Daily news summary

Confident Germany beat Czechs 3:0 in World Cup qualifier

In football, the Czech Republic was brushed aside 0:3 in a confident performance by Germany in their World Cup group qualification match in Hamburg on Saturday night. There were a brace of goals from Thomas Muller and one from Toni Kroos. The German team outclassed the Czechs, who lacked possession for large parts of the match, and often looked as though they could easily increase the margin. Czech manager Karel Jarolím’s squad, still to find the net in the campaign so far, face Azerbaijan at home on Tuesday.

Election winner ANO claims parties have teamed up against it in Hradec Králové region

The ANO party, triumphant in regional elections across the country on Saturday, says all the other parties in the Hradec Králové region, where it won the most seats, have teamed up to exclude it from power. In a statement, ANO described the still informal deal between the five parties as the fraud of the century and has demanded that talks reopen. Some members of the other parties have denied a deal had been done aimed at excluding ANO from power. The region was previously ruled by a coalition of the Social Democrats and Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia. ANO won most seats and votes in nine of the 13 regional assemblies for which polling took place on Friday and Saturday.

Lucie Šafářová wins Beijing women’s doubles title

In tennis, the Czech-US pairing of Lucie Šafářová and Bethanie Mattek-Sands won the WTA doubles final in Beijing 6:4, 6:4 against French opponents Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic. It is the eighth doubles title for Šafářová and Mattek-Sands and their third finals win in a row. They also beat the French pairing to take the US Open title this year.

Czech finance minster Andrej Babiš given European award

Minister of Finance and ANO leader Andrej Babiš has been chosen the best finance minister in developing European markets in a survey conducted by the magazine Emerging Markets. The selection was announced on Saturday night in Washington in a ceremony coinciding with the meetings there of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Babiš’ selection was based on his responsible fiscal policy combined with policies aimed at boosting growth, the organisers said. The Czech minister joins former finance minister and rival Miroslav Kalousek who was the winner of the same award in both 2008 and 2011.

Czech police asked to help in search for bomb plot suspect

Czech police have been asked by counterparts in Saxony, Germany, to help in the hunt for a 22-year-old Syrian suspected of being involved in a bomb plot. The request follows a police search of a flat in the city of Chemnitz in which materials for making a bomb were found. Chemnitz is around 50 kilometres from the Czech border. Czech police have said there are no indications that the man is hiding in the country. Some German media reports suggested the 22-year-old was linked to Islamic State.

Social Democrat leader Bohuslav Sobotka says no reason to step down after regional election losses

Social democrat leader and prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka has said he had no fears his party will push for him to step down following disappointing results in regional and first round elections to the upper house, the Senate. Sobotka declared Sunday that personal disputes would only profit the ANO party, the winner of most votes and seats in the voting to fill 13 regional assemblies. Top Social Democrat party leaders are due to meet Sunday night to discuss the results. ANO came top in nine regions with the Social Democrats, formerly the dominant regional party, only winning in two. The party is also set to lose seats in the Senate when the second round of voting is held next Friday and Saturday. Sobotka said voters were looking for a change after Social Democrat dominance of the regions over the last eight years. The personal reputation of candidates was also a factor and the Social Democrats needed to select better qualified candidates for the elections to the lower house of parliament due in 12 months at the latest, Sobotka said.

Czech president says Social Democrat losses due to central party leadership not regional

Social Democrat losses in regional elections are not due to the performance of regional assemblies but rather to the party’s failings at central government level, president Miloš Zeman said Sunday in an interview with the tabloid Blesk. Most of the regional leadership should be congratulated for the work done, he said. Zeman added that the overall victory of the ANO party at the polls is likely a foretaste of what will happen at elections to the lower house of parliament due to happen at the latest by October 2017. The president added that the results should not have a decisive influence on the working of the current coalition government, whose two main parties are the Social Democrats of prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka and ANO party headed by finance minister Andrej Babiš. The Social Democrats came top in just two regions with ANO triumphant in nine of the 13 regions being contested. Zeman was a former leader of the Social Democrats but often has a critical stance towards its current leader.