A Czech volunteer who is helping in the east of Ukraine with the treatment of soldiers on the contact line as part of Project Phoenix has been seriously wounded in Donbas. “One of our brave volunteer medics received a shrapnel wound in Donbas. His condition is stable at the moment, but the situation is difficult, and it is impossible to predict the further development of events. We are doing everything to get him back home as soon as possible.” His transport to Czechia is being organised. As part of Project Phoenix, Czech medics teach soldiers the basics of providing medical aid as well as transport the wounded from the contact line. A spokesman for the organisation told Czech TV that the wounded volunteer was helping to evacuate one of the wounded. “Unfortunately, there was artillery shelling during this [evacuation of wounded – ed.], and he sustained shrapnel wounds,” he said, adding that wounds were relatively serious. As a result of Russian shelling, a Polish volunteer was injured near Bakhmut when his minibus was hit by a rocket.
Once again, strong winds have carried sand grains from the Sahara Desert to Central Europe. According to the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, on Sunday, March 19, these grains may fall along with rain in the Czech Republic, settling in characteristic orange streaks on windows, cars, and other exterior surfaces. In the eastern regions of the country, the concentration of sand grains will be so high that they will color the sky orange-red, a phenomenon visible at both sunrise and sunset. This occurrence will also reduce the amount of sunlight that passes through, which will affect the daytime air temperature. Additionally, it may cause breathing difficulties for people with chronic respiratory diseases. It’s worth noting that sand from the Sahara reaches the country almost every year, which upsets drivers but pleases… car wash owners, who immediately see an influx of customers! Approximately 60,000 tons of sand from the Sahara make their way to Central Europe each year during heavy storms in the desert.
As I’ve written before, we’re entering a sweet spot in the property market where, finally, buyers have more power than I’ve seen in the 10 years I’ve done this job. It’s true mortgage rates are higher than they have been in a long time, but properties are sitting on the market longer and sellers can therefore be negotiated down on their asking prices. For a lot of people, purchasing the kind of property they want, whether that’s size, style, location, or other factors, can still be out of reach with the level of repayments needed. However, for those still wishing to get on the property ladder, there is another option: buy to rent. With many hopeful homebuyers being priced out of the market, they are renting longer, which is increasing demand for rental properties and therefore pushing up prices – more good news for people thinking to invest in a property to rent. In addition to the increasing rents, and adding to that sweet spot for investment, is the expectation that mortgage rates will come down in the future, property values will continue increasing. According to data from property developer Central Group late last year, the average rent gained on...
In a huge blow to legalization efforts, the Court of Appeal ruled that publishing a magazine about cannabis can be deemed illegal because of the so-called “spreading of toxicomania”. Robert Veverka is editor-in-chief and sole publisher of magazine Legalizace, which has existed in the Czech media space without any problems for more than ten years. After over a year battling in court, he has been ordered to pay a fine of more than 250 000 CZK, and the court ruling effectively bans him from publishing the magazine in the future. Bolshevik relics in the law According to the court in Ostrava, the magazine offered instructions on how to illegally obtain cannabis, how to grow, process and use the plant. From time to time there were also seeds inserted in the magazine, since the sale and possession of cannabis seeds is completely legal in the Czech Republic, and there were disclaimers attached. The court also didn’t like advertisements of fertilizer companies and seedbanks, although all the goods are normally sold in gardening shops and are all perfectly legal. Veverka described the “spreading toxicomania” (or the ‘promotion of drug addiction’) section cited in the law as very flexible, sufficiently vague that it can be interpreted in many different ways so that it suits the prosecution, saying: “It...
Retired general Petr Pavel, who was sworn in as the Czech Republic’s new president on Thursday, is a war hero with a pro-Western drive and a passion for motorcycles. Pavel won the January presidential election by defeating billionaire former prime minister Andrej Babis in the run-off. “In a victory of values, there are no winners and no losers. We are one community and we have to stick together,” Pavel said after winning. “I can’t ignore the fact that people here increasingly feel chaos, disorder and uncertainty,” Pavel said on his campaign website. “We need to change this. We need to play by the rules, which will be valid for everyone alike.” In the run-up to the inauguration, Pavel proved to be an active president-elect. He attended a security conference in Munich in February and travelled to Czech regions where he had lost to Babis, meeting voters including the poverty-stricken Roma minority. He also repeatedly voiced support for Ukraine and to Taiwan. Though he rarely smiles in public, Pavel described himself as a “very merry person” in a recent interview with AFP. “I just don’t show that during official events. But everyone who knows me will tell you that good jokes...
The Czech cyber security watchdog warned on Wednesday against using TikTok, joining a growing number of Western agencies alleging the Chinese-owned social media app poses a security risk. The NUKIB agency recommended that TikTok should not be installed on phones whose users access critical and other significant infrastructure. “The Agency is concerned about potential security threat stemming from the use of TikTok primarily due to the amount of user data that is collected by the app as well as the way the data is handled.” NUKIB said. “Such large-scale data collection is concerning due to the legal and political environment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), given that ByteDance, the developer and administrator of TikTok, falls under the legal jurisdiction of the PRC.” NUKIB also recommended politicians and officials to avoid using TikTok, and said the wider public should consider whether to use the app as well, especially for sharing content. TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ByteDance has said previously that concerns about the app are fuelled by misinformation, and has denied using it for spying. Beijing has also repeatedly denied having any intention to use the app for espionage. Several countries have taken...
The best place to live in Czechia is the Central Bohemian town of Říčany, followed by Prague according to this year’s Quality of Life Index put together by Deloitte for the Obce v Datech project. The annual list is created by using big data analysis to crunch a wide array of statistics ranging from community services, to work, education and health conditions. Deloitte claims to analyze data from the 206 largest Czech cities and uses the following criteria to evaluate cities’ quality of life: total population growth, crime rate, life expectancy, traffic accidents, number of working doctors, sustainability, clean environment, unemployment rate, median wage, number of companies and private entrepreneurs, number of schools and kindergartens, accessibility of leisure activities, number of restaurants, ATMs, pharmacies and other services. If you’re looking for the ideal place to settle down in Czechia then Říčany, a town with a population of around 16,000 which lies to the east of Prague, is probably your best bet. At least according to the annual Quality of Life Index, which has placed it at the top of its list for the past five years in a row. The ruins of the old Říčany castle, dating back to the...
Czech police say a horse reportedly belonging to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has been stolen from a stud farm near Prague, online media Idnes reported on Tuesday. The 16-year-old English thoroughbred ‘Zazou’ disappeared in the early hours of Saturday. He’s worth some 20,000 USD. The statement said a chain securing the sliding doors to the stable had been removed and the horse led away, presumably under cover of darkness. “Litoměřice police received a report about the theft of a horse from a stable in Krabčice. The theft probably took place on the night of March 3-4,” local police spokesman Pavel Kofrov said. The stallion is part of the property that was sanctioned by the European Union nine years ago. The horse has a characteristic white mark on its forehead in the shape of a star. In March 2022, the local media reported another attempt to take Zazou from the stable, together with a second Kadyrov-owned horse. About a month before Russia invaded Ukraine, two Russian-speaking men came to the barn claiming they had to move the horses to Poland. After the barn owner refused to cooperate, they spent five days camping in their trailer not far from the barn. The horse, purchased by the...
Losing a tank or valued U.S.-made high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) can hurt an army less if the weapon is a cheap inflatable decoy placed on the frontlines to deceive the enemy. With the war in Ukraine boosting the need for heavy military vehicles, guns and planes, it has also been a boon to Inflactech Decoys, a Czech maker of fake army equipment. The company has added HIMARS to its fleet of over 30 types of inflatable real-size decoys it sells to customers worldwide, Chief Executive Vojtech Fresser said on Monday. Inflatech would not confirm Ukraine is among the destinations, but Fresser said he would expect them to find their way there. “I can imagine that if we want to support a partner country which is in trouble, we will send them Inflatech inflatable decoys and they are already there or certainly will be,” he said. The Czech Defence Ministry, which helps organise Czech military supplies to Ukraine, was not immediately available for comment. The decoys are made out of synthetic silk and, apart from misleading the adversary visually, have a thermal footprint and appear on radars to fool enemy reconnaissance. They pack into sacks that two to four...
A survey conducted by the project “The Founds of the Czech Interests in the EU” in January of this year has shown that 60 per cent of respondents agreed that accepting refugees from Ukraine in the Czech Republic is the right thing to do. Through a statement released on February 20, the European Commission revealed that this figure was a slightly higher percentage than in the summer of last year when 57 per cent of respondents in the Czech Republic said the same. The EU Commission also emphasised that in April of the same period, the same figure stood at 70 per cent. “The most recent survey was conducted between 4 and 15 January 2023 by a consortium of the STEM research agency, the European Institute for European Policy and the Association for International Affairs,” the statement of the EU Commission reads. The same said that other polls conducted in 2022 by the CVVM research agency revealed that despite a general decline in public interest in events in Ukraine, more than two-fifths of Czech citizens remain interested in the situation of the displaced from Ukraine. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has created a serious humanitarian crisis. By the end of last...
Western allies should provide Ukraine with more weapons and improve its military capacities as they can expect a large-scale and intensive military conflict, said Senior Director of the Defence Policy and Strategy Section of the Czech Ministry of Defence Jan Jireš. “The main goal (of both the EU and NATO) in the coming months and years should be to prepare for a large-scale, prolonged and extremely material-intensive military conflict,” said Jireš. In recent years, Europe has invested little in defence, admitted Francisco Casalduero, the Defence Development Programme project manager at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Defence Industry and Space (DG DEFIS). This applies to the overall volume of investments and the development of crucial new technologies. “This means a non-existent common defence,” Casalduero summarised, adding that this is why the European Commission is now making common European defence a priority. However, representatives of the Czech defence industry are worried that the EU will just stick to words, not actions. According to Kristýna Helm, deputy director of the Czech Association of Defence and Security Industry, the sector faces great demand and is “sold out for a decade ahead”. However, this demand mainly comes from third countries. “For example, for Czech...
The Czech Ministry of Transport is preparing to substantially increase the penalties for improper parking that disrupts traffic or blocks public transport. This most often happens with trams, when drivers park their cars too far from the curb or second row, blocking the tracks. Trams are frequently affected by cars parked too far from the curb, which delays both public and private transportation. The current maximum fine of CZK 2,000 is proposed to be raised to CZK 10,000. The suggested alterations are based on an amendment to the Road Traffic Act, approved by the lower house of Parliament on February 21. If the proposed legislation finds support in the Senate – and is subsequently signed by the President – it will come into effect on January 2024 The law will now include sanctions on “stopping or parking that has obstructed traffic”. Currently, this act is categorized as improper parking, but under the proposed legislation it would be classified as a misdemeanour of medium severity – such as parking in a disabled space. “The offender will face a fine of CZK 2,500 to CZK 3,500 on the spot, or CZK 4,000 to CZK 10,000 in the case of an administrative proceeding....
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