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Czechia has contributed almost CZK 866 million to the initiative to supply artillery ammunition to Ukraine, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said before leaving for the European Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday. According to Mr. Fiala, the money allocated by the Czech government will be spent on the purchase of ammunition from the Czech company STV Group.The Czech head of government also said tens of thousands of munitions will be delivered to Ukraine on a regular monthly basis. The goal is to deliver up to 500,000 pieces by the end of the year, a number that is currently covered financially.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala said after meeting with Slovak President Peter Pellegrini on Wednesday afternoon that the development of relations between Czechia and Slovakia are extremely important and that he appreciated the fact that Mr Pellegrini upheld the tradition of making Czechia the destination of his first official foreign visit as the new Slovak head of state. The two politicians met for roughly half an hour at Straka Academy, the seat of the Czech government in Prague, where they discussed bilateral relations, defence cooperation, and the agenda for the upcoming European Council meeting.
Shortly before the meeting, the Slovak government criticised the Czech prime minister for a statement he made on Tuesday saying that resuming intergovernmental consultations with Slovakia would not be on the agenda for the meeting and that it was premature to even consider it given the health status of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. Bratislava accused the Czech prime minister of being disrespectful. A spokesperson for the Czech government said that on the contrary, Mr Fiala's statement was an expression of respect for the Slovak Prime Minister, who is currently convalescing at home after the assassination attempt against him in May.
The Czech cabinet suspended intergovernmental consultations between Czechia and Slovakia in March due to disagreements over key foreign policy issues.
Czech police officers are searching the Prague apartment of Czech-born German politician Petr Bystroň from the far-right Alternative for Germany, on the basis of a request from their German colleagues, the daily Denik N reported on Thursday.
The 51-year old MP is suspected of accepting bribes from the Russian influence network Voice of Europe, a claim he has repeatedly denied. According to the DPA agency, police in Germany have previously raided the MP’s properties, including his office.
Czech car companies and car-parts suppliers’ turnover reached CZK 1.48 billion in 2023, which represents an increase by 17 percent on the previous year, the Czech Automotive Industry Association announced at a press conference on Thursday. Czech car makers’ exports increased by 23 percent last year to nearly CZK 1.3 billion.
Car production returned to pre-crisis levels, rising 14.8 percent year-on-year to 1.398 million passenger cars. The number of electric vehicles produced rose by 34 percent to 181,000.
Presently around 142,000 people work in the car industry in Czechia. The average wage in the sector rose by 8.8 percent to CZK 54,637 per month, which is 26 percent above the Czech average wage.
Most Czechs enjoy their work or find it fulfilling, according to a joint survey carried out by Nielsen, NMS Market Research and STEM/MARK in six European countries in May.
According to the survey, 55 percent of Czechs find their work fulfilling or enjoyable, while 48 percent remain in their job because they like the location. Some 35 percent don’t want to change jobs because it is well-paid and 25 percent because they have a good boss. A fifth said they stay in their job because it is not too demanding.
More than half of Czechs rate their workplace relationships as friendly. However, three out of ten regard their salary as insufficient and the same number of people consider employee benefits to be small or demotivating.
Czech 15-year-olds ranked high in an international test of students’ financial literacy created by the OECD. They placed fifth after Flanders, Denmark, Canada and the Netherlands, according to the results released by the international organization this Thursday.
The PISA benchmark testing involved 14 OECD countries and regions and six partner countries in 2022. The worst performing countries were Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.
According to the results, around two-thirds of OECD students use financial services, while 63 percent have a bank account. Some 86 percent of students said they had made an online purchase themselves or with the help of their family in the past year.
The Czech national football team failed to advance from the group stage after losing 1:2 to Turkey in their third and final match of the European Championships in Hamburg on Wednesday evening.
Czech midfielder Antonín Barák was controversially sent off midway through the first half of the game, having receiving his second yellow card in nine minutes after being deemed to have made an over-the-top tackle by Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs. Neither side scored in the first half but Turkey struck six minutes after the start of the second. Team captain Tomáš Souček equalised in the 66th minute, but former Everton striker Cenk Tosun, a second-half substitute, secured the Turkish victory with another goal in the fourth minute of added time.
The Czechs finished fourth in Group F with only one point after losing 1:2 to Portugal last week and a 1:1 draw with Georgia on Saturday. Turkey finished in second place in the group, reaching Euro 2024’s last 16. They will face Austria in the first knockout stage on Tuesday night.
The Czechs previously lost to the Turks at the Euros in 2008 and 2016.
Friday will be mostly sunny with a chance or rain and storms in the evening. Daytime highs are expected to range between 28 and 33 degrees Celsius.
If you’ve ever visited the UNESCO-listed castle in the picturesque South Bohemian town of Český Krumlov, you can’t have failed to notice the brown bears living in the former moat of the castle complex. These ursine dwellers won’t be on display for too much longer however – after years of campaigning by animal welfare organisations, the National Heritage Institute has decided to end the centuries-long tradition by 2030. Český Krumlov is planning to seek an exemption.
Sculptor Petr Váňa has left his mark around Czechia. He made the replica of the 1650 Marian Column on Prague’s Old Town Square and has created dozens of sculptures for Czech churches, village squares and hilltops. He even has a statue underwater, at the bottom of the Slapy dam. Now he is working on a sculpture for Nelson Island in Antarctica.
With its picturesque towns, wooded hills, stone castles and ruins the Plzeň Region has plenty to offer visitors. Check out its sights in our photo gallery.
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