News

The murder of a local priest has shocked residents in the town of Trebenice, North Bohemia. At around 5 am local time on Saturday fire-fighters were called to the local rectory which had been set alight, only to discover the 78-year-old priest still alive but mortally wounded. Sometime later the man succumbed to his injuries. A police investigation is underway, with speculation that the priest had surprised a burglar during a robbery, and that the assailant had set the parish alight in an effort to cover his tracks.

Czech tennis player David Rikl and his Indian partner Leander Paes have lost their doubles final at the U.S. Open in New York. The two were defeated in straight sets 6:3, 6:3 by the Bahamian/Canadian duo of Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor.

The grand-slam finals appearance at Flushing Meadows was Czech player David Rikl's first.

Joint Czech-British military exercises are to continue in south Moravia despite the deaths of six British participants in a helicopter crash on Thursday. However, helicopters being used in the exercises will remain grounded until the cause of the crash has been ascertained, a spokesperson for the Czech Air Force said on Friday. Some reports suggest the four soldiers and two crew were killed after their aircraft hit high-tension wires. The joint exercises began earlier this week and are due to continue until next Friday.

Fifteen Czech soldiers have flown to Afghanistan to replace a group who have been serving with the ISAF peacekeeping mission under NATO command for the last six months. Most of the Czech soldiers, who are based in Kabul, are pyrotechnics specialists.