Section Archive Current Affairs
Powdered Czech beer waits for patent application verdict
Czech beer is already being sold around the world in powdered form. Now the
Czech research institute behind the recipe is seeking protection in the
form of a worldwide patent. It believes the application will help it build
on its existing success.
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Mucha family keeps up the fight to build the Slav Epic a home
When the artist Alfons Mucha died in 1939, he left his masterpiece of 20
canvasses entitled the Slav Epic, to the City of Prague – but on the
condition that an appropriate space be built for it. This has not happened
to date and now the city would like to remove the work from the chateau in
Moravský Krumlov where it is currently housed and install it in Prague’s
Veletržní Palác. The Mucha family, however, is opposed, and is filing
for an injunction against the city to keep the paintings where they are
until they are given a permanent residence. Earlier today, we spoke with
the head of the Mucha Foundation and grandson of the celebrated Art Nouveau
painter, John Mucha, and asked him to explain why he is seeking to stop the
city from moving the work.
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Czechs brace for hard times
As the country’s centre-right parties hammer out an agreement on a future
government one message is coming across loud and clear – whatever the
deal - it will involve severe cost-cutting measures in the months and years
to come. Plans on the table envisage job cuts, salary cuts, halting state
investment projects and, where possible, merging departments or ministries.
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Comedy creator Ladislav Smoljak dies aged 78
One of the greats of Czech film and theatre, Ladislav Smoljak, died at the
age of 78 at the weekend. As a director, screenwriter and actor, Smoljak,
brought his special humour to the stage and screen over more than four
decades. He will perhaps be best remembered as one of the creators of the
fictional Czech character Jára Cimrman.
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Czech Christian Democrats at a crossroads
The recent Czech general elections saw voters swing away from the
established parties in favour of newcomers. One of the traditional parties
that got left out in the cold were the Christian Democrats, who received
just 4.4 percent of the vote, falling short of the 5 percent threshold
required for seats in Parliament. Radio Prague spoke to political analyst
Vít Hloušek from Brno’s Masaryk University, and asked him what led to
the party’s decline.
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Czech children take their issues to Parliament
Friday is the big day for the group of youngsters selected to present their
issue-oriented projects to the Czech Senate. This is the idea of the
Citizen Project, the brainchild of the civic organisation Civitas. A while
ago I spoke with the executive director of Civitas in the Czech Republic,
Ivana Havlínová, to find out more about the project and the children’s
political concerns.
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Nečas tasked with forming new government, given two weeks to make progress
President Václav Klaus has tasked the leader of the Civic Democratic
Party, Petr Nečas, to try and form the country’s next government,
roughly a week after the general election. Despite finishing second, the
Civic Democrats – together with newcomers TOP 09 and Public Affairs –
have the most realistic chance of forming a majority government. But they
will have to make progress quickly: as the president made clear on Friday
he expects Mr Nečas to report back to him in two weeks.
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President sanctions talks on centre-right coalition, but stops short of naming prime minister designate
Three Czech centre-right parties - the Civic Democrats, TOP 09 and the
centrist Public Affairs – on Wednesday signed an agreement to create a
centre-right coalition of fiscal responsibility. The move was sanctioned by
President Václav Klaus, who has so far held off from naming a prime
minister designate.
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Beatlemania back in Prague as new exhibition opens at Museum of Music
Good news for Beatles fans – a new exhibition at the Czech Museum of
Music opens on Thursday evening featuring the music and the men – the
museum’s even borrowed George Harrison’s banjo, one of John Lennon’s
shoes, and lots more Beatles memorabilia. The exhibition’s highly
interactive however - there’s even a little recording studio where you
can try belting out Beatles songs. Earlier we spoke to the exhibition’s
curator, Dagmar Fialová.
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Flooding brings fresh despair to Moravia
Heavy rainfall has brought flooding back to the Czech Republic just as some
localities were getting back to normal. Many of the same areas in Moravia
hit two weeks ago were affected again with three lives lost, but flood
warning have also been widened to new areas in the west of the country. The
latest floods have left a trail of damage and desperation in their wake.
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