News

Four thousand year-old gold and bronze jewellery and tools found by a Czech dog walker at Libochovany in May will go on display at the Teplice museum at the weekend, the museum’s director, Bohuslav Boček, has told journalists. Bronze axes, jewellery and decorations were probably unearthed by wild boars close to a tourist trail leading up a hill overlooking the Elbe River valley; archaeologists have called the find unique. The dog walker picked up the rare objects and addressed Teplice archaeologists who returned to the spot the next day and found further smaller fragments of metals and ceramics. The metal items were probably placed in a ceramic vessel of which only two small fragments have survived to date. Under the law, the finder is entitled to a reward, which is estimated in the tens of thousands of crowns.

The Czech men’s number one Tomáš Berdych has been knocked out in the last 16 stage of tennis’s US Open. He had not previously dropped a set at Flushing Meadows this year but was beaten 6-3 1-6 6-7 2-6 by Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland on Tuesday. Berdych, who last season reached the semi-finals at the US Open, had been the last remaining Czech singles player in the tournament.

Meanwhile, Public Affairs’ one-time minister of education Josef Dobeš has resigned as chairman of For Sport and Health, a group that he founded. Mr. Dobeš said that other senior members had agreed behind his back on a plan to field candidates alongside the Citizens’ Rights Party–Zemanites in the forthcoming elections. The latter party are closely linked to President Miloš Zeman and some polls suggest they may reach the five-percent threshold needed to get into the lower house.

Court-appointed experts in the trial on hit and run charges of influential Prague businessman Roman Janoušek have disagreed over where the victim was standing when the alleged incident took place. The court now has to commission a revised expert report on the matter. The state prosecutor has accused Mr. Janoušek of attempted murder and driving under the influence, charges that could carry a sentence of up to 18 years in prison. Mr. Janoušek, who is said to have been close to former Prague mayor Pavel Bém, was arrested in March last year after apparently knocking down a woman whose car he had just hit before speeding off.