• 11/18/2007

    Statistics suggest that the number of abused children in the Czech Republic is going down but experts fear the figures do not reflect the true state of affairs. According to statistics the number of abused children in 2005 was 1983 while last year it 1593. Close to 600 of them were sexually abused, the rest suffered physical or psychological abuse. Zuzana Baudysova, head of the Our Child Foundation, says she fears many cases of abused children are never reported. The foundation runs a help-line for abused children and has been lobbying for better legal protection of children in the Czech Republic.

  • 11/18/2007

    Several hundred Czech families invited foreigners living in the country to Sunday lunch within a multi-cultural project aimed at overcoming xenophobia. The “Get to know your neighbours” project was launched in 2004 and since then some five hundred families have become involved. More than half of them maintain regular contacts. The idea is to break down existing barriers between Czechs and foreigners living in the country some of whom have difficulties making contacts outside their own communities. There are close to 400,000 foreigners living in the country at present.

  • 11/18/2007

    Three emergency crews took part in a dramatic five hour operation in a cave in Moravsky Kras to save a cave explorer who lay injured at the bottom of the cave. The young man slipped and fell from a height of ten meters dislocating his shoulder and injuring his head. The team of explorers he was with could not bring him out because the opening to the cave was too narrow. The opening had to be widened with explosives and rescue workers then carried him on a stretcher through difficult terrain to a site accessible by ambulance. The man was admitted to hospital with severe hypothermia but is said to be recovering.

  • 11/18/2007

    One of the four women injured in a car accident in Prague on Saturday has succumbed to her injuries in hospital. Another woman remains in serious condition with spinal injuries. The other two women were injured lightly. The accident happened in the early morning hours of Saturday when a driver lost control of his car and ploughed into four women waiting at a tram stop in Prague. The police are investigating the cause of the accident. They have ruled out drink driving.

  • 11/18/2007

    The Czech and Slovak prime ministers, Mirek Topolanek and Robert Fico, backed the idea of a joint bid to host the 2020 European football championships during a joint television interview on Sunday. Both premiers however stressed the challenge they faced in providing national stadiums that could meet the demands of hosting such a major event. Head of the Czech football federation Pavel Mokry raised the possibility of a joint Czech-Slovak bid to host the 2020 championships last week citing the similar languages, culture and available infrastructure in the two countries.

  • 11/18/2007

    Czech Republic, already assured a place at Euro 2008, defeated Slovakia 3-1 in their Group D qualifier on Saturday. Zdenek Grygera opened the scoring in the 13th minute when his long-range shot curled past goalkeeper Kamil Contofalsky. Marek Kulic, pounced for the second goal six minutes later when Contofalsky lost control of the ball as he fell to the ground. The Slovaks rarely threatened before pulling one back in the 79th when Czech substitute Michal Kadlec deflected the ball into his own net. Tomas Rosicky then restored the two-goal advantage for the Czechs with seven minutes to go.

  • 11/18/2007

    Fog, icy roads and snow-drifts have been complicating traffic in the eastern parts of the country. Road maintenance crews have warned drivers –particularly truck drivers – not to set out without snow chains. The country’s ski-resorts reported 25 to 70 centimeters of snow over the weekend attracting thousands of skiers.

  • 11/17/2007

    November 17th is a state holiday in the Czech Republic, marking the country’s return to freedom and democracy. Eighteen year ago this day an attack by riot police against demonstrating students on Prague’s Narodni Trida sparked mass protests that led to the fall of Czechoslovakia’s communist regime. Leading politicians, cultural figures and members of the public visited memorials to the victims of communism on Wenceslas Square, Narodni Trida and other sites in the Czech Republic to lay flowers and light candles in memory of those who fought against oppression.

    The commemorative ceremonies are also linked to an earlier anniversary – a student march in 1939 held in protest against the Nazi occupation that was brutally suppressed. The protest served as a pretext for more reprisals against Czech intellectuals. The Nazis raided a university campus on the night of November 17, nine students were executed without a trial and 1200 were deported to the concentration camp in Sachsenhausen. All Czech universities were then closed.

  • 11/17/2007

    In a speech at the university campus that was the scene of the Nazi brutalities, President Vaclav Klaus said that the two anniversaries – one relating to Nazi, the other to Communist oppression - were closely intertwined and we should forget neither of them. He said it was important to recognize what had led the country from one form of oppression into another and noted that many Czech intellectuals had naively embraced leftist utopian visions and that after having been disappointed by the Western allies Czechs had blindly sought security guarantees from the East.

  • 11/17/2007

    Meanwhile, in his own address to the nation, Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said that 18 years was a relatively short time in a country’s history and that the Czech Republic’s democracy was still young and fragile. He said it was particularly important for the young generation to learn the lessons of the past. Some of the excesses we have recently witnessed suggest that the fight for freedom and democracy has not yet been fully won, the prime minister noted.

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