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Peter Zamarovský, a professor at the Czech Technical University (ČVUT) in Prague, has been awarded this year’s Littera Astronomica prize for his literary work linking natural sciences and philosophy.

Prof. Zamarovský lectures on philosophy and at other institutions also teaches physics and digital photography.

The Czech Astronomical Society said he received the award for popularizing philosophy, physics and astronomy. He is due to receive it on Friday at the 29th Autumn Book Fair in Havlíčkův Brod.

Friday should be clear to partly cloudy throughout the Czech Republic with daytime highs of between 14 to 18 degrees Celsius.

The new Czech Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, will be built according to a proposal by students of the Faculty of Architecture at the Slovak University of Technology (STU) in Bratislava.

Jana Hájková and Kristína Boháčová, both 23, won an international competition announced by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with the Department of Architecture at the Faculty of Civil Engineering (ČVUT) in Prague.

The students’ concept used exterior materials that are in harmony with the Ethiopian environment and connected both Czech and Ethiopian culture. The new embassy should be built by 2025.

About 500 heads of nursery schools and kindergartens throughout the Czech Republic have complained in a letter to Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) that pre-school education is being neglected.

The letter charges that Minister of Education Robert Plaga (ANO) has failed to invest in kindergartens despite increasing numbers of children being enrolled.

There has been a marked rise in class size after pre-school attendance was made compulsory in order for disadvantaged families to receive certain social benefits.

Pre-school teachers often now have up to 28 children in their classrooms, the headmasters say.

Consumer prices in September fell by 0.6 percent, the biggest month-on-month decline since September 2006, according to the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ).

The drop stemmed mainly from a price decrease in ‘recreation and culture’ and in ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages’.

The year-on-year growth of consumer prices decelerated to 2.7 percent in September, which was 0.2 percentage points down on August. The Slowdown in the year-on-year price growth occurred mainly in 'food and non-alcoholic beverages'.

The biggest influence on the growth of the year-on-year price level in September came again from prices in 'housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels', where prices of actual rentals for housing went up by 3.8 percent.

Beijing has terminated its sister agreement with Prague and will suspend all official contacts with the Czech capital, the Czech News Agency reported on Thursday quoting a statement from Beijing authorities supplied by the Chinese Embassy in the Czech Republic. The embassy goes on to say that representatives of the Prague coalition had been intentionally interfering in China's internal affairs and deliberately violated the sister agreement with Beijing.

Earlier this week Prague authorities voted to terminate the city’s agreement with Beijing, after which the Chinese Ambassador to the Czech Republic Zhang Jianmin posted on Facebook that Prague’s own interests will suffer, triggering a reaction from the Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček, who said that threats have no place in diplomacy.

One of the Czech Republic’s most famous football stars, Petr Čech will now be minding the goal on skates. The former Chelsea and Arsenal goalkeeper has agreed to play as a goalkeeper in the British ice hockey team Guildford Phoenix until the end of the season. His ice hockey debut could come at Guildford’s Sunday game against the second team of the Swindon Wildcats.

The Czech sports star, who is also an accomplished drummer, told British media that after 20 years of playing football professionally, it will be a great experience to play some ice hockey, which he enjoyed following and playing as a child.

Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček warned that the ongoing Turkish offensive into northern Syria will “only worsen the situation of civilians and refugees in the region” in an official statement published on the website of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He said that currently there is no possibility other than diplomatic pressure to calm the situation and that he expects a common EU approach to be formulated soon.

Mr. Petříček further suggested that the United States should also contribute towards a solution and reiterated that the Czech Republic continues to support the peace process in Syria.

Turkey launched its long-planned military operation against Kurdish fighters on earlier on Wednesday in north-east Syria after U.S. forces withdrew from the area.

The Czech Rectors Conference, a body compromising the leaders of Czech Universities, has sent a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping urging him to intervene in the case of former Xinjiang University President Tashpolat Tiyip and prevent his possible execution. The letter asks the Chinese leader that the academic be released unconditionally unless there is credible evidence that he committed an internationally recognised offense.

Professor Tashpolat, who is of Uighur ethnicity, was arrested two years ago at Beijing airport and sentenced to a suspended death sentence for his support of separatism.

Czech transport authorities will increase the country’s transport capacity during the Karel Gott memorial and church mass events taking place this Friday and Saturday in Prague, the Czech News Agency reported on Wednesday. České dráhy, the country’s primary railway company, and RegioJet will both increase capacity on their trains. Other transport companies have registered an increase in reservations.

České dráhy have chosen to increase capacity on morning and afternoon connections primarily coming in from Moravia, as well as Western and Southern Bohemia.

Meanwhile, the spokesman of RegioJet, which provides rail and bus connections, told the Czech News Agency that a large segment of the connections running between the Czech capital and Ostrava are sold-out.