If your day doesn’t start until you’re up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to our new morning fix. This year’s Book World Prague festival Jiří Theiner Prize has been awarded to Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich, who has in turn dedicated the prize to Ukrainian authors taking part in the event. . The Czech government plans to let companies pay taxes in euros from 2024, which should enable the state to raise its borrowing in the eurozone currency, Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura said. Consumer prices continued to rise in May. The annual inflation rate increased to 16.1% in May, up from 14.2% in April. This is the eleventh consecutive month of growth. Inflation increased by 1.8 percent month on month. Jiri Procházka stopped Glover Teixeira by submission with 28 seconds left in the fifth round to claim the UFC light heavyweight title in a grueling bout at UFC 275 on Sunday. Czech carmaker Škoda Auto will resume supplies of vehicles to Ukraine in June and deliver 80 cars which will be assembled at the plant of Škoda’s business partner Eurocar in Ukraine’s Solomonovo.
After several months of testing, technology company Wolt launches a new subscription program in Prague that provides customers free delivery. They can save at least CZK 29 for each purchase. The monthly subscription price is CZK 109 and is valid for orders from selected venues, of which there are currently 1,700. The program should be expanded to other cities in the future. During the testing, 5,000 active subscribers have already joined Wolt+ and on average saved CZK 289 per month. In addition, for the first two weeks, customers can try the service for free. In Prague, users can choose from 1 600 restaurants and 100 shops, including Wolt Market. In the app, Wolt+ partner businesses are marked with the W+ logo, which makes it easy to navigate. There are more than 1 700 Wolt+ venues “We approached the most popular Prague businesses that our customers have long liked to join Wolt+ and now they can choose from a range of 1,700 venues. In the future, we plan to expand our portfolio of restaurants and shops with new businesses. We also want to bring the program to customers from other cities”, says Jan Foret, CEO of Wolt Czech Republic. The selected venues...
Next weekend, on Saturday 18th June, one of the world’s biggest hard rock legends, the seven-piece Guns N´Roses will be performing in Prague’s Letňany as part of their world tour. And this in a three-and-a-half-long set! From the original 1985 line-up, the band still features Axl Rose on vocals, Slash on solo guitar, and Duff McKagan on bass, with guitarist Richard Fortus, Frank Ferrer on drums and keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Melissa Reese. The Guns N’Roses 2020 Tour began in January 2020 with a single show, only to be interrupted several times due to the pandemic. Now, Czech or Slovak fans will finally get to see them. The band has promised to play for three and a half hours, making it the longest concert ever in the Czech Republic. The setlist will include nearly thirty songs from all six of their albums, including a number of covers from The Who, The Stooges, Hendrix solos, and more. Ten days ago in Spain, the band played AC/DC’s “Back in Black” for the first time ever; Axl Rose sang the same song with them at the same venue in 2016, when he was the lead singer with AC/DC. Meanwhile, they are working on new...
The interest rate on the euro-denominated loan should be below 2% and the city can repay the principal over 40 years. Prague City Councilors have agreed on the terms of a loan of up to CZK 23 billion (EUR 1 billion) to be granted to the city by the European Investment Bank for the construction of metro line D. The transaction only needs to be approved by members of the Prague City Assembly. The CZK 23 billion loan covers almost half of the total cost of the metro line D construction between the Pankrac and Nove Dvory stops. Prague will have the option of drawing the loan in CZK or in EUR, while drawing in euros allows for interest rates below 2% per annum. According to the city’s press release, the project for a new Prague metro line has attracted the attention of EIB experts as it is in line with the city’s approved climate plan and contributes to improving the quality of the environment. Prague, however, insists that the state contribute financially to the construction as well. About the new metro The Prague Transport Company (DPP) started building the new metro line D on 21 April. This first section is...
Czech headline inflation soared to 16% in May, above expectations, to hit a nearly 30-year high, statistics office data showed on Friday. The data – above the central bank’s forecast of 14.9% – added to bets the Czech National Bank would deliver another hefty interest rate hike when the board meets under its current composition for a final time this month. Markets are now pricing more than a 100-basis-point rate hike to take the base rate well above 6% on June 22, before three of seven members’ terms end. “After this figure, I believe the bank will go for a big hike, not just a 75 basis point move already indicated. The question is how much more,” Pavel Sobisek, chief economist with UniCredit in Prague, said. The country’s president named three new members to the central bank board this week, easing market worries about a sharp dovish swing in the board. Czech central banker Ales Michl, who has opposed the 550 basis points in rate hikes delivered in the last year, will take over as governor from July and has sought rate stability. Central banks around central and eastern Europe have already sharply raised rates in the last year to...
A record amount of cocaine was seized in a shipment for supermarkets in the Czech Republic, police said Friday. They said 840 kilograms of cocaine were discovered in cardboard boxes with bananas by employees in supermarkets in northern towns of Jicin and Rychnov nad Kneznou. Officers are now searching other stores in the country where banana boxes from the same shipment abroad were delivered. Police said they were cooperating on the case with their counterparts from other unspecified countries. “The information about the shipment leads outside the Czech Republic, therefore we will use international police and justice cooperation,” the police said, without further details. Jakub Frydrych, the head of the police anti-narcotics unit, told the Czech public radio the cocaine likely originated in Central America. The street value of the drug is estimated to be more than 2 billion Czech crowns. In a similar case in 2015, over 100 kilograms of cocaine was discovered in a Prague supermarket. In 1999, police seized 117 kilograms of cocaine in a warehouse north of Prague packed among dry fruit.
It is very common in countries all over the world for motorists to break laws and then get pulled over by police officers. But often drivers escape from the eyes of the officers standing on the roads or cover up for their illegal driving behaviour as soon as they see an officer. Not in the Czech Republic, where drivers are being tracked from the sky using drones, in order to crack down on traffic violations such as speeding and failing to keep a safe distance. For the time being the operation is merely aimed at collecting data on the state of road safety, but eventually, drivers will be fined for failing to keep a safe distance on the road. Once the images from a drone are reviewed, a summons is issued to the driver with the corresponding photo or video clip. The devices are cheaper than the helicopters the agency had usually used to monitor drivers. Drones are better at keeping an eye on drivers around cyclists and pedestrians and in areas where flying helicopters is riskier. The drones have a surveillance range of 4km but need to be kept within the line of sight of the operators.
Celebrate the beginning of summer at a festival in the center of Prague! The multi-genre music festival United Islands of Europe – Freedom Edition will bring more than 50 musical discoveries not only from Western but also Central and Eastern Europe to Prague which will perform on a total of 7 stages on the second weekend of June – 10 and 11. Visitors can look forward to performers from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Romania, Lithuania, Poland, Germany or Ireland, representing a diverse range of music – from hyperpop or rap, through post-punk, to jazz fusion. There will also be an equally packed non-music program known as the Islands of Inspiration. It will offer workshops, sports, cultural and educational activities, as well as panel discussions on freedom, diversity or sustainability. This year, the Gastro Zone or Gastro Islands will present sustainable trends in catering. In addition to beers from mini-breweries, visitors will also be able to taste the United Beer festival beer. The festival program will take place on Střelecký Island, Janáčkovo nábřeží, Vítězná street near Café Savoy, Dětský Islands, Jazz Dock, Portheimka Park and OC Nový Smíchov Terrace. Come listen to concerts of new discoveries of the European...
RegioJet will launch a regular rail connection between Prague, Lviv and Kiev this Saturday, June 11. For holders of Ukrainian passports, a ticket from Prague to Lviv will cost CZK 229, to Kiev CZK 639. “RegioJet responds to the high demand of Ukrainian families who want to return to relatives and friends by introducing this new connection”, said project manager Tereza Ptáčková. Until now, people used mainly buses and paid between CZK 1,000 to CZK 1,200 for a ticket to Lviv. Czech Railways trains did not run to Ukraine even before the war started. RegioJet passengers will have to change to the Ukrainian train in Przemyśl, due to a different gauge in Ukraine. The train runs from Prague via Bohumín, Katowice and Kraków to Przemyśl and continues via Lviv to Kiev. On 1 March 2022, a humanitarian bridge using the railway was launched to transport necessary materials from the Czech Republic to Ukraine and refugees in the opposite direction. It was provided by Člověk v tísni (People in Need) organization and realized by RegioJet at its own expense. The freight mainly included non-perishable food, medicines and toiletries donated by various companies (e. g. supermarket chains) and collected within 24 hours....
On Saturday 4 June 2022, more than 35 microbreweries from all over the Czech Republic met at the Drink for Ukraine charity beer festival at the Prague Congress Centre and donated their beer for free. More than 1,500 visitors attended the event, which ran from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. The event succeeded in raising CZK 675,680, which was sent after-tax to the account of the non-profit organization Člověk v tísni (People in Need) to help people affected by the invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine. The craft microbreweries included such names as Chroust, Clock, Zichovec and Raven, but there were also larger breweries – Budějovický Budvar and Plzeňský Prazdroj. The event also featured an auction of rare bottles of beer and beer specialties, during which some pieces were auctioned for as much as CZK 15,000. “The number of visitors and the festival’s atmosphere was incredible; the event was the best it could be. But I was most pleased with the number of visitors of Ukrainian nationality, it must have been a great feeling for them. The feeling that we stand for them. The Czech brewers once again showed that they know how to help”, says Karolína Chroustovská, the festival...
A team made up of New York’s Steven Holl Architects (SHA) with Marcela Steinbachová and Czech firm Skupina Studio has won a competition to redevelop the 1947 Terezín Ghetto Museum, housed on the site of a Jewish Ghetto where some 33,000 people lost their lives. The plan is to add a “Tower of Light” to the existing museum. This is described by SHA as a “contemplative space” that will allow visitors to experience “spectral light phenomena”, with refracted daylight aiming to represent “the colours of humanity”. At night the tower lights up, offering a beacon in the dark. It is clad in naturally weathering copper. The tower’s design is inspired by a drawing by Petr Ginz called “Moon Landscape”. Ginz was deported to the Terezín concentration camp where he drew the image of the Earth from the Moon. He died at Auschwitz at the age of 16. Work on the full Terezín Ghetto Museum project includes renovation of the existing building and the addition of an exhibition area, green spaces, updated parking and an information centre. The SHA team was picked from an international field of 22 participants.
If your day doesn’t start until you’re up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to our new morning fix. Continued support for Ukraine, energy security, boosting European defence structures and the resilience of the EU economy will be among the main priorities of the upcoming Czech EU Presidency, Minister for European Affairs Mikuláš Bek told the members of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday. . Police have proposed filing charges against 21 people and one legal entity for corruption and large scale game-rigging in the second and third divisions of Czech football. One of the main suspects in the case is Roman Berbr, former vice-president of the Czech Football Association. Over 70,000 refugees from Ukraine with humanitarian visas and labour permits have found jobs and have started working in the Czech Republic, Labour Minister Marian Jurečka said at a press briefing in Prague on Thursday. In May, the Czech Republic’s unemployment rate fell by a tenth percentage point to 3.2 percent. There are 235,468 job seekers on the register of the labor offices, 8190 fewer than in April. The number of job vacancies fell by roughly 7,000 compared to the previous month,...
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