Current Affairs | All stories

Two road deaths, two stabbings, thirty-four fires, 273 injuries - Prague's Emergency Medical Service had its busiest night in five years on New Year's Eve. Though emergency services were called to a lot less cases in the rest of the country, the injuries caused by fireworks and the consumption of alcohol were dramatic. Dita Asiedu reports:

It has long been custom in the Czech Republic for viewers to tune in on January 1st to watch the president's New Year's address and this year's speech was followed closely. After months of political deadlock following inconclusive elections in June, it was hardly surprising politics topped the president's list.

As we do every year, Radio Prague has issued a brand new series of QSL cards to be sent out to our listeners in exchange for their reception reports. Some of you probably received the special QSL card we issued last year for the 70th anniversary of Radio Prague, and many of you have the complete collections from recent years or going even further back.

On Thursday Czech politicians added another chapter to the seemingly endless political saga on forming a government. The Civic Democrats, Christian Democrats and the Greens signed an agreement on a centre right coalition. But is it really a step towards giving the country a stable leadership, or just another in a series of drawn-out maneuvers leading to early elections?

Thursday started off like any other day in the flight control tower at Prague's Ruzyne airport. But that routine calm ended just after 10 am, when controllers received two reports from the cockpit of a Russian Aeroflot plane on route from Moscow to Geneva. A passenger had suddenly fallen ill and the plane needed to land in Prague, the captain reported. Four minutes later a new report came in - the passenger was not ill but was attempting to hijack the plane. Dita Asiedu reports:

The Czech Chamber of Pharmacies is working on a new project to help chemists monitor the combination of drugs used by their clients. With the help of computer software and electronic cards, an estimated 300 of the country's 2000 pharmacies can already warn their clients if they are about to use a combination of drugs that can harm their health. The new project is hoping to make it affordable for pharmacies across the country to introduce the service. This report by Dita Asiedu:

In early 2006, the Czech Republic completed construction on a state-of-the-art research centre on James Ross Island, Antarctica. The project has taken a full six years to reach fruition but now the polar station is finally set to open, in just a few days' time. On Tuesday a Czech team set out for a two-month stay on the island, where members will study the effects of global warming and more.

Michael Cunningham is perhaps best known for his 1998 novel The Hours, which won both a Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the PEN/Faulkner award. The book was later made into a movie of the same title, starring Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman, who won an Oscar for best actress. Cunningham was in the Czech capital recently for a previously postponed Prague Writers' Festival event; he spoke to Radio Prague about his approach to writing, whether readers differ around the world and his impressions of the Czech capital.

Last Thursday Czech president Vaclav Klaus caused something of a stir when - rather unexpectedly - he refused to appoint a cabinet put forward by Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek in what was the prime minister's second attempt to form a viable government. Along with the president's objection that the cabinet was not guaranteed wider political backing, Mr Klaus also stressed his objection to the nomination of Senator Karel Schwarzenberg for the post of foreign minister.

Ecstasy of St Theresa are among the most highly respected of Czech rock and pop groups. Formed by producer Jan P. Muchow in the early 1990s, the band went through a number of line-up changes before reaching its current form of Muchow and singer Katerina Winterova, who is also an actress at the National Theatre. Four years after their last CD Slowthinking, Ecstasy of St Theresa are back with a new collection, Watching Black. I discussed the latest album with Jan P. Muchow at his small studio, just off Wenceslas Square.