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03/23/2008
The Czech Republic’ second city, Brno, plans to double the amount of sheltered accommodation it currently offers victims of domestic abuse. At the moment, the municipality owns one property, which it uses to house victims of such abuse. On Sunday, however, deputy mayor Oliver Pospíšil told press that this lodging was now full to capacity, and that the town council was looking into acquiring a second such property. Mr Pospíšil did not reveal any further details about the accommodation that the council hopes to acquire, he told journalists that the address of the dwelling would remain secret for its occupants’ protection. Last year, 1,100 cases of domestic violence were recorded in Brno.
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03/23/2008
Two people died on Sunday when an ambulance collided with a car in Opava, Northern Moravia. One of the casualties was a passer-by, who was struck by the ambulance as it ricocheted away from the car. The second casualty was the woman being transported to hospital in the back of the ambulance in question. The drivers of the ambulance were both seriously injured, though their condition was not thought to be life-threatening, while those traveling in the car involved sustained minor injuries.
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03/23/2008
Meteorologists have warned of the risk of snowdrifts in some parts of the country on Sunday evening. The areas set to be most affected by the snow are Central and Northern Moravia. As much as 30 centimeters of snow are forecast for Sunday evening, with more to follow on Monday. Meteorologists have warned motorists to drive with extreme caution in the affected areas, and to not even consider traveling without winter tyres fitted to their vehicles.
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03/23/2008
A handful of the country’s hardiest individuals celebrated Easter Sunday with a dip in the Vltava River. Members of the Czech Polar Bear Club took the plunge at Prague’s artificial beach in the Smichov district of the city, several swimmers crossed over to the other bank of the Vltava before getting out. One of those taking part in the event was Richard Blatný, the famous Czech long-distance swimmer, who swam across the English Channel in 1998. The Vltava was colder than usual for this time of year on Sunday, the water temperature recorded was between 2 and 3 degrees Celsius.
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03/23/2008
Children in Northern Bohemia have set a new world record this Easter Sunday for painting the largest Easter egg ever. The egg was made out of papier mache and came in at over two meters in height. A representative of the Guinness book of records was on site at Červený Hrádek chateau to confirm that the egg painted by the castle’s younger visitors had made it into the Czech version of the book. It took a group of children the whole afternoon to paint the massive decorative egg.
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03/22/2008
Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg will ask the government to recognize independent Kosovo at the cabinet’s next session on April 2, the daily Právo reported on Saturday. Mr Schwarzenberg had already said the government would recognize Kosovo sooner or later; he is now planning to recognize the former Serbian province before the NATO summit in Bucharest, held at the beginning of April. President Václav Klaus however remains reserved towards the issue. During his recent visit to Slovakia, Mr Klaus warned of international recognition of Kosovo for fears that Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence might set an example for separatist groups elsewhere in the world.
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03/22/2008
Prague City Hall officials disbanded a nationalist demonstration in the centre of the Czech capital on Saturday. The demonstration of around 20 people was held by the extremist National Party to protest alleged discrimination of the country’s white majority. City officials disbanded the demonstration on the grounds that the organizers had not complied with the agreed terms. Representatives of several ethnic groups in the Czech Republic said they considered the event to be a provocation aimed at inciting hatred towards members of the country’s ethnic minorities.
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03/22/2008
Several NGOs called on Czech officials on Saturday to reconsider attending the Olympic Games in Beijing in case China refuses to start peace talks over Tibet. People in Need, M.O.S.T., Lungta, Potala and other Czech non-governmental organisations also asked the Czech Olympic Committee to publicly guarantee that during the summer Olympic Games, Czech athletes will be able to freely express their opinions on human rights breaches in China and Tibet. Several Czech politicians, including the Green leader Martin Bursík, Education Minister Ondřej Liška, and Prague Mayor Pavel Bém, had already said that they would not attend the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing.
In related news, former president Václav Havel and Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, together with four international personalities, signed a statement calling on the international community to increase pressure on China in connection with the protests in Tibet. The statement calls on the Chinese government to enter into a dialogue with the Tibetan people and release all those who were arrested.
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03/22/2008
The Czech Communist Party will propose a referendum on the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. The party’s deputy chair Jiří Dolejš said on Friday that the Communists would submit a proposal to this end to Parliament’ lower house next week because they believed citizens themselves should decide on the Treaty, rather than the Czech Parliament. The communist proposal is not expected to succeed as other parties had already announced they wanted Parliament to ratify the new EU treaty. The ruling Civic Democrats, however, are considering approaching the Constitutional Court to find out whether the Lisbon Treaty does not contradict the Czech constitution.
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03/22/2008
Christian Democrat leader Jiří Čunek will meet U.S. ambassador to Prague Richard Graber next Friday to discuss some controversial passages of the annual report on human rights that was published by the U.S. Department of State earlier this month. The report mentioned that Mr Čunek was forced to step down as a minister over alleged bribe-taking during his term as the mayor of Vestín, a town in North Moravia; it also highlighted Mr Čunek’s forced resettling of several Roma families out of the town. After the Christian Democratic leader criticized the report for lack of accuracy, the U.S. ambassador offered to meet Mr Čunek to discuss the issue. The U.S. Department of State report on human rights was also criticized by Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek; he said that a country which allows the torture of prisoners could hardly preach about human rights breaches in the Czech Republic.
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