News

Czech Television has moved to reduce the noise of vuvuzelas in their broadcasts of games at the football World Cup after some viewers complained about the constant sound of the plastic horns, which are traditional at matches in South Africa. The Czech public broadcaster on Monday began using a special sound filtering system to reduce the buzz-like noise of the vuvuzelas, a step already taken by some other TV stations.

The heads of the three parties negotiating on the government will ask outgoing finance minister Eduard Janota for written confirmation that the Czech Republic will not be in danger of facing arbitration proceedings if it fails to choose a winner in a controversial environmental tender. The so-called super-tender - worth an estimated 115 billion crowns – merges hundreds of smaller projects on cleaning up the environment, but has been strongly criticised by both activists and politicians for being potentially open to corruption. One of the parties negotiating on the new government, TOP 09, is in favour of scrapping the tender outright. The Finance Minister Janota suggested earlier that cancelling it would leave the country open to being sued by firms taking part. Instead, he floated the idea that the government could simply fail to choose a final winner. Three firms out of an original six are in the running; a final decision on bids has to be taken by early December.

The actor Vladimír Dlouhý, well-known for roles in both film and the theatre, has died at the age of 52; he had suffered a short bout with serious illness, his family reported. Dlouhý was recognised for his talent early after studying at the Prague Conservatory. He starred in his first film in 1970 (Už zase skáču přes kaluže) directed by the late Karel Kachyňa. He went on to land roles in children’s favourites Give the Devil his Due and the TV series Arabela, as well as films such as Boomerang and The Buttoners. He had recently completed work on a final film, Kájínek – about an infamous Czech prison escapee – directed by first-time director Petr Jákl.

Work on extending Prague’s green line or Metro line A was officially launched on Monday by the city’s Mayor Pavel Bém. The mayor deposited a symbolic figurine of St Barbora – the patron saint of architects – at the head of the new tunnel, which will join Prague’s Dejvice district with Motol in four years. The extension will stretch the subway system by six kilometres, creating four new stations: Červený vrh, Veleslavín, Petřiny and Motol. The cost of the project has been estimated at 19 billion crowns; eight of those are expected to come from European funds. City councillor Radovan Šteiner said on Monday that the project would be a major benefit, not least to those making use of Motol Hospital. The extension will probably not be the last for Metro A: five more stops have been projected for the future, leading to Prague’s international airport. City hall would like to see those completed by 2018.