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About two hundred admirers of Karel Čapek met at his grave in Prague this Christmas Day, the 80th anniversary of the writer’s death.

Best known as a science fiction author, Karel Čapek was a writer of great scope, whom many classify alongside Aldous Huxley and George Orwell.

Academic Martin C. Putna, a principal spokesman of the Čapek Brothers Society, delivered a speech based on the writer’s work Apocryphal Tales, highlighting the writer's idea that every man is a "spark of good", and talking about the dangers of extremism.

While Karel is buried at the Vyšehrad cemetery, his brother Josef Čapek, a celebrated cubist painter as well as a writer, died in the Belsen concentration camp.

Karel Čapek's funeral on December 29, 1938 in Vyšehrad became a public demonstration. The Čapek Brothers Society was established in 1947.

A newborn boy placed in a babybox the Prague 6 City Hall early on Thursday morning has been given the name Filip.

Ludvik Hess, founder of the Czech babybox network, said Filip is the 180th infant to have been placed in a babybox in the Czech Republic in the past 13 years. There are currently 76 babyboxes in the country.

Critics say babyboxes violate the child’s right to know its identity, nationality, and birth parents, as established under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Advocates of babyboxes maintain that the practice prevents infanticide and late-term abortion.

The Czechs have won their first match in the 2019 World Junior Championship, beating the Swiss team by 2-1.

The decisive goal by David Kvasnička came just shy of a minute into overtime play.

The Czechs have a day off before taking on Russia on Friday.

The Swiss, meanwhile, on Thursday play Canada, hosts of the U-20 Ice Hockey World Cup in Vancouver.

Prague firefighters responded to about 60 calls during the Christmas holiday, one of which involved a fire that resulted in a casualty.

A woman in her early forties died on the 24th of December as a result of a Christmas tree fire in an apartment on Lucemburská Street in Vinohrady.

Two men and a small child also suffered injuries, according to a spokesperson for the firefighting service. The fire probably started because of a sparkler decorating the tree.

About 136 fires were reported throughout the country at Christmas, 29 fewer than last year. Rainy weather may have been a factor in the overall decrease.

Friday should be partly cloudy with occasional light rain or snow especially likely in the regions of northern Bohemia and Moravia-Silesia. Average daytime highs should range between 4 to 8 degrees Celsius.

Confidence in the economy has fallen for a second consecutive month, dropping 0.7 points to 98.6 points in December, data published on Thursday by the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ) show.

According to the economic sentiment indicator, business confidence fell 1.4 points to reach 96.4 points in December. Consumer confidence, meanwhile, rose by 2.3 points to 109.2 points following a more pronounced decline in November.

Compared to December 2017, overall confidence in the Czech economy is down, and both the business and consumer confidence indicators have fallen in annual terms.

In his Christmas message to the nation President Miloš Zeman thanked Czechs for their trust in electing him to a second term in office and promised to continue working for the country’s national interests, both through intensive economic diplomacy and a staunch anti-migrant stance.

He expressed support for the country’s participation in foreign missions and praised the government for defending Czech interests through cooperation within the Visegrad group.

Mr. Zeman praised the leaders of the ANO party, the Social Democrats and the Communists for having had the political courage to form a viable government and slammed protesters who recently demonstrated against it in the big cities, saying they had no reason to protest against a democratically elected leadership.

The head of state also reiterated his criticism of the country’s intelligence service, BIS, for its warning regarding heightened activities of Russian and Chinese agents on Czech territory, describing it as unjustified "spy mania“.

Hundreds of people took part in a performance of Jakub Jan Ryba’s Czech Christmas Mass at Prague’s Main Train Station on Sunday afternoon. It was the eighth time the event, in which professional musicians and singers are joined by amateur enthusiasts, took place inside the country’s busiest railway station.

A similar public rendition of the well-known music, which is popularly known as “Rybovka”, was planned for the capital’s Kampa district later in the afternoon.

Poland has been holding a national day of mourning for the 12 Polish miners who died in a methane explosion at a mine in the Czech town of Karviná in the Moravian Silesian Region on Thursday. One other person, a Czech, died in the blast and subsequent fire.

The operators say that values recorded on Sunday suggested that the fire in the ČSM mine had burned itself out.

Four of the bodies of the 13 victims have been recovered so far. The location of another one is known but the other eight have yet to be located.

Ninety percent of Czechs regard the Christmas tree as the most important symbol of the festive season, suggests a survey conducted for Czech Radio by the Median agency. Other symbols of Christmas for Czechs – named by 70 percent or more of respondents – are Ježíšek (Baby Jesus, the traditional bearer of gifts), carols, gifts and fried carp (the main element is the traditional Christmas dinner), the poll indicates.

Some 60 percent of Czechs perceive a link between Christmas and the birth of Jesus Christ, the survey suggests, while 40 percent connect it with church services.

Analyst Martin Kratochvíl said male respondents were more likely to refer to negative aspects of Christmas, such as stress and overcrowded shops.