Current Affairs | All stories

Czech doctors are ringing the alarm: the number of women alcoholics has doubled over the past ten years. In 2005 close to 3,000 women entered Czech clinics with an alcohol abuse problem and medical studies reveal that the increase of problem drinking in the female population is much sharper than that among males.

On Friday, Central and Eastern Europe's motorways were connected for the first time to the Western European motorway grid. On the exact spot where the Iron Curtain stood 17 years ago, an opening ceremony was held on Friday at the Czech-German border crossing Rozvadov-Waidhaus to mark the occasion. The completed motorway will allow smoother and safer passage between the two countries, something drivers and businesses in both the Czech Republic and Germany had long been calling for.

Almost six hundred years ago, the Jewish community in what is now west Bohemia bought some land on the outskirts of Plzen, west Bohemia, to build a cemetery. A few decades later the land was confiscated and the community expelled. Since then, very little has been known about the location of the burial site. But now, a team of archaeologists say the cemetery is right beneath land that is to house a new billion-crown commercial centre. Dita Asiedu reports:

Many Czechs were saddened to learn on Wednesday that Frantisek Fajtl, one of the country's most respected and famous WW II-era fighter pilots had died in Prague at the age of 94. For many, Mr Fajtl was a hero and not only for his feats in battle, but also for his work as a writer, his memoirs often naming Czech airmen who might otherwise have been forgotten. Jan Velinger has more on the pilot's life.

Wednesday marked the beginning of a three-week exhibition of Intercity: Berlin-Prague, an annual art show dedicated to bringing together the work of the brightest young artists from Germany and the Czech Republic.

Vaclav Havel, one of contemporary central Europe's best-known intellectuals is 70 years old. He was born on October 5th, 1936. A week of honours and celebrations in Prague will continue in the Slovak capital, Bratislava, on Friday, and in November all of Vaclav Havel's plays will be staged in New York City.

The past weekend saw as many as 16 people die in car accidents across the Czech Republic. Ninety people were killed in traffic accidents throughout September, which along with June has been the most tragic month on Czech roads this year. After a new and stricter traffic law came into force in July, police immediately reported a marked drop in the number of fatal accidents. But since then, Czech drivers seemed to have relaxed again and returned to their old bad habits.

The minority Civic Democrat government of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek lost a confidence vote in parliament on Tuesday, triggering the fall of his cabinet and edging the country closer to early elections. The seemingly endless political saga thus drags on: four months after inconclusive general elections the Czech Republic still lacks a real government.

Milena Jesenska, a Czech writer and translator, died in a Nazi death camp in May 1944. Many know her name because Franz Kafka published a book dedicated to her entitled "Letters to Milena." For a number of years in the early 1920s Milena Jesenska and Franz Kafka were lovers. Much less known is the fact that Milena Jesenska was a talented journalist, though one important fellowship program based in Vienna honours her memory.

The eighth annual Designblok festival of design opened its doors Tuesday in the River Diamond apartment complex, part of the ongoing regeneration of Prague's Karlin district. Designblok 2006 is showcasing the work of more than 100 artists, designers, manufacturers and retailers—90 percent of whom are Czech. I spoke with Designblok organizer and curator Jana Zielinski and asked her: what's hot in Czech design this year?