Czech morning news in brief: top stories for Jan. 22, 2021

Germany will consider the Czech Republic an epidemiologically high-risk area as of Sunday, which will complicate commuting across its border, CTK learned from diplomatic sources. While Saxony is ready to make a compromise in the form of two mandatory coronavirus tests for the cross-border commuters a week, Bavaria is for stricter rules, demanding the analyses every 48 hours. However, Bavaria is ready to cover the costs of further tests to the Czech employees after a test is conducted in one week in the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic is likely to be listed on Friday. The new evaluation of the Czech Republic will take effect on Saturday at midnight.

The Czech Republic is among the EU countries with a low share of women in management positions for big firms, which is the third-lowest among 18 states surveyed, according to the European Gender Diversity Index (GDI) for 2020, which assessed women's representation in 668 firms and ascribed a different weight to various high posts. The idea of gender equality is still far from being met, but still, the number of European firms with a high share of women in their management doubled last year. In 2019, the gender diversity index 0.8 and more was reached by 30 firms, it was 62 in 2020. With the 0.42 index, the Czech Republic ended close to the ratings' bottom between Austria and Switzerland. The index for the Czech Republic is 0.14 below the European average and lags by 0.32 behind the front-runner Norway, the report says, adding that out of Czech firms, only Rms Mezzanine figures among the top 20 firms in this respect, finishing 18th.

Krkonoše town Jilemnice was able to erect a snow statue of the Krakonoš in the square after a two-year hiatus. It was created by the artist Josef Dufek, who had three helpers on hand. This year's Krakonoš differs from the previous ones in that it does not have a hat or a pipe in its hand, the village next to it is larger and there are also spruces. But it is smaller than usual, according to Dufek, the statue is less than six meters high. "It is probably the smallest of what I have created. Unfortunately, the technology has disappointed," Dufek said. The giant snow sculptures of the Krkonoše Mountains have been associated with Jilemnice for more than 100 years. The first surviving photograph is from 1912. Dufek has been creating snow sculptures in the square since 1997 if there is enough snow.

The first foal of this year was born at the National Stud Farm in Kladruby nad Labem yesterday. The mare was named Abanta, which could be translated from Spanish as Frightened. The foal's mother is named Abeva, the name of the mares must start with the same initial letter, the director of the stud farm Jiří Machek told ČTK. The foal spends about half a year with its mother. Foals are born in late January and February. In recent years, the first foal was born in a branch of a stud farm in Slatiňany. More than 80 foals are born annually in the National Stud Farm.