News: Friday, June 21st, 2024

Czech lower house approves bill on postal voting for Czechs living abroad

The Chamber of Deputies has approved a bill on postal voting for Czechs living abroad. The draft law was approved by the votes of the ruling coalition, in the face of protests from the opposition parties who claim that postal voting is vulnerable to manipulation and abuse.

The coalition parties counter that postal voting had been successfully tried and tested in many countries of the world and will make life easier for hundreds of thousands of Czechs who now have to travel long distances to cast their ballot. They would like to see the law in force in time for the 2025 general elections. The bill will now go to the Senate for debate.

Police under fire over their handling of tragic shooting at Prague Faculty of Arts

There is continuing controversy over the performance of the police in the tragic shooting at the Prague Faculty of Arts last December. Zdeněk Kalvach, a security adviser at Charles University, on Friday rejected police claims that the camera system in the faculty building was outdated and that it would have taken several hours to access the footage. He said police officers could have viewed the footage on the spot within an hour, but did not do so and left to check another site in the city centre where the student who committed the crime was due to attend a class. In reality, the police arrived at the faculty’s main building just one minute after the culprit, who did not start shooting until an hour and a half later. Critics and the families of those killed argue that the police could have prevented the bloodbath, if they had been more thorough. Fourteen people were killed and 25 injured in the shooting.

Croatian police investigating father of Czech child who died in explosion

Croatian police have said they are investigating a 46-year-old Czech citizen in connection with Wednesday's explosion near the town of Obrovac that killed a nine-year-old boy and injured three people. Criminal investigators say the man allowed the child to carry an explosive device found at a marked military training ground into their car. The child subsequently caused it to explode during an unscheduled stop when the family car broke down. Two women, and the man being held accountable were hospitalised in Zadar following the blast.

ANO party to withdraw from Renew Europe

The Czech opposition ANO party will withdraw from the liberal Renew Europe group in the European Parliament and from the European ALDE party, party leader Andrej Babiš announced at a press conference in Prague on Friday. Babiš said ANO would not be able to fulfil its program in the current faction. The party won seven seats in the elections. ANO will now enter into negotiations on membership in another faction. Babiš said joining the conservative right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists faction is not an option.

Dietrichstein family tomb in Mikulov to be returned to descendants

The Regional Court in Brno has ruled that the Dietrichstein family tomb in Mikulov, South Moravia, belongs to the descendants of this noble family and should be returned to them. Mercedes Dietrichstein has thus won a long-standing court battle for the property. However, her attempts to regain other properties and land that belonged to her father, Alexander Dietrichstein failed. Dietrichstein’s  property was confiscated by the Czechoslovak state immediately after the Second World War on the basis of the Beneš decrees on account of the fact that he was a member of Henlein's Sudeten German Party. Dietrichstein never actively opposed the confiscation of his property.

Novinky.cz: Some companies in Czechia introducing four-day work week

Roughly one percent of companies in Czechia have introduced a four-day work week, the news site Novinky reported. According to the news site around one thousand companies are testing the impact of the change. Employees have to complete the work in four days instead of five, while maintaining the standard eight-hour workday for the same wage. Some say the change has had positive results including a better atmosphere in the workplace and a higher number of applicants for new positions.

However some companies which introduced the four-day work week have already abandoned it, Novinky says. Critics argue that given Europe’s competitiveness such a model is untenable in the long-term.

Swimmer Seemanová wins 200m for second gold at European Championships

The Czech swimmer Barbora Seemanová has taken gold in the 200 metres freestyle at the sport’s European Aquatics Championships in Belgrade. The 24-year-old finished 1.85 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor in a time of 1:55:37 in Thursday evening’s final.

Seemanová had earlier taken gold in the 100 metres at the championships.

Prague authorities buying major city centre building

The City of Prague is set to buy a major city centre property. On Thursday evening councillors definitively approved the purchase of a building on the corner of Wenceslas Square and Štěpánská St. from the bank Komerční banka at a cost of CZK 3.5 billion.

The municipality plans to move officials to the new building from the Škoda Palace in Jungmannova Street, which it has leased until the end of March 2028.

Weather forecast

Saturday should be clear to partly cloudy with some rain in the northern and eastern parts of the country and day temperatures between 21 and 25 degrees Celsius.