Don’t Be ‘Embarrassing’: President Zeman Says Trump Should Quit After Election Loss

Czech President Miloš Zeman said Thursday that President Trump should acknowledge losing the presidential race to Joe Biden and end his legal challenges. “I personally believe that it would be much more reasonable to give up, not to be embarrassing, and allow the new president to take office,” Zeman told Parlamentni Listy. Zeman was one of the few European leaders who spoke favorably of Trump before his election victory back in 2016. The Czech president also supported the US leader on a number of occasions, including Washington’s decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. Trump has refused to accept the victory of Democrat challenger Joe Biden, saying the November 3 election was rigged. Despite the roadblocks, Biden has begun selecting his team of future White House officials and fielded a series of phone calls with foreign leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Zeman earlier this month sent a lengthy letter of congratulations to Biden through his spokesperson Jiří Ovčáček on Facebook. However, President Zeman added that one would need to wait at least half a year or a full year to be able to judge whether Biden’s presidency would improve...

Covid Measures Could be Eased by December, Health Minister Reveals

Health Minister Jan Blatný has encouraged citizens to be 'euphoric' as he announced that current Covid restrictions could be lifted by the beginning of December.

Million Moments for Democracy Hold Online Demonstration to Mark November 17th Anniversary

To commemorate the beginning of the fall of the communist regime, which occurred on the 17th of November 1989, the organization A Million Moments for Democracy (Milion chvilek pro demokracii), has decided to organize an online anti-government demonstration. “The coronavirus crisis has confirmed a fundamental fact – an authoritarian (PM Babiš) who has everything under his thumb won’t help us amidst a difficult situation, we will rather find help in cooperation.”  “2019 was the year of protests, 2020 was the year of crisis, and 2021 will be the year of change and new hope!” the organization states.  According to them, the current situation has clearly and definitively exposed the deep political crisis that has come from the Czech government, wasting a number of years primarily helping themselves and diminishing the basis of politics to mere marketing and simple slogans.  A Million Moments for Democracy, which actively organizes anti-government protests and has succeeded in getting a quarter of a million people to Letná twice already, encourages the people: “The pandemic is at its highest point. Its safety, economic, and social consequences can’t be predicted. It’s important to band together and overcome the crisis together. It is, therefore, up to every one...

While Tourism Plummeted this Year, More Czechs Visited Prague

From January to September, the number of tourists in Prague fell by almost seventy percent compared to the same period last year.

Drop in the Czech Economy to be Lower Than Expected

According to the European Commission, the Czech economy is expected to drop by 6.9 percent this year due to the coronavirus crisis, which is an improvement compared to previous estimates. In its macroeconomic forecast, on the other hand, the EC worsened the prospects for the recovery of the Czech economy next year, when gross domestic product is expected to increase by only 3.1 percent. This is 1.4 percentage points less than in its summer forecast. The slower economic recovery is related to the second wave of the pandemic due to which the Czech Government, as in the spring, had to enact measures that led to a significant reduction in economic activity, the EC reasoned. “The European Commission’s forecast seems slightly more optimistic than current market estimates. This is probably because it is based on data up to October 22 and does not take into account the further tightening of economic restrictions announced last week,“ said economist Jakub Seidler. According to the current EC estimate, this year’s decline will be nine-tenths of a point lower than what the Commission predicted in the summer, mainly due to economic activity in the third quarter. For this period, the commission estimates 5 percent GDP...

Here’s How Newspapers Around the World Announced the News of Biden’s Victory

Kamala Harris Is the First Woman of Color Elected Vice President

The first woman to be vice president. First Black person. First Asian American. Joe Biden has won the U.S. presidency after reaching and crossing the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch victory, the Associated Press has announced. Mr. Biden’s election is historic on multiple fronts. It makes Kamala Harris, the senator from California, the first woman to ever be elected vice president. Additionally, she was also the first Black woman and first of Indian descent to be nominated on a major party ticket. In 2017, Harris became the first Black person, and Black woman, to represent California in the U.S. Senate—as well as the 10th Black American, the second Black woman, and the first South Asian American to sit in the chamber. President Barack Obama has called her an “ideal partner” for Biden who is more than prepared for the job as “someone who knows what it’s like to overcome barriers.”   This election is about so much more than @JoeBiden or me. It’s about the soul of America and our willingness to fight for it. We have a lot of work ahead of us. Let’s get started.pic.twitter.com/Bb9JZpggLN — Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 7, 2020 We did it, @JoeBiden. pic.twitter.com/oCgeylsjB4 —...

Prague Mayor Congratulates Biden Before Official Victory

Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib has congratulated Joe Biden on his expected victory in the US presidential election.

Border Between Germany and Czech Republic to Remain Open

Unlike during the first coronavirus lockdown in spring, leaders from both Germany and the Czech Republic are pushing for their border to remain open. Bavarian State Premier Markus Söder and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš want to keep the border open even if the number of coronavirus infections in both countries continues to rise. “Closing the borders would not be of great benefit in fighting the pandemic, but rather would carry significant negative consequences”, said Söder on Wednesday in Munich after a video conference with Babiš. He said that protective measures as face masks and minimum distances now applied on both sides of the border and that mutually sealing off access would mainly impede the flow of trade and service workers. Medical care would also be affected, said Söder, pointing out that many Czech commuters work in the care sector in Bavaria. In order to help Germany’s neighbouring country, which is particularly hard hit by the second wave of the pandemic, Söder also offered to make 100 intensive care hospital beds available to Czech coronavirus patients. The two politicians also talked about cross-border infrastructure projects such as a 5G mobile phone corridor between Prague and Munich and the expansion of...

Not Enough Flats? Only in Prague, 33,500 Have Been Sold in Six Years

Since 2015, a total of 33,500 new flats have been sold in Prague. The greatest interest has been in Prague 9, which accounts for 21.5 per cent of the total sales

‘Someone Should Czech on the Poles’ — Trump’s Twitter Typo Brings Some Comic Relief to Election Night

Twitter has labelled an election night tweet from Donald Trump “misleading” after the incumbent president claimed, without evidence, that opponents were trying to steal the historic poll. Shortly after Democratic challenger Joe Biden told supporters he was “on track” to win the tight race for the White House, Mr. Trump tweeted: “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Poles are closed!” He deleted his tweet after a few minutes, correcting “Poles” to “polls”, but the second attempt was hidden and given a warning by Twitter. “Some or all of the content shared in this tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process,” a label covering the tweet read. Of course, Trump was referring to the “polls,” as in polling booths, not natives of Poland, Santa’s home or what you might find in a strip club. He deleted the initial tweet, but that didn’t stop Twitter’s, +5.72% peanut gallery from making “Poles” a trending topic. And Tom Nichols, a senior adviser at the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump campaign group created by former Republicans, responded: “Someone should Czech...

EU Commission Approves Czech Rent Compensation Scheme

The purpose of the scheme is to mitigate the liquidity shortages that the affected companies are facing due to the measures taken by the Czech government