Topic Archive Society
Prague uses bike path to breathe new life into old industrial district
The Prague City Assembly has approved a project to build a four-kilometre
cycling path in the former industrial district of Vysocany. The overall
cost is estimated at 86 million crowns (around 4 million USD). The
opposition at the city hall argues that the cost per kilometre is about
four times higher than usual. City Councillor Petr Stepanek of the Green
Party, himself an active cyclist, argues that the project is more than
just a stretch of tarmac.
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Non-EU foreigners could have a harder time getting residence permits in the Czech Republic
Foreign nationals from outside the EU seeking to obtain permanent residence
in the Czech Republic need to arm themselves with patience - lots of
paperwork, long queues at the foreign police and a five-year wait before
they can obtain the Czech equivalent of the Green Card. There are, of
course, ways of getting round these hurdles such as sham marriages and
certificates of fatherhood. However the interior ministry has now put its
foot down and a newly proposed amendment to the foreigners' law - aimed at
curbing these practices - could make life more difficult for all.
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New book helps fight gender stereotypes in school education
The notions of gender, gender equality, gender stereotypes and
discrimination are still relatively new in Czech society. A group of
activists has decided to start from to the youngest generation and to
promote gender equality in schools. A book recently published and handed
out to schools introduces the concepts and practices of gender sensitive
education to both school teachers and children.
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Commentator: Czech NATO accession was possible under Yeltsin
On Monday, the news was announced that former Russian President Boris
Yeltsin had died of heart failure aged 76. Throughout the world, Boris
Yeltsin will be remembered as the man who dismantled the Soviet Union and
led Russia in its first chaotic years of independence. The 1990s were also
the first years of renewed democratic rule in this country, which had been
a Soviet satellite for many years. Radio Prague spoke to Oldrich Bures, a
lecturer at Palacky University in Olomouc, about the role of Boris Yeltsin
in the formation of post-Soviet Czech-Russian relations.
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Fugitive Czech billionaire arrested in South Africa
The Czech newspapers on Tuesday were full of reports concerning the arrest
of Radovan Krejcir, one of the country's most notorious fugitives, who was
finally apprehended at the weekend after spending nearly two years in exile
in the tropical Seychelles Islands.
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Jarmila Kabatova - Caritas development projects manager
My guest on One on One today is Jarmila Kabatova, head of several
development aid programs at the Catholic charity organization Caritas. Now
26, Jarmila joined the organization in her second year at university where
she studied sociology and economics. She now supervises development
programmes in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe, where Caritas runs
hospitals and long distance adoption programmes. Her work takes her to
developing countries several times a year and I began by asking her to
recall her first trips and impressions:
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The first beer of summer
Last Sunday I had my first beer of the summer. Which isn't bad going for
the middle of April. By first beer of the summer I mean my premiere pivo
outdoors in one of Prague's great beer gardens, the existence of which is
one of the many attractive features of life here. More
Magazine
This week, a Prague microbrewery makes a new beer from an unusual
ingredient: potatoes. What's causing a commotion in Czech kitchens, if it
isn't washing machines? Prague's woods can't cope with the number of
people using them for recreation, while ramblers shouldn't be too
surprised if they see hedgehogs with antennas sticking out of their backs.
And the innovative 1960s "automatic cinema" is to be revived.
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Ghetto No. 1: new Czech film documents life at country's biggest Roma ghetto
"There are more places like this one in the country but as far as
size, uniformity, and fame are concerned, we can rightfully claim that
Chanov is our Ghetto No. 1." - a quote from a new 90 minute
documentary on one of the most infamous Roma housing estates in the
country. For almost a year, Czech director Ivan Pokorny filmed the daily
life of its residents and explored why Roma and non-Roma Czechs find it so
hard to co-exist. More
Devil's Bible returns home but only for few months
The Codex Gigas, also known as the Devil's Bible, is the biggest book in
the world. Made at the start of the 13th century in a Bohemian monastery,
it was one of the country's most prized works of art. In medieval times,
its uniqueness was even put on a par with the wonders of the world. But at
the end of the Thirty Years' War, it was taken by the Swedes and has been
Swedish property since then. The National Library in Prague has now been
allowed to borrow it for an exhibition that opens later this year.
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