• Region to give money to families of victim of hospital killer
    02/04/2007

    The Vysocina regional authority is considering making a one-off financial "gift" to the families of those killed by an orderly at a hospital in Havlickuv Brod. Petr Zelenka has confessed to the killing of eight patients with a blood-thinning drug, while investigators say the real figure could be as high as 13. The regional governor Milos Vystrcil said on Sunday the money would be given before a court ruling on compensation, but after the facts of the case had been clearly established.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Two thirds think health care better than under communism, suggests poll
    02/04/2007

    Two thirds of Czechs believe the country's health care system is better now than under communism, suggests a poll carried out for Czech Television by the Median agency. Fourteen percent of the poll's 400 respondents said the health system was "markedly better", while 53 percent said it was "rather better". The poll also indicates that 70 percent believe doctors in the state sector receive reasonable pay.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • National Gallery opens doors for free to mark 211th anniversary
    02/04/2007

    The National Gallery in Prague has marked the 211th anniversary of its foundation by opening its doors to the public free of charge all weekend. A group of aristocrats and intellectuals set up the Patriotic Friends of the Arts in 1796. They established two institutions, the Academy of Fine Arts and the publicly accessible Picture Gallery of Patriotic Friends of the Arts. The latter - combined with the Modern Gallery of the Kingdom of Bohemia, founded in 1902 - was the director predecessor of today's Czech National Gallery.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Anniversary of birth of Czech-Italian architect Jan Blazej Santini-Aichel marked
    02/04/2007

    The 330th anniversary of the birth of architect Jan Blazej Santini-Aichel was marked on Sunday at a church in Zdar nad Sazavou, on the border of Bohemia and Moravia. The Prague-born architect of Italian origin is known for his Baroque Gothic style. Among his most famous works is the church of St John of Nepomuk in Zelena Hora, which is on the UNESCO world heritage list.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Folk costume ball marks beginning of 2007 "folklore season"
    02/04/2007

    Zdar nad Sazavou was also the venue for the beginning of this year's Czech "folklore season". It began with a national krojovy (folk costume) ball in the town on Saturday. The chairwoman of the Folklore Association of the Czech Republic, Zdenka Psenici, said that in terms of size the ball had no parallel in Europe.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Train named after tennis star Berdych
    02/04/2007

    A Pendolino high speed train has been named after the Czech men's tennis number one Tomas Berdych. The world number 19 launched the train with a bottle of champagne on Saturday. He said he had never dreamt he would have a locomotive named after him. Berdych and his Czech team-mates arrived in Ostrava on the train on Saturday. Next weekend they will be taking on the USA in the Davis Cup in the city.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • 2012 now target date for euro adoption, says Finance Minister Kalousek
    02/03/2007

    The minister of finance, Miroslav Kalousek, has set 2012 as a new target date for the Czech Republic to adopt the euro. Mr Kalousek told Lidove noviny he would submit the plan to the cabinet next month. The previous Czech government last autumn abandoned a long-standing target of 2010. The finance minister said that date was unrealistic, given the country's public finance deficit.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Hundreds demonstrate against building of US radar base
    02/03/2007

    Around 300 people demonstrated in Jince, central Bohemia on Saturday against the construction of a United States radar base. They want the government to reject a US request to build part of its planned global missile defence system on the Brdy military base, around 70 km from Prague. If approved by the Czech parliament the base should go into operation in 2011 and house around 200 military and civilian personnel.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Policeman sacked for selling photo of dead composer
    02/03/2007

    A policeman who has admitted to selling a photograph of the dead body of a popular composer has been kicked out of the force. The officer, who worked at a station on the outskirts of Prague, sold a picture of the corpse of Karel Svoboda to a tabloid newspaper after the latter committed suicide last weekend. Investigators have recommended the former policeman face charges of abuse of office.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Courts ordered to consider cases of children kidnapped by parents more carefully
    02/03/2007

    Czech courts will have to assess cases of children kidnapped by one of their parents more carefully and need not always automatically return children to the country they were born in, according to a landmark verdict by the Supreme Court. The ruling was made following a case in which courts in Prague returned a girl to Germany without thoroughly investigating her living circumstances. The Supreme Court annulled those verdicts and demanded the case be reopened.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

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