Morning Briefing │ Friday, February 2nd, 2024

* PRAGUE:

Prague’s Kotva department store is due to close on Thursday for a two-year reconstruction. Following the overhaul, the building will accommodate luxury shops and offices.

The area surrounding Kotva will also undergo a major transformation.

* POLICE:

The Czech police collected almost twice as much money in fines issued for driving offences this January as they did during the same month last year. A new points system that was introduced this year to try to deter drivers from committing serious offences on the roads seems not to have had the desired effect so far.

The police recorded over 32,000 driving offences in January and collected over CZK 473 million in fines, almost double the amount compared to last January.

* HEALTH:

A two-year-old Czech boy with a rare genetic disorder, whose treatment was paid for with public donations of more than 150 million crowns, underwent gene therapy in France on Wednesday. The child’s parents announced that the procedure at a hospital in Montpellier had been successful and thanked the doctors for their care and the public for their support.

* CULTURE:

Prague can resume negotiations with Crestyl regarding the placement of Alfons Mucha’s Slavic Epic in Savarin Palace on Wenceslas Square, as the municipal court accepted the appeal and overturned the preliminary measure prohibiting the contract.

* TRAVEL:

On February 1, 2024, the first flight of a new charter route from Prague to Abu Dhabi took off at 10:20 from Václav Havel Airport. Operated by Smartwings with a Boeing 737 MAX, the route is for Der Touristik group, encompassing travel agencies Fischer and Exim Tours. The weekly flights to the United Arab Emirates capital will run until early May