Radio Prague - ICE - special

Gdansk Airport named after Lech Walesa

21-05-2004 | Michal Kubicki

Poland's Solidarity hero Lech Walesa made history again, this time by lending his name to the airport in the Baltic port city of Gdansk: More

British conductor Simon Robinson on Slovenian identity

14-05-2004 | Ksenija Samardzija-Matul

Simon Robinson is a renowned conductor from Liverpool, who has been living and working in Slovenia since the late 1970s. After graduating in music from the Surrey University in the summer of 1978, he conducted at a festival of Armenian music in London, where he was discovered by representatives of the Maribor Opera in Slovenia and was offered a job as assistant conductor and pianist. In October 1978, he arrived in Maribor. More

Questionable ethics in the media coverage of Iraq

14-05-2004 | Dita Asiedu

Photos and videos in the media of torture and execution - the most recent the beheading of a 26 year-old US civilian in Iraq - have been shocking readers and viewers all over the world, questioning how far the media should be allowed to go to cover the realities of war and conflict. Vit Pohanka is one of the three Czech journalists who were kidnapped by rebel Iraqi insurgents last month but were freed just under a week later. More

Slovakia mourns over lost battle for Bronze

14-05-2004 | Katarina Richterova

There was great joy, cheers, mass singing, but also disappointment and tears over Slovakia's lost battle for bronze at the World Ice Hockey Championship in Prague last week. At one a.m. the National Uprising Square in Bratislava was packed with thousands of people. Even though the national team came in fourth, fans patiently waited for their idols and cheered with flags, slogans and hockey anthems. More

Polish public outraged over published photo of killed journalist

14-05-2004 | Michal Zajac

The coverage in a Polish newspaper of the death of a prominent Polish war correspondent Waldemar Milewicz has sparked off heated debate in Poland on ethical standards in journalism and on the Polish mission in Iraq in general. More

European ombudsmen meet in Budapest to discuss minority rights

14-05-2004 | Agi Varga

In Budapest, ombudsmen from about 20 European countries held their general assembly this week. The ombudsman is a parliamentary institution which is protecting the rights of citizens against misuse by the state administration, or any kind of administration. This institution is exactly ten years old in Hungary. At the Budapest conference, special attention was paid to the representation and protection of ethnic and national minorities. More

Prague Spring festival celebrates Dvorak centenary

07-05-2004 | David Vaughan

Wednesday 12th May sees the beginning of one of Central Europe's major classical music events - the 59th Prague Spring Festival - bringing together top orchestras, ensembles and soloists from around the world. This year the festival is special: last Saturday was the centenary of the great Czech composer Antonin Dvorak's death. Radio Prague's David Vaughan spoke to the festival director Roman Belor, for a taste of this year's special Prague Spring. More

Slovaks test open labour market in the UK

07-05-2004 | Martina Grenova

Slovakia became a member of the EU on Saturday, May 1. Despite all the celebrations she could have experienced in Bratislava, Martina Grenova from Radio Slovakia International set off for a journey to the UK instead. Travelling by coach from the Czech town of Brno, she met a group of Slovaks and Czechs leaving their countries behind to find a job in Britain. Great Britain along with Ireland and Sweden have left their labour markets open for EU newcomers. On the 21 hour journey in an overcrowded bus, Martina realized that citizens of the new EU accession countries still could not believe it. More

Illegal workers remain illegal after EU membership

07-05-2004 | Kerry Skyring

In theory citizens of the European Union should be able to live and work in any European country of their choosing. But the practice is quite different. The hundreds of thousands from new member states already working illegally in Western Europe will remain illegal - in most of Western Europe. Kerry Skyring spoke to Antonio Cruz of the Brussels based publication Migration Europe. More

Ivan Klima on EU membership

07-05-2004 | Rob Cameron

EU membership not only has practical implications for the ten countries that joined on May 1: there's also a cultural and intellectual dimension as well. Rob Cameron spoke to one of the Czech Republic's best-known authors Ivan Klima about what EU membership means for his country. He began by asking whether membership would mean a loss of identity for the Czech people: More