Czech Republic

Three months after the election of the populist Eurosceptic and billionaire Andrej Babis as prime minister, Czechs will once again head to the polls on Friday and Saturday to elect a new president.

For the first nine months of 2017, the population of the Czech Republic grew by 18,700 to a total of 10,597,473. The main reason is the migration flow from Ukraine, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, according to the preliminary data of the Czech Statistical Institute, the Czech daily Brno Daily reports.

Powerful storms have wreaked havoc in parts of central and northern Europe, killing at least five people in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.

A 63-year-old camper drowned on the German coast as the result of a storm surge while the other four were killed by falling trees in strong winds.

Winds reached 180km/h (112mph) on the Czech Republic's highest mountain.

Without any surprise, the populist ANO party of Czech billionaire Andrei Babis (also known as the Czech Trump) won the parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic, which took place on Friday and Saturday, reports Mediapool. 

The party of the 63-year-old media tycoon and former finance minister got 30.74% of the vote, Reuters reported.

People in the Czech Republic, vote for a new parliament, and a Eurosceptic government is expected to win after the vote on Friday and Saturday, reports webcafe. 

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka suggested Monday that EU members like his that do not use the euro currency be granted observer status to boost mutual trust in the bloc.

Of the 28 members of the European Union, 19 also belong to the eurozone. The rest -- Britain, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Sweden -- use their own currency.

The Czech police have asked parliament to lift the immunity of former Finance Minister and leader of the "Discontented Citizens' Action 2011" (ANO) Andrei Babis in an investigation into suspicion of fraud with European subsidies, BTA reported, citing Associated Press.

The governor of the Czech Republic's central bank Jiri Rusnok said the country is generally ready to adopt the common European currency, but it would be better to wait until local wages and prices approached those of core euro members.

The Czech Republic's political crisis is nowhere near an end after Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka rejected a proposal for a new finance minister.

Sobotka asked President Milos Zeman to fire Finance Minister Andrej Babis, one of the country's richest people, over unexplained business dealings. Babis has denied wrongdoing, saying he won't resign.

The Czech prime minister, Bohuslav Sobotka of the Social Democrats, says he plans to inform the president of the resignation of his government by the end of the week. Making the surprise announcement on Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Sobotka blamed the situation on ANO's Andrej Babiš, who he said could not remain in the post of minister of finance, Radio Praha reported, qoted by Focus News Agency.