Dutch Prime minister Mark Rutte says he’s ‘cautiously optimistic’ that the EU and UK will manage to secure a deal before the Brexit deadline at the end of the year. Rutte and his RENEW political counterparts, including Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin, European Council President Charles Michel and Andrej Babiš, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, arrive in Brussels for a meeting on the sidelines of the EU summit.
The Prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia meet under tight security measures at the southeastern Czech castle of Lednice for the first face-to-face reunion since the coronavirus pandemic began. Except Poland which has recently reported a spike in COVID-19 cases, the so-called Visegrad countries have been successful in battling the virus owing to timely restrictions. The meeting is believed to be the first time more than two European leaders are meeting in person following the lockdowns. IMAGES
The Carmat company, which is developing a total artificial heart, announced on Monday the first implantation of its prosthesis in Denmark, the third country to enter the PIVOT study, along with the Czech Republic and Kazakhstan. Artificial heart in videographic.VIDEOGRAPHIC
As in many Western countries, one of the shocks of the coronavirus crisis in Austria was how vulnerable farms were when suddenly deprived of foreign labour — but the country is having some success in getting Austrians to plug the gap. Instead of workers from the nearby Czech Republic, an Austrian student whose studies have been interrupted and a food wholesale buyer whose work hours have been reduced due to the pandemic now help plant vegetables, flowers and herbs, and pull out weeds.
Czech carmaker Skoda Auto switches to printing respirator masks of the highest class amid the virus spread. Shuttered over the coronavirus infection, the unit of Germany’s Volkswagen produces 60 sophisticated face masks a day. Its prototype and model department is using a design by the Czech Technical University. The certified FFP3-class respirator masks are made of polyamide powder and some silicone and can be reused after disinfection. The components printed at Skoda are equipped with a filter at a Prague company. They are primarily designed for doctors and nurses. For now, Skoda is responsible for financing the production of the gear whose costs reach five euros a piece. The Czech Republic registered 1,775 cases of the virus, ten cured patients and six deaths on Thursday morning.
Just a week ago, the small Czech company Nanospace was producing bed linen using nanomembrane — a textile with a very fine web of nanofibres — to protect allergic sleepers from mites. But as the deadly novel coronavirus started reaping its grim toll in Europe, Nanospace workshops began churning out 10,000 nanomembrane face masks per day for two hospitals in the southern Czech Republic.
The suspect in Tuesday’s mass shooting at the University Hospital Ostrava in the Czech Republic has committed suicide. He had allegedly gunned down six people at the facility, police said. READ MORE: https://on.rt.com/a6vn
#RT (Russia Today) is a global #news network broadcasting from Moscow, London, Paris and Washington studios to over 100 countries. RT is the first news channel to break the 1 billion YouTube views benchmark.
In the Bavarian forest, a few kilometres from the border with the Czech Republic, a seismological station can detect waves caused by nuclear tests all over the world. Inaugurated in 1989 to monitor nuclear activities related to the Cold War, it has more recently detected North Korean tests and also monitors the planet’s natural seismic activity. Completely autonomous, it only receives visits from scientists or technicians from time to time for maintenance work.
At the annual Signal festival of light, video-mapping and digital art focuses on revolution 30 years after the peaceful 1989 Velvet Revolution that toppled a totalitarian Communist regime, which lasted four decades in former Czechoslovakia. The country then went on to split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia four years later. Artists presenting their work at the festival look back at 1989, asking whether people are capable of a revolution now, at a time when mankind experiences unrest and protests. The seventh edition of the festival started Thursday and offers 18 installations in Prague’s historic centre with more than half a million viewers expected over four days.
Paris’s iconic Eiffel tower went dark at 9pm on Thursday evening to pay tribute to former French President Jacques Chirac, who died early in the day at 86 years old.
Former French leader Jacques Chirac has died at the age of 86, his family reported. Under his leadership, France enjoyed an independent foreign policy, distinguishing itself from European states eager to appease Washington.
Outside of his native country, Chirac is perhaps best known for his principled opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Unafraid of then-president George W. Bush, the French statesman prevented his country from becoming entangled in the Middle East conflict, now widely regarded as a quagmire that was based on false pretenses.
He was a fierce critic of Europe’s willingness to follow Washington’s lead. In the lead-up to the Iraq war, he accused Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic – then aspiring EU states – of acting “recklessly” by showing their support for US saber-rattling aimed at Baghdad.
#RT (Russia Today) is a global #news network broadcasting from Moscow and Washington studios. RT is the first news channel to break the 1 billion YouTube views benchmark.
An ‘Insta-famous’ couple from the Czech Republic has apologized after sharing footage of themselves inappropriately splashing holy water at a sacred temple in Bali, Indonesia.
#RT (Russia Today) is a global #news network broadcasting from Moscow and Washington studios. RT is the first news channel to break the 1 billion YouTube views benchmark.
Five critically endangered eastern black rhinos were on Monday successfully relocated to Rwanda’s Akagera National Park after a long journey from the Czech Republic.
A hundred mushers and ten bikers from 11 countries battled frost and snow at a five-day sled dog race in the Czech Republic, which organisers call one of the toughest in Europe. The 23rd year of the Czech Long Trail has attracted mushers from countries across Europe — including Austria, Croatia, Germany the Netherlands and Serbia. Mushers can choose one of two tracks — 300 kilometres with five stages and an elevation topping 9,000 metres or 200 kilometres with four stages and an elevation of 7,000 metres. In Czech, the race is called Sedivackuv long — bearing the name of a dog that strayed and was shot by a local man just before the first edition of the race in 1997.
Past month has been really rough on the EU, as protests, both violent and non-violent, have consumed some of the largest countries in the bloc.
We’ve compiled the list of all the demonstrations which have taken place in Europe during the November-December period:
• France
The Yellow Vest demonstrations began on November 17th and have since swept their way throughout France, resulting in violent clashes with police, with more than 1,000 people being arrested nationwide. The protests are motivated by rising fuel taxes and the high cost of living. More than 125,000 people have taken part in ‘Act IV’ of the demonstrations on December 8. Protesters call for the reduction of fuel prices, the raising of the minimum wage, and the resignation of Emmanuel Macron as president.
• England
Two rival marches clashed in London on December 9. Thousands of people have taken part in the “Brexit Betrayal” march, led by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson. The movement was opposed by anti-racist groups, which claim to have gathered some 15,000 people in counter-demonstrations. Mounted riot police and officers in riot gear were deployed to keep the rival demonstrators apart.
• Hungary
Nearly 5,000 Hungarians rallied in Budapest on December 8 against a proposed labor legislation dubbed “slave law.” Some of the protestors wore yellow vests, expressing solidarity with demonstrators in France over discontent with the government.
• Belgium
More than 400 people were detained by the Belgian police during the copycat yellow vest protests in Brussels on Saturday, December 8. This is the second violent demonstration in the capital in the past 8 days. A crowd of more than a 1,000 people faced riot police, which used tear gas and water cannons to subdue the masses. The movement demands the removal of Belgium’s center-right coalition government.
• Greece
Angry protests broke out in Athens on December 6, the 10th anniversary of the police shooting of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos. Police said that around 1,700 people were protesting peacefully, until masked youths started attacking police with rocks and Molotov cocktails. Law enforcement responded with stun grenades and tear gas. More than 100 people were detained.
• Norway
Thousands of Norwegians joined together all over the country to express their opposition to the suggestion, by Prime Minister Erna Solberg, to toughen abortion laws. The demonstration took place across 14 cities across the country on November 17.
• Czech Republic
On Saturday, November 17 tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Prague to demand the resignation of the Czech Republic’s billionaire prime minister Andrej Babis, who is accused of defrauding the EU by nearly €2m. The protest comes on the 29th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, which ended the communist regime in former Czechoslovakia.
• Italy
In light of Turin–Lyon high-speed railway construction going through, tens of thousands gathered in Turin on December 8 to protest against the project, claiming that it is a waste of public funds and is damaging to the environment. The organizers of the demonstrations claimed that the rally was attended by some 70,000 people, however these numbers haven’t been confirmed by police.
• Spain
Catalan independence activists, calling themselves “Committees to Defend the Republic” blocked a highway in Tarragona for 15 hours on Saturday, December 8, preventing the flow of traffic. In Barcelona, 250 people blocked traffic on the main avenue. The Spanish government threatened to send in national police, if regional authorities couldn’t prevent such protests.
#RT (Russia Today) is a global #news network broadcasting from Moscow and Washington studios. RT is the first news channel to break the 1 billion YouTube views benchmark.
Recent drought has uncovered so-called hunger stones in the Elbe river in the Czech Republic. The boulder in the northwestern town of Decin, north of the capital Prague, is roughly the size of a utility van and bears the foreboding inscription, “When you see me, weep”.
Two dozen barrel organ players displayed their skills in Prague’s city centre within an eight-day festival that has attracted virtuosos from across Europe. Organ grinders from Austria, France, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland and the Czech Republic offered music ranging from Mozart or Verdi to ABBA. The festival will continue in other Czech towns and cities, with more players due to take part.
(14 Aug 2018) Eight days after its birth in captivity, a rare newborn Silvery Gibbon has gone on public display at the Prague Zoo in the Czech Republic. (Aug. 14)
Czech Republic’s president Milos Zeman has confirmed that the country has been involved in producing the type of nerve agent believed to have been used to poison the former Russian spy, Sergey Skripal, and his daughter in the UK in March.
READ MORE: https://on.rt.com/94jb
RT (Russia Today) is a global news network broadcasting from Moscow and Washington studios. RT is the first news channel to break the 1 billion YouTube views benchmark.
Czech President Miloš Zeman was elected for a second term Saturday, fending off centrist and pro-EU academic Jiri Drahos in a presidential race that fast became a referendum on Czech identity.
The nationalistic, pro-Trump and anti-EU Zeman is notorious for his brash style of politics, anti-migration rhetoric and as the defender of the country he now calls “Czechia.”
In 2017, the EU survived challenges from right-wing parties in the West of Europe, but in 2018 its authority is under threat from populism in the East.
Zeman has been vocal in his demands for a referendum on EU membership, which is creating another headache for Brussels.
Pro-European challenger Jiri Drahos voted in the Czech Republic’s presidential run-off on Friday, in which he faces pro-Russian incumbent Milos Zeman. IMAGES
A billionaire populist dubbed the Czech Republic’s Donald Trump is set to become the country’s next prime minister. The party of Andrej Babis won a landslide victory in the parliamentary elections over the weekend.
RT’s Ilya Petrenko explains where similarities between Babis and the US president can be drawn.
RT (Russia Today) is a global news network broadcasting from Moscow and Washington studios. RT is the first news channel to break the 1 billion YouTube views benchmark.
With voters upset over traditional parties and orders from Brussels, billionaire populist Andrej Babis, dubbed the “Czech Trump”, clinches victory in the Czech Republic’s election, while eurosceptics and an anti-Islam group backed by France’s National Front made strong gains. IMAGES
Panel debate inside the Cannabis University at Cannabis Liberation Day 2017: ‘How to end prohibition: experiences abroad’. With Clark French (UK), Robert Veverka (CZ), James Burton (USA), Michael Knodt (DE), Sean Carney (USA). Moderated by Cannabis News Network’s Steven Kompier.
Clark French (United Kingdom)
One of the best known British cannabis activists, co-founder and board member of NORML UK, the Berkshire Cannabis Community and UK Cannabis Social Clubs.
Robert Veverka (Czech Republic)
President of Legalizace.cz, the largest Czech organization for legalization of cannabis and editor in chief of the wonderful Legalizace magazine. In 2013, Robert was a candidate for the Pirate Party in the European Parliament elections.
James Burton (USA)
The story of James Burton reads like a Hollywood script. A Vietnam veteran, who flees the war on drugs to become the main pioneer and first large-scale grower of medicinal cannabis in the Netherlands. After Bedrocan gained a monopoly on producing medical cannabis, Burton’s Stichting Insitute of Medical Marijuana (SIMM) went bankrupt.
Michael Knodt (Germany)
One of Germany’s leading cannabis journalists. Micha was editor in chief of Hanf Journal between 2005 and 2013 and now works for various media. He is the host of Exzessiv.tv and Der Micha.
Sean Carney (USA)
Former Wall Street Journal correspondent in the Czech Republic and currently Director of Business Development EMA at Tilray, one of the biggest players in the international legal cannabis industry.
Cannabis News Network is a news journal which publishes only cannabis related news.
