Italian customers from the local service provider Iliad obtained a tariff of 204 Kč (€7.99) in addition to unlimited calling and texting they also have 50GB of mobile Internet. The price of this package includes a one-time activation fee of 255Kč, but even so, the offer Iliad provides is more favourable than comparable packages provided by Czech operators. Domestically used company T-Mobile for example, in order to have an unlimited plan with 60GB, requires 2,499Kč, which is six times more than the Iliad offer. Lliad only expanded on the Italian market last May and has already kick-started a price evolution. So much so from June to September last year, the traditional network leaders of the market which includes Vodafone, Wind and Tre operator, were the competitors to react quickly. According to Wired.it prices throughout the market had declined by 20% and the three companies launched a campaign seeking to lure its customers back from lliad. Vodafone launched a low-cost sub-network named Vodafone-mobile offering an unlimited plan with 50GB for 153Kč (plus an activation fee of 255 Kč) The cheapening pressure of price battles was not only being engaged in Italy but across Europe too. In France, there is virtual mobile...
Czech unemployment rose to a rate of 3.1 percent of the workforce in December, in line with analysts’ forecasts but still the lowest number for that month since 1996, the Labour Ministry said on Wednesday. Unemployment rose from the level of 2.8 percent in November. The Czech job market is the tightest in the European Union with unemployment at around a two-decade low, fuelling wage growth in a rising economy. The number of job vacancies is the highest since records started in 1995. It has surpassed the number of people who are ready to fill them every month since March. The total number of jobless rose to 231,534 last month. Author: red
The Czech government has approved a plan to guarantee the near-term rights of British citizens in the event of a “no-deal” Brexit. The Interior Ministry says the roughly 8,000 Britons currently living in the country would retain their rights in the immediate aftermath of Brexit even if Britain crashes out of the EU in March with no deal. The ministry says Britons would retain the same rights as the citizens of EU countries for a transitional period until Dec 31, 2020. The bill still needs parliamentary approval. Without the bill, some 5,000 out of 8000 British nationals on the Czech labour market would end up with a status of non-EU foreigners. They would not be able to continuously work in the Czech Republic or automatically join local healthcare and welfare systems. “Failure to pass the bill would also threaten some 40,000 Czech citizens living in Britain,” said Deputy PM and Interior Minister Jan Hamacek, adding that all measures proposed by the Czech cabinet are conditional on reciprocity on the part of Britain. Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, but it’s unclear whether lawmakers will approve the divorce agreement Prime Minister Theresa May has negotiated with the...
The Czech authorities can drastically reduce the number of Russian diplomats in the country due to Russia’s “massive espionage.” According to the Bild newspaper, Prague determined that in 2016 and 2017, Russia carried out cyber-attacks against the Czech Foreign and Defense Ministries. As a result, a large portion of Czech officials’ personal data was leaked. The government’s communication systems were also threatened. The hacker groups ATP28 and Fancy Bear, both with ties to Russia, are allegedly involved in the attacks. The Czech Republic’s Security Information Service or BIS was also greatly dissatisfied by the fact that there are too many “technical personnel” from the Russian Embassy in Prague. “This often conceals representatives of Special Services. Moreover, supposedly, several reporters and oligarchs in the Czech Republic… are also Russian spies,” the article says. The Czech Government fears that the country has become a part of Russia’s hybrid strategy against NATO and European Union. According to Prague, Moscow’s goal is to weaken NATO and to achieve the collapse of the EU with the help of pressure against certain States. Author: red
The Czech cyber watchdog warned network operators on Monday against using software or hardware made by Chinese telecom equipment suppliers Huawei and ZTE, saying they pose a security threat. “We are making this announcement based on our investigation and an information provided by our partners in the security area, as well as the results received by our allies,” said Dusan Navratil, director of the Czech National Cyber and Information Security Agency (NUKIB) Huawei is the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment but faces intense scrutiny in the West over ties to the Chinese government and concerns its equipment could be used by Beijing for spying. The company has repeatedly denied the allegations. “China’s laws, among other things, require private companies residing in China to cooperate with intelligence services, therefore introducing them into the key state systems might present a threat,” Navrátil added. Huawei is the largest telecom infrastructure supplier in the Czech Republic for local mobile operators. The company’s revenue in the country amounted to 6.55 billion Czech crowns (about $300 million) in 2017. Until 2022, Huawei plans to invest about $360 million in the Czech Republic and create a total of more than 4,000 new jobs. The United States and several other countries have also raised security questions with regard to the Chinese telecommunications giant. Author:...
Political leaders in the Czech Republic have previously condemned Islam in strong terms. Now, Jiří Kobza and his party Freedom and Direct Democracy, which is one of the larger in parliament, believe Islam is not just a religion but also a violent ideology that should be banned. “We have suggested that all ideologies that promote hatred and violence should be banned. One of the ideologies is Islam. And then we have fascism and Nazism”, he says. He points out that Muslims neither want nor will integrate into non-Muslim societies. “It is not migration – it’s colonization”, he added A strong mistrust of Islam exists throughout the political spectrum in the Czech Republic, where only 0.5 percent of the population are Muslim. “We do not want more Muslims in the Czech Republic”, the Social Democratic then Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka noted in an interview last year. Even Czech President Milos Zeman, who is also a Social Democrat, has strongly condemned the Middle Eastern religion. Among other things, he has said that Islam simply does not belong in Europe. Author: red
The Czech unemployment rate was unchanged at around a two-decade low of 2.8 percent of the workforce in November, the Labour Ministry said on Monday. The figure, the lowest number for that month since 1995, was in line with analysts’ forecasts for 2.8 percent. The number of jobless dropped to 215,010, which is the lowest figure since June 1997, while the number of vacancies increased to over 323,500. Last November, unemployment stood at 3.5 percent. Czech unemployment is the lowest in the European Union, according to Eurostat data, with a lack of workers helping push up wages quickly and adding inflationary pressures to the domestic economy. The lowest rate of unemployment, 1.8 percent, is in the Pardubice region, while the highest rate is in the region of Moravia-Silesia and Ústí nad Labem with 4.3 percent of people out of work. In Prague, the rate of unemployment came in at 1.9% where there were officially 65,009 open vacancies registered with the Labor Office. The central bank has lifted interest rates at its last four policy meetings but is expected to pause at its last sitting this year on Dec. 20. Author: red
The Security Information Service of the Czech Republic, also called Bezpečnostní Informační Služba or BIS, announced that in the last five years they have exposed dozens of Russian and Chinese spies. BIS Director Michal Koudelka said that BIS have also uncovered an entire espionage network belonging to Russian Special Services. “We had an extremely successful period of cooperation with Czech security forces and foreign partners,” he stated. According to the Director of the Czech Security Service, they have prevented and stopped the activities of “dozens of Russian and Chinese intelligence officers” or else recommended denying them accreditation or expelled them using so-called “silent methods.” At the beginning of this year, the BIS reported that “they have successfully exposed a network of one of the Russian special services and fully paralyzed the network’s activities.” Koudelka brought up the three diplomats that were expelled from the country as a joint response of European countries to the poisoning of former Russian spymaster Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, England. Koudelka said the expelled Russians were officers of Russian Intelligence working in the Czech Republic “under diplomatic cover.” Koudelka also spoke about the agency’s contribution to the fight against terrorism. “According to Israeli and American colleagues, we...
For the very first time, the Czech Republic has ranked in the top twenty most expensive shopping streets in the world. Na Příkopě advanced to the 19th spot in this year’s ranking. The average monthly rental per square metre is almost six thousand crowns. The results come from a study conducted by Cushman & Wakefield. Cushman & Wakefield annually evaluates 446 of the most popular shopping destinations in 65 different countries. The ranking lists the most expensive shopping streets in each country. According to this study, the average monthly rent per square metre on Na Příkopě street amounts to 230 euros (about 5980 CZK), up by five percent from the previous year. The most expensive street in the world is Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay, followed by the upper part of Fifth Avenue in New York. In third place was New Bond Street in London, which is the most expensive street in Europe. The annual rent on Na Příkopě amounts to about one-tenth of the rent on Fifth Avenue. “Among the most expensive streets in the Czech Republic are Na Příkopě and Pařížská Street. While Pařížská is the destination of luxury brands, Na Příkopě is a significant street from the point of...
Tens of thousands of Czechs rallied in Prague on Saturday calling for Prime Minister Andrej Babiš to resign as the country marked the 29th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution that toppled the communist regime. Babiš has been charged with misusing European Union subsidies for a farm he transferred to family members, including his son, Andrej Babis Jr. The Czech leader denies wrongdoing. His son told Czech news portal Seznam Zpravy this week he was kept in Crimea against his will so he couldn’t be questioned in the case. Babiš has said his son, who lives in Switzerland, is mentally ill and in Crimea voluntarily. “It is inadmissible that someone under investigation and a StB collaborator is prime minister,” said Mikulas Minar, head of a group that organised a protest by around 20,000 people in the city centre. The Czech premier vowed Friday he would “never resign, never” before leaving to meet his son in Switzerland. Author: red
Czech Pirate Party candidate Zdeněk Hřib was elected on Thursday as Prague mayor by the city assembly. A total of 39 members of the 65-seat city assembly supported his candidacy. Hřib was jointly nominated by the Pirate Party and the movements of United Forces for Prague and Prague for Itself, which formed a ruling coalition following the October municipal election in the capital. “I promise that I will treat my duties with due humility and responsibility. [Such an approach] is also needed to address the long-standing problems and challenges that Prague is facing. I believe that I will manage to create a new style of relations with the opposition and local residents,” Hřib said after the election, as broadcast by the local television. Hřib, 37, was born in the town of Slavicin, located near the border with Slovakia. He has been living in Prague since 1999. Hřib studied medicine at the Charles University in Prague, afterward he worked in several medical companies. Since 2013, he has been a member of the Pirate Party, which is the third largest political force in the national parliament’s lower house. Author: red
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš’s younger son claims he was forcibly detained in Crimea by his father’s associates at the time of the investigation of the Stork’s Nest affair. Babiš Senior has been intermittently under investigation since 2015 wherein the prime minister was accused of concealing his ownership of the Čapí Hnízdo (Storks Nest) farm and attached convention centre in order to illegally obtain €2 million in EU subsidies meant for small businesses. Čapí Hnízdo was owned by Agrofert, a Prague-based conglomerate holding company owned by Andrej Babiš, which would have been ineligible for the small business subsidies. In 2007 ownership of the property was transferred to a small anonymous company which was able to apply for the subsidies, but it was later revealed that the shareholders in the new company were Babiš Junior and his sister Adriana; Babiš Senior’s partner – now his wife – Monika; and Monika’s brother Martin Herodes. A brief interview with Seznam reports that Babis’s son, who is also named Andrej, was coerced into traveling to Crimea on a vacation that turned into an “abduction.” He said he had spent some time in a psychiatric institution in the past. Babiš Jr. also revealed that he...
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