Around 9.6 percent of Czechs were threatened by income poverty last year, said the Czech Statistics Office on Thursday. The figure was up 0.6 percent over the previous year. The income poverty line is set at 11,963 CZK per individual per month, or 25,122 per family with two children, said the office, releasing the result of the survey on income and living conditions of households. The Czech Republic continues to rank among the EU countries with the lowest share of people under the poverty line, said the Czech Statistics Office. The average monthly wage in the Czech Republic currently stands at 33,840 CZK. The survey shows that most households get their income quite easily or with little difficulty. But this is a big problem for 17.6 percent of households. In particular, single parents with children and women over the age of 65 who live alone have difficulty getting along with income. Also, the survey finds that almost one-tenth of Czech households pay more than 40 percent of their net income for housing, including energy. About two-thirds of them live in rented flats and the largest group among them are lonely pensioners. Author: red
Who’s at the top of the list? Finland, for the second year in a row. All the Nordic countries fare exceedingly well: Denmark, Norway, and Iceland also appear in the top five, and Sweden sits in seventh place. The report ranks countries on six key variables that support well-being: income, freedom, trust, healthy life expectancy, social support and generosity. The Czech Republic ranked 20th of 158 countries. The Czech Republic was best in the CEE region and led the Visegrad Four nations, with Slovakia at 38th, Poland at 40th and Hungary at 62nd. But neighboring Austria and Germany did better, at 10th and 17th place, respectively. “The top 10 countries tend to rank high in all six variables, as well as emotional measures of well-being,” says report co-editor John Helliwell, a professor emeritus of economics at the University of British Columbia. And that’s not just about the native-born residents of those countries. “It’s true that last year all Finns were happier than rest of the countries’ residents, but their immigrants were also happiest immigrants in the world,” says Helliwell. “It’s not about Finnish DNA. It’s the way life is lived in those countries.” They pay high taxes for a social safety net, they trust their government,...
Tereza Hlůšková, 21, has been jailed in Pakistan for eight years and eight months for drug smuggling. She was sentenced to prison at a sessions court in Lahore on Wednesday, March 20. Hlůšková, who works as a model, was arrested in 2018 and charged with attempting to smuggle heroin from Pakistan to Abu Dhabi. Since her arrest on January 10, 2018, Hlůšková has protested her innocence to investigators. She told them that she came to Pakistan to work as a model, but someone put eight and a half kilograms of the Class A drug into her suitcase as she was returning. The model was arrested at the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore when she tried to get on a flight to Abu Dhabi. Police found heroin inside her luggage. Even though she was caught, she was able to get through two security checks despite “stringent” controls in place. She told investigators: “They gave me something for luggage, three statues or something. They said it was gifts. I didn’t know there was something inside.” During the case, Czech diplomats had provided her legal assistance. Over the course of the trial, nine witnesses recorded their statements against the suspected drug smuggler. Author:...
March 29 will see WingHaus opening a sports bar in the Žižkov neighborhood. The grand opening comes as the second location for the American Restaurant with its first branch located in Prague 2. To celebrate, they will be giving away free wings for one whole year to the first 100 customers in line! Their boast as making the best chicken wings in Europe is not an empty one as they have ratings of 4.5-4.9/5 on all major food review sites. They have garnered much success in a very short space amount of time, and the anticipation for the new WingHaus Sports Bar Opening is only building as the announcement went live on their official Facebook and Instagram It comes as no surprise that in under a short three years they are opening a new branch as a sports bar, allowing more space for in-house dining, and it continues to stick with the American branding. If you are unfamiliar with their menu, prepare yourself for fresh ingredients, homemade sauces, and the best homemade fries and Wings like you have never tasted before! Author: red
About two dozens of Czech and foreign artists decorated the famous Lennon Wall with new pictures and inscriptions of “love and peace”. John Lennon’s wall in Prague is a popular destination for tourists and a symbolic site of Czech opposition to the communist regime Since the 1980s, it has been filled with John Lennon-inspired graffiti and pieces of lyrics from Beatles’ songs. In the past years, it has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in Prague and was seen as a symbol of global ideas such as “love and peace”. The leading figure behind the project was Pavel Šťastný, the man who created the famous logo of the Civic Forum during the Velvet Revolution. “For 60 years already, Lennon’s wall is a symbol of freedom in the Czech Republic. We are just starting our celebrations of 30 Years of Freedom and we wanted to give the wall a new face because it is not just a Czech symbol, but also one that is also an international.“ The artwork, namely “Meet Art”, was co-created by artists from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Canada and Sultanate of Oman. Some tourists contributed, too. They painted the entire wall with one of the motifs...
The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in České Budějovice managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer’s top five markets, though it won’t say exactly how much beer it sends there. Like many other businesses, it’s concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. That exit is due to happen on March 29, though with political wrangling still very much underway, a delay looks likely. That’s meant worrying uncertainty for businesses like Budvar that rely on being able to send their goods to Britain without inspection delays at borders. “It’s about two weeks to Brexit and nobody knows anything,” said Budvar director Petr Dvorak. “We’re now waiting for what happens because it’s going to be uncertain till the last moment.” Budvar’s business has been growing — it increased exports by 8.5 percent to reach 1.075 million hectoliters (28.4 million gallons) last year. The brewer reached its production capacity in recent years and has been expanding to be able to produce more. Still, a loss of UK business would be a blow,...
The Czech Republic has the highest job vacancy rate in the European Union, according to new data published by Eurostat on March 18. At six per cent, the vacancy rate in the Czech Republic is almost twice that of Belgium and Germany (3.4 per cent). Hungary is the only other emerging European country which has a higher vacancy rate than the EU average of 2.3 per cent. The lowest rates in the EU are found in Greece (0.4 per cent), Bulgaria, Ireland, Spain and Portugal (all 0.9 per cent). Elsewhere in emerging Europe, Latvia’s vacancy rate is the same as the EU average, at 2.3 per cent, closely followed by Slovenia with a rate of 2.2 per cent. Estonia’s vacancy rate is 1.8 per cent, Croatia’s 1.4 per cent, Lithuania’s and Slovakia’s 1.3 per cent and Romania’s 1.2 per cent. Poland has a vacancy rate of 1.1 per cent. Jakub Siedler, chief economist for the Dutch bank ING in the Czech Republic, said last month that the lack of a suitable workforce has become an increasingly more important barrier to further economic growth in the country. Eurostat defines a job vacancy as a paid post (newly created, unoccupied or about to become vacant)...
Beer, beer, beer…I know many pubs serve a nice beer. But there are only a few pubs in Prague that specialize in offering a wide variety of local Czech beers, all on tap, not only in bottles, and one of them is Kulový Blesk. In pubs like it, just to explain, they offer around 10 to 20 beers on tap, usually from different small- or micro-breweries, often more types of beer from one brewery. In such a pub the beers are always of the best quality and the choice changes every day. My humble opinion on the quality is developed by my several years of experience with beer. Kulovy blesk is not on the nicest spot, because it is blocked with the ‘Prague highway’ Sokolska. It offers a nice underground space decorated with posters of famous Czech movies. Actually, the name of the pub refers to the popular movie ‘Kulovy blesk‘ directed by Ladislav Smoljak and Zdenek Sverak. Apart from the beer, which usually satisfies me completely, you can enjoy pure Czech cuisine, including many nice starters (some bites for the beer) and large meals for meat lovers (burgers, chicken wings, ribs). Important note – if you want to enjoy an evening in this pub, call and make...
Czech apartment prices accelerated in 2H18, most likely due to the frontloading effect motivated by new macroprudential central bank rules. In our view, apartment prices should slow down this year. Czech apartment prices grew by 11.4% year on year in last quarter of 2018, after growing by 9.4% in the third quarter and 8.5% in the first half of 2018. In Prague, the prices of apartments rose by 8.7% year on year, but the prices of new apartments accelerated almost 18% year on year. Driven by frontloading activity on the credit market The sharp rise in apartment prices is most likely related to strong activity in the Czech property market and at the beginning of 4Q18, due to the frontloading effect on the back of stricter macroprudential recommendations of the Czech central bank. The volume of new housing loans accelerated by 30% in September and 50% in October 2018, as many were concerned mortgages might become unavailable to them after the new central bank measures. Prices to slowdown this year Given the frontloading effect pushing prices up in 2018, the slightly weaker economic activity expected this year, and mainly new stricter central bank measures limiting access to mortgages, property price growth will significantly slow down this...
As part of its electrification offensive, Škoda will set up almost 7,000 charging points in and around the three Czech plants in Mladá Boleslav, Kvasiny and Vrchlabí by 2025, spending a total of around 32 million euros for the charging infrastructure upgrade. The charging stations will primarily be available to the employees of the Czech automobile manufacturer. More than 300 charging points are already being used at the company’s headquarters in Mladá Boleslav for test operations. Last year, Škoda invested 3.4 million euros in the expansion of their charging infrastructure, with another 1.65 million going to the modernization of the power grid. The manufacturer invested a total of around 3.4 million euros in expanding the charging infrastructure at the plant last year: 1.65 million euros went into modernising and expanding the power grid, while the other 1.75 million euros on installing more than 300 charging points, including at least 220 AC and 80 DC charging stations. It looks like Škoda is fully embracing their electrification strategy, as board member Michael Oeljeklaus adds:”Preparations throughout production are in full swing. We have already trained over 11,000 employees in the field of e-mobility.” Author: red
March 17, 1939 brought a revolution on Czech roads: the commander of the German occupation forces ordered a change-over to a right-hand traffic system with almost immediate effect. Interestingly, the changeover was first introduced in the provinces on March 17, and then just over a week later in Prague, on March 26. “Technical reasons” – a perennial Czech explanation – were responsible for the delay. And the switch to driving on the right is almost always associated with or blamed on, Hitler. But new research by a historian called Pavel Fojtik suggests while the Nazis did indeed enforce this change, it was going to happen anyway. In 1926 Czechoslovakia had signed up to a so-called Paris agreement, committing the country to going right at some unspecified time in the future. The day the change was introduced in Prague the authorities reported 26 accidents –including one road death when a pedestrian stepped into the way of an oncoming tram after automatically looking the wrong way. Dozens of small and big alterations were made on the go – such as doors on buses being moved to the other side. As the change took place, boy scouts stood by roads and streets with...
Saint Patrick’s Day is a celebration in honour of the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick. The day of celebration marks the day of Saint Patrick’s death, originally the event was meant to celebrate the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. It has evolved into a mostly cultural celebration of Irish heritage marked with a day of drinking, green clothing, and Irish-themed parades. Large-scale St Patrick’s day celebrations have become a tradition in many cities around the world, but have only gained popularity in Prague in recent years. PROGRAMME: Saturday, March 16 NÁPLAVKA STREET FOOD (10.00 a.m. – 6.00 p.m.) Street food festival at Smíchovská (Hořejší) embankment with Irish specialities and a Jameson bar, cca 60 stands DANCING HOUSE (11.00 a.m. – 10.00 p.m.). Viewpoint – great drink and view of Prague / Greening of Dancing House HALL 17, Holešovice market (3.00 -10.00 p.m.) Welcome drink Jameson Ginger, stand-up performances – Richie Bree, Johm Colleary; tattoo and barber services, Irish refreshment, an exhibition, Travis O‘ Neill ROCK CAFÉ (7.00 p.m. – 02.00a.m.) – Welcome drink Jameson Ginger; Underground Comedy, The Wild Roots, Cheers – admission fee CZK150 36 UNDERGROUND (9.30 p.m. – 05.00 a.m.) – headliner – DJ Marcus O’Laiore, Melvin Coxx, SNBM, Enrico, Michael C, and others. Admission...
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