News | All stories

Saturday should be partly cloudy to overcast with rain predominantly in the eastern parts of the country and day temperatures between 5 and 9 degrees Celsius. Meteorologists expect mild weather up until Christmas.

Czech Post will increase the price for some of its services as of January 1st and introduce dual-speed deliveries. The state-owned company, which is undergoing reorganization, has been criticized for late deliveries. As of next year it will offer clients the choice of paying more for guaranteed faster deliveries of mail and parcels, which should be delivered by the following day, or stick with the basic price in which case the delivery will take longer.

The Czech Republic will not be able to immediately apply a generalized reversal of VAT liability for which Brussels has given EU member states approval for a limited period. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, who fought for the reverse charge mechanism to be made possible for close to five years on the argument that it could save the country billions of crowns in unpaid VAT, said on Thursday the country needed more time to get the respective legislation in place. He said the testing period until 2022 was too short and the country would ask for an extension.

The EU member states have been given the green light to apply the generalized reverse charge mechanism only for domestic supplies of goods and services above a threshold of 17, 500 euros (around 450,000 crowns) per transaction and only up until June 30, 2022, when the outcome of the exemption will be reviewed.

Doctors and civil servants are reported to be getting threats from patients in the wake of the shooting incident in Ostrava’s university hospital. Police are investigating two separate cases in which people threatened a repeat of the hospital scenario because they were unhappy with the treatment received.

A sixty-five year old man voiced the threat after his eye doctor refused to approve a health certificate for his driving licence and a fifty-year-old man in Ostrava threatened a clerk at the city council in the same manner, after being asked to bring additional papers in order to get his request processed. Both men have been charged and could face up to a year in prison.

The Temelín nuclear power plant is southern Bohemia will be scaling down production on both its blocks in the coming days due to scheduled maintenance, the power utility ČEZ reported.

Operation on one will be reduced by ten percent, and the other will operate at half its capacity in order to enable safe maintenance. Both will remain connected to the grip and should return to full capacity by December 24th.

A commemorative ceremony took place in Stonava in the north-east of the Czech Republic on Friday to honour the thirteen miners who died after a methane explosion at the ČSM hard coal mine exactly a year ago. Twelve of the dead were Polish nationals.

Among those attending the event were Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Polish ambassador to the Czech Republic Barbara Ćwioro, representatives of the OKD company, which operates the mine, and relatives of the victims.

The blast, which occurred about 880 metres below the ground, devastated some of the underground areas with poor visibility, obstructing the efforts of the rescue units.

Hundreds of people outside Prague attended protests against Prime Minister Andrej Babiš on Thursday evening, organised by the group Million Moments for Democracy. The demonstrations took place in Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň and other regional centres and towns.

The organisers of the event say Mr Babiš is in conflict of interest and should step down. They are also demanding the removal of his minister of justice, Marie Benešová. At the latest demonstration in Prague on Tuesday, they announced their plan to continue with the protests next year.

The Czech Defence ministry on Thursday signed a memorandum with American aerospace manufacturer Bell Textron about including Czech industry in the recently signed deal for purchasing 12 military helicopters for the country’s armed forces. According to the document, five Czech companies will be cooperating with the American manufacturer and overall Czech industry involvement will be 30 percent, the Czech News Agency reports.

The Czech helicopter purchase was signed off last week in the Pentagon by Defence Minister Vladimír Metnar. The eight multi-purpose UH-1Y Venom’s and four AH-1Z Viper battle helicopters will cost some CZK 14.7 billion excluding VAT.

The price of used cars on the Czech market has gone up by over 20 percent over the past four years, with vehicles now selling at CZK 139,000 on average, the Czech News Agency reported on Thursday, citing data of the car dealer AAA Auto.

The average age of used cars has dropped from 9.9 years in 2018 to 9.7 years. Meanwhile, the mileage of used cars has dropped to 150,000 kilometres. There are currently around 90,000 used vehicles available on the Czech market.

Czech church representatives have spoken out against a plan to legalise euthanasia in the Czech Republic. The joint declaration was signed by 18 public figures including the Roman Catholic priest and philosopher Tomáš Halík, the chief rabbi of the Czech Republic, Karol Sidon, and Bishop Václav Malý. The bill on legalising euthanasia by doctors under certain circumstances and under strict conditions was put forward by the ruling ANO Party and the opposition Pirate Party. It should be debated in the lower house by March 2020.

The signatories of the petition argue that legalising euthanasia would put the Czech Republic on a slippery slope, because it is hard to regulate and those concerned may find themselves under psychological pressure to end their lives.

The proposal has already been criticised by the Czech Bishops Conference, the Ecumenical Council of Churches, the Federation of Jewish Communities and the Association of Muslim Communities in the Czech Republic.