín, which is located near Břeclav, the area affected by the tornado in South Moravia. Will the pope continue his visit to the Czech Republic? Moreover, September 15, marks 1100 years since the assassination of St Ludmila, the first Czech and Slavic saint, founder of the ruling dynasty, and grandmother of the man who became the country’s patron, St Wenceslas. This will be the third papal visit to Slovakia since the country became independent in...
Czech senators have approved an amendment to allow women to remove the suffix -ová, which denotes the grammatical gender, from their surname. If signed into law by President Miloš Zeman, parents could also decide to keep the masculine form (thus without the suffix –ová) of their daughters’ surname. In the Czech language, the ending “-ova” is added to all surnames for women, so Mr. Novak’s daughter becomes Ms. Novakova. Women have only been able to drop the “-ova” ending in limited circumstances, such as if they have foreign nationality or live with a foreigner. The Senate will now vote on the change. The proposal was brought forward by former Justice Minister Helena Valkova. Current rules mean that the wife or daughter of a Czech man has the -ova suffix added to her name, such as tennis star Petra Kvitova. The pattern is similar to that seen in other Slavic languages and is also applied to foreign leaders and politicians – including former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Pirate Party MP Ondřej Profant, who backed the bill, said a survey carried out at a registry office in Prague showed that around 28% of women would prefer...
Minister of Health Adam Vojtěch (ANO) is considering making pubs and restaurants responsible for actively checking guests’ Covid certificates. According to him, it will be easier with a mobile application for storing and checking certificates. At present visitors to pubs and restaurants must have a negative test, certificate of vaccination or post Covid immunity, but they are only obliged to produce it in the event of an inspection. However, not everyone has welcomed this proposal. Representatives of the food business agreed with the chief hygienist Pavla Svrčinová that for restaurants, might be enough to post a message that only guests meeting the conditions of the Ministry of Health will be served. Thus, the responsibility would not fall on business operators, but on customers. According to the Minister, more than 280,000 people downloaded the Tecka application for storing the certificate on the first day. It works either passively to store the issued certificate, or it is actively connected to the database of the Institute of Health Information and Statistics (ÚZIS) and automatically updates itself with the results of a new test or a given vaccine. The Czech Health Ministry has banned Czechs from travelling to Russia, Tunisia and other countries due to...
Upon arrival from any country in the Czech Republic, not fully vaccinated people will have to undergo a Covid-19 test. The move comes in response to a recent worsening in Covid numbers in the Czech Republic and fears of the spread of the more infectious Delta variant. At the same time, employers are not allowed to let people into the workplace after returning from a holiday abroad without a negative test, Minister of Health Adam Vojtěch (ANO) told reporters after the cabinet meeting. However, the conditions for entering the Czech Republic from different countries will differ, depending on the epidemiological situation. After arriving from the so-called green and orange countries, people will have to take at least an antigen test, within five days. People who have recovered from Covid-19 within 180 days will also not be required to have a test when they come back from abroad. “People will be obliged to fill in entry forms, and hygiene will then check whether people and employers comply,” added Vojtěch. The minister also said that general testing in companies and offices would be reintroduced by the government if 25 people per 100,000 inhabitants get infected within 7 days. “The situation is deteriorating...
Instant” grocery delivery has been a big theme among food startups in Europe, where customers can order from a limited assortment of items and get their purchases packed from “dark stores” and delivered in sometimes as little as 10 or 15 minutes. But today a startup that’s built a much bigger proposition — a virtual supermarket of 17,000+ items that it delivers in as little as two hours — is announcing some funding as it expands in Europe. Rohlik Group, the Czech online grocery delivery company, has raised €100 million in a Series C round that values it at €1 billion. With the new capital in tow, the company plans to enter the German market with a launch in Munich followed by a deeper push into Western Europe. The Series C round comes just a few months after Rohlik raised €190 million. This new round was led by Index Ventures with several other previous investors taking part. “Germany is Europe’s largest market, it’s the neighboring market to markets where we are already present. It’s a market that’s fairly easy to understand,” chief executive Tomáš Čupr said. Rohlik’s revenues in 2020 passed €300 million, with over 750,000 customers; it’s not yet...
The Czech Republic has reported its second successive week-on-week rise in new daily coronavirus cases and the reproduction “R” number has risen above 1 for the first time since mid-April, Health Ministry data showed on Wednesday. The ministry said daily cases rose to 160 on Tuesday from 112 on the same day a week ago. The numbers are much lower than the around 17,000 daily cases reported in January and March, but the “R” number indicating whether the epidemic is on the rise or decline is now 1.1. The number of infections over the past week per 100,000 people has risen to 7.2 from a low of 6.4 last Friday. The rise has been driven by an increase in infections in the capital Prague and in the centre of the country. The government is due to discuss increasing testing requirements after health authorities identified 120 cases of the more transmissible Delta coronavirus variant, first identified in India. On Tuesday, the government added Tunisia, a popular tourist destination, and Russia to the list of countries where all non-essential travel is banned. The Czech Republic was one of the worst-hit in Europe, suffering four waves of infections and 30,303 deaths. The country...
The Czech Republic has one of the oldest Stock Exchanges and continues to grow as a country that attracts lots of Foreign Direct Investment. Here’s why… Investing in the Czech Republic The Prague Stock Exchange goes all the way back to 1871 when Prague and the Czech Republic still fell under the rule of the Austro-Hugarian Empire. In its early days, the Prague exchange was all about commodities – mainly sugar and sugar-related products. As the years went by, the exchange moved with the times to deal mainly in stocks of public companies and by time of World War I, was known to only trade in stocks. Fast-forward to the end of the 1980s and the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the onset of capitalism was there for all to see. In 1993 the Prague Stock Exchange was ready to do business again after over 1000 state-owned companies and enterprises had gone private after the collapse of the Czech communist government. At present, the Prague Stock Exchange is host to hundreds of local and important companies – all of which are measured by the PX index. Renowned companies on the Prague Stock Exchange include Unipetrol and Skoda Automotive –...
Neighboring countries did not hesitate to express solidarity and the will to help tornado-stricken areas of the Czech Republic. The Slovaks were among the first to offer assistance while the Austrians and Poles also provided a helping hand. Slovakia offered the Czech Republic help with the accommodation of people, said the Slovak Minister of Social Affairs, Milan Krajniak. Slovaks also organize a collection of goods to help people in Moravia. Poland then sent firefighters. “Our firefighters will help clear the catastrophic consequences of the tornado,” Polish Prime Minister spokesman Piotr Müller wrote on Twitter. “At such times, we are always available to our neighbors,” he added. Already on Friday night, rescuers were also sent to Moravia by the Austrians. Just a few hours after the element swept through parts of southern Moravia, Patrick Wolfram and his colleagues from the Austrian Red Cross were on the scene to help treat the wounded. “Homes and infrastructure have been completely destroyed,” he told APA on Friday. Soon after, Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, and Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen expressed solidarity with the Czech Republic. On top of the help by its neighboring countries as well as Czech citizens,...
Five people have been killed after a rare tornado along with tennis ball-sized hailstones hit several villages in South Moravia. A local hospital in the town of Hodonin treated 83 injured people. Forty-five were admitted to hospital, six of whom were in serious condition, hospital director Antonin Tesarik said. The Czech government has promised to allocate the first CZK 500 million in the coming days to help residents of the South Moravian region affected by a devastating tornado. The tornado, which hit towns and villages around Hodonin along the Slovak and Austrian borders on Thursday evening, may have reached wind speeds above 332 kilometres per hour, a Czech television meteorologist said. Meanwhile, the charity organization Nadace Via raised CZK 133 million in two days. Many parishes and city authorities have announced a public fundraiser. Here all the different ways how you help the local population. Send money or donor SMS: Diocesan Charity Brno: bank account: 4211325188/6800, variable symbol: 2002 Via Foundation Donor SMS to number: 87 777 in the form of DMS DCHB 30 / DMS DCHB 60 / DMS DCHB 90 (depending on how much money you want to contribute). Send messages without quotes. You can send money directly to...
As of Saturday, June 26, the number of people at indoor cultural events will be raised to 2,000, with cinemas, theatres, and other venues allowed to operate at 75% capacity. The number of people at indoor cultural events has been raised to 2,000, at outdoor events will be 5,000. Refreshments at cinemas and theatres will once again be permitted. Guided tours in the country’s castles and chateaus will not be restricted on the condition that visitors have certificates of vaccination, negative tests, or post-COVID immunity. The rule in museums and galleries will be ten square meters per visitor. Prague City Council is calling on the government to keep in place the requirement to wear respirators on public transport. “Although life is gradually returning to normal, we must remain cautious and not give in to the illusion that the pandemic has ended. Given that there is already a demonstrable level of the delta variant in the Czech Republic and others may appear, we must not underestimate this situation,” said Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates). There are currently 75 patients in hospital with Covid-19 nationwide, 12 of whom are in a serious condition. This is 41 fewer people than one week ago....
On June 19, 2021, in Teplice, a Roma man died in an ambulance after a police action. An autopsy has ruled out the connection between the police action and the death of the man, who was apparently under the influence of narcotics. “We can clearly rule out any link between the police intervention and the death,” the local police chief, Jaromir Knize, said. Police added the cause of death was an overdose of crystal meth. “He had been on psychoactive drugs and had vandalized several cars when he was arrested. As for the arrest, the statement claimed that it had been “carried out in accordance with the law and had no connection with the death of the deceased.” Three police officers were involved in Saturday’s incident in the northern city of Teplice. Video footage shows one of them kneeling on the man’s neck for several minutes. The man, who has not been officially named, later died in an ambulance. Roma activists reject the police explanation and are planning a protest rally on Saturday in Teplice. “I’m angry,” Jan Duzda, a music producer who is a Roma told The Associated Press in an interview in English “I’m angry because this is...
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