Czech morning news in brief: top headlines for July 14, 2021

Allowance for children to increase, more families to be eligible under new law

The child benefit will increase by one-fourth and more families will be eligible for it as the Czech lower house approved the welfare bill version proposed by the Senate, which also raises the benefit for families with working parents and the tax relief for the second and subsequent children. The amendment must still be signed into law by President Milos Zeman. The child allowance will increase by 26 percent, and families with an income of up to 3.4 times the subsistence level will be eligible for it, instead of the current 2.7 times. The higher benefits will be paid out to the eligible families retroactively as of July. About 10 percent of children are eligible for the benefit now, and that share will increase to 20 percent based on the new law. The amendment stipulates a monthly benefit of CZK 630, 770, and 880 depending on the child's age. The tax relief for second and additional children will increase by about 15 percent. The tax relief increase will cost the state up to CZK 2.7 billion. ČTK

Rafting accident on the Sazava River claims two lives

A juvenile girl pulled from the Sazava River Tuesday after her raft capsized on a weir died later in the hospital a police spokeswoman told ČTK. The raft carrying six people, including the minor girl, capsized near Český Šternberk. A man from another boat who jumped into the water to help the capsized raft went missing and was later found dead by the regional medical rescue service. The people from the raft were rescued and transferred to various hospitals. The girl was airlifted to Prague-Motol University Hospital after resuscitation and died later Tuesday afternoon. Three rescue helicopters intervened at the scene of the accident, which was reported to the medical staff at 11:30 a.m. An hour later police reported having found the body of the 29-year-old man, who had tried to save the others. ČTK

Rothschild heirs file a complaint against the Czech Republic

The heirs of the Rothschild family have filed a complaint against the Czech Republic with the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, their lawyer told journalists Tuesday. The complaint concerns their claim to the family manor in Šilheřovice in the Opava region. In January, the Czech Constitutional Court rejected 12 complaints filed by the Rothschild heirs after their unsuccessful lawsuits claiming the return of property in the area near the border with Poland. In doing so, their lawyer said, the Czech Republic had violated the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights, as well as legitimized Nazi measures against Jews during the Holocaust. Before World War Two, the Rothschilds owned extensive property in Silesia. However, under duress, they transferred the real estate to the German Reich in 1939. After the war, the property was confiscated by the Czechoslovak state in line with the Benes decrees. ČTK

June 2021 in the Czech Republic was one of the warmest in 247 years

June 2021 with its average temperature of 22.4 degrees Celsius belongs in the second percentile of the warmest Junes since 1775, while two higher June average temperatures occurred in 2019 and 1811, the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (CHMU) wrote on its website Tuesday. This June was 3.6 degrees warmer than the usual average based on recordings from the period between 1981 and 2010. As against the average from 1775 to 2014, June 2021 reported 4.3 degrees Celsius more. A June 2021 record high came on Sunday, June 20, when the average daily temperature equaled 29.3 degrees Celsius, despite 15.6 degrees reported a week before that. So far, the record high June average is 24.5 degrees from 2019. In contrast, the record cold June with an average temperature of 13.2 degrees Celsius came in 1923, the CHMU website said. ČTK

Renovated tomb of Czech surrealist painter unveiled near Paris

The ceremonial unveiling of the renovated tomb of Josef Šima (1891-1971), a Czech avant-garde painter who lived and worked in France from 1922, took place at the cemetery in Thiais near Paris Tuesday and was attended by Czech ambassador Michal Fleischmann and about two dozen guests. The event was one of several marking the 50th anniversary of Šima's death. Prior to the renovation, the tomb was hardly visible. Born in Jaromer, east Bohemia, Šima studied fine art in Prague and Brno. After settling in France, he gradually gained world fame as French painter Joseph Sima. He joined the fights of both WWI and WWII, as well as the anti-Nazi resistance movement. After 1945, he was an adviser for culture relations at the Czechoslovak embassy in Paris. His paintings rank among the most expensive at Czech auctions. ČTK