News
Czech Rep. not in imminent danger of terrorist attack - Interior Minister
The Czech interior minister Stanislav Gross said the Czech Republic was not in an imminent danger of a terrorist attack. Speaking at an impromptu press conference on Friday, Mr. Gross said that intelligence reports showed that the risk of an attack was no higher than before Thursday's bombing of commuter trains in Madrid, during which nearly 200 people were killed. Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla said the Madrid bomb attacks were a proof that any location in the world could become a battlefield at any moment.
V4 presidents want to further strengthen regional cooperation
The heads of four central European states - members of the so-called Visegrad Group - have agreed on close cooperation even after their countries join the EU in May. The presidents of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary met in the east Slovak town of Kosice on Friday to discuss their countries' preparedness for EU entry. The presidents also discussed the Roma issue, labour restrictions applied to the new EU members, as well as assistance to a group of new EU candidate countries. Presidents Vaclav Klaus, Rudolf Schuster, Aleksander Kwasniewski and Ferenc Madl also jointly denounced the bloody terrorist attack in Spain on Thursday.
Seven miners die after earth tremor at Lazy coalmine
Seven miners were killed in an accident at the Lazy mine in the Karvina region, North Moravia. They were buried under rubble set loose by a strong earth tremor. Five of the dead miners were Polish and two were Czech. Four other miners suffered light injuries. The accident happened 680 metres below the ground late on Thursday. It is the biggest mining tragedy in the Czech Republic since 1990 when 30 miners died in an explosion and fire in the Karvina mines.
Film director Karel Kachyna dies
Famous Czech film director Karel Kachyna died at the age of 79 on Friday. Kachyna was one of the most productive Czech film directors after World War II, having produced dozens of feature films, some of which were censored by the Communist regime. In 1999, he received a special award at the Karlovy Vary international film festival for outstanding contribution to world cinematography.
Sudeten Germans plan to sue Czech Republic
A group of 77 Sudeten Germans living in Germany and Austria are reportedly planning to file a lawsuit against the Czech Republic at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. They are demanding a financial compensation or a return of property confiscated from them after World War II under the controversial decrees of then president Eduard Benes. According to sources close to the Czech Justice Ministry, the chances for the claims to succeed are not particularly high.
Czech weather forecast
We are expecting a partially cloudy day with drizzle in some places. The highest daytime temperatures should range from 8 to 12 degrees Celsius.
