Laden...
The publication of alleged anti-Russian statements was a "planned provocation," regardless of the author, the Russian Embassy stated in response to the summoning of Ambassador Alexander Zmeevsky to the Czernin Palace on Monday. Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský summoned the ambassador over threats made against Senator Miroslava Němcová.
Němcová, a former speaker of the lower house, has faced threats from Russian officials over a fake post on the X network calling for a renewed blockade of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). The Russian Embassy claimed the issue was being used to wage "information warfare".
The Czech Republic has dropped five places in Transparency International’s global corruption perception ranking, now ranking 46th. According to Transparency International’s Czech branch, the decline is due to delays in key anti-corruption reforms and a lack of political integrity. Czechia scored 56 out of 100—one point lower than last year and six behind the EU average. Meanwhile, Slovakia fell even further, dropping twelve places to 59th. Transparency International attributes this decline to weakened anti-corruption controls under Prime Minister Robert Fico’s government.
Denmark remains the world’s least corrupt country, followed by Finland and Singapore. At the other end of the ranking, South Sudan, Somalia, and Venezuela scored the worst. Transparency International’s annual Index has rated countries by perceived levels of corruption since 1995 on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 being very corrupt and 100 being very clean.
The best living conditions in Czechia are in Turnov, followed by Luhačovice and Nové Město na Moravě, according to the Regional Prosperity Index of Česká spořitelna and the Europe in Data platform, which was presented to journalists on Tuesday. The lowest conditions are in the Karlovy Vary, Ústí nad Labem and Moravian-Silesian Regions, which are struggling with the outflow of educated people and lower life expectancy. The worst rating out of 206 Czech micro-regions was given to Podbořany in the Ústí nad Labem region, followed by Bílina and Karviná.
The index monitors seven key areas, from the economy and demography to education, healthcare and civic amenities. This includes, for example, the availability of public transport, vending machines, shops and the Internet. The north-Bohemian town of Turnov received a very good rating in all monitored areas except for the availability of healthcare. Prague dominated the top spots in a number of measured parameters, ultimately ranking twenty-third. The Czech capital’s rating was lowered by higher crime and poorer accessibility of schools. Prague is also suffering from the outflow of young people, mainly due to high housing costs.
Eleven presidents and prime ministers of EU member states, including Czechia, have called on the European Commission to focus on supporting high-speed railways, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on the social network X. The leaders stress the importance of the EU co-financing these projects, according to Mr. Fiala, who wrote that “a better connected Europe is the key to prosperity and economic growth. EU financial support is crucial here and brings great added value”.
The letter was also signed by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The signatories stated that they support the European Commission's objectives to prepare an action plan for a European high-speed rail network connecting major cities and regions, bearing in mind the importance of cross-border projects.
According to the letter, the completion of European transport corridors through the development of new high-speed rail links connecting capitals and major cities across the EU will contribute significantly to the decarbonisation of the transport sector, while strengthening the resilience of the European Union.
The Constitutional Court has opened the way for actress and former first lady Dagmar Havlová to get higher compensation for a false article published in 2012 in the magazine Pestrý svět, which claimed that Mrs. Havlová had had an affair while her husband, former president Václav Havel, was dying. Mrs. Havlová had demanded 5 million crowns from the publishing house Bauer Media, and was previously awarded 1.2 million.
In Tuesday’s ruling, the Constitutional Court agreed that it is necessary to take into account the sanctioning and preventive function of any monies awarded in such cases, to warn that publishing defamatory or false material should not be profitable for publishers. Mrs. Havlová’s lawyer František Vyskočil welcomed the ruling as logical and fair. "It also gives instructions to other courts on how to proceed against the truly particularly heinous interference of tabloid media in personality rights," he told journalists.
The English actor Warwick Davis, known for his roles in Star Wars and all eight Harry Potter films, will be coming to Prague for the sixth annual Comic-Con festival, due to take place from April 11th to 13th at the O2 Universum venue. Mr. Davis, who has dwarfism, has worked as an actor, TV presenter, writer, director, producer and comedian, and has been active in the media since the age of eleven, which has made him one of the highest grossing supporting actors of all time.
Last year's pop culture festival Comic-Con Prague in April recorded 27,000 visitors, the most in its five-year history. The festival offers activities for visitors of all ages, and the programme for 2025 will include discussions with guests, autograph sessions, photo shoots with celebrities, film screenings and thematic workshops. The opening party will feature a DJ set by musician and actor Kristian Nairn, who played Hodor in the TV series Game of Thrones.
The Czech women's handball team will be led by Slovak coach Tomáš Hlavatý, alongside the current assistant coach Daniel Čurda. The two have agreed on a contract with the handball association's management until December 31st 2027. Mr. Hlavatý will replace Norwegian coach Bent Dahl, whose departure from the Czech team was announced by the executive committee a month ago.
Mr. Hlavatý last coached the Norwegian club Vipers Kristiansand, which recently went bankrupt due to financial problems. Before that, he worked as an assistant for the Russian women's national team. Mr. Čurda moved to the women's team two years ago and became Brent Dahl's colleague with the national team in October last year.
Wednesday’s weather will be cloudy, with occasional snowfall in places. Highest temperatures will be between -2 and +3 °C.
Tuesday marks exactly 120 years since the birth of Czech artist Zdeněk Burian, one of history’s greatest illustrators of prehistoric life. Long before the era of computer-generated imagery, Burian brought the ancient world to life with remarkable accuracy and imagination.
Czechia has dropped five places in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index, ranking 46th worldwide. According to Ondřej Kopečný, program director of Transparency International Czechia, the main reason is the government's failure to prioritize anti-corruption reforms. "The political will to genuinely fight corruption is very low," he says.
This e-mail is sent to you automatically according to the settings you chose. To change the settings, click here.
© 2025, Radio Prague International - the external service of Czech Radio, all rights reserved.
https://english.radio.cz, e-mail: english@radio.cz, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram
Laden...
Laden...
© 2025
