News
Foreign Ministry evacuating Czech citizens in Lebanon
The Foreign Ministry has announced that a convoy for Czech citizens who want to leave Lebanon amid escalating clashes between the Hezbollah movement and Israeli forces will be leaving for Syria on Monday morning. Of the 200 estimated Czechs in Lebanon, some 150 are permanent residents of the country. The ministry recommends that all Czech citizens, who want to leave the country, contact the Czech Embassy in Beirut as soon as possible as the security situation is worsening and similar convoys may soon no longer be possible. A group of Czechs and Lebanese have already fled to safety and arrived in Prague on Sunday morning.
Six people killed in bus accident near Prague, 14 injured in coach accident in Upper Austria
Six people were killed and several injured in a bus accident on the D8 motorway near the town of Zdiby close to Prague on Sunday morning. The police are still investigating the cause of the accident but fire fighters suspect the bus driver fell asleep behind the wheel. The vehicle drove through a crash barrier, hit a bridge, and rolled over into a pitch.
In a separate coach accident in Upper Austria, fourteen people were injured; luckily no-one was killed. The coach carrying Czech tourists returning from a trip to Italy crashed in the town of Freistadt on Saturday night.
Czech and Slovak Prime Ministers: Czechs and Slovaks no longer understanding each other's languages
Slovakia's newly elected Robert Fico was in Prague on his first official foreign visit since becoming prime minister. During talks with his Czech counterpart Jiri Paroubek, both politicians agreed that younger generation Czechs and Slovaks are finding it hard to understand each other's language, even though they lived together as one nation until 1993. In an effort to change that, more cultural exchanges and TV programmes in the neighbours' languages are to be introduced.
Mr Fico also met with Czech President Vaclav Klaus at Prague Castle. Among the topics discussed were Czech-Slovak relations and closer cooperation in approaching the traditional foreign markets of the former Czechoslovakia.
Building collapses in the centre of Prague
Part of a building that was under renovation in the centre of Prague collapsed on Sunday morning but no-one was hurt. The cubist building used to house the popular U Mysaka café and is located on Prague's Vodickova street, just a hundred metres from Wenceslas Square and the frequented Mustek metro station. Emergency workers looked through the rubble with the help of search dogs and it appears no-one was at the site when the building collapsed.
Tennis Fed Cup: Czech team defeated by France
The Czech team has been defeated 2:3 by France at the Fed Cup World Group play-offs in Cagnes-Sur-Mer. Though Czech tennis star Nicole Vaidisova defeated France's Nathalie Dechy, Czech player Lucie Safarova was beaten by Tatiana Golovin and France also beat the Czechs in the doubles.
Nicole Vaidisova was a semi-finalist at last month's French Open where she beat Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo, whose absence from this weekend's tie due to injury has weakened the French team.
Motorcycling: Lukas Pesek third in 125cc class MotoGP
The Czech Republic's Lukas Pesek came a close third in the 125cc class motorcycle Grand Prix in Germany. The race was won by Italy's Mattia Pasini, who claimed his second victory of the season. Spain's Alvaro Bautista came second.
Weather
The next few days should be sunny with daytime temperatures rising steadily to reach 32 degrees Celsius by Wednesday.
