Early bird: Despite criticism from the opposition, the government won the confidence of the Chamber of Deputies. Trump pushes on the leadership of Iran.
Members of Parliament voted on the formation of a new government: there are nine members for the ANO movement, three for the SPD, and three for the Motorists in connection with the fact that President Petr Pavel does not want to appoint Motorists' honorary president Filip Turk as Minister of the Environment. The United States declared that it firmly stands with the Iranian people in their call for freedom and justice. The US Department of Treasury will reportedly use all tools against those who are behind the tyrannical suppression of human rights by the Iranian regime.
Parliament has voted in a new government
The coalition government of the ANO movement, SPD and Motorists, led by ANO Chairman Andrej Babiš, gained the confidence of the Parliament in the evening. All 108 coalition deputies voted for it. There were 91 lawmakers present from the opposition ODS, STAN, Pirates, KDU-ČSL and TOP 09 against the cabinet. STAN deputy Barbora Urbanová, who apologized for the parliamentary session for health reasons, did not vote. The opponents of the government from the opposition often pointed out that the government will not have enough money to fulfill its promises and the fight against the gray economy will not yield the required amount of money, said the server Ceskenoviny.cz.
Trump again threatened Iran over killing protesters and imposed new sanctions
US President Donald Trump threatened Iran that if it continues to kill protesters, it will have serious consequences. The White House claims that Iran has suspended 800 executions that were to take place on Wednesday. This happens on the day the United States imposed new sanctions on Iranian officials accused of suppressing anti-government protests. According to human rights organizations, the protests in Iran have claimed at least 3400 dead, wrote Ceskenoviny.cz.
Babiš is still waiting for approvals from abroad to be able to put Agrofert into a fund
Prime Minister Andrej Babiš is still waiting for public approvals from abroad to be able to put the shares of the Agrofert group into a trust fund. Babiš said during yesterday's parliamentary interpellations that there are three approvals, as informed by the portal Ceskenoviny.cz.
"In any case, once I put it in, I will never be the owner of Agrofert shares, even if I'm not in politics,"
said the Prime Minister.
Babiš announced in December the irreversible insertion of Agrofert into the RSVP Trust fund. Originally, he stated that he would put the shares into the fund by January 8. He planned to carry out the plan within 30 days of his appointment as Prime Minister.
The reach of music streams was at a record high last year
The global music industry recorded as many as 5.1 trillion streams last year. This is a new record. This is 9.6 percent more than in 2024, according to a report by Luminate. The public's attention is mainly focused on older music. Only 43 percent of all US audio streams represented songs released in the last five years. The only exceptions were the songs The Life of a Showgirl by Taylor Swift and I’m the Problem by singer Morgan Wallen. Each of them surpassed the 5 million reach, which is a combination of sales and streaming itself, the AP agency reported.
Fifteen Former Players Manipulated the Results of Basketball Games
Fifteen former players have been accused of manipulating basketball games between the USA and China. Through betting, they wanted to manipulate matches of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). Their means was so-called point shaving, where individuals try to manipulate the difference in the result of a victory, stated Al Jazeera.
Sources: Ceskenoviny.cz, AP, Al Jazeera
