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On Wednesday, the Czech Senate will convene for its January meeting, and an amendment to extend protection of refugees from Ukraine from Russian military aggression will be the main point of the meeting. The Senate is expected not to approve the amendment to the so-called ‘lex Ukraine’, due to controversial parliamentary amendments. The Human Rights Committee rejected tightening the conditions for Russian applicants for Czech citizenship, while the Social Affairs Committee rejected the proposal to make unauthorised activity for a foreign power a new crime, which would be punishable by up to five years in prison. The committees agreed to abolish the possibility of setting a specific date for children of Ukrainian refugees to enrol in the first grade of primary schools.
Czech interest in the full-scale war in Ukraine, which began three years ago is declining, according to a survey by the Centre for Public Opinion Research (CVVM). In the last quarter of 2024, 43 percent of people were interested in the development of the conflict, 14 percentage points less than at the beginning of last year. By contrast, disapproval of the Czech government's actions in support of Ukraine is growing to 58 percent of respondents, the highest since the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion.
Interest in what is happening in Ukraine increases significantly along with growing interest in politics in general and, to a lesser extent, with increasing educational attainment or even with increasing age. Men are more interested in the conflict, according to the survey.
Michal Goetz, the director of the children's psychiatric hospital in Opařany has reported an increase in cases of child aggression. He pointed to a recent incident in Rudolfov, České Budějovice, where a student attacked classmates and a teacher with a gun, as evidence of this troubling trend. Goetz acknowledged that while Czechia is not yet facing the same issues as some Western countries with child gangs, there is a potential for similar problems to emerge here in the future.
The Pirates propose a regulated cannabis market, including provisions for personal cultivation and cannabis associations. At a press conference, they argued that the current repressive approach has failed, while regulation could generate two to three billion crowns annually for the state. The coalition, which previously included the Pirates, did not agree on regulation.
Last year, the government approved cannabis regulation as part of a broader criminal law reform, allowing the cultivation of up to three plants and possession of up to 50 grams outdoors or 25 grams at home. The Pirates seek further legalization, but Justice Minister Pavel Blažek emphasized that the legislation must have enough support in the Chamber of Deputies.
Governor of South Bohemia Martin Kuba is proposing that a teacher from a primary school in Rudolfov near České Budějovice, who prevented an attack by an armed pupil on Monday, receive a state award from President Petr Pavel, the governor told ČTK on Wednesday. "With her reaction, she demonstrated tremendous bravery and prevented the attacker from having time to continue using the weapon.” said Mr. Kuba.
A thirteen-year-old pupil came to class with a gun and first started pointing it at his classmates. Then he wanted to shoot at the teacher, but failed to do so. The teacher then neutralised the attacker herself and police officers subsequently detained him. The student has been placed in a juvenile detention centre, and the police are investigating the case on suspicion of attempted murder.
Legal entities, namely associations and companies, can claim compensation for damage caused by damage to reputation, following a new interpretation of the Civil Code by the Constitutional Court on Wednesday. In doing so, it opposed the Supreme Court's interpretation; at the end of 2021, the Supreme Court interpreted the Code in such a way that compensation for damage to reputation belongs only to natural persons, i.e. people, rather than to companies and associations. The legal opinion at the time caused surprise in professional circles and was reflected in various disputes, such as the unsuccessful lawsuit of the Million Moments movement against the former chairman of the Communist Party, Vojtěch Filip.
Tomorrow’s weather will be overcast to cloudy with isolated rain and snow. Temperatures will range between 0 °C and 6 °C.
The Czech Academy of Sciences’ Institute of the Czech Language is recruiting young language enthusiasts to document dialects and the endangered speech of older generations.
The number of foreigners living in the Czech Republic has been steadily increasing since the fall of communism. In the past decade, their number has doubled to the present 1.1 million.
Czechia launched its largest satellite yet, SATurnin-1, into space on Tuesday. Unlike previous satellites, it is not dependent on foreign technology. Its mission will be to take detailed pictures of the Earth for defense and security purposes. The satellite was carried into orbit by a Space X Falcon-9 rocket from the US.
Pavla Niklová has been the director of the Jewish Museum in Prague, one of the oldest institutions of its kind in the world, for around a year and a half. When we spoke at her office on the edge of the city’s Jewish Quarter, the conversation took in everything from Niklová’s own background to whether the museum has been much impacted by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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