News

Czech players Tomáš Berdych, Karolína Plíšková and Lucie Hradecká have reached the third round of the Australian Open. World number seven Berdych became the first player to reach round three of the Grand Slam competition after a 7-6 6-2 6-2 defeat of Juergen Melzer of Austria on Wednesday. Plíšková, who recently made the world top 20 for the first time, beat France’s Oceane Dodin 7-5 5-7 6-4, while Hradecká overcame Polona Hercog of Slovenia 4-6 6-3 6-2. Czechs Klára Koukalová and Kateřina Siniaková exited the competition.

The authorities in Norway have reduced a Czech mother’s access to her children to two visits of 15 minutes a year. A decision on whether to put the two boys up for adoption has not yet been reached. Mother Eva Michaláková, her lawyers and a delegation of Czech politicians are in Norway at present for talks with Norwegian authorities. They removed the children from the care of their Czech parents in 2011 on suspicion that they were being sexually abused; however, the police have ruled out that possibility. Mrs. Michaláková told Czech Radio that the only Norwegian law she had broken was to slap the children on the behind when they were disobedient. She said she had not abused them and was not a bad mother. After the mother applied to a Norwegian court last year to have the children returned, the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured Norway that it would monitor the children and their parents if they were allowed to return to the Czech Republic.

The coalition government has given its backing to a Senate bill limiting working hours on state holidays. The chairman of the Christian Democrats’ deputies club, Jiří Mihol, said the parties had reached agreement on the matter at a coalition council meeting on Monday. Government party ANO had previously expressed opposition to the change under which retail outlets with floor space exceeding 200 square metres would have to close on New Year’s Day, Easter Monday and five other state holidays. The Czech Confederation of Commerce and Tourism has come out against the plan, saying it should be up to retailers when to open.

The Czech president, Miloš Zeman, has sharply criticised the Ukrainian prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, for comparing the current conflict in eastern Ukraine to World War II, the news website Novinky.cz reported. Mr. Yatsenyuk recently told German TV station ARD that everybody remembered the Soviet invasion of Ukraine and Germany. Mr. Zeman’s spokesman Jiří Ovčáček said on Tuesday that the Czech president viewed the statement as an attempt to turn the history of WWII on its head. The Czech president has frequently criticised Mr. Yatsenyuk, whom he has described as a “war premier”.