Daily news summary

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Prague court starts proceedings over Slav Epic

A Prague court will on Wednesday start deliberations about the future of the famous series of paintings by Alphonse Mucha, the Slav Epic. Mucha’s grandson has brought proceedings on the grounds that Prague City Hall has broken the terms of a 1928 agreement under which the artist donated the paintings. The terms called for the city to find a permanent site for their exhibition for the Czech people. Grandson John Mucha is protesting the fact no such site has still been found and that the city plans to loan them on an Asia tour due to start next month.

Pavel Telička elected European Parliament vice president

Czech member of the European Parliament Pavel Telička has been elected one of the parliament’s deputy presidents. He will join 14 other MEPs chosen to become deputy presidents for the newly elected People’s Party president, Italian Antonio Tajani. Telička is a member of the ANO party and was the chief negotiator ahead of the Czech admission to the European Union in 2004.

CIA documents cover Czechoslovak history, army preparations, made public

The US intelligence service, the CIA, has released around 13 million pages of formerly secret documents which the public has recently had only limited access to. Many of the documents, dating from 1947 to the 1990s, relate to former Czechoslovakia. These include, for example, documents from 1947 relating to the state of Czechoslovak tank forces. And another document from 1954 suggesting that the army had short range battlefield nuclear weapons.

Czech companies amongst biggest Internet users in EU

Companies in the Czech Republic are among the highest European users of the Internet to sell their goods and services, according to the industry association SPIR. Figures released Wednesday showed around 56 percent of companies relied on the Internet for sales and purchases in 2015. That’s the third highest figure out of the 28 EU countries and trailing just Denmark and Austria. The association though slammed government efforts to boost Internet interaction between the state and citizens.

Mortgage rates stay at record lows in December

Mortgage rates in December stayed at their record low levels of a month earlier averaging 1.77 percent according to the Hypoindex monitor. But the volume and number of loans dropped sharply on November, down by around 12 billion crowns at 17.7 billion crowns. Some lenders altered their conditions followed a new law giving existing borrowers greater freedom to pay back loans without penalty.

Czech accused of knowingly spreading HIV arrested in Thailand

A Czech man accused of knowingly spreading the HIV virus has been arrested in Thailand, the Czech News Agency reported on Wednesday, quoting AP. Zdeněk Pfeifer, who is 49, is wanted in the Czech Republic on charges of not informing dozens of male lovers that he had HIV; at least three contracted the disease. Thai police said Mr. Pfeifer had been on the island of Phuket on a tourist visa that expired in 2015.

More foreigners than Czechs caught working illegally for first time

The Czech labour authorities caught more foreigners than Czechs working illegally for the first time ever last year, iDnes.cz reported on Wednesday. While 1,338 non-nationals were uncovered working off the books in 2016, the number of Czechs was 758. The previous year the figures were the other way around, iDnes said. The highest number of undocumented foreign employees came from Ukraine, Vietnam, Slovakia and Moldova. Fines totalling CZK 71 million were imposed on employers using illegal workers last year.

Weather

The weather Thursday will be overcast with some sunny intervals. Daytime temperatures will range between minus three and minus six degrees Celsius.