Radio Prague International - latest articles

Czech Radio has joined an international campaign called #Say Hi, initiated by the European Broadcasting Union, promoting the values of friendship, inclusion and social kindness among school children. The aim is for as many children as possible from across Europe to simultaneously take part in a common dance, facilitated by the local public broadcasters.

Bianca Bellová, is a translator, interpreter and writer with a number of highly successful books to her name. Her works include Sentimentální roman (Sentimental Novel) which describes the trials of growing up near the end of the communist regime, the novella Mrtvý muž (Dead Man), which tells the story of a traumatized family during the normalization 1970s and the novella Celý den se nic nestane (Nothing Happens All Day), a story about interpersonal relationships and unfaithfulness. All of them reveal her great narrative talent and understanding of the human psyche, impressing critics and readers alike, but it was her 2016 novel, Jezero (The Lake), which really transcended borders, winning the EU Prize for Literature and the Magnesia Litera Book of the Year award. The Lake, which has been translated into 20 languages, is a powerful archetypal story of a young boy who fights his way out of a tough environment as he searches for his roots in a fictitious land, with references to a past Soviet occupation. Daniela Lazarova talks to Bianca Bellová about her captivating novel.

On the occasion of Czechoslovak independence day, the Czech Embassy in Canada is hosting a major online celebration this October 28. The event, which pays tribute to  the Canadians and Czech Canadians who helped save Czechoslovakia in the Second World War, will feature several high ranking state representatives, celebrities and musicians from both countries. To find out more about the event and the shared Czech-Canadian history it is celebrating, I spoke to Czech Ambassador in Canada Bořek Lizec and  began by asking him if it was true that Canada was the first power to recognize the Czechoslovak government in exile during the war.

Czech scientists have developed a new method for detecting Covid-19 using a biosensor that delivers test results in just minutes. The prototype has proven as accurate as nasal swab tests, which take half a day or longer to process. In addition to being much faster, researchers say, the biosensor also determines how much of the virus is present – a key measure of the likely stage and severity of infection.

As Covid-19 numbers continue to climb at an alarming rate in the Czech Republic, the government has introduced yet more measures aimed at curbing the spread of the virus. These include a nighttime curfew, the Sunday closure of shops and the increased use of work from home.

So many doctors, nurses and other medical professionals have contracted Covid-19 in recent days that without a government lockdown and strict adherence to measures there is no chance of bringing the situation under control, warns Dr Milan Kubek, head of the Czech Medical Chamber.

The 2020 Ji.hlava festival of documentary films gets underway on Tuesday. Given the Covid-19 emergency, the 24th Ji.hlava will be purely online, though the organisers have made great efforts to deliver a full programme of over 200 documentaries, for a very reasonable price. I discussed this year’s edition with Ji.hlava’s founder, Marek Hovorka.

Roger Johnson, who has been living for many years in Brno, is head of the Czech branch of Republicans Overseas, the international organisation of the US political party. With the very closely watched 2020 elections almost upon us, I asked Johnson about the work of Republicans Overseas and how he views President Trump’s chances of upsetting the polls. Our conversation followed an interview I did a week previously with Julia Bryan, the Prague-based international chair of Democrats Abroad. But before we got onto party political matters, I was curious about how Johnson had met his Czech wife.

Roman Prymula is under pressure to resign from the position of Czech Minister of Health after the tabloid Blesk published photographs of him not wearing a mask while meeting with a high ranking ANO party politician in a restaurant on Wednesday night. The incident occured amidst the most serious health crisis in the country’s modern history.

As the coronavirus crisis deepens, the Czech government is taking measures to prevent the collapse of the health system, burdened by a growing number of hospitalizations and the spread of the infection among medical staff. In addition to ordering in medical students and calling on volunteers the government is also trying to secure help from abroad to tide over hospitals at the height of the epidemic.