Czech morning news in brief: Top headlines for September 24, 2021

Foreign Minister calls for closer cooperation in fighting terrorism

Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhánek delivered a speech at the 76th annual United Nations General Assembly in which he called for closer international cooperation in the war on terrorism. He also expressed concern over the situation in Belarus, calling for the immediate release of captive journalists, human rights defenders and political activists. Kulhánek meanwhile urged cooperation to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan after the country's takeover by the Taliban.

The Czech Republic's commitment to providing aid to the Middle East has been underlined by the delivery of six tonnes of essential food to Lebanon, brought to the country by a special military plane. The aid for Lebanon was agreed by the Czech government a week ago, and a Defense Ministry spokesperson said the delivery is an example of the kind of aid initiatives which the Czech Republic wants to pursue.

Ex-President Klaus hospitalized again for follow-up treatment

Former Czech President Václav Klaus has been hospitalized again, returning to Prague Central Military Hospital (ÚVN) to complete treatment for health troubles relating to hypertension. Klaus is expected to stay in hospital for a few days. Klaus recently spent two night in hospital due to very high blood pressure and stomach problems, and on Sunday he returned for a follow-up check.

Klaus has not often suffered from long-term health problems in the past. In late February 2021, the ex-President contracted Covid-19 after giving a lecture at the Prague University of Economics and Business. His recent stay at ÚVN coincided with that of current President Miloš Zeman, who was hospitalized due to dehydration and exhaustion. Zeman was discharged from hospital on Wednesday.

Sparta Prague football club fined again over fans’ racism

The Czech Football League Association disciplinary commission has fined Sparta Prague CZK 75,000 over its fans’ racism during a league match played in Plzeň on September 11. At the start of the second half of the game, play was paused for several minutes due to racists insults shouted by Sparta fans at Plzeň player Jhon Mosquera, from Colombia.

The latest punishment for Sparta over fans’ racism follows a CZK 100,000 fine over insults directed at French defender Florent Poulolo during the team’s first game of the season in Olomouc. Next week, the club will play a Europa League group stage game against Scottish side Rangers without fans, as punishment for fan racism during a previous Champions League qualifying match against AC Monaco.

Rohlik Group invests big money in automation

Czech online grocery delivery service the Rohlik Group has announced that it will invest €400 million into warehouse automation by the end of 2025 to boost efficiency and capacity. The company wants to become Europe’s biggest online grocery delivery service. The first phase of automation investments will see €45 million invested into a storage-bin system with integrated robot retrieval and order-picking work stations.

The solution will launch at the brand’s German service in Munich, called Knuspr.de, followed by a roll-out in other European markets. Rohlik has said its German brand will expand to other cities including Frankfurt, Hamburg and Cologne this year and next. The company has already expanded its operations into Austria and Hungary.

Researchers’ night event comes to Prague

The Prague section of the nationwide Researchers’ Night event, to be held on Friday, will present the phenomenon of time across many fields including chemistry, astronomy and biomedicine. The organizers are planning to run a number of experiments as well as knowledge and combat games, although part of the program will take place online. Many of the events will be exclusively for children. Organizations based in Prague participating in the event will be University of Chemistry and Technology, Charles University, the University of Life Science, the University of Economics and the Czech Technical University, as well as institutes from the Czech Academy of Science.

The Night of Scientists has taken place in the Czech Republic every year since 2005; this year, more than 20 universities and colleges, as well as 40 research institutions, science centers, planetariums and other organizations are taking part.