Magazine Magazine

Olli Rehn (left), photo: CTK First – news to boost flagging spirits in Prague – in the face of reports about a bungled Czech EU presidency, Czech foreign ministry officials could at least congratulate themselves on their football prowess. In a game marking five years since the country’s accession to the EU, a team of Czech foreign ministry officials beat their rivals from the European Commission 3-0. Karel Schwarzenberg (middle), photo: CTK This, despite the all-out efforts of EU commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn, captain of a multinational team of commission employees who shouted at each other in different languages on the pitch. The Czechs were cheered on by their boss – the outgoing foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg – a 71 year old aristocrat who would probably have felt more at home on a hunt. Even from his place on the sidelines - his presence spurred the Czech team on – or maybe he’d just promised his employees a big bonus in the event of victory.

David Černý with Entropa, photo: www.eu2009.cz On a different note – a copy of Entropa, the work of Czech artist David Černý which made waves in Brussels at the start of the Czech EU presidency, is currently being exhibited at an international art-fair in Vienna. In fact this two-by-two-metres copy of Entropa is up for sale. So if you found the work irresistible and have 85.000 euros to spare -here’s your chance. Moreover the original may soon disappear from its place at EU headquarters in Brussels – David Černý has stated his intention to dismantle it in protest of the change-of-guard in Prague.

Magdalena Dvořáková, photo: CTK Military-wise it wasn’t a bad week either. The 56th Annual International NATO/Azalea Festival in Norfolk, USA, celebrated the Czech Republic with a broad array of events. The festival has a tradition dating back to 1953 and every year the organizers select a NATO member state which is the focus of the week long festival. This year the festival revolved around Czech culture, history and traditions and not least, around a stunning brunette in uniform - military captain Magdalena Dvořáková – who was crowned Queen Azalea.

Young women who want to have some idea of what it is like giving birth have been invited to take part in this week’s climb of Mount Snežka. The highest mountain peak in the country inspired the civic association Prostor pro Rodinu to organize a fun event for the long weekend. Karolina Nedělová, the chief organizer of the event, said she’d climbed Snežka on a number of occasions and it had struck her that the climb was just like giving birth. “First there’s a very long stretch where the ascension is gradual everything seems fine, them there is steep climb that really takes it out of you and when you think you are finally there – you realize the worst is still to come. The last stage is drastic, but then suddenly you’re there and it’s spellbinding,” Karolína says. Well, we’ll have to wait and see what that outing does to the demographic trend.

Photo: Zoo Brno The Brno Zoo last week proudly announced the birth of 11 precious Arctic wolf cubs – but its initial pride quickly turned to fear of loosing them all. The problem is that two rival she-wolves had litters at the same time. First Alex brought out her family of six, but within hours Claire gave birth to five cubs of her own and during the night she managed to kill all of her rival’s pups. There are now five cubs left alive and the zoo is hoping that they will not be killed as well in an act of revenge. What is unusual about the situation is that Arctic wolves rarely have so many cubs. Litters usually count only 2-3 pups, which is fewer than with other wolf species. Keepers are now watching the situation closely but have refrained from interfering in the course of Nature.

Photo: CTK Live abroad and miss Prague? Panoramatic views of Prague streets will soon be available on Google’s Street View service. The service will start mapping selected streets and public areas in Prague in late April and the process is expected to take approximately 3 months. The photographs will then be processed during the summer, which involves blurring randomly photographed people and car number plates, and the service is to be launched in late autumn.