Radio Prague International - latest articles

The series of severe droughts and heatwaves that hit central Europe in recent years have been the most severe in the past two millennia, suggests a study carried out by an international team of scientists, including researchers from the Czech Republic. The study analysed tree rings dating back to the Roman Empire, creating the longest such record to date.

Who makes the prettiest looking lattes in the Czech Republic? According to the results of this year’s annual Latte Art competition it is Jakub Souček from the North Bohemian city of Liberec. His impression of a two-winged swan on the top of a coffee cup was voted the best in the Milkdown category.

The Remoska oven has been a household name in this country for over sixty years now, braving competition from ever more sophisticated kitchen appliances. The Czech-invented multipurpose oven is popular with older generations and young families alike and its revamped version even expanded overseas as far as the United States and Australia.

Tuesday marks exactly 130 years since construction began on the Petřín Lookout Tower, one of the most prominent Prague landmarks. The 64 metre high steel construction, built on the occasion of the Jubilee Exhibition in 1891, was inspired by the Eiffel Tower, and offers one of the best views of the city.

Why do I lose my hair? Why can’t I go school? And why are my mom and dad worried about me? These are just some of the questions asked by children who have been diagnosed with cancer. A new animated series called Baldies, which is currently in preparation, aims to answer them and help children go through the treatment, while keeping their spirits high.

Czech Health Minister Jan Blatný on Monday defended the decision to continue vaccinating with AstraZeneca in the face of suspensions across Europe. The health minister, who has been stressing the need to push ahead with vaccinations in view of the fast spread of the epidemic, argued that no causal link between the vaccine and blood clot problems had been established to date and the Czech Institute for Drug Control considers the vaccine safe.

Key population groups in the Czech Republic have received over a million coronavirus vaccine jabs so far and the latest indicators suggest that the epidemic may be on a slightly downward trend. The government is aiming to increase daily vaccinations to up to 100,000 in April, according to Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. However, progress varies from region to region, with some having to put their vaccination targets on hold amid low stockpiles.

Is Czech politics headed for a shakeup? A new Kantar agency poll suggests the electoral coalition of the Pirate Party and the Mayors & Independents enjoy 34 percent support, far ahead of the governing ANO on 22 percent. The Pirates would currently even beat ANO alone, the survey indicates. I discussed it with political scientist Petr Just.

A new film depicting the events of the 1968 Prague Spring and Warsaw Pact invasion in Czechoslovak Radio is set to be made within the next two years. The author of the screenplay is the famous Czech artist Jiří Mádl.

Crowdfunding, the practice of funding a project by raising small amounts of money from a large number of people, is becoming an increasingly popular and versatile tool in today’s digital world. For the past several years, it has also been making inroads into the global real estate market, with crowdfunding platforms being set up all over Europe. Prague-based Brikkapp is a relatively new application which mainly serves as a real estate crowdfunding search engine. I spoke to BrikkApp founder and CEO Jan Večerka to find out more about BrikkApp and the crowdfunding approach to the property market. I began by asking him how exactly crowdfunding in real estate works.