Panorama | All stories

Over a million people in the Czech Republic are in some way disabled. In addition to the health problems this entails and the social stigma associated with physical and mental disabilities, their chances of finding work are slim. A foundation that helps people with disabilities find jobs has launched a unique project aimed at breaking down existing prejudices and giving more people with disabilities a chance on the labour market. Filip Zoubek, who is project manager, explains that the Heartwrenchers campaign is based on give-and-take.

Doctor Jan Trachta is a pediatric surgeon who has spent the last five years working for Doctors Without Borders (MSF). This week he was back in Prague for the launch of his first book Tichý dech in which he shares his experiences from field missions in the Congo and Haiti. He visited Radio Prague’s studio this week to talk about his life and work.

Cuba has one of the world’s most restrictive media environments; it habitually ranks in the bottom ten on the Freedom of the Press Index as one of the ten worst countries in the world for journalists and bloggers. The U.S. government’s Miami-based Radio and TV Martí broadcasters works tirelessly to get around Havana’s censorship, and come up with novel ways to disseminate information on the island. Carlos Garcia-Perez, who runs the operation, attended this week’s Forum 2000 conference in Prague and on a visit to Radio Prague’s studios he spoke

In its quarterly report on national security the Czech intelligence service BIS recently warned of an alarming rise in anti-Roma sentiments among the public. The report referred to a growing number of anti-Roma marches in Czech towns and cities organized by ultra-right groups but openly supported by many ordinary citizens. There are concerns that the Roma are being made a scapegoat for the country’s social problems and that growing hostility towards the Roma minority will make coexistence even harder.

This week the heads of Czech cultural centers from around the world met in Prague to exchange ideas and discuss joint projects. The head of the Czech centre in London Tereza Porybná visited Radio Prague’s studio to talk about the centre’s past achievements and future projects. I began by asking her about this year’s cultural highlights.

Judita Matyášová is a young Czech journalist who by pure chance happened to come upon the story of some 700 Jewish children from around central Europe who were smuggled to Denmark to escape the Holocaust. Unlike the story of Nicolas Winton’s children this one had not been researched and Judita made it her own special project to find as many of the 100 Czech children as she could, reunite them and tell their story. Her close to three year endeavor is the topic of a book due to come out in October. Judita visited Radio Prague’s studio this week to

A military bunker in Brdy that reportedly housed Soviet nuclear warheads during the years of the Cold War has been turned into an Atom Museum. It opened to the public last week attracting military buffs and historians from far and wide.

The signs of climate change that Europe has been witnessing in the spring and summer of this year have severely impacted some of the country’s bird species. Persistent rain during the spring months, storms and heavy floods decimated the young population of white storks in an unprecedented measure. Many of the newly hatched young died in their nests, elsewhere nests remained completely empty. In this edition of Panorama I talk to ornithologist Petr Voříšek about the fate of this and other endangered bird species in connection with the ongoing environmental

The 1948 communist takeover of Czechoslovakia radically changed people’s lives overnight. Those who refused to accept that change risked their lives to flee the country, leaving behind their families, their home and everything dear to them. One of those who went in search of a better life in the free world was Karel Ulvr – a teenager who ostensibly left home for school but instead undertook a daring flight across the Czech-German border. This week he visited Radio Prague’s studio and talked about a decision that changed his life.

As of July 1st, a new regulation on the protection of greenery will make it easier for people to chop down trees in their own gardens and backyards. The new regulation has been welcomes by thousands of house owners who previously had to ask for permission to fell trees on their own premises and by city hall officials who will now have much less paperwork to deal with. However green activists are ringing alarm bells and warning that the regulation plays into the hands of developers.