Daily news summary
Four Czechs on list EU politicians barred from Russia
Moscow has released a blacklist of EU politicans and diplomats, including four Czechs, who are banned from entering Russia in response to EU sanctions over Ukraine, the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Friday. The list contains 89 names. The Czechs who are no logner allowed to travel to Russia are the head of TOP 09 and former Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, TOP 09 deputy Marek Ženíšek, EU deputy Jaromír Štětina and former EU commissioner Štefan Füle.
Czech trauma team helping in Nepal has returned home
The Czech trauma team which has been helping to deal with the consequences of the devastating earthquake in Nepal returned home on Friday. The 30-member team, made up of twenty doctors and nurses and ten firefighters, was helping to bring the injured down from hard-to-reach villages in the mountains. The rescuers operated in Melamchi, around 40 kilometres to the north-east of the Nepali capital of Kathmandu. They concluded their mission there on Monday. Since it started work on May 1, the trauma team provided medical assistance to over 1,100 people. It is leaving much of its equipment and medical supplies in Nepal for the use of the local health authorities.
Some three hundred people commemorate victims of 1945 Brno Death March
Around three hundred people are taking part in the march from Pohořelice to Brno commemorating the victims of the violent expulsion of local ethnic Germans that took place after the end of WWII. On May 31, 1945, some 20,000 German-speaking inhabitants of Brno were forced to leave the city and walk to the Austrian border. Around 1,700 are believed to have died of exhaustion on the way. Saturday's ‘Pilgrimage of Reconciliation’ will culminate with a commemorative meeting in the Old Brno monastery, attended by the mayor of Brno and other Austrian and German public officials.
Civic Democrats hold party congress in Prague
The leader of the opposition Civic Democrats, Petr Fiala, criticised the government of PM Bohuslav Sobotka during a party conference that took place in Prague on Saturday. Mr Fiala said that at a time of economic growth, the prime minister is acting irresponsibly, not investing and not paying off debts. He has also criticised president Miloš Zeman, who he said threatens the country by his foreign policy. Among the party priorities he mentioned reducing the basic VAT rate from 21 to 19 percent and abandoning the so-called ‘super gross’ wage for calculating the tax damage.
People in Prague and Brno protest against Norwegian Child Protection Service
Some 300 people have gathered at Prague's Hradčanské náměstí to protest against the practices of Norwegian Child Protection Service Barnevern and in support of families, whose children have been taken away. After the gathering, the participants marched to the seat of the Norwegian embassy at Malá Strana. Similar protests are taking place on Saturday in over ten European cities, including Brno, Dublin and Vienna. Czech Eva Michaláková, whose sons were taken away from her over alleged sexual abuse in 2011, is set to take part in the main protests in Oslo.
Newly-reconstructed Jan Hus memorial opens in Husinec
The village of Husinec in South Bohemia has a opened a newly reconstructed memorial to the 15th century religious reformer Jan Hus. The costs of the new visitor and research centre in what is believed to be Jan Hus' native house have reached 26 million crowns; more than 20 million were provided by the Czech government. A Catholic priest and later the rector of Prague’s Charles University, Hus became a key predecessor of the religious reformation movement that took off some hundred years after he was burned at the stake by the church in 1415. The Czech Republic this year marks 600 the years since his death. Saturday's opening was attended by PM Bohuslav Sobotka and culture minister Daniel Herman.
Kvitová reaches fourth round at French Open
Petra Kvitová is the third Czech tennis player, along with Tomáš Berdych and Lucie Šafářová, to advance in the fourth round at French Open. Czech number one women's player defeated Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6:3 6:2 in just 58 minutes at Roland Garros on Saturday. The fourth seeded Czech will now face the winner of the match between Madison Keys of the United States and Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland for a place in the quarter-finals.
Berdych reaches fourth round at French Open
In tennis, Tomáš Berdych has reached the fourth round of the French Open for the fifth time in his carreer. The 25-year-old Czech, who was seeded fourth, overcame French Benoit Paire 6:1, 6:7, 6:3 a 6:4 on Friday at Roland Garros. He will now face French Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
