News

A minute’s silence was observed in the Czech Republic at noon on Saturday to mark the Polish air crash tragedy a week earlier. Flags also flew at half mast from government buildings to mark the death of Polish president Lech Kaczynski and 95 others when their government plane crashed in western Russia. Many members of the country’s elite had been on the plane which was transporting the Polish delegation to mark the 70th anniversary of the massacre at Katyn of more than 20,000 Polish officers and intellectuals on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Czech public television and Czech Radio observed the noon silence. Sporting and cultural activities were also either interrupted or cancelled. The main television channel was later due to screen the film ‘Katyn’ by Polish director Andrej Wajda which dealt with the original massacre and attempts to cover it up. The Czech government called for two day’s of mourning on Saturday and Sunday.

Czech airports remained closed on Saturday to all incoming and outgoing flights because of the cloud of volcanic ash that has spread across much of Europe. Czech airports were closed soon after midday on Friday. The continued closure followed talks with the Czech weather service and Europe’s air traffic agency, Eurocontrol. The emergency committee monitoring the situation says that flights in and out of the Czech Republic could resume at the earliest at noon on Sunday.

The cloud of ash from an Icelandic volcano has created air traffic chaos across Europe with air traffic coming to a stop in Britain from Thursday. Scandinavia and continental Europe were then affected as the cloud moved eastwards. Hopes of an early resumption of flights have been dashed by a resumption of volcanic activity.

Those with breathing problems, the old, and young have been warned to take care because of the high amount of ash in the air caused by the Icelandic volcano. They should not for instance stay outside too long as conditions are similar to those when there is a serious smog, according to spokeswoman for the Association of Practitioners, Irena Kudrnovská. The Czech weather office said on Saturday the worst concentrations of the ash had drifted away from Czech Republic towards the Balkans. But the problem is far from over with fresh eruptions occurring.

Czech-born cardinal Tomáš Špidlík, the theologian, philosopher and writer, died at the age of 90 in Rome on Friday. He was known as one of the foremost experts on the eastern church. He was appointed a cardinal in 2003 by Pope John Paul II, who counted Špidlík as one of his friends. Cardinal Špidlík was born near Brno in 1919 and later studied Czech and Latin at the city’s Masaryk University. He left Czechoslovakia after the communists took power in 1948, first to study at Maastricht University and then left for the Vatican. He worked for Vatican Radio but later pursued his academic studies.