News

Former Czech president Vaclav Havel and South African Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu have urged the United Nations to pass a resolution against Burma's human rights violations. Burma has been under a military dictatorship since 1962. In a letter sent to the UN, the two peace activists say that the lack of international action gives regimes like the military regime in Burma a "sense of impunity". The letter was sent on the occasion of the 61 birthday of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese pro-democracy activist and Nobel Peace Laureate who has been under house arrest or similar forms of detention for over a decade.

Czech NGOs have joined their counterparts from Poland, Austria, Denmark, and Spain to mark July 19 as a day promoting equal opportunities for women and men. The day is marked for the first time this year and was designated by the Czech Gender Studies organisation. With various events and information campaigns, attention is brought to the different roles that men and women play at the work place and in the family.

The police have postponed an investigation into an assault on a Communist Party representative. In Late April, several attackers beat Jiri Dolejs to the ground and kicked him in the head, while chanting anti-Communist slogans. Mr Dolejs suffered an injury to his eye and bruises to his face and ribs and he is scheduled to undergo a second operation on his retina in the summer. The police have not been able to identify Mr Dolejs' assailants.

A young man in west Bohemia has miraculously survived a lightning strike. The 20 year old man was at a swimming pool when the sky suddenly turned black and the young man was struck by lightning, witnesses have reported. He complained of pains in his legs and was rushed to a local hospital, where he is still in care.