Daily news summary

Social Democrat leadership to step down in April

The current leadership of the Social Democrats will resign at the party congress planned for April and allow the membership to elect a new team, party deputy chairman Milan Chovanec announced on October 28.

He was attending a regional party meeting in the central regional of Vysočina.

Chovanec said a new party chairman should be selected then and suggested that this is put to a vote by all members. He added that consideration should be given to electing a non-party chairman.

The Social Democrats saw support collapse to 7.27 percent in recent elections to the lower house of parliament where they gained just 15 seats. They were formerly the strongest party in the outgoing government.

Czech veteran communist leader to step down after poor election results

In further fallout from the Czech elections held last week, the long time head of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia, Vojtěch Filip, has announced he will stand down as leader.

Filip announced he would not stand against at the party congress planned for April.

In the elections, the party polled less than 8 percent of the overall vote, its worst result since 1921. It’s number of seats in the lower house slumped to 15 from the previous 33. Filip had led the party for the previous 12 years.

High winds, danger, damage warned by Czech weather office

The Czech weather office has issued a warning of extremely high winds across the Czech Republic from midnight on Saturday until Sunday evening.

Wind speeds could reach 11-16 metres a second with gusts of up to 35 metres a second or 125 kilometres an hour, the office says.

On high ground wind speeds could reach 160 kilometres an hour .Power lines are in danger and electricity supplies could be cut. There is a threat of widespread damage and threat to lives, the office adds.

Snow could fall on areas above 600 metres, the forecasters warn. The high winds are expected to die out towards the evening.

Czech Republic refuses to recognise Catalonia independence

The Czech foreign ministry has said that it still considers Catalonia to be part of Spain. The statement from the ministry followed the declaration of independence from the Catalonia parliament on Friday which comes in the wake of a referendum on independence held at the start of October. The referendum was not recognised by the central government in Madrid and was in some places brutally opposed by police. The Czech statement said the Catalan move conflicted with the Spanish constitution. Prague’s line is the same taken by other EU states such as France,. Germany, and Britain.

Citibank appeals against OKD reorganisation

US based bank Citibank has appealed against an insolvency and reorganisation plan put together for the Ostrava hard coal mining company OKD. Citibank’s appeal follows a refusal by the insolvency administrator Lee Louda to recognise its claims to billions of crowns in claimed debts from the mining company. OKD has been in bankruptcy administration since last year. A court in Olomouc will have to rule whether the appeal can be accepted. Citibank is OKD’s biggest creditor and claims it is owed 17 billion crowns. A reorganisation plan is seeking a gradual end of mining in the region will would safeguard thousands of jobs in the short term and ease the transformation of the regional economy.

Karolína Plíšková loses WTA Final semi-final

In tennis, Czech women’s number one Karolína Plíšková has failed to make it into the final of the end of season WTA Finals.

She lost in straight sets to Carolina Wozniacki 6:7, 3:6 in the semi-final.

The loss means Plíšková cannot regain the number one spot in the WTA rankings she held earlier this year. Plíšková could have ended the year in top spot if she triumphed in the Singapore tournament.

The result means Romanian Simona Halep will gain the top spot.

Viktoria Plzeň extend lead at top of Czech league

In football, Czech league leaders Viktoria Plzeň consolidated their lead at the top with a 3:1 win over Karvina.

Plzeň went two goals up after slack defending before Karvina pulled one back and believed they had equalised in the 56th minute. The goal was controversially disallowed for an earlier foul.

Plzeň went on to score again. Plzeň now have a 14 point lead on second placed Slavia Prague, which have a game in hand.

Weather

The weather on Sunday is expected to be cloudy with rain and some sunny intervals. Top daytime temperatures will range between 8 and 12 degrees Celsius. Winds of up to 160 kilometres an hour can be expected on high ground but should weaken during the day.