Section Archive Current Affairs
Prague Food Festival to inspire Czechs to think global, eat local
On Friday, the magnificent Prague Castle gardens will open to host the
annual Prague Food Festival – a three-day celebration of fine dining and
healthy eating. Foodies from Prague and elsewhere will converge at the
venue to sample the delicacies prepared by three dozen classy restaurants
and enjoy the festival’s varied accompanying programme. More
Roma attack on teen, which brought thousands into the streets, never happened
Police in the South Moravian town of Břeclav have called off an
investigation into three Roma who allegedly beat up a 15-year-old boy, in
an incident that raised racial tensions around the country. The boy has
confessed that the attack never took place, he injured himself in a fall,
and the mass demonstrations that followed now look like just another sign
of widespread prejudice against the Roma minority. More
Prague & Lima mark 90 years of diplomatic relations with donation of historic tank
Prague and Lima have been marking the 90th anniversary of diplomatic
relations this week through a number of events, including a ceremony in
Lima preceding the return of an historic Czechoslovak-built tank to the
Czech Republic. The LTP 38, as it is known, was built for Peru in the
1930s, designed specifically for high terrain. Originally, there were 24 of
the armoured fighting vehicles. More
Immunity Committee votes unanimously to strip Rath of immunity
The Parliamentary Committee on Mandates and Immunity on Tuesday voted
unanimously to recommend MP David Rath be stripped of immunity and
prosecuted for corruption. After a two-hour meeting with Dr Rath, and
studying part of the police evidence against him, the parliamentarians were
unconvinced of his claims of a conspiracy against him and his not knowing
he had received a box full of bribery money. Many of them shared new
details of the arrest, evidence and the condition of the fallen governor
himself. More
Farmers to protest slashing of biofuel subsidies using tractors to slow traffic on country’s roads
Czech farmers on Wednesday will be taking part in a planned protest against
the government’s decision to slash tax refunds on biofuel. The move by
the government – part of broad austerity measures – is expected to
leave agricultural producers in difficult spot: some 1.5 billion crowns
lighter. The protest will see hundreds of farmers roll out their tractors
on roads across the country, with the exception of highways and the Czech
capital. More
Prague district yields up evidence of 5500 BC settlement
You could almost say that Prague keeps getting older. Not long ago,
archaeologists found evidence of the oldest ploughed field here, tended
five and a half thousand years ago. Now the imprints of structures have
been found in the same location, dating back even further, some 7,500
years. More
Czech communists re-elect Vojtěch Filip as party chair
Amidst growing public support, the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia
elected a new leadership at a party congress in Liberec at the weekend. The
re-election of the pragmatic incumbent chair, Vojtěch Filip, reflects the
dilemma the party faces: modernization could rob it of support by communist
hardliners while a more radical approach would make it unappealing to the
growing numbers of voters disillusioned with the centre-right Czech
government. More
Czech Republic beats Sweden to advance to semi-finals in Ice Hockey World Championship
It was a dramatic game: a last-minute goal by Milan Michálek some 30
seconds before the end of the match against Sweden on Thursday brought the
Czechs the victory they needed to advance to the semi-finals in this
year’s Ice Hockey World Championship. The Czech 4:3 result also marks the
first time in 12 years that Sweden will not be playing in the semifinals.
In the next match, the Czech Republic faces its neighbor Slovakia. While
this is the third time that the Czechs will be competing for a spot in the
finals, this year’s solid performance of the Slovak team has come as a
surprise. Ahead of Friday’s match, we spoke to daily Mladá fronta dnes
hockey expert Karel Knap. More
Brno centre for childcare launches “rent-a-granny” scheme
This month saw the launching of a new EU-funded child-care project aimed at
helping families with young children juggle work and family. In view of the
lack of day nurseries and kindergartens around the country the Brno Centre
for Family Planning and Child Care has launched a “rent-a-granny”
scheme along the lines of the Oma Dienst project successfully implemented
in neighbouring Austria. More
Constitutional Court upholds solar tax
The Czech Constitutional Court has upheld the government’s tax on solar
power, introduced retroactively last year in an effort to cool the solar
boom in the country. Photovoltaic firms complain the tax damages their
business while foreign investors into the business are threatening to
initiate international arbitrations against the country. But the court said
their interests cannot be superimposed over those of Czech citizens. More
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