• Lenka Reinerová dies, aged 92
    06/27/2008

    Author and essayist Lenka Reinerová has died at the age of 92: the news was confirmed by publisher Joachim Dvořák on Friday who had been in contact with Mrs Reinerová’s family. Reinerová, widely read in Germany and the Czech Republic, was attributed with reviving a long tradition of German-language writing in the Czech capital.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Teachers to see salary boost in August
    06/27/2008

    The government has set aside an additional 500 million crowns towards boosting teachers’ salaries, a move agreed by the education minister, Ondřej Liška, in May. Teachers should see the increase in August. An additional 4 billion have been promised for regional schools next year.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Schools hand out final report cards
    06/27/2008

    In related news, Czech schoolchildren and teachers have greeted the end of the school year: elementary and secondary schools around the country on Friday handed out final report cards ahead of the summer holidays. Some, such as an elementary school in Ostrava in the east of the country, teaching students in both Czech and English, handed out report cards with English comments. A 9-year-old pupil at the school told the Czech news agency she didn’t mind getting comments in English; she said she had gotten used to it.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Houllier expresses interest in coaching national football team
    06/27/2008

    The Czech Football Association has revealed that highly-respected French coach Gérard Houllier, who worked with Czech players such as Vladimír Šmicer and Milan Baroš at Liverpool in the English Premiership, has expressed in interest in coaching the Czech national side. The team is without a coach after Karel Bruckner confirmed his retirement after the Czechs’ exit from Euro 2008. The 60-year-old Houllier’s last post was with Lyon last year. Other possible candidates for the national team post are said to include a number of names inlcuding Brazilian coach Sebastio Lazaroni as well as former player for Bulgaria Christo Stoičkov. The new coach is expected to be named by July 17.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Woman dies during violent storms
    06/26/2008

    One person was killed during violent storms which hit the Czech Republic on Wednesday night. A woman of 45 died a few hours after being hit by a falling tree at Svitavy in east Bohemia; she had apparently been sitting at a table in a beer garden, a rescue services spokesperson said. Fire brigades were called out to deal with fallen trees and other problems at hundreds of places around the country. Thousands of households were left without electricity, some trains were cancelled and some flights from Prague Airport were briefly delayed. The storms also interrupted some Radio Prague shortwave broadcasts.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Topolánek presents Sir Nicholas Winton with PM’s medal
    06/26/2008

    The Czech leader Mirek Topolánek has presented a prime minister’s medal to Sir Nicholas Winton, an Englishman who saved the lives of hundreds of Czechoslovak Jewish children during World War II. Mr Topolánek said he hoped Czech children today would learn about Sir Nicholas’s story. Mr Winton, who is 99, told reporters in Prague he was moved to receive such an award. During the war he managed to get 669 Czechoslovak Jewish children to safety in the UK; today “Winton’s Children” have around 5,000 descendants.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Hybášková ordered to apologise to Tlustý over corruption allegation
    06/26/2008

    Jana Hybášková, an MEP for the European Democrats, has been ordered by the Prague High Court to apologise to Civic Democrat MP Vlastimil Tlustý for accusing him of corruption. Ms Hybášková also has to pay financial compensation of CZK 50,000 to Mr Tlustý. He had been demanding CZK one million, after the MEP accused him of seeking a bribe of that amount in exchange for support for a subsidy for her party.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Čech reacts angrily to blame for early exit from Euro 2008
    06/26/2008

    The Czech footballer Petr Čech has reacted angrily to comments by the former business manager of the national team Vlastimil Košťál, who blamed the Czech Republic’s early exit from Euro 2008 on a mistake by the goalkeeper. Čech issued a statement saying Mr Košťál had been happy enough to take the glory whenever the Czech team was successful and had not behaved like a “team player”. Vlastimil Košťál is one of the most unpopular figures in Czech football. Respected coach Ivan Hašek recently turned down the chance to manage the national team because of Mr Košťál’s role as deputy chairman of the Czech football association.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Celine Dion makes first appearance in Prague
    06/26/2008

    The Canadian singer Celine Dion is appearing in the Czech Republic for the first time on Thursday night. The former winner of the Eurovision Song Contest will perform in the round at Prague’s O2 Arena on a special stage delivered by 21 trucks. The show will be part of Dion’s Taking Chances tour, supporting a CD of the same name.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • MPs vote to raise retirement age
    06/25/2008

    Czech MPs voted on Wednesday to raise the retirement age in the Czech Republic to 65 years of age. Labour Minister Petr Nečas said the move was necessary in the face of an ageing population, with a higher life-expectancy rate. Previously, the retirement age was 62 for men, and 61 for women. Deputies also moved to raise the number of years that Czechs are required to make payments into a pension fund from 25 to 35 years. The bill still has to be approved by the Senate and President Václav Klaus. If passed, the new laws should come into effect by 2031.
    Author: Rosie Johnston

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