German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier paid tribute Thursday to Czechoslovak paratroopers who assassinated senior Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich in 1942. By laying a wreath at a Prague church and visiting a crypt in which the paratroopers died after a gunfight with the Nazis, Steinmeier became the first German leader to recognise their sacrifice. Like his predecessor Joachim Gauck, Steinmeier also recalled two Czech villages razed to the ground by the Nazis in retaliation for the killing of Heydrich by the paratroopers trained in Britain. The destruction of the Lidice and Lezaky villages were part of a Nazi retaliatory sweep that saw 15,000 people detained, killed or taken to a concentration camp. “These villages were destroyed and there were so many victims,” said Steinmeier, who is paying a three-day visit to the Czech Republic. “When we become aware of this difficult history and the things that unite us, we can be happy that our proximity, partnership and friendship have such solid foundations that are practically independent of our political constellations,” he added, hailing German-Czech relations as the best in memory. “What we are experiencing is something absolutely exceptional, it is a treasure we have to take care of,” Steinmeier said after meeting...
Bulgaria has been crowned as the best European country for women to work. That is according to a study conducted by Reboot Online, which evaluated a variety of factors that contribute to women’s success in the workforce. It created a points-based index to determine which countries on the continent offered the best prospects for female professionals, assessing economic opportunity, including the gender pay gap, women in leadership, and maternity leave. Bulgaria scored 236.6 points out of a possible 300 after offering the best maternity leave package in Europe. It also ranked second-best for women in leadership, losing out only to Norway which boasts one of the most egalitarian societies in the world. Croatia pulled in second place with a combined total of 229.9 points, with the second-highest points for economic opportunity and maternity leave. The country also registered the second-highest points for economic opportunity, losing out to Italy. Rounding up the top five was Estonia, Norway and Slovakia, and the Netherlands, while Slovenia, Romania and Italy ranked sixth, seventh and eighth in Europe. The Czech Republic finished in the 21st spot, scoring 110 points in total. In terms of equal economic opportunities, it ended among the last five countries. On...
The Czech telecoms regulator CTU may cap wholesale mobile data prices charged by three main operators to virtual providers, its chief told business daily Hospodarske Noviny. The main providers concerned are O2 Czech Republic, T-Mobile and Vodafone. “I believe we will propose a ceiling for wholesale prices at which the three current large operators sell to virtual operators,” the daily quoted CTU Chairwoman Hana Tovarkova as saying. “The regulation may last for three to four years depending on the results of an analysis that we will complete in the second half of September.” Where are people paying more for their data? Researchers from Top Dollar decided to investigate. Using data collected from the World Bank and other credible sources, they created a series of infographics on global mobile data charges. Israel has the cheapest data in the world, according to Top Dollar researchers. Based on a standard 10GB monthly plan, mobile users in Israel pay just $0.01 per 1Mbps download speed. The low prices are mainly due to a highly competitive mobile data market, which includes a large customer base for providers. Over 95 percent of Israelis have instant access to the internet. China ranks second, with 10GB data per...
A study by 65 researchers from around the world reveals how considerate people from different countries are when making low consequence decisions. A recent study on Social Mindfulness (SoMi) revealed that Austria is the most considerate EU country. The concept of Social Mindfulness relates to acts of empathy, kindness and cooperation that are of low or no cost to the actor and the researchers believe that they reveal some truth about the way a society functions in general. The study was led by Niels Van Doesum, from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, but also included various collaborations and contributions, like Ursula Athenstaedt from the University of Graz, Marcello Gallucci from the University of Milano-Bicocca, and others. The research involved 65 scientists analysing results from more than 8,300 people. The people came from 31 nations and, while western developed countries are strongly represented, the study wanted to cast a wider net. This is why they looked into the social habits of places like Turkey, Indonesia, South Korea and Romania. Would you pick the wine glass? The study describes the concept of Social Mindfulness in a relatively straightforward way. Imagine two colleagues, Alex and Mary. They are going to their...
After a year pause, departure halls are getting busy, and Czechs go more often on well-deserved holiday breaks this year. The majority of passengers have flown to Greece, Italy and Spain in July 2021. The list of the most popular places is led by Burgas, Bulgaria. According to the latest statistics, over 605,000 passengers were handled at Václav Havel Airport Prague last month, which represents an increase of more than 140 percent compared to last year. Thanks to direct flights, passengers can currently fly from Prague to enjoy warm weather to about a hundred destinations, such as Italy, Greece and Malta. “The last month’s operating results have exceeded our original forecasts of handled passengers and at the same time confirmed that passengers are returning aboard aircraft. Czechs mostly select one of typical holiday destinations this summer but can also use several connections to major European capitals. Considering the advancing vaccination and simplifications of travel conditions for vaccinated passengers, our priority for the coming months is the support of inbound tourism and the subsequent further resumption of operations,” Jaroslav Filip, Director of Prague Airport Aviation Business, said. Several brand-new routes will be launched in September 2021. Wizz Air will operate the Naples...
Operators of advertising tarpaulin spaces on buildings in Prague consider the new decree on the regulation of outdoor advertising to be discriminatory and want to repeal it. This was stated at a press conference yesterday by representatives of the Association of Czech Outdoor Advertising Companies (SČVR). The decree is to apply from October. About 120 large tarpaulin advertising boards and 1,400 advertisement spaces on benches are to disappear from Prague beginning October, but about 11,000 more billboards outdoors or inside public transport will remain. According to the chairman of the association, Josef Soušek, the decree affects smaller businesses rather than large companies that have long-term leases with the municipality. “Our goal is to repeal the decree and at the same time repeal the practice where the municipality and city districts automatically extend contracts for the lease of spaces for advertising,” he said. Advertising on tarpaulins on the facades of buildings does not require a permit, and according to Soušek, the city cannot regulate it, so it was decided to ban them altogether. Prague councilor Hana Třeštíková (Praha Sobě) stands behind the new regulation. “Advertising regulations have not yet been enforced outside the historic center,” she said. According to Filip Antonín...
Prague’s public transport will resume its normal daily schedule. Trams and metro trains will shorten their intervals on Saturday 28 August, buses and trains will start the new schedule on Wednesday, 1 September. This was announced on social media by ROPID. Public transport will thus go back to its operations in the time before the coronavirus pandemic. Trams Trams will now run every 8 minutes at peak traffic time, and trams 9, 17, and 22 will travel even more frequently- every 4 minutes. Metro “On all lines, the intervals between trains will be shortened for almost the whole day. In the morning rush hour, the trains will run even more frequently,” states ROPID. The intervals are about 2 minutes and 30 seconds on line A, 2 minutes and 20 seconds on line B, and 1 minute and 55 seconds on the line C. Buses For city buses, the frequency will increase on 1 September. On backbone lines, the interval returns to 6 minutes, on the busiest lines, there will be 5 minutes between connections. Other city bus lines will also become more frequent and the total number of bus connections will increase by about 15 percent, according to ROPID. The...
The agreement to divide Czechoslovakia was signed at Villa Tugendhat by Czech Prime Minister Václav Klaus and the Slovak Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar on 26 August 1992. As of the first of January 1993, two new countries came into being in Europe, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Villa Tugendhat was a government building at the time. The negotiations regarding the separation took place here, partially somewhat symbolically as Brno lies approximately halfway between Prague and Bratislava. The main point of contention was (and will remain) the question of whether Czechoslovakia was to hold a referendum. It is possible today to argue that the decision not to hold a referendum was fortunate. First, in a country consisting of two nations of unequal size, one referendum, on a federal level only, would not work. Holding two referendums, one in each republic, was also problematic, as no one seemed to know what would happen if one republic voted in favor of the country’s split and another would be against it. The two republics proceeded with separation negotiations in an atmosphere of peace and cooperation. By late November, members of the National Assembly had voted Czechoslovakia out of existence. Both republics promulgated new constitutions, and at midnight on...
Half the Czech Republic’s adult population contracted the coronavirus from the beginning of the epidemic until March this year. Based on the first phase of a long-term study, these findings were made by scientists from the research center of Masaryk University in Brno. According to official statistics, the infection was confirmed in only 1.7 million people in the country. The researchers focused on the presence of antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. “The results of the first phase of the study showed a rapid increase in seropositivity, demonstrating large exposure of the Czech population to SARS-CoV-2 during the dramatic second wave of the pandemic: while in October and November 2020, only 28 percent of volunteers had antibodies, in December 2020 and January 2021, it was 43 percent, and in February and March 2021, already 51 percent,” according to Vojtěch Thon from Masaryk University. “This means that in March 2021, a substantial part of the Czech population was no longer immunologically isolated from the SARS-CoV-2 infection,” he added from the position of expert guarantor of the study. According to Ladislav Dušek, head of the Institute of Health Information and Statistics (IHIS), the data indicates that “the percentage of the population exposed to...
In the spring, Pirates and Mayors were the favorites of the election, and Ivan Bartoš was asked if he was ready for the role of prime minister. However, since the start of the campaign in May, the coalition has garnered criticism for the trespasses, and voters began to leave it before the summer. The decline in preferences continues until now. Dissatisfaction is also heard from within the Pirates, according to them the campaign is very defensive. Experts claim that the two parties in the coalition have lost their own identities. According to surveys, Pirates and Mayors have been experiencing a decline in voter support since the spring, when they successfully attacked the 30% threshold. Current data from the Median agency give them about twenty percent preferences, ie third place – behind the ANO movement and the Together coalition. According to the STEM agency, only 18.7 percent of Czechs would vote for them in August. A vicious fightback by Prime Minister Andrej Babis has dented PaS’s support. The billionaire premier has been busy warning the country’s older and more conservative voters that the progressive-liberal Pirates are actually an authoritarian neo-Marxist mob hellbent on forcing them to become vegan and share their homes with migrants. “We cannot let them...
Following the lawsuit of the American airline Southwest Airlines and the escalation of the dispute with Ryanair, there is another inconvenience on Kiwi.com. The Dutch airline KLM sent a letter to the Czech company, asking Kiwi.com to stop selling their tickets. The cooperation with Kiwi.com was interrupted several months ago by the Russian airline Aeroflot. Traditional airlines prefer established practices and traditional pricing structures, Kiwi.com spokeswoman Nina Černá responded. “They threaten the reputation of the high quality of our services,” KLM spokeswoman Marjan Rozemeijer told E15 daily about the reasons for the request. “We have sent a letter to Kiwi.com asking them to respect our wishes and the request that we do not want them to sell our tickets to clients,” a spokeswoman for the Dutch company told E15. Airlines do not like the refund process and the sale of tickets for connecting flights. “Kiwi.com is not authorized by KLM to sell our tickets, but they buy them through agencies and then sell downstream connections. It often happens that passengers do not know which ticket they bought, “explains Rozemeijer. As a result, the luggage may arrive at an airport other than the passenger himself, says a spokesman for the Dutch company. The second...
People from the US are now permitted to travel to the Czech Republic for non-essential travel, provided they are fully vaccinated and can prove it. However, there are currently no direct flights from the US to the Czech Republic, so if you’re planning a trip here’s how to make it happen. As of August 23, fully vaccinated travelers from the US can visit the Czech Republic. Travelers must show proof of vaccination to enter, which is the white card from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The vaccination must be approved by the European Medicines Agency (Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Covishield or Johnson & Johnson doses) to be recognized for travel there. Travelers are also required to fill in a Passenger Locator Form before boarding their flight. There are currently no direct flights from the US to the Czech Republic according to the US Embassy, so travelers who wish to visit will have to transit through another country. That will likely be another European nation as most flights between the two countries connect there. The Czech Republic is open to travelers from the EU and Schengen Zone countries without restrictions, so travelers shouldn’t have to go through any additional measures. That said, it’s important...
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