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Czech entrepreneur Karel Komárek is donating 150,000,000 CZK to the communities in Hodonín out of sympathy for the recent tornado damage. Komárek, who owns KKCG Investment Group, is from Hodonín himself and said he was deeply affected by news of the disaster. “I am a native of Hodonín and this disaster has struck me deeply. Now we need to act fast. That’s why we immediately set aside the necessary money, which will help solve both the immediate needs as well as the long-term needs for gradually returning to normal life after being paralyzed by this event.” “If necessary, we are ready to release additional funds.” News of the disaster has triggered a wave of support from the rest of theContinue Reading

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Tornadoes, along with giant hailstones, destroyed large portions of multiple villages in the Hodonín region of South Moravia. The municipalities of Hrušky, Mikulčice, Moravská Nová Ves and Lužice are most affected. So far, over 200 injuries have been confirmed, with 45 still in hospital and 5 deaths at the time of writing. Firefighters are still looking for people trapped in the rubble of their homes. Antonín Tesařík, director of the hospital in Hodonín told ČT that the scenes looked “apocalyptic.” “There are mainly vertebral fractures, head injuries, and skull fractures. It’s a whole range of injuries from open and closed fractures to abdominal injuries. Those few hours were scary and I’d even say apocalyptic. Of the 45 currently hospitalized, allContinue Reading

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Škoda Auto, the Czech Republic’s trademark car company, is being forced to downsize its operations in reaction to a shortage in semiconductors stemming from the COVID-19 restrictions. Auto sales collapsed during the beginning of lockdown in 2020, leading to a gridlock in orders for car-related semiconductors. As demand for cars recovers, supply chains are having trouble revamping themselves. In an interview with iHNED.cz, Michael Oeljeklaus, head of production and logistics at Škoda, said that the company is producing 3,000-5,000 fewer cars than what they’re capable of, and some cars that are being produced can’t be finished due to lack of parts. According to him, by early August the company will have produced roughly 50,000 incomplete vehicles that will sit idleContinue Reading

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Officials from the State Institute of Public Health are claiming that the new “delta variant” of COVID-19 is beginning to spread in the Czech Republic, threatening a return to lockdowns. Molecular geneticist Jan Pačes from the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Academy of Sciences, says that a failure to screen for the variant at airports likely resulted in its spreading. “The delta is spreading twice as fast as alpha, the former British variant. And we remember how it was with the alpha when it appeared here. It quickly pushed out all the other variants and outgrew them. We should have guarded the borders and airports and isolated everything, but we’ve missed our chance and now there’s nothing we canContinue Reading

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The COVID-19 restrictions have put more cash into the average Czech’s savings account, and subsequently spilled into real estate, Novinky reports. According to new data from Českého statistického úřadu (Czech Statistical Office), household savings grew in 2020 by 217.1 billion crowns. The Czech National Bank can also confirm that the amount of deposits exceeded three trillion crowns, whereas in December of 2019, the bank recorded 2.72 trillion crowns of deposits. “Household consumption was very limited because of the various restrictions, including the mandatory home office and closed businesses. It was absolutely to be expected that, thanks to this stall in consumption, Czechs would increase their savings,” Petr Zámečník, an analyst at EMA data. According to a study done by theContinue Reading

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Usually, hotels, restaurants, and campsites have no problem finding young part-time workers to prepare for summer traffic each year. According to a report by iDNES, this year is a bit different, forcing many small businesses to rethink their plans for summer. Tomáš Holec, the manager of the Komorník Campsite in Jindřichův Hradec, says that he’s decided to shut down a restaurant at the site and just do window service. According to him, it’s impossible to find people willing to work as waiters. “Since we couldn’t find the required number of people, we had to shut down regular service. There are no waiters in the restaurant, we just have a window. So because of that, we don’t have to look forContinue Reading

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As of Friday, the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention has designated the Czech Republic as a low-risk area, easing travel restrictions to other countries in the block. Until now, entry to Croatia was possible at least 14 days after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, 180 days after having the virus, or immediately after testing negative. The European Commission recently launched the “Re-Open EU” website which gives slightly clearer updates on the COVID-19-related restrictions. According to the platform, the following non-EU countries will also have travel restrictions lifted: AlbaniaAustraliaIsraelJapanLebanonNew ZealandRepublic of North MacedoniaRwandaSerbiaSingaporeSouth KoreaThailandUnited States of America On June 16th, the Ministry of Health also got rid of obligatory negative tests for those travelling to the Czech Republic by car.Continue Reading

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The Czech Chamber of Deputies have approved a constitutional amendment that explicitly gives citizens the right to use firearms when necessary to protect one’s life. The proposal, first submitted by Martin Červíček (ODS) last year, is based on cementing the right to self-protection, which he says is the most basic human right. “The change thus proposes an explicit right to protection of life, and it stipulates that it may be with weapons.” “Given the importance of the right to life, which is the most fundamental right, the proposal considers it appropriate to symbolically raise this right to the constitutional level,” the memorandum reads. The Senate has decided that the country’s Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms should have a provisionContinue Reading

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The D35, which runs east to west just south of Hradec Králové, cracked up from heat and caused a 5 car wreck at around 3 PM Saturday. According to firefighters on the scene, 10 people sustained non life threatening injuries, and no lives were claimed. Police spokesman Libor Hejtman said that a series of cracked, wavy portions of the highway prompted some cars to stop completely, taking drivers behind them by surprise. “A truck was driving in the right lane and there was a wavy section of the highway in front of him. Apparently the concrete’s surface had risen because of the heat, and the vehicles were all stopping there. The truck stopped, and three other cars stopped in theContinue Reading

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With the reality of growing inflation increasingly on our minds, making small investments in things like whiskey and watches is becoming more and more common. Novinky reports that some Czechs are deciding that rather than dumping millions of crowns into an apartment, taking risks on renovations and uncertainties with the rental market, a better idea is to buy rare whiskey. “I look at it a bit like a game. Just last week I bought a bottle of whiskey from a gentleman for 5,000 crowns, and I can see that it can actually be sold for 10,000. I’ll save it though. This is how I gradually ended up putting about 200,000 crowns into just whiskey. I think this way I haveContinue Reading