Topic Archive Society
President, education minister settle “Putnagate”
A controversy sparked by the Czech president’s reluctance to appoint a
university professor seems to have been resolved. Miloš Zeman’s refusal
to confer the title on Martin C. Putna, a literary historian and vocal
critic of his, caused an outcry in the academic community and beyond.
However on Wednesday, the president and the education minister struck a
deal: Mr Putna will after all be appointed professor. But he will receive
his decree from the minister rather than from the head of state himself. More
Zeman’s refusal to appoint professor sparks outrage
The Czech president, Miloš Zeman, has caused an outcry by saying he will
not confer the title of professor on a Charles University academic. Czech
heads of state normally just rubberstamp such decisions, and Mr. Zeman’s
position on the appointment of Martin C. Putna is wholly unprecedented. The
president has not been entirely clear on the reasons – but says he
objected to a placard the academic carried in a gay pride march. More
Join us on Saturday in celebrating our 90th birthday
This weekend we’ll be celebrating 90 years since the first regular radio
broadcasts in Czechoslovakia, and we’ll be bringing you a special
programme. David Vaughan has been working with a group of Prague journalism
students, to discover some of the forgotten gems hidden in the radio
archive. He tells us more about Saturday’s special programme.
More
‘Neo-Nazi‘ fighter pulled from martial arts show as media, sponsors protest
The organisers of a martial arts show in Prague have bowed to pressure from
the media and sponsors and cancelled an appearance by a Hungarian fighter
who’s covered from head to toe in Nazi tattoos. Attila Petrovszki, a
Mixed Martial Arts fighter from Hungary, had been due to appear at the
event - his tattoos covered in a T-shirt - on Friday; now organisers are
looking for a replacement. More
Report claims number of anti-Semitic internet posts is on the rise
According to a report annually compiled by the Jewish community in Prague,
the number of anti-Semitic statements made on Czech internet in 2012
increased three-fold compared to the previous year. More direct actions
targeting Jews, however, did not see a significant rise around the Czech
Republic. More
Planned university reform seeks to improve cooperation with industry
Czech universities are set for the biggest change in years. After several
failed attempts in the past, the Education Ministry is finalizing reform
legislation that should help universities adapt to the changing
environment; the reform seeks, among other things, to diversify the
universities and change their financing. It should also improve cooperation
between universities and industry. But how does the business sector see the
ministry’s efforts? In this edition of Marketplace, I discuss these
issues with Jan Louda, a university relations coordinator at IBM for Czech
Republic. More
Czech towns increasingly banning door-to-door sales
Given the growing number of salesmen who abuse the trust of elderly people
in their own homes and force them into highly disadvantageous contracts,
many Czech towns and cities are taking matters into their own hands and
banning door-to-door sales altogether in order to protect their citizens.
While door-to-door salespeople are threatening to take the matter to court,
the inhabitants of these towns have welcomed the move. More
Corruption universal but corruption tourism unique to Prague, says tour boss Petr Šourek
One of the more colourful news stories out of the Czech Republic last year
concerned Corrupt Tour, which started running excursions – in Czech,
English and German – to sites linked to graft. These include the villas
of dodgy businessmen, Prague City Hall and the spot where the city’s
“Olympic centre” was projected to stand. More
The (smoker’s) lungs of Europe
The Czech Republic today remains Europe’s only nation which does not
restrict smoking in pubs, bars, cafés and other establishments. The
government is pushing to change this, with the Czech Parliament soon due to
vote on a comprehensive smoking ban. But despite strong public support, the
initiative may run aground over opposition against the bill among
lawmakers. More
Stronger bonds and sweeter moments in your mother’s kitchen
One old proverb goes: “The way to a man's heart is through his
stomach”. It may be true, that good cooking can win a man’s love. The
pastry chef Iveta Fabešová believes that when it come to women, it is the
cooking itself that can bring them closer together. The author of a number
of popular cookbooks, Iveta decided to test out this hypothesis in a new
multi-media, and multi-flavored, project Mothers and Daughters, or Matky a
dcery in Czech. More
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