Current Affairs | All stories

After months of criticism, Prague City Hall has admitted mistakes were made in the reconstruction of Charles Bridge, one of the capital’s most significant landmarks. City Hall has fined itself some 54,000 crowns (just under 3,000 USD) for the shortcomings – a fine which has been branded by some as ‘meaningless’ and ‘ridiculous’.

In the height of summer, no invitation is more common in the Czech Republic than “Let’s grab a beer”. Although business is down, most evening pubs still get their share of clientele enjoying the golden beverage. Now though, a venue in the eastern town of Olomouc has taken things a step further, not just allowing customers to drink but also to learn a thing or two about brewing.

The Czech Republic has been picked out as one of the worst hit countries for invasive plants and animals by a European study. Although the invaders can damage crops and severely impact biodiversity not much has been done so far to counter them. Environmental groups hope the new research could get things moving.

Global warming is climbing ever higher up the agenda as world leaders prepare for a key meeting in December to agree on emissions cuts. The Czech Republic would have liked to go to the Copenhagen meeting brandishing a successful flagship programme for saving energy and cutting greenhouse gases. Unfortunately that programme has got a cool response and has been hurriedly overhauled.

Few rabbis and Jewish scholars became part of legends of non-Jewish people. But one, Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel who lived in Prague at the turn of the 17th century, has long been part of a Czech national legend which describes the creation of the mythical Golem. The Jewish Museum in Prague has staged an exhibition at Prague Castle to commemorate the life of the great rabbi.

When it comes to equal pay, the Czech Republic is floundering far below average, suggests research conducted by the University of Cambridge. A report into employment and pay in 10 European countries found that while Czech women worked in more or less the same jobs as Czech men, they were very far from enjoying the same wages. A little earlier, I spoke to the report’s author Dr Robert Blackburn to ask him about this new research:

A Prague court on Friday opened the case of Zbynek Veselsky – a doctor who made a fine business out of curing cancer with costly injections. His patients never had cancer and the injections he gave them were vitamin B. The case has evoked public outrage and raised many questions relating to medical ethics and the role of the Czech Doctors’ Chamber.

Bailiffs are one group who look like they are prospering from the recession. Their business of reclaiming debts from those who can not pay is going from strength to strength as Czechs continue buying even though their bank balances can not keep pace.

Anything can get misplaced, even masterpieces of art, and caretakers at Prague Castle were well relieved this week when they rediscovered the 15th century wooden Statue of the Crucified Christ, 20 years after losing track of where it was stored. As it turns out, the statue they feared was lost forever was just a short way down the road from its proper home in the Basilica of Saint George. Earlier I spoke with Magda Machková, the curator of permanent collections at Prague Castle, who told me the story.

The Czech health authorities on Thursday announced that after carefully assessing the risks presented by a possible swine flu epidemic, they would await the outcome of clinical tests before acquiring a flu vaccine for the country’s high risk groups. While many specialists approve, some are calling the decision irresponsible.