News
09-02-2012 18:31 CET | Sarah Borufka
- Prime Minister Petr Nečas has defended the Czech refusal to join the EU’s fiscal compact in the lower house of Parliament.
- The Social Democrats have called on the prime minister to apologize for stating that the party would block a Senate vote for direct presidential elections.
- The Czech Education Minister is set to present 35 new projects aimed at improving the Czech school system.
- Sparta Prague’s deputy manager Lukáš Přibyl was found dead in his office on Thursday.
- The Czech soccer player David Bystroň has tested positive for doping.
Current Affairs
Czech Parliament passes direct presidential elections
The Czech Senate, photo: CTK
Czech citizens themselves will choose their next president in 2013 for the first time in history. After years of public and partisan discussion, and five final hours of heated debate on Wednesday, the Czech Senate passed a Constitutional amendment allowing direct election of the head of state by the people. As the current president, Václav Klaus, who called direct elections a "fatal mistake", is unable to veto a constitutional amendment, I asked political scientist Jan Outlý of the University of Hradec Králové if anything at all can stop direct presidential elections now. More
(04:59)Czech lighting producer Preciosa aims to expand on US, Russian markets
A leading Czech producer of lighting products, Preciosa Lighting, aims to
expand its position in the United States. The firm with a centuries-old
glass making tradition has now opened a permanent showroom in Dallas,
Texas, a must for everyone who’s anyone in the industry, says Preciosa
Lighting’s sales director Petra Macháčková.
More
(04:12)Czech History
Petr Novák: The man who wrote the soundtrack for the Prague Spring
Petr Novák's unmistakeable, delicate tenor voice is synonymous with
Czechoslovak society of the late 1960s. This talented musician shot to
fame in this country at the time of the Prague Spring, when his gentle
love songs influenced by Western pop groups like The Beatles were hugely
popular among young Czechs. His success during this era, however, proved
to be short-lived and his career subsequently stagnated under the
influence of communist repression and his own problems with alcohol.
More
(09:25)One on One
Botanicus co-founder Dana Hradecká: planting the seeds of success
The Botanicus chain of stores offering herbal soaps, extracts and
delicacies is a Czech, and growing international, success story. Most
tourists will have probably bought something from one of their outlets in
the country. The small business was founded in the early 1990’s after the
restitution of a family farm around 40 kilometres north-east of Prague.
More
(09:34)Sunday Music Show
Moravian folk fusion band Hradišťan and Jiří Pavlica
Hradišťan is one of the country’s most respected interprets of folk
music. The band started as a folk music ensemble in the south Moravian town
of Uherské Hradiště – hence the name – in the 1950s but its rise to
popularity and critical acclaim began when Jiří Pavlica became the
band’s leader, or primáš, in the 1970s.
More
From the Archives
Paul Robeson in Prague: paying homage to Dvořák and socialism
In last week’s From the Archives we featured Martin Luther King,
interviewed by Czechoslovak Radio in 1963. But Dr King was not the first
civil rights campaigner to address Czech and Slovak radio listeners. Four
years earlier, in June 1959, Paul Robeson came to Prague, to take part in
an international left-wing cultural congress.
More
(04:43)Sections
Topics
Panorama
Czechs and the Internet
Computers and the internet have become an integral part of our lives to
such an extent that it is hard to imagine how we ever managed without them.
However a recent survey conducted by the Czech Statistical Office shows
that Czechs are still lagging... More
(09:02)Spotlight
The Mánes Exhibition Hall – an icon of functionalist architecture
The functionalist Mánes Exhibition Hall, located on the right bank of the
Vltava river between the bridges Jiraskův most and Most Legií, is one of
only two buildings in Prague that were expressly designed to house art –
the other one being the famous... More
(09:42)Current Affairs
Legislators approve changes covering denial of fatherhood
Czech lawmakers have approved changes to legislation covering the denial of
fatherhood, overriding an earlier Senate veto. The amendment will extend a
previous six month period for denying fatherhood (upon learning the
biological parent was someone else)... More
(04:08)Nuclear Faith: Documentary explores Czechs’ trust in nuclear energy
Two-thirds of Czechs are in favor of expanding the country’s nuclear
power sources and nearly half of them trust this source of energy: that
was
the result of a SANEP poll published briefly after the Fukushima nuclear
disaster. The Czechs'attitude towards... More
(03:43)Sports News
Sports News
In Sports News: Two tough wins by tennis player Petra Kvitová at the
weekend advanced the Czech Republic to the semi-final of the Fed Cup;
preliminary matches in Spain between Czech top flight football club Sparta
Prague and Switzerland’s Bellinzona... More
(04:03)Mailbox
Mailbox
This month in Mailbox we read from your letters of condolence on the death
in December of the former president Václav Havel, we read from your
feedback regarding Radio Prague's programmes and we quote from your answers
to January's mystery Czech quiz... More
(08:02)Czech Life
An Englishwoman who has lived in Prague for over six decades – ‘war bride’ Ivy Kovandová
Ivy Kovandová is one of the few remaining so-called war brides in the
Czech Republic. ‘War brides’ are Englishwomen who married Czechoslovak
pilots or soldiers stationed in the UK during WWII – an estimated 10,000
soldiers and about 2,500 pilots from... More
(10:12)
