The population of the Czech Republic grew by 20,000 last year to a total of 10,515,669 according to new information released by the Czech Statistics Office.
The rise is due to new immigrants (even though the number overall was lower than the year before).
“There were 28.1 thousand more deaths than births. It was the deepest natural population decline in the history of the Czech Republic since its foundation in 1918,” said Terezie Štyglerová, head of the Czech Statistical Office’s demographic statistics department.
Almost 112,000 children were born in 2021. Statisticians pointed out that the lower number of women of reproductive age has increased fertility, with 1.83 children per woman, the highest number since 1992.
Last year, the death toll was 140,000, the highest since the end of the Second World War, mainly due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
According to preliminary results, “the life expectancy at birth has further decreased to 74.1 years for men and 80.5 years for women. Thus, it has already declined by 2.2 and 1.6 years, respectively, in the past two years with the COVID-19 pandemic, “ the CSO said.
In 2021, over 50,000 immigrants – mostly from Slovakia and Ukraine – moved to the Czech Republic while 18,900 people moved abroad.
The National Theatre removed the opera The Tsarina’s Slippers by Petr Ilyich Tchaikovsky from the planned repertoire.
The information appeared in an internal letter from the head of the opera Per Boy Hansen, explaining that “the Russian aggression in Ukraine and the current Russian war crimes are inadmissible.”
“In the current situation, we consider it completely inappropriate to perform Tchaikovsky’s opera The Tsarina’s Slippers and to provide pro-Putin propaganda with any possibility of subsequently exploiting artistic interests to justify criminal intentions in the slightest,” writes the letter addressed to ND internal staff Hansen.
According to National Theater spokesperson Tomáš Staňk, the letter was intended only for internal staff. “The change in the dramaturgical program, which has not yet been intended for publication, is an internal matter of the National Theatre,” he adds.
Other works by Russian authors that the National Theatre stage has already presented, such as Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot, remain in the repertoire.
“We stand on the side of Ukraine and respect the decision of the stagers not to support the narrative of the “Great” Russian Empire,” says Staněk.
The final version of the dramaturgical program will be published by the National Theatre on 5 April.
The move is the latest in a series of music resignations, cancellations and withdrawals that have been made since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Conductor Valery Gergiev, 68, was fired as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic because of his support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and for not rejecting the invasion of Ukraine.
Last week, the Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra removed Tchaikovsky’s popular 1812 overture from its forthcoming program because “the work noisily celebrates Russian resistance to Napoleon’s invasion.”
A total ban on trade with Russia proposed by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is not realistic as the EU’s four sanction packages are working well, said Czech finance minister Zbyněk Stanjura.
“From what I have heard from fellow finance ministers from other countries, I do not think this proposal will get support,” Stanjura said. While the Czech government claims that it promotes the strictest sanctions against Russia, a complete ban on trade would mean the end of gas and oil imports from Russia – a move unacceptable for several EU countries, including Germany and Austria.
Further measures against Russia will be discussed at the European Council summit on 24 and 25 March.
In its latest package, the EU widened sanctions to more Russian and Belarusian oligarchs and banned exports of luxury goods, iron, and steel, as well as investments in the Russian energy sector.
EU sanctions are landing a devastating blow to the Russian economy, said Czech National Bank Governor Jiří Rusnok. European and US sanctions will set the Russian economy back twenty years, he added.
Stanjura added that the fifth package of EU sanctions is being prepared. Czechia proposes to exclude all Russian banks from the SWIFT international payments system, as only seven banks are currently barred from the system.
Stanjura also called on his EU counterparts to close ports to all Russian ships.
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Over 205,000 people fleeing Russia’s war on Ukraine have now received special visas to be in the Czech Republic, the Ministry of the Interior said on Monday. To date around 110,000 have registered with the country’s migration police.
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EU foreign ministers did not agree on the form of the fifth package of sanctions against Russia today and their scope is to be defined by EU leaders at their summit in Brussels on Thursday, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told journalists.
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Public prosecutor Jaroslav Saroch brought charges against former PM Andrej Babis and his former aide Jana Nagyova in the case of a 50-million-crown EU subsidy for the Capi hnizdo farm and conference centre. The Prague Municipal Court will deal with the case.
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The Czech government plans to introduce the option to keep company accounts and tax records in Euros from January 2024, according to the Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura (ODS).
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The Czech Republic is the 9th best destination for an active holiday, according to fitness platform Gymcatch, mostly due to the country’s appeal for hikers, cyclists, and skiers.
Czech Former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš will face trial after the prosecution indicted him in a fraud case involving European Union subsidies.
The move announced on Monday by Prague’s public prosecution office came weeks after lawmakers in the lower house of the Czech Parliament agreed on March 3 to lift Babiš’ immunity from prosecution for his alleged involvement in the $2 million fraud.
That decision allowed the prosecutors to complete their review of the case and go ahead with Babiš’ indictment. It was repeatedly recommended by police investigators.
Babiš denies any wrongdoing and has repeatedly said the allegations against him were politically motivated.
“I’ve never done anything illegal, in the past or in politics,” he said on Monday. “I’ll prove it at the court.”
The prosecution said Prague’s Municipal Court will take over the case. A date for the trial has not been immediately set.
The allegations involve a farm that received EU subsidies after its ownership was transferred from the Babiš-owned Agrofert conglomerate of around 250 companies to Babiš’ family members. Later, Agrofert again took ownership of the farm.
The subsidies were meant for medium- and small-sized businesses and Agrofert wouldn’t have been eligible for them.
Lawmakers twice before lifted his immunity from prosecution in the case that dates to 2007. The prosecutors had to ask them to do it again following October’s parliamentary election.
Babiš’ ANO political movement lost the election. A coalition of five parties formed a new government, and ANO ended up in opposition.
Czech scientists have devised a way to distinguish healthy sperm from damaged sperm and separate them from each other, an important discovery which gives new hope to couples who fail to conceive.
Thanks to the discovery by Czech scientists, hopes have increased that humanity will remain fertile, even if the depressing predictions of a critical decline in male fertility come true, the discovery could significantly increase the efficiency of assisted reproduction.
Male fertility is deteriorating drastically
Concerns about the dramatic decline in fertility in the future are fueled by the trend observed around the world in recent decades. Already in 1992, a worrying study was published which found that in the previous 60 years, the average sperm count of men had halved.
According to a recent study from 2017, which focused on the period from 1973 to 2011, the amount of sperm in ejaculate decreased by 50 to 60 percent.
And that’s not all. Men have fertility issues not only due to the loss of sperm but also because of the deterioration in sperm quality, leading more and more couples to have to seek assisted reproduction.
The cause of the trend is still unknown, as is the question of how much the problem may deepen in the future. The darkest scenarios describe the so-called “spermageddon,” where male fertility drops so much that a majority of males will no longer be able to get a woman pregnant naturally.
“Our method will find utilization in any fertility disorder other than the complete absence of sperm,” said Kateřina Komrsková, head of the Institute of Biotechnology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.
She added that their selection method excels in speed, efficiency, and the fact that it can be used on small amounts of sperm in the ejaculate.
In short, Czech scientists have managed to find a unique way to identify sperm that is damaged, whether due to poor movement, unfit structure, or damaged DNA. Thanks to this, the researchers were able to develop a method of removing defective sperm from a sample using magnets. They can then use only the healthy sperm for assisted reproduction.
“The method is very successful in catching the defective sperm. However, it must be said that this is not all. The method will also find utilization with couples where men are healthy but the couple decides for assisted reproduction due to issues on the part of the woman,” the scientist added, explaining that the method would not help avert “spermageddon” in the sense that it would somehow affect sperm vitality but only “a small amount of healthy sperm” will be now enough for assisted reproduction.
The Czech invention can also find further use in the cryopreservation of sperm. Anyone who, for various reasons, does not want a child right away but is afraid that the sperm will not be healthy in the future can freeze their sperm. According to Komrsková, this often applies to cancer patients who are getting ready for chemotherapy.
The uniqueness of the project lies in the fact that the evaluation of sperm quality not only shows which of the seeds are healthy but also allows their further use for artificial insemination and works with a small number of samples.
The method has already obtained two patents in the Czech Republic but is still awaiting international ones. It is likely therefore for the method to be first used exclusively on the Czech market.
Spring has arrived in the Czech Republic, with the March equinox taking place yesterday and increasing amounts of daylight through June.
“Air temperatures will be above the long-term averages of March. In the afternoon, the humidity will drop even below 20 percent,” said František Šopko from the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (ČHMÚ) on Monday.
Monday will be sunny with day temperatures between 9 and 13 degrees Celsius. In the mountains, temperatures will range between 4 and 7 degrees. There will be a mild south-easterly wind in the east of the country.
At night we expect clear skies and temperatures will drop to 1 to minus 3 degrees Celsius. There will be a slight south-easterly wind with a speed of 1 to 4 meters per second in Moravia and Silesia.
On Tuesday we also expect sunny weather. The maximum daytime temperatures will be between 14 and 18 degrees. There will be a slight south-easterly wind with a speed of 2 to 6 meters per second, in the east of the territory a slight variable wind with a speed of 4 meters per second.
On Wednesday we expect clear weather. Night temperatures will drop to 2 to minus 2 degrees Celsius. Daytime temperatures will rise to 16 to 20 degrees.
On Thursday the lowest nighttime temperatures will reach 3 to minus 1 degrees Celsius. Daytime temperatures will climb to 15 to 19 degrees.
Friday will be bright. The lowest nighttime temperatures will be 4 to 0 degrees Celsius. The highest daytime temperatures will be 14 to 18 degrees.
The weather outlook from Saturday to Monday is sunny and partly cloudy. Towards the end of the season, increasing clouds and scattered showers. The lowest night temperatures will be between 4 and minus 1 degrees, with the highest daytime temperatures reaching 13 to 18 degrees Celsius.
Prague’s public transport system is returning to normal operation today after restrictions caused by the covid-19 epidemic and the spring break.
The interval on the A metro line is reduced from 180 to 150 seconds in the morning peak of working days, and by half a minute to 180 seconds in the afternoon.
On the B line, it is reduced from 160 to 140 seconds in the morning, and by half a minute to 150 seconds in the afternoon. On the busiest C line, trains start running at 115 seconds instead of 130 in the morning peak, and at 145 seconds instead of 155 in the afternoon.
Trams at peak times will run every eight minutes, while backbone lines 9, 17, and 22 will run every 4 minutes.
City buses are newly running at five to six minutes on morning peak days on the backbone lines and at seven to eight in the afternoon.
“On selected lines, for example 125 from Skalka to Smíchovské nádraží, 131 from Bořislavka to Hradčanska or 137 from Malé Ohrada to the Na Knížecí stop, the intervals will also be shortened on weekends,” said Filip Drápal, spokesman for Ropid.
The operation of bus lines no. 100 (Zličín – Letiště Praha) and Airport Express (Hlavní nádraží – Letiště Praha) remains partially limited for the time being, given the currently lower demand for travel to or from Prague Airport.
People are still required to wear face coverings in all public transport.
The minister of health, Vlastimil Válek, said if Covid numbers continued to go down the requirement to wear respirators would be completely abandoned in the course of April.
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On Saturday, March 26, in the center of Prague will be held a march “Russians Against Putin.”
Demonstrators will meet be at Náměstí Míru at 13:00 and then walk to the Old Town Square. The main organizer is the Prague Russian Anti-War Committee.
“Friends! We need this action. Citizens of Russia in the Czech Republic should be able to say loudly and massively: “No war”, “No Putin”, “We are with Ukraine”, “We are with the Czech Republic, Europe, and the whole world against Russian aggression”. It should be made clear that Russians in Prague, people of different nationalities, are part of Czech society, not secret supporters of Putinism”, they wrote on Facebook.
Over 200,000 Ukrainian refugees have now received special humanitarian visas in the Czech Republic, and the overall number of refugees in the country, according to mobile operators, is nearing 300,000.
The government last week negotiated with the regions about how many refugees they could take and the fire service transported some of those who arrived in Prague to other regions in order to even out the burden and provide refugees with more suitable accommodation.
In the coming days, the influx of refugees from Ukraine will increase, not only in Prague but also in other regions. Thousands more volunteers can join the registration system.
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The government will ask the lower house of Parliament to extend the state of emergency in the country in connection with the refugee crisis, Interior Minister Vit Rakušan said on Sunday.
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Over 200,000 Ukrainian refugees have now received special humanitarian visas in the Czech Republic, and the overall number of refugees in the country, according to mobile operators, is nearing 300,000.
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The Czech Republic is planning to open a temporary diplomatic representation in Ukraine. Deputy Foreign Minister Martin Smolek told Czech Radio that the ministry wants to open an office in Uzhhorod within two weeks.
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After a relatively cool start to the astronomical spring, which fell on Sunday, temperatures will begin to rise noticeably this week. Temperatures could reach 17 °C on Wednesday.
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The Czech Republic is the 9th best destination for an active holiday, according to fitness platform Gymcatch, mostly due to the country’s appeal for hikers, cyclists, and skiers.
Sunday, March 20, is the 30th anniversary of the opening of the first branch of the fast-food chain McDonald’s in the then Czechoslovakia.
An estimated 11,000 people turned up for the opening of the company’s first outlet on Prague’s Vodičkova street on 20 March 1992, iDnes.cz wrote.
In 1993, a Big Mac cost CZK 50, while the average salary was less than 6,000 crowns. But even the high cost did not deter customers from coming.
In its first year, the company opened three restaurants in the Czech Republic, which attracted over three million customers.
The first restaurant outside the capital opened a year later in the eastern city of Ostrava. And there was even a famous photograph of the former general secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, Miloš Jakeš, sitting down for a McDonald’s meal a few years later.
ChemiS, a Czech street artist with Kazakh roots, has created a new mural in Prague 4 featuring a girl taking shelter under a Ukrainian flag.
The touching graffiti can be found on Mojmírova Street in the district of Nusle.
It depicts a Ukrainian girl who protects her favorite characters: the German bee Maya, the Czech Mole, the Polish Lölek and Bolek, the Finnish Moomintroll, the French Obelix, the American Mickey Mouse, the British Gromit. As conceived by the author, this plot symbolizes current events – Ukraine protects the rest of Europe.
Its author is one of the best Czech street art artists, Dmitry Proshkin. He’s better known under the pseudonym ChemiS.
“Ukraine is now fighting not only for its own but also for our freedom. As a father of two children, I cannot imagine the helplessness, pain, and fear that ordinary people experience. All of us saw photos of breathless bodies and destroyed cities and also sports halls of schools, full of women with children, grandparents. Please do not stop helping and showing the values of our society”, said the 36-year-old artist.
One of his most famous works is a portrait of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia, who cries over the Czech Republic and wipes his tears with the national flag:
You have also probably seen ChemiS graffiti with a Christmas theme at the Karlovo namesti metro station: