Children who will not get tested for Covid-19 or prove to be safe from the infection in another way at the beginning of the school year will not be temporarily allowed to attend physical education indoors and sing at school, according to the health ministry manual sent to schools on Tuesday. In addition, such children will have to wear face masks all the time at school and should keep a distance from others, also when eating and drinking. These special rules will be applied until the end of the extraordinary testing at schools, that is until September 10, Heath Minister Adam Vojtech and Robert Plaga told a press conference. “Mandatory testing is supposed to show us a picture of the epidemiological situation in the country as a whole. (…) But the mandatory testing applies only temporarily,” said Vojtech. Some parts of the manual are only recommendations while other instructions are binding for schools. The recommendations relate mainly to the rules for disinfection, cleaning, organization of teaching, meals, etc, while regulations regarding the wearing of respiratory protection, isolation of the infected, and testing at the beginning of the school year are mandatory. Testing will take place in early September. The manual...
The 8th edition of the Pilsen Busking Fest 2021 will take place on 2-5 September. City’s residents can watch a variety of up-and-coming performing artists on 2-5 September. With this festival, the city’s streets will finally see the return of artists, singers, and performers who have struggled tremendously since the outbreak of the pandemic. According to the festival’s website, Pilsen Busking Fest typically searches for young and lesser-known talented individuals. For this reason, this event differs greatly from other festivals which feature famous artists and talents. As such, Pilsen’s residents will get the chance to witness new and exciting performances by up-and-coming individuals. Some of the performers feature the Irish/German band TAU which has reportedly promised visitors a “hypnotic experience”. The festival’s attendees can also enjoy Caribbean rhythms, reggae, and ska performed by La Orquesta Informal from the Canary Islands. In addition to these entertainers, the German band Beranger Grasse will perform alongside drummer Todd James. Aside from musical entertainment, the festival will also host shows by circus performers and acrobats. More specifically, Afrika Indux Malax Akrobatic is set to entertain visitors with fire, human pyramids, etc. What is more, The Electric Brothers will juggle and unicycle. Finally, the Polish firebreather Plucie Ogniem will also perform and astonish the festival’s attendees. Although the event is free of charge,...
Czech President Milos Zeman said NATO had failed in Afghanistan and its legitimacy was in question, as he called for his country to focus on national defense rather than “wasting money” on the alliance. The Czech Republic has pledged to raise its defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product, the NATO target level, by 2024, but the government said in June that this deadline would not be met due to the economic crisis after the coronavirus pandemic. Zeman, known for his pro-Russia and pro-China stance, said that NATO’s main role was to fight global terrorism, but the alliance has failed at that task now. “The distrust towards NATO from a number of member countries will grow after this experience because they will say – if you failed in Afghanistan, where is a guarantee that you won’t fail in any other critical situation?” Zeman said in an interview published by Parlamenty Listy on Tuesday, a website favored by the president for airing his views. “Now that investing in NATO is kind of wasting money, our defense spending should focus on national defense, on national (military) procurement,” Zeman said. NATO said on Tuesday that the Taliban must not let Afghanistan become...
The state agency CzechTourism has launched a campaign that aims to attract German tourists on spa trips and city stays. It will continue for three autumn months and the agency has set aside a total of six million CZK. The campaign is aimed primarily at the residents of the border federal states of Saxony, Bavaria, as well as Berlin and Thuringia. According to Markéta Chaloupková, director of the CzechTourism’s foreign representation in Germany, the tourists interested in a spa holiday will be addressed through some of the most widely read Saxony newspapers or on public radio. According to her, the digital ads on outdoor showcases or online advertisements will be aimed at urban tourists. In 2019 alone, more than 2 million tourists came from Germany. To support the arrival of German tourists, CzechTourism also organizes individual and group thematic trips that might center around caravanning, cycling, or exploring the cultural life in Czech cities. “Despite the fact that the Germans spent their summer holidays mainly by the sea, the Czech Republic becomes a point of interest for them during autumn holidays,” CzechTourism stated in its press release. Online campaigns to support tourism in the Czech Republic are also simultaneously running...
The Russian anti-coronavirus crisis center is lifting restrictions imposed on regular and charter air travel from Russia to the Dominican Republic, the Czech Republic and South Korea on August 27, the crisis center said in a statement on Monday. “Following discussions and considering the epidemiological situation in certain countries, the decision was made to lift restrictions on international regular and non-regular (charter) flights from Russian airports to the Dominican Republic, South Korea and the Czech Republic starting from August 27, 2021,” the statement reads. Additionally, international flights from Surgut International Airport are resuming on August 27. According to the Russian anti-coronavirus crisis center, the number of regular flights from Russia to Hungary, Cyprus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will be increased starting with August 27. The number of Moscow-Budapest flights will be boosted from four to seven a week, while one flight a week will be permitted from several other cities. The number of flights from Moscow to Larnaca and Paphos in Cyprus will also reach seven, while other Russian cities will have four flights a week. Seven flights a week will be operated from Moscow to Bishkek and Dushanbe. Moreover, several Russian cities will be cleared to have one flight a...
Interior Minister Jan Hamacek will discuss the integration of the Afghans who are being transferred from Kabul to the Czech Republic with regional governors. Meanwhile, Prague City will offer help with the integration of Afghans who have previously worked for the Czech army or diplomatic service. The Czech Republic’s first evacuation flight from Kabul landed at Kbely Airport (in the northeast of Prague) on Monday morning with 46 Czech and local embassy workers and Afghan collaborators of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Department of Defense plans to relocate another twenty army interpreters to the Czech Republic. “Prague is ready to welcome Afghan interpreters and their families, who are being transferred from Kabul to the Czech Republic. Similarly, we have already found a joint solution with the government to help Belarusian dissidents,” said Mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates) on Twitter. “We are doing everything we can to ensure that our diplomats return home safely. As for helping the coworkers of the Czech army, we want to take care of them, we are working on it, and we have a plan for it,” said the Czech prime minister. In March this year, Prague City rented six apartments to Belarusians who have fled...
The Rolling Stones first played in Prague 32 years ago, on August 18, 1990, at Strahov Stadium. More than 100,000 people attended the show, which became a symbol of the country’s new-found freedom. It was a special moment for Czechoslovaks, who could finally see live on stage stars they had only read about and whose music they knew from bootleg cassettes. The date is no accident: it almost coincides with the twenty-second anniversary of the Soviet invasion of 1968. And everybody is in disbelief, stuck in that electric moment that always precedes the unimaginable. Arriving in Prague on a government-supplied Tupolev Tu-154 plane on August 17, band members stayed at the Hotel Palace, a stone throw away from Wenceslas Square, and later had dinner at the invitation of Havel’s wife Olga Havlová in the restaurant Na Rybárně (which doesn’t exist today). The evening continued with a visit to the renowned Jazz Club Reduta and a party in their hotel suite. When suddenly the dense darkness is pierced by a cone of light. Silence breaks down into a roar. And like a mirage personified, Keith Richards, in blue jeans and a pink jacket, begins to caress his guitar strings. The first notes...
The Czech authorities have announced that all persons who have not been vaccinated or recovered from the COVID-19 disease arriving from Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Andorra, and San Marino will be subject to stricter entry rules, as the countries have been placed in the red category. Such a decision to place the above-mentioned countries in the red category has been taken in line with the latest data provided by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and will start being effective from tomorrow, August 16, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports. Except for the newly added countries, the red category already includes Ireland, Estonia, Iceland, France, the Netherlands, Malta, Greece, the Canary Islands, and Portugal. As such, according to a press release issued by the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Health, all persons arriving from a country placed on Czechia’s red category must fill in the arrival form and undergo COVID-19 testing before entry if they used public transport to reach the country. In addition, everyone is required to go in quarantine as soon as they enter Czechia and undergo a second test after the fifth day of isolation. However, it has been noted that testing and self-isolation requirements apply only to those who have...
More and more people are seriously considering insects as a source of protein. The environmental benefits are manifold, but can regional start-ups in Central and Eastern Europe overcome consumer resistance to the idea that bugs can be food? Eating insects, also known entomophagy, is part of many traditional diets across the world. Insects such as crickets and mealworms are safe for human consumption and are a great source of protein. There are environmental benefits to consider as well. Rearing insects produces less greenhouse gas and uses less land and water compared to livestock. Insects also have a higher “feed conversion” — they can convert feed to protein more efficiently than traditional food animals such as pigs. Globally, there are already many start-ups turning insects such as crickets into food and selling them, either as protein powder made from ground-up bugs or whole – sometimes flavoured, sometimes not. In Central and Eastern Europe, Czechia has emerged as a regional hub for this nascent sector, boasting several high-profile start-ups. One of these is Terraz, producing a new twist on an old favourite — pasta made from cricket flour. Another is Entoway, selling a protein supplement made from plant protein and crickets. “It all...
Named after the district that hosts it, Prague 4, Pankrác prison was built between 1885 and 1889. At the time, the primary need was to replace the by then outdated and dilapidated prison of Saint Wenceslaus, which was located between Karlovo náměstí and the Vltava. The new detention center, which was then in an open countryside area (today it has the appearance of a Prague financial district, with banks, offices and shopping centers), was part of a vast Austro-Hungarian expansion project of the city and was supposed to represent the development of new technological and infrastructural systems in the sector of atonement for sentences, up to then unseen in the Empire, so much so that, even today, the prison remains a significant institution in the penal universe of the Czech Republic. The state-of-the-art prison, at the end of the nineteenth century, was designed to accommodate about eight hundred prisoners, while today its capacity is about 1,200. In the Habsburg period it in fact represented the maximum example of modernity in terms of prison construction. The centralized water and air heating system, as well as the presence of single cells, were a real rarity in Europe at the time. It was...
The Czech Republic’s government debt relative to gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 6.3 percentage points to 44.1 percent of GDP in the first quarter of this year. It was the second-largest growth among the countries of the European Union, after Cyprus. At the same time, Czech government debt is still the sixth-lowest in the EU. This follows from current Eurostat data, which was pointed out by the consulting company Moore Czech Republic. Across the European Union, government debt rose by 2.4 percentage points to 92.9 percent of GDP, with 23 of the 27 EU member states experiencing rising debt in the first quarter. “The COVID-19 pandemic peaked in the Czech Republic in the first quarter. At one time, we were one of the most affected countries in the world. It is the increased expenses for the fight against the pandemic and especially the measures restricting the full functioning of the economy that are the main reason for the above-average growth of public debt,“ said Petr Kymlička, a partner at Moore Czech Republic. However, according to Kymlička, the expenses associated with the pandemic are not the only causes of the debt increase in the case of the Czech Republic. “The...
The Czech Republic was evacuating its two diplomats from its embassy in Kabul on Saturday as the security situation in Afghanistan worsened, Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek said. Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani held urgent talks with local leaders and international partners on Saturday as Taliban rebels pushed closer to Kabul, capturing a town south of the capital that is one of the gateways to the city. The United States is flying in troops to evacuate embassy staff and citizens and other countries are also moving their diplomats. “I have decided on the immediate evacuation of our diplomats to the international airport in Kabul,” Kulhanek said. Taliban take more territory The Taliban have launched an offensive that has led to the capture of major cities in the north, west and south of the country. The militant group seized its biggest prizes to date by taking Kandahar, the largest city in the south, and Herat, the main city in the West. Afghan government control is rapidly shrinking, limited mostly to Kabul and the eastern parts of the country. Many panicked Afghans are descending on the capital, fearing a renewal of the harsh Taliban rule they remember from two decades ago. The Pentagon has...
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