• Funeral service for Valtr Komárek set for Wednesday
    05/20/2013

    The funeral service for former politician and Prague Spring reformer Valtr Komárek, who died last week at the age of 82, will be held at Prague’s Strašnice crematorium on Wednesday. Mr Komárek was the honorary chairman of the Social Democratic Party; his death was rued by many, including President Zeman, who will be among those attending to pay their last respects, the president’s office confirmed. The service will be open to the public, ČTK reported.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Trial adjourned indefinitely
    05/20/2013

    A trial involving five former City Hall officials over the controversial Opencard system was adjourned indefinitely on Monday by Prague’s Municipal Court. The decision followed a complaint put forward by the state attorney that the chairman of the panel of the judges hearing the case was biased.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Crown jewels returned to vault
    05/20/2013

    The Czech crown jewels were returned to their vault in St. Vitus’ Cathedral on Monday afternoon. Thirty-one thousand people saw the jewels over the 10 days they were exhibited at Prague Castle’s Vladislav Hall.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • NHL playoff action: Krejči gets two assists in Bruins win
    05/20/2013

    Czech hockey player David Krejči has continued in excellent form in the NHL post-season, earning two assists in the Bruins’ second game against the New York Rangers. Boston won by a score of 5:2 to take a 2:0 lead in their best-of-seven series. In the first round, the Bruins eliminated the Montreal Canadiens. Krejči leads on points in the playoffs, with 16 (eleven assists and five goals so far).
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Baník Ostrava saved from bankruptcy
    05/20/2013

    Top Czech football club Baník Ostrava was saved from bankruptcy on Monday following two city council votes. The future of the heavily indebted club hinged on the Ostrava city council buying its Bazaly stadium. A first vote went against the proposal, and would have meant expulsion from the top division. But in a dramatic turn of events, a second vote was held that went the club’s way. Baník Ostrava are the 2004 league champions and have been the home of many talented players, recently, for example, seeing the return of former national squad member Milan Baroš.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Zeman wants talks with university head to discuss objections to academic
    05/19/2013

    President Miloš Zeman says he would like to meet the rector of Charles University, Václav Hampl, to discuss his objections to appointing academic Martin C. Putna, who teaches there, professor. Mr. Zeman said on Friday that he would not confer the title on Mr. Putna and that if he wanted to know why Mr. Putna could take him to court. Czech Television reported that the president’s objections to making the academic – who was opposed to his candidacy for head of state – a professor stem from the latter’s participation in a gay pride march. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Petr Nečas has called on Mr. Zeman to explain his opposition to Mr. Putna.

    Some people have called for the removal of the (usually purely formal) power to name professors, which dates back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, from the head of state.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Zeman warns against succumbing to manipulation at Terezín memorial ceremony
    05/19/2013

    Speaking at an annual memorial ceremony on the site of the former Terezín concentration camp in central Bohemia on Sunday, President Zeman warned against succumbing to manipulation. He said if people allowed themselves to be manipulated they would become like sheep. The president pointed to the intellectuals who had been duped on visits to the Soviet Union and also mentioned the effect of Nazi propaganda. The Nazis forced around 155,000 Jews to go to Terezín (Theresienstadt); around two-thirds of them did not survive the war.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Large rise seen in number of home births in Czech Republic since early 1990s
    05/19/2013

    The number of home births in the Czech Republic has increased markedly in the last two decades, the Czech News Agency reported, quoting a head doctor at a leading Prague hospital. While in 1990 only 16 babies were born at home with the assistance of a midwife, that figure had risen to 150 in 2009. The highest number occur in Prague, while the fewest take place in the Zlín region in South Moravia. Czech health insurance companies refuse to cover home births.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Exhibition of Czech crown jewels ends
    05/19/2013

    An exhibition of the Czech crown jewels at Prague Castle came to an end on Sunday; they are set to be returned to their vault in St. Vitus’ Cathedral on Monday. Tens of thousands of people have queued to see the treasures since they went on display on May 10 in connection with the inauguration of a new Czech president earlier this year. The collection consists of the gold, jewel-encrusted St. Wenceslas crown, the St. Wenceslas sword, the royal orb and sceptre, the coronation cloak, the coronation cross and other items.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Head of Orthodox Church making four-day visit to Czech Republic
    05/19/2013

    The head of the Orthodox Church, Patriarch Bartholomew I, is set to begin a four-day visit to the Czech Republic on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Czech Roman Catholic Church said on Saturday. The patriarch is coming to the country in connection with celebrations marking the 1150th anniversary of the arrival of the Orthodox missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius in Moravia. Patriarch Bartholomew blessed an Orthodox church in Šumperk in 1998 and returned to the Czech Republic the following year to attend Forum 2000 at the invitation of Václav Havel.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

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