Section Archive Current Affairs
Party game challenges players to change lousy lifestyles
You’ve just had a tough day at work, your family is making more and more
demands, you’re smoking and drinking too much and if you’re not careful
you could wind up dead. Sound dire? Well certainly – but only in real
life. Here, we’re talking about your character in a new Czech game; one
where players compete to change their lifestyles or else. More
Week of Charter 77 marks 35-year-anniversary of the anti-communist human rights manifesto
This week marks the 35-year-anniversary of the founding of Charter 77, an
informal civic initiative against the communist regime. Many of its
signatories would later become important figures in post-communist Czech
society, such as philosopher and playwright Václav Havel, who was elected
the country’s first president after the revolution. Now, the anniversary
of the charter is being honored in Prague with a week-long commemoration,
the Week of Charter 77. More
Government officials at odds over country’s export strategy
Two Czech ministers have clashed over how the government should support the
country’s exports. Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose office has
put a lot of effort into promoting Czech businesses abroad, dismissed a new
export strategy designed by the Industry and Trade Ministry. In spite of
the squabbles, however, the government’s support for exporters is bearing
fruit: Czech exports have reached record levels and are a major driving
force behind the Czech economic recovery. More
Facebook opens up new ways of communication to senior citizens
For the majority of younger people today, life without social media is
unimaginable. Posting pictures and videos, sharing the latest news and
keeping on top of events –many aspects of daily life take place on sites
like Facebook or Twitter. But do senior citizens use this new technology,
and if so, for what? We went along to a social media course at Prague’s
Elpida center for the elderly. More
Czech politicians offer different interpretations of left-wing landslide in Slovakia
Voters in neighbouring Slovakia made a powerful statement at the weekend
when they handed an overwhelming victory to the centre-left party SMER,
which now has a strong enough mandate to form a single-party government.
What that statement means though has been interpreted variously in the
Czech Republic, where the current centre-right government has reached
record lows in popularity. In the view of Foreign Minister and chairman of
the TOP 09 Party Karel Schwarzenberg, the poll should be a lesson for the
Czech government that corruption doesn’t pay, even amid positive
right-wing policies. The Czech Social Democratic Party on the other hand
was quick to interpret the election result as an indictment of failed
policies that have often mirrored the reform measures passed and proposed
in the Czech Republic. For an expert’s view on both those statements we
turned to political scientist Jiří Pehe: More
Bárta trial adjourns after an ugly week
The first round of the trial of leading Public Affairs member and former
transport minister Vít Bárta comes to a close on Friday. Over the course
of the week no less than six past and present government ministers have
taken the stand to give testimony in the biggest corruption case in recent
memory, which will be adjourned on Friday while the court goes over the
evidence. More
The Czech Republic investigates the impact of Poland's "saltgate"
The Polish media have dubbed it “saltgate” – revelations that at
least three Polish companies have been selling industrial salt (normally
used to de-ice roads) to milk, fish, meat and bread producers. Several
countries to which Poland may have exported potentially contaminated food
products have been identified: Lithuania, Ireland, England, Germany and the
Czech Republic. This week, the Czech Agriculture Ministry decided to
temporarily block the import of salt from Poland, while tests are carried
out by the State Veterinary Administration to determine if harmful
substances such as dioxins and heavy metals found in road salt have made
their way into the food chain. Meanwhile, five people have been arrested in
Poland in connection with the affair, while the remaining salt in question
has been impounded while the country’s own Chief Sanitary Inspectorate
continues its own tests. More
“Radioactivists” – a documentary at the One World festival explores Japanese protests in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster
As part of this year’s edition of the One World International Human
Rights Film Festival, which is currently on in Prague, the German-produced
independent documentary Radioactivists – Protest in Japan provides a rare
and up-close look at Japanese protests in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear
disaster. It is being shown in the Youth Quake category, which features
films that portray young people’s struggle for change in countries around
the world. I asked co-director Clarissa Seidel, who made the film together
with her good friend Julia Leser, about Japanese protest culture and
whether she was at all interested in the country prior to the film project. More
Protest, rebellion, revolt – Arab Spring takes center stage at the One World International Human Rights Film Festival 2012
The One World International Human Rights Film Festival has just started in
Prague. This year’s edition brings over a hundred films from 72 countries
to the Czech capital, where documentary lovers can visit special festival
screenings until March 15. With such an abundance of interesting
documentaries, it’s something difficult to determine what to see first
– we asked program director Kateřina Bartošová about her highlights
and about the theme of this year’s main category. More
Study warns of possible new attacks against Roma as neo-Nazi movement gains traction
A new study commissioned by the Interior Ministry has suggested that the
neo-Nazi movement in the Czech Republic (estimated as 4,000 strong with 400
hardcore members) is successfully pushing an agenda of hatred and racism in
troubled parts of the country. As it stands, the last decade or so saw a
number of arson attacks against ethnic Roma families including a
highly-publicised case where a toddler barely survived and was left with
lifelong disabilities. According to the latest report, unless more
comprehensive measures are taken soon, racially-motivated attacks spurred
by the neo-Nazi movement, may increase. More
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