News
Five injured in train collision
A train collision in north Bohemia has left five people injured, one of them seriously. The morning express from Prague to Tanvald collided with a freight train just after 8 am as it was entering the Kropacov Vrutice railway station, near the town of Mlada Boleslav. Several freight wagons were derailed and the train driver is reported to be in serious condition. The track remains closed as emergency crews are working to clear the site. It is not yet clear what caused the accident.
Medicine supplies resumed to three hospitals
The three heavily indebted hospitals, to which distributors cut medicine supplies last week, are no longer in crisis. One distributor resumed supplies on Monday and another has pledged to do so this week after the government and health ministry promised to help cover the hospitals' 400 million crown debt. The indebted hospitals are Prague's Bulovka and Thomayer Teaching Hospital as well as the St. Anne hospital in the south Moravian city Brno.
Students find dinosaur bone
A group of students from Charles University's Natural Science faculty have found a dinosaur bone near the town of Kutna Hora, southeast of Prague. The students were collecting fossilised shells when they came across the bone, which is suspected to be a joint from the dinosaur's back foot. The first ever dinosaur bone that was discovered in the Czech Republic was found on the same area two years ago. While palaeontologists agree that both bones come from a member of the Iguanodontidae family that lived around 95 million years ago, it has yet to be determined whether they are from one and the same dinosaur.
French Institute to offer free lessons to civil servants
Up to 1,000 civil servants may receive free French lessons to prepare for the country's EU presidency. The Czech government is currently in talks with the French embassy and cultural institute in Prague. The Czech Republic takes up EU presidency in 2009, and the country's officials will be expected to communicate in French and English. Classes are scheduled to begin this year. The British Council has already contributed one million crowns to the opening of a centre, where civil servants can brush up on their English.
EU Transition Facility grant
The Foundation for the Development of Civil Society has around 1.5 million euros at its disposal to finance projects from non-profit organisations. The grant is from the European Union's Transition Facility programme and can be used to finance any projects that are limited to one year and focus on one of a selection of topics. These include the fight against corruption or discrimination, and the protection of the environment or the consumer. The individual grant cannot exceed 50,000 euros. More information: www.nros.cz
Weather forecast
Tuesday is expected to have partially clear skies with rain in places. Day-time temperatures will range from 4 to 8 degrees Celsius. But the warmer temperatures that we have been enjoying will drop gradually in the course of the week to reach a maximum of 3 degrees Celsius on Thursday; meteorologists have also forecast more snow across the country.
