News

President Klaus in Italy

The Czech President Vaclav Klaus outlined his vision of a future European Union to university students in Trento, northern Italy, where he received an honorary doctors' decree on Saturday. In his lecture, Mr. Klaus said the European Union had integrated more than was necessary or rational. He criticized what he called supranational decision-making in Brussels and recommended that the EU be redefined in line with the original idea of a free trade, open market region of strong, independent states.

National Party stages protest in Prague

The ultra-right National Party staged a demonstration outside the Office of the Sudeten German Association in Prague, which defends the interests of Germans expelled from the Sudetenlands at the end of WWII. About thirty members of the National Party unfurled banners reading "No Sudeten Germans in Prague" and "Send German waste back to Germany", the latter in reference to illegal imports of German waste to the neighbouring Czech Republic. The head of the party Petra Edelmannova slammed Czech politicians for allegedly failing to defend Czech national interests. The demonstration was to mark the 67th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Czech airliner forced to turn back

A Czech airliner bound for New York was forced to turn back to Prague thirty minutes after take-off due to a technical problem on Saturday. A spokesman for CSA, the Czech national carrier, said a problem with the plane's computer system had necessitated the turn-back. The faulty component was replaced and the plane took off with a four hour delay.

Czech woman becomes sudoku champion

A 31-year-old Czech woman, Jana Tylova, became the top sudoku player in the world Saturday after winning the first world championships for the numbers-based game in Italy. Tylova, an economist from the city of Most, beat two citizens of the United States to triumph in the final after a two-day competition involving 85 players from 22 countries

Weather:

Sunday is expected to be partly cloudy to overcast with snow showers and day temperatures between 1 and minus 3 degrees Celsius. Heavy snowfall is expected across the Czech Republic in the evening when meteorologists predict ten to twenty centimetres of fresh snow. Drivers have been warned to expect icy roads.