The magazine annually hands out the title to someone who has “affected the news or our lives the most, for better, or worse”. President Volodymyr Zelensky and “the spirit of Ukraine” has been named Time magazine’s 2022 Person of the Year. The annual award by the US magazine’s editors is given to someone who is felt to have had the most global influence during the last 12 months. The magazine has previously said their Person of the Year is someone “who affected the news or our lives the most, for better, or worse”. Mr. Zelensky has led his country through the war with Russia following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February. Despite international appeals for the 44-year-old and his family to be evacuated to a safe location during the opening days of the invasion, Mr Zelenskyy stayed in Kyiv with his defence forces. He said he was “not hiding” and “not afraid of anyone” as he led his nation’s response. Zelensky was born in 1978 in Russian-speaking Kryvyi Rih, a southeastern region of what was then known as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. He was 12 when the Soviet Union dissolved and Ukraine gained its independence. The former comedian and...
A uniting wall. Visited by millions of curious people every year in Prague, the Lennon Wall arrived in Paris today. On Thursday, October 20, and Friday 21, 2022, the Lennon Wall comes to the Pantheon, in Paris 5th arrondissement. As part of the Czech Presidency of the EU Council, 27 artists from the European Union (including French Anaëlle Bouard) and two special guests from Ukraine (Viktoriia Savchuk) and Norway (Pippip Ferner) have been invited to create a mural themed on liberty and energy on the famous Lennon Wall in Prague. After a day’s work, the 29 artists created a large work of art of 35 x 5 meters. Once the artists concluded their work on the Lennon Wall in Prague, it was photographed and printed on an inflatable wall of the same size (35 x 5 metres). The replica was earlier unveiled in front of the Palace of Europe in Strasbourg, and is now on display –for two days – at the Place du Panthéon, in Paris. Pavel Štastný says he added a special feature: The project is also meant to highlight the EU motto “United in Diversity”. Behind this cultural project titled “Wall of Freedom and Energy / Lennon Wall Prague” stands Czech artist Pavel Šťastný. “This...
Ivana Trump, Donald Trump’s first wife and the mother of three of his children, has died aged 73. “She was a wonderful, beautiful, and amazing woman, who led a great and inspirational life,” Mr. Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social. Ivana Trump, who was born in Gottwaldov, now Zlín, married the former president in 1977. They divorced 15 years later in 1992. They had three children together – Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric Trump. Police believe the cause of death may be accidental, according to the Associated Press. Sources told the news agency Ms. Trump was found unconscious near a staircase at her New York City home, and it is believed she may have fallen. Donald and Ivana Trump were notable public figures in New York in the 1980s and 1990s, and their split was the subject of intense public interest. After their separation, she went on to launch her own lines of beauty products, clothing and jewellery. While living in Canada in the 1970s, she worked as a ski instructor and model. On a work trip to New York City in 1976, she met Mr. Trump while with a group of models. They were married the...
The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Tuesday that Sunday’s ice avalanche in the Italian Alps resulted in the death of two Czech citizens. The two individuals were touring the mountain region together, the Czech News Agency reports. Rescue teams in the Italian Alps said Tuesday they found eight survivors who had been missing since a glacial avalanche killed at least seven people on Sunday. The avalanche happened on the Marmolada ridge, the highest peak in the Dolomites, standing more than 3,300 meters. “When we arrived, we saw a disaster. We realized the dimensions of this enormous avalanche,” said Stefano Coter, head of the local alpine rescue team and one of the first people to reach the scene. “We found injured people in need of help and other people who were dead,” he added. Nicola Casagli, a geologist and avalanche expert at Florence University, told CBS News that the effects of a glacial avalanche were more devastating than a snow avalanche. “These types of events, which are ice and debris avalanches, are impulsive, rapid, unpredictable phenomena, reaching very high speeds and involving large masses,” he said. “And there is no chance of getting to safety or perceiving the problem...
Five years after the introduction of its free roaming directive, the European Commission has upgraded its roaming rules based on the number of complaints received since the directive came into effect. Starting July 1, the new, improved roaming regulations will come into force in the EU. This will extend and improve the system for another 10 years, until 2032, thanks to which travelers in the EU and the European Economic Area can call, send text messages, and use their mobile data without incurring extra charges. An important element of the new rules is that consumers will have the right to the same quality mobile internet abroad as at home. Mobile service companies must ensure that consumers have access to 4G or more advanced 5G networks, if available. There is a special provision for the prevention of unexpected hidden fees. This is because when consumers travel by plane or ship, mobile phones can automatically connect to the onboard network-provided satellites. And the use of mobile connection services provided by non-terrestrial networks can result in very high surcharges. The new roaming rules oblige service providers to protect their customers and notify them when their phones switch to a non-landline network. In addition, operators must automatically...
Authorities say another eight hikers were injured following a fall of ice, snow and rock on popular trail in the Dolomites. At least six people, including a Czech tourist, have died after a large chunk of alpine glacier broke loose and slid down a mountainside in Italy. Gianpaolo Bottacin, a local civil protection official, said the situation was “evolving” and that there could be perhaps 15 people missing. Among the missing, there are certainly Italians, Germans, Czechs, and Romanians. In the late evening, the National Alpine and Cave Rescue Corps tweeted a phone number to call for family or friends in case of “failure to return from possible excursions” to the glacier. Rescuers were checking number plates in the car park as part of checks to determine how many people might be unaccounted for, a process that could take hours, said Walter Milan, a spokesman for the Corps. It had earlier tweeted that the ongoing search of the peak involved rescue dogs and at least five helicopters, but the operation was paused on Sunday night amid fears that more of the glacier could come away. The rescue corps had said the hikers were “hit by the detachment of the serac”,...
A Czech citizen has died in Ukraine, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said on Saturday, confirming media reports about the first casualty among Czech volunteers fighting in the country. “I can confirm that a Czech citizen has died in the Donetsk region of Ukraine,” Lipavsky told reporters. “The body should be transported to Kharkiv region tomorrow.” More than a hundred Czechs have joined the Ukrainian armed forces, with the consent of Czech authorities, to help in Ukraine’s defence against the invasion launched by Russia on February 24. Czech Republic, Poland Set New Rounds Of Military Aid To Ukraine Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochova said that Prague intends to soon send Kyiv armaments worth $26 million to $30 million. “It’s crucial that the aid is steady,” she said, adding that the country has sent more than $150 million in military aid supplies since the start of Russia’s invasion on February 24. Cernochova did not provide details on the type or extent of the military aid for security reasons but said heavy weaponry would be included. Czech media have reported that T-72 tanks, BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles, Dana howitzers, and potentially Soviet-made combat helicopters would be among the supplies provided. Meanwhile, Poland...
The 49-year-old Czech citizen worked in Ukraine as a truck driver before the war, but after the outbreak of fighting, he came to help as a volunteer fighter. The body of a Czech volunteer fighter was discovered in one of the mass graves near Kyiv along with three other victims, with documentation confirming the Czech victim’s identity, according to the newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda. The grave was located at the side of the road near Makariv, which was temporarily under Russian control. A fragment from an F-1 grenade, which was left there by Russian soldiers, was also discovered near the grave. “Two people were killed in the head, one man in the stomach. Documents of one of the victims, a citizen of the Czech Republic, were found at the burial site. The data matches,” said the Kyiv region police chief, Andrij Nebytov. The Czech foreign ministry also confirmed the information. The Ukrayinska Pravda newspaper, referring to the police, wrote that a 49-year-old Czech citizen worked in Ukraine as a truck driver before the war. After the outbreak of fighting, he came to help as a volunteer fighter. He stopped communicating with his family on Mar. 3. He had a wife and a brother at...
Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who was a native Czech, has died of cancer at the age of 84. Albright was a central figure in President Bill Clinton’s administration, first serving as US ambassador to the United Nations before becoming the nation’s top diplomat in his second term. She championed the expansion of NATO, pushed for the alliance to intervene in the Balkans to stop genocide and ethnic cleansing, sought to reduce the spread of nuclear weapons, and championed human rights and democracy across the globe. She was a face of US foreign policy in the decade between the end of the Cold War and the war on terror triggered by the September 11, 2001, attacks, an era heralded by President George H.W. Bush as a “new world order.” The US, particularly in Iraq and the Balkans, built international coalitions and occasionally intervened militarily to roll back autocratic regimes, and Albright — a self-identified “pragmatic idealist” who coined the term “assertive multilateralism” to describe the Clinton administration’s foreign policy — drew from her experience growing up in a family that fled the Nazis and communists in mid-20th century Europe to shape her worldview. She saw the US as the “indispensable nation” when it...
A crowdfunding campaign aiming to raise money for weapons for Ukraine has raised over CZK 670 million from more than 100,000 supporters since it was launched last month, according to the Czech Ministry of Defense. The campaign is coordinated by the Czech government with the money going to the Embassy of Ukraine in Prague. The proceeds are being used to buy weapons and other military supplies that Ukraine needs to defend itself from the Russian invasion, according to a statement from the Czech Ministry of Defence. The Czech government said it has made available CZK 413 million worth of military supplies that can be purchased with the money from the crowdfunding campaign. “Arms, military equipment and ammunitions urgently needed by the Ukrainian military and the Territorial Defense Force to fill depleted stockpiles are part of the offer,” the ministry said. “Heavy military systems and ammunitions of ‘Eastern’ design are under consideration for delivery to Ukraine as well. The Ministry of Defence has already sent about CZK 750 million worth of military aid to Ukraine, which is resisting Russian aggression, including ammunition, machine guns and anti-aircraft missiles. Czech legislators are also finalizing a bill to give Ukraine refugees 5,000 Czech crowns a...
The Czech Republic could contribute 400 troops to a battlegroup in neighbouring Slovakia as part of NATO’s plans to bolster its eastern flank, Defence Minister Jana Černochová said on Thursday. NATO has sought to strengthen its presence in eastern countries of the military alliance in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which borders Slovakia and other central European nations like Hungary, Romania and Poland. The new battlegroup would include troops from those countries along with Bulgaria, Černochová said. The Czechs would send personnel for posts in command and connection, logistics, policing and a mechanised unit, she said. The mission still needs to be approved by the Czech government and Parliament. The Czech Republic, like others, has backed Ukraine and has provided military aid for the country’s forces. On Thursday, the government approved an additional shipment of light weapons and ammunition worth 17 million crowns. The country has already sent Ukraine weapons to the tune of 650 million crowns. Slovakia’s defence minister said last Saturday that the country could host a battlegroup being formed that would include 1,200 foreign troops and a Patriot missile defence system manned by German and Dutch personnel. Yesterday, Prime Minister Petr Fiala and President Miloš...
Czech nationals will have the chance to join Ukraine’s defence forces to battle Russia’s invasion without fear of punishment at home, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Thursday. Under Czech law, it is illegal to join foreign armed forces without an exemption from the president who is the commander-in-chief of the Czech army. Violations are punishable by up to five years in prison. CTK news agency reported this week at least 300 people had sought an exemption to answer Ukraine’s call for foreign volunteers to fight Russia’s invasion. Fiala said after talks with President Milos Zeman on Thursday they had agreed to guarantee impunity for people who join Ukraine forces, rather than sort through individual requests. The Czech Republic has been a NATO member since 1999. The invasion of Ukraine, the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two, has caused unease in the former Soviet-era satellite states in central Europe, many of which border Ukraine and have seen an influx of refugees. It has also prompted growing interest in joining domestic armies. The Czech defence ministry has reported a several-fold increase in the number of potential army recruits.
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