Morning Briefing │ Wednesday, March 20th, 2024

* ECONOMY:

Poverty and indebtedness are on the rise in the Czech Republic, according to the Caritas Cares 2023 report published today. The most at-risk groups are single mothers, the long-term unemployed, the elderly, and people with mental health problems, and the worsening situation is most evident in housing, according to the report.

* WEATHER:

Wednesday should be clear to partly cloudy with day temperatures between 11 and 15 degrees Celsius.

* SECURITY:

The Prague Faculty of Arts of Charles University, which was the target of a deadly attack by a lone shooter last December, has started introducing measures to increase security. Changes are being made in the entrance lobby so that people entering the building will be under bigger scrutiny and there are plans to improve the existing camera system and introduce panic buttons that people can use in an emergency.

* POLITICS:

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya will arrive in Prague on 23 March to attend a conference of the Belarusian community, the opening of the Belarusian Democratic Forces office, and a documentary screening at the One World human rights film festival, her spokeswoman Anna Krasulinova told CTK. On her four-day visit, Tsikhanouskaya will also meet Czech political leaders, said Krasulinova.

* SPORT:

West Ham United midfielder Tomáš Souček has been voted best Czech footballer of the year for the third time in his career. The captain of the Czech national team, who is 29, received the award in a ceremony in Prague on Monday night.