Current Affairs | All stories

Prague has emerged almost unscathed from the ravages of the 20th century – all except one, that is. Car ownership has rocketed since the fall of communism; huge amounts of the city’s budget go towards building elaborate new road systems and the streets are often thick with exhaust fumes. However, one civic initiative is trying to redefine how people see and use their city, and as well as promoting cycling and other alternatives to the combustion engine, they’ve also produced the first ‘car-free’ map of Prague. Rob Cameron tried it out.

The Czech government’s economic advisory council, known as NERV, has come up with a set of measures to curb wide-spread corruption in public procurement. The council proposes, among other things, to simplify the procurement process and to make it more transparent. Criteria for companies taking part in public tenders should be limited to ensure greater competition. The state should also make sure that all public procurement projects are essentially needed. Radio Prague spoke to economist and NERV member Pavel Kohout, about the proposed

The highly-publicized Vítkov court case in which four neo-Nazis are standing trial for an arson attack against a Roma family is slowly drawing to a close. In one of the final hearings on Tuesday the state attorney demanded exemplary prison sentences of up to 25 years for what she said was premeditated, racially motivated attempted murder.

Petr Nečas has now been Czech prime minister for 100 days, a milestone in any leader’s career. He became chairman of the Civic Democratic Party just as campaigning for parliamentary elections was getting underway, and soon after voting at the end of May found himself head of a three-party right-of-centre coalition. But what kind of prime minister has Mr Nečas been so far? Radio Prague has been gauging opinion.

How satisfied are Czechs with their sex lives? Rather satisfied, it appears. At least according to the results of a new nation-wide survey that have just been presented in Prague. The study also revealed that some Czech men have a tendency to over-estimate how well they are endowed. Radio Prague spoke to one of the report’s supervisors, Professor Petr Weiss of the Sexology Institute of Prague’s Charles University.

A new festival that has just got underway in Prague focuses on social outreach or community theatre, in which professionals engage in a hands-on way with the world around them. The organisers of the Akcent festival have brought together leading directors in this field from around Europe, with the aim of kick-starting a similar movement in the Czech Republic.

After years of preparations, the Czech Education Ministry has launched a trial run of the new state school-leaving exams that should test the system before the real exams are sat by some 100,000 secondary school students next June. A vast majority of the country’s secondary schools are taking part in the mock examinations, although many teachers and students have doubts about the new system.

The Czech Republic has stepped up security in the wake of US warnings of a possible terrorist attack in Europe. Tightened security measures are in place at airports, railway stations and bus terminals as well as around foreign embassies and high-risk facilities. Although the Czech Interior Ministry has said it has no evidence to suggest that the perceived threat of an attack by Al Qaeda terrorists relates specifically to the Czech Republic. Radio Prague asked security expert and former head of the country’s military intelligence service Andor Šándor

The post of United States ambassador to Prague has gone unfilled since the start of 2009, when the previous, George Bush-appointed ambassador was recalled. Now it appears the job will remain vacant for even longer, after the Obama administration’s choice for envoy to the Czech Republic was rejected in the US Senate.

One of the most violent cases of attempted robbery seen in the Czech Republic in some years took place on Thursday. A man who tried to rob an exchange office in the town of Krnov was detained by customers and staff, but when he was being arrested, a grenade went off, killing the perpetrator and injuring six others, four of them police officers.