Radio Prague International - latest articles

A bill on providing compensation for people who were forcibly or otherwise illegally sterilised in the past was approved by the lower house of Parliament last Friday, June 4th. With this approval in the lower house, the bill is now set to go to the Senate for final consideration.

On Sunday June 13 it will be exactly 75 years since the British Council first opened in Prague, with a ceremony attended by President Beneš and other dignitaries. The Communists forced the UK education and cultural outreach institution out of Czechoslovakia in 1950, but it later returned and since the early 1990s has helped thousands upon thousands of Czechs obtain UK qualifications. Just ahead of its 75th anniversary, I spoke to the current director of the British Council in Prague, Denise Waddingham.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš’s minority government has survived yet another no-confidence motion. After some 12 hours of debate – which often degenerated into personal attacks – the opposition failed to muster the 101 votes needed to topple the government, largely thanks to a walk-out staged by the Communists.

A rare exhibit was added to the Pantheon inside the Old Building of the National Museum in Prague this week - a 45,000-year-old woman’s skull. Visitors are now able to view both the original and the reconstructed face of the woman it belonged to. A Facebook poll has also been launched to give the prehistoric human a name.

It may not have the international renown of its South Bohemian neighbour Český Krumlov, but the city of Tábor is well known across the Czech Republic as the headquarters of legendary Hussite commander Jan Žižka. The city’s Hussite Museum gives visitors the chance to learn more about this crucial period in Czech history and the many innovative yet also gruesome characteristics of Hussite warfare.

The number of foreigners studying and working in the Czech Republic has been steadily increasing in recent years. While in the past, foreign professionals were mainly attracted to the Czech capital, nowadays, many of them prefer to settle in Brno, the second largest city in the country. The Moravian capital attracts foreign professionals not only by growing career and educational opportunities but also by its good climate, relatively low cost of living, and plenty of cultural facilities.

After years of heated debates, Czech women may finally be able to make their own decision about the form of their surname. On Tuesday the Chamber of Deputies approved an amendment to the law on birth registers, names and surnames, allowing them to drop the ending –ová and use the masculine form instead.

The Security and Defense Committee of the Czech Senate has declared President Miloš Zeman unfit for office and has proposed that he be stripped of the post. It claims that the Czech head of state is often disoriented, incapable of distinguishing between classified and public information and jeopardizes the country’s security by his words and actions.

The Grand Pardubice steeplechase, widely regarded as Europe’s toughest cross-country horserace, was first held in 1874. Over the past century, more than two dozen horses have died on the “Taxis Ditch”, a treacherous obstacle that riders are forbidden to practise jumping. A move is afoot to make it safer while preserving its iconic character.

An agreement reached between the US and Czech science foundations will allow scientists from the two countries to coordinate research and receive funding together. The deal has been years in the making and will give the Czech scientific community access to grants from the prestigious US agency for supporting research, the National Science Foundation (NSF).