Czech daily news roundup: Thursday, December 16, 2021

The National Cyber and Information Security Agency has ordered all state agency and associated business systems to run a vulnerability check. The reactive measure came after the Agency found that hackers are using a newly discovered mistake in the Log4J logging utility, which forms part of applications developed in the Java script programming language.

The weak spot provides attackers with the opportunity to upload and initiate their own code, which could allow them to take control of the server. While requiring state bodies to check their security, the Agency as warned all other Log4J users that they too could be under threat.

An unmanned train undertook a journey on Czech railways for the first time yesterday, as part of a presentation on digital railways in Libčeves, in the Louny region. Trains without drivers are expected to become a standard sight in the Czech Republic in two to three years, pending necessary legislative changes.

Autonomous trains drive according to a set program which is able to react to the presence of a person on the track, or to a car at a level crossing. The system has been under development for ten years, using high-speed Wi-Fi connection on the track. It is being developed by Czech transport company AŽD in cooperation with Czech research centers and European partners. 90% of the technology involved is Czech, according to those responsible for the project.

The U.S. Embassy in Prague’s annual Alice G. Masaryk Human Rights Award has been presented to activists Gwendolyn Albert, Elena Gorolová, and Deputy Public Defender of Rights Monika Šimůnková, for their work in securing compensation for the victims of forced sterilizations.

The award has been presented annually since 2004, expressing appreciation for individuals and organizations which have contributed to promoting and defending human rights in the Czech Republic. It is named after the founder of the Czechoslovak Red Cross, Alice Garrigue Masaryk, the daughter of the first Czechoslovak President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. This year’s winners fought for compensation for illegally sterilized women, most of whom are Romani people, leading to a law on compensation adopted this year which will see CZK 300,000 awarded to women who can prove they were the victim of forced sterilization between July 1966 and March 2012.

Representatives of the City of Prague are meeting today to discuss the city’s budget for the next year. One of the topics will be a planned increase in the price of waste collection for most people living in the Czech capital.

The meeting will also cover the agreement on the development of the unfinished Palmovka Center, an increase in the “tourist fee” for accommodation, and a memorandum on mutual cooperation between Prague and the Central Bohemia Region. The city’s budget has increased to approximately CZK 92.6 billion, with almost CZK 20 billion to be spent on investments including the construction of metro line D.

Czech police broke up a fight in Doksy, in the Kladno region, by eventually shooting one of the men involved. Police were called to the scene at around 8 p.m., where two men were attacking each other. Police were threatened with knives, and one of the men did not respond to either calls for the violence to stop, or to the use of a taser.

Police were then left with no choice but to incapacitate the man by shooting him. He was taken to hospital and a police spokesperson said he is conscious and out of danger. The other man suffered minor head injuries as a result of the brawl. The police added that the correctness of the use of firearms will be assessed by officers from the General Inspectorate of Security Forces.