Radio Prague International - latest articles

The Czech Football Association is currently being rocked by what could turn out to be the biggest scandal in the modern history of Czech football. Its deputy chairman, Roman Berbr, has been arrested and is facing charges of largescale game-rigging along with 18 other individuals. The Football Association has since announced Mr. Berbr’s resignation along with that of the entire referee committee and promised to reform the system.

A statue of the 18th century Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa, who was also the only queen of Bohemia, was officially unveiled in Prague on Tuesday. The large minimalist-style statue, which resembles a large bell, stands in a newly-established park bearing the Empress’s name in the vicinity of Prague Castle.

A new museum dedicated to architecture has recently opened in the town of Kladno, presenting a visionary housing project from the 1950s. The unique housing estate and its six tower blocks, originally named “Victorious February” after the 1948 communist coup, was designed in the early 1950s by Josef Havlíček, a representative of the most avant-garde trends in the Czechoslovak interwar architecture.

Riot police clashed with football and ice hockey ultras in Prague on Sunday after they refused to disperse after a mass protest against Covid-19 restrictions – a protest which itself violated government restrictions to contain the virus. Police responded with tear gas, flash grenades, and water cannon after some of the 2,000 protesters gathered on Old Town Square started hurling fireworks, bottles and pavement stones at them. Fourteen people could face criminal charges.

The Czech public is increasingly dissatisfied with the way in which the government is handling the second wave of the coronavirus epidemic. A recent poll by Behavio showed that close to 70 percent of Czechs say the government failed in its response to the pandemic or have serious reservations to the steps taken. Now a poll by Kantar has seen the trust rating of the two government parties slump, with the prime minister’s ANO party getting 24.5 percent support and the Social Democrats failing to cross the necessary 5 percent threshold needed to win seats in the lower house. So is the coronavirus crisis changing the Czech political landscape – and will the ruling parties pay the ultimate price? Political scientist Jiří Pehe:

Few in the Czech Republic will be watching the US presidential and congressional elections on November 3 as closely as Julia Bryan. Bryan – a long-time Prague resident – is the international chair of Democrats Abroad, the party’s official organisation for the millions of Americans resident outside the country. When we spoke the conversation took in the impact voters outside America can have on domestic polls, why Democrats Abroad endorsed Bernie Sanders, the obstacles overseas voters can face – and much more.

COVID-19 infection rates are expected to continue to grow for the next 10 to 14 days, Health Minister Roman Prymula said at a special press briefing on Friday at which the country’s leading health officials presented a wide range of data on the current epidemiological situation and assured the public that a collapse of the Czech health system is not a real threat.

Virtually everyone with an active Czech mobile telephone number received the following text message on Tuesday: “Interior Ministry announcement: Please install the eRouška application on your smartphone. … This app alerts you of an encounter with a COVID-infected person. Thank you. Jarmila Rážová, Chief Hygienist of the Czech Republic.” While well over a million people have installed the ‘eFacemask’ app since getting that SMS, many have not over privacy concerns.

Medieval history buffs and Czech opera fans may well know the story of the occupation of Bohemia by the Margraviate of Brandenburg, soon after King Ottokar II died in battle in 1278. The tumultuous period was the setting of Bedřich Smetana very first three-act opera, Braniboři v Čechách, whose overriding theme was the Czechs’ struggle to rid themselves of oppressive Germanic rulers. But few outside of the Pilsen region know the tale of the outlaw Oldřich of Sukořín – a Robin Hood type figure, who battled the Brandenburgs from a forest stronghold. The legend has long captivated the imagination of Leoš Kastner, a young Czech filmmaker from the region now shooting a historical drama financed through crowdfunding. Before delving into his film project Zbojník (The Outlaw), his second independent feature, I began by asking him how he got started in film.

A signet ring which the famous Czech pedagogue and philosopher Jan Amos Komenský (Comenius) gave his daughter is reportedly still in possession of his descendants. Throughout the centuries, the object has made its way through at least three continents and is a closely guarded family heirloom.