Czech daily news roundup: Monday, Feb. 21, 2022

The Eiga-Sai festival of Japanese film kicks off today at the Lucerna Cinema in Prague. The 15th annual year of the will open with the romantic comedy "Drop of Love." eight films including comedies, documentaries, and animation from Feb. 21–27, many with both Czech and English subtitles. Lucerna. With the exception of the film "My Neighbor Totoro," will be their first or only release in the Czech Republic.

Coffee prices rose by 76 percent to CZK 109.5 crowns per kilogram, reflecting the most expensive it's been in 11 years. Last year's increase was the highest percentage since 2010. This follows from an XTB analysis. However, the relationship between the price of coffee on the commodity exchange and the price in a café is loosely connected, the company said. The rise in coffee prices was mainly due to rising transport costs and bad weather in key coffee-producing countries such as Brazil. Prices may continue to rise for at least another month until the rainy season in South America ends.

On Wednesday, the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavský will hold talks with the Marise Payne Minister of Foreign Affairs of Australia the Czech foreign ministry said on its website Monday. This is Australia's first official state visit to the Czech Republic in 17 years. Negotiations with Payne confirm the Czech interest in the Indo-Pacific, which is one of the regional priorities of the forthcoming Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU. The ministers will discuss the deepening bilateral cooperation and regional and international security and multilateral cooperation between the two countries.

The Czech Foreign Ministry has called on Czechs to quickly leave the eastern regions of Ukraine as the likelihood of military conflict escalates. In a written statement issued on its website late Sunday, the ministry also warned against travel to Ukraine. The statement mentions the deterioration of the security situation due to the "extreme tension" between Russia and Ukraine.

It called on Czech nationals to quickly leave the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Odesa. Details of a summit between US President Biden and Russian President Putin will be negotiated on Thursday, with the stipulation that Moscow would not attack the neighboring country prior to the meeting.

Some 50 members and supporters of the Czech Communist Party (KSČM) gathered outside the US Embassy seat in Prague Sunday to protest against the US convoy crossing Czechia and to demand world peace, Czech withdrawal from NATO, and an end to capitalism. Speakers at the rally said the Czech government's steps in connection with the conflict on the Ukrainian-Russian border, have "added fuel to the flames." Protesters accused the US of provoking war in Europe. A supporter of the Allied troops turned up, waving a US flag.

Czech meteorologists are warning against continued strong winds throughout Monday with the possibility of floods in northern areas of the country. The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (CHMI) says winds can reach speeds of over 65 km/h and gusts of around 110 km/h will be felt in the mountains. CHMI expects winds to weaken on Tuesday but intensify again on Wednesday in the western part of Czechia. Prague Integrated Transport is currently reporting delays due to fallen trees. Meteorologists say Europe has seen a greater frequency of storms in the last 15 years.

Lidl opened more branches than any other store in its category last year. In 2022, it will continue to expand, with an eye to non-traditional and atypical projects in city centers such as its two-story store in the Brno center in a protected functionalist building. Now Media Guru reports the German retailer has plans to open an ​1140 m2 space in the center of Prague on Na Příkopě Street in the historic building which once housed the Czechoslovak Commercial Bank. Intensive construction work is currently being carried out on the site, which aims to minimize the impact on the character of the building. The opening date is mid-2022.

Masks, music, and dance have returned to the Hlinsko Blatno region following a hiatus due to the Covid outbreak. The UNESCO-protected carnival procession, endorsed for its unique folklore tradition, passed through the area in the eastern Pardubice region of the country on Sunday.

The procession has been documented here since the end of the nineteenth century and was inscribed on the UNESCO intangible World Cultural Heritage list in 2010. Mostly men participate in the celebration.