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The government has given its formal support to a draft proposal allowing for same-sex marriages. With the cabinet’s support, the proposal, which would require amending the Civil Code, will now go to the lower house of Parliament for debate.
Current Czech civil law only allows for same-sex couples to have registered partnerships, an institution that would no longer be in place if same-sex marriages become legal. Thus far, 46 MPs representing six different parties in the 200-seat Chamber of Deputies have signed on to the draft proposal.
Current Interior Minister Lubomír Metnar will replace Karla Šlechtová as Defence Minister in the new ANO-Social Democrat coalition government of Prime Minister-designate Andrej Babiš (ANO).
During her tenure, Ms. Šlechtová had numerous major Defence Ministry contracts examined. In May, she contacted the military police after finding a number of alleged irregularities in a deal to buy mobile radar stations from Israel for CZK 3.5 billion under an agreement reached, but not signed, by her predecessor, Martin Stropnický (ANO).
Ms. Šlechtová, an independent, had previously served as Minister for Regional Development under Mr. Babiš’s predecessor, Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats).
Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has called a meeting of the State Security Council on Friday to discuss the protection of Czech borders if Germany decides to turn migrants away at its borders. He said on Thursday that a crisis plan was already in place for such a scenario under which the Czech police, customs and possibly the army would be deployed.
Mr. Babiš said that his Austrian counterpart, Sebastian Kurz, had said at a Visegrad Four plus Austria meeting on Thursday that his country would take similar action if Germany started turning migrants away.
Chancellor Angela Merkel is seeking a new deal at EU level over migrants. However the junior partner in her coalition government wants the police to be allowed to reject undocumented migrants at the border.
The quality of water being fed into Czech reservoirs is rapidly declining, an expert from the Academy of Sciences told a conference in Prague on drinking water, and in some areas is on the verge of being untreatable, meaning it cannot be readily filtered to become potable.
Martin Pivokonský, director of the Academy’s Institute of Hydrodynamics said the biggest threat comes from rising levels of cyanobacteria and pesticides in natural water sources.
The government has approved police president Tomáš Tuhý’s departure for the post of Czech ambassador to Bratislava, the news site Neovlivní.cz. reported. However, Mr. Tuhý had previously said he had no intention of leaving the force and on Thursday wrote on Twitter that he had no information about such a move.
The news site Aktuálně.cz reported that Mr. Tuhý would only become ambassador to Bratislava when his mandate as police chief expired next year.
The annual “Festival of the five-petalled rose” is now underway in the picturesque southern Bohemian town of Český Krumlov. This weekend, the town will be transported back to the Renaissance period when under the rule of the noble Rožmberk family.
The town’s streets and squares will be filled with the knightly tournaments, historical crafts fairs, banquets and medieval music. Among the most popular events each year is the jousting tournament, recalling a past legend about cutting roses.
Major supermarket chains Lidl and Globus this week made a breakthrough announcement this week, pledging to gradually phase out the sale of eggs from caged hens in their Czech stores. The decision was prompted by a video recently released by the animal rights group Obraz which revealed atrocious conditions in Czech intensive poultry farms.
The two-day Metronome music festival kicks off on Friday evening at the Výstaviště exhibition grounds in Prague. Among the most awaited acts this year will be Massive Attack and Chemical Brothers. In addition to the main stars, people can see a number of local formations, such as the cult band Sexy Dancers, who are returning to the stage after 20 years. As final preparations were underway, I spoke to Metronome’s organizer David Gaydečka:
Czechs collected more than 6.6 billion crowns worth of mushrooms and fruits in the country’s forests in 2017. In all, people picked 41,300 tonnes, which is 1.5 billion tonnes more than in the previous year. The news was reported by the website e15.cz on Friday, citing the annual report by the Czech University of Life Sciences.
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