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01/06/2025
The 2024 state budget ended with a deficit of CZK 271.4 billion, the Ministry of Finance announced at a press briefing in Prague on Monday. The draft budget for last year originally envisaged a deficit of CZK 252 billion, but in October the lower house increased the projected figure by CZK 30 billion so as to cover the costs of the September floods. The resulting deficit is the lowest since the Covid-19 pandemic, but also the fifth highest deficit in Czechia’s modern history. At the press briefing, Prime Minister Petr Fiala praised the result, stressing that his cabinet had succeeded in gradually reducing the budget deficit, not only in absolute terms but also in relation to the GDP.
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01/06/2025
The Czech Republic has fulfilled its commitment to spend 2 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense in 2024. The Defense Ministry said it spent CZK 166.8 billion on defense last year, which is 2.09 percent of GDP, according to the November macroeconomic forecast. NATO requires member states to commit at least 2% of their GDP to defense in order to maintain readiness and collective security. Czechia, which joined the alliance in 1999, had previously not been able to meet that target.
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01/06/2025
The annual Šediváčkův Long dog sled race in the Orlicke Mountains, considered one of the most difficult in Europe, will start on 21 January and last until the 25th, the organizers announced on Monday. Around 700 draft dogs and more than a hundred mushers from Czechia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Holland, Croatia, Hungary and Poland are expected to take part. Šediváčkův Long is a five-stage dog sled race over 300 kilometers along the ridges of the Orlické Mountains with one or two mandatory overnight stays in the open, where competitors can rely only on their own equipment. In addition to the length of the courses, competitors have to overcome an elevation of over 7,500 meters.
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01/06/2025
Liberec Governor Martin Puta could face a sentence of 3.5-years in jail for suspected fraud in a massive corruption case in the region involving nine people and five companies. According to the state prosecutor who proposed the 3.5-year sentence, Půta accepted a bribe of over half a million crowns in connection with the reconstruction of the St Mary Magdalene Church in Liberec. Půta has denied guilt from the start and said on the X network before Monday’s hearing that he formly believes that he will be acquitted. The court is hearing closing arguments in the case and a verdict is expected within several days.
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01/06/2025
The significant decline in the birth rate in the Czech Republic between 2021 and 2022 is linked to the mass vaccination against Covid-19 of the population, according to scientists at the SYRI National Institute. The team of scientists studying the decline arrived at the conclusion that women deliberately postponed their plans to conceive over concerns about the possible side effects of the newly-developed vaccine. While fertility increased from 1.76 children per woman at the start of the pandemic to 1.83 between 2020 and 2021, it fell to 1.62 children per woman between 2021 and 2022. Demography experts have voiced concern regarding the decline in the birth rate, but this is the first study to link it to the Covid pandemic and concerns regarding whether it was advisable for pregnant women to get the shot.
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01/06/2025
The Ministry of Health has promised to take action against unwarranted charges claimed by some medical specialists. The ministry has proposed an amendment to the Health Services Act, which explicitly prohibits care providers from charging people money for a procedure covered by an insurance company. Some specialists request a fee for admission of new patients or an annual fee for care provided, particularly in dentistry and gynecology. In future such care providers could face penalties reaching millions of crowns. According to the largest Czech health insurer VZP, the company deals with dozens of such complaints every year.
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01/06/2025
Tuesday should be cloudy to overcast with scattered snow showers in the north-western parts of Bohemia and day temperatures between 2 and 6 degrees Celsius.
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01/06/2025
Czech hockey players won the bronze at the World Junior Championships after beating Sweden in a shootout on Sunday.
Eduard Sale scored in the 14th round of the shootout to lead his country past Sweden 3-2. The Czech captain beat goaltender Marcus Gidlof on his fifth attempt — and 28th between the teams — with a move to the backhand. Sale also tied the longest shootout in International Ice Hockey Federation history in the 13th round after Otto Stenberg put Sweden ahead.
Czechia, which settled for silver at the 2023 tournament in Halifax when Canada captured its 20th gold medal before securing bronze last year in Sweden, has now made the podium at three consecutive tournaments for the first time since Czechoslovakia's dissolution at the start of 1993.
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01/06/2025
Icy conditions have disrupted traffic around Czechia in the past 24 hours. Freezing rain stopped traffic at Prague's Václav Havel Airport for about four hours on Sunday evening. Several flights were cancelled and some delayed due to the adverse weather conditions.
Meteorologists warned that ice remains a threat on Monday, especially in the Highlands (Vysočina), Moravia, and parts of Bohemia, where temperatures are still near or below freezing, as reported by the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (ČHMÚ).
Czech Railways reported around ten sections affected by weather conditions after 6:00 a.m., disrupting operations. In addition to ice on the traction lines, fallen trees are also causing issues. Trains between Prague Main Station and Nymburk are being diverted via Poříčany due to malfunctioning switches at Mstětice station.
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01/06/2025
The new year brought changes to the distribution of convicts' income, as a revision to the Act on the Execution of Sentences took effect. Under the new regulations, prisoners will now be allowed to retain 28 percent of their external income—such as money sent by family members or pensions—while the remaining 72 percent will be used to settle their debts. Previously, convicts had to use all their so-called extra-prison income to pay off these debts.
The legal change will impact all prisoners. Even if convicts have no debts from their past lives, they often accumulate debts while serving their sentences.
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