Current Affairs | All stories

The authorities in the Czech Republic recently stopped Google from collecting photographs for its panoramic Street View mapping service. The country’s data protection agency is refusing to grant the internet search giant a licence to collect fresh data, saying that its cameras impinge on people's privacy. Google is contesting the decision.

For the next two weeks, the Czech Republic will be the centre of the world of basketball. Three cities are playing host to the women’s world championships, with the event expected to be a boost for the game locally and for the country abroad.

The days of communist propaganda are back - at least at Prague’s Aero cinema, where ten films will be showcased over the coming days as part of a programme called Propaganda and Ideology in Czech Film. It’s not the laughably obvious kind of propaganda, though, that the city’s best-known art house cinema wants to look at, but the serious filmmaking that went into many of the films, and the mentality behind the censorship. The manager of Kino Aero, Ivo Andrle, told me about the idea for the mini-festival.

Trade union members from around the Czech Republic gathered in Prague on Tuesday to demonstrate against planned public sector pay cuts. But what can such a protest achieve, given that the government says the cuts simply have to be implemented? And what will the unions do if their demands go unheeded? Radio Prague discussed those questions on Tuesday morning with union leader Josef Středula at the headquarters of the Czech confederation of trades unions.

An estimated 40,000 trade union members took to the streets of Prague on Tuesday to protest against public sector pay cuts planned by the recently appointed Czech government. Turnout at the first major rally against the austerity measures was double that expected, but the government has made it clear that it is not ready to give in to the pressure.

One aspect of campaigning for local elections this autumn has been a noticeably aggressive tone against groups on the margins of society. While a right-wing proposal to move homeless people to a camp on the outskirts of Prague has drawn a great deal of comment, posters for left-wing parties declare “zero tolerance for junkies” or “get rid of the homeless”. But is this just the kind of tough talk characteristic of politicians ahead of elections? That’s a question we put to political analyst Jiří Pehe.

There were the usual smiles and handshakes as President Vaclav Klaus, Prague Mayor Pavel Bém and other top officials cut the ribbon at the opening of a long-awaited new bypass on the south-western outskirts of Prague on Monday morning. But behind the scenes the mood was far less optimistic. Even before it officially opened the bypass, which links the D1 and D5 highways from Plzen to Brno, evoked plenty of controversy.

Israel’s foreign minister and deputy prime minister Avigdor Lieberman started an official round of talks in Prague on Monday starting with his Czech counterpart Karel Schwarzenberg and later meeting with Prime Minister Petr Necas. While the launch of new Middle East peace talks form the backdrop to the talks, they also dealt with specific Czech-Israeli issues.

Czech fans of the queen of crime writing have been marking the 120th anniversary of her birth. English novelist Agatha Christie has an enthusiastic following in the Czech Republic and a club dedicated to her has been leading the tributes.

A month ahead of local elections, Prague officials have revived efforts to legalize prostitution. City Hall has come up with a bill that would grant prostitutes the status of self-employed workers, and give the authorities the power to regulate the oldest profession. But passing the bill would require the Czech Republic to pull out of a convention on human trafficking, a move rejected by MPs in the past.