Articles posted on www.radio.cz today
News
Czech and US negotiators have begun another round of talks on defining the conditions under which US soldiers will be deployed at a planned radar base in central Bohemia.
The government has rejected the idea of paying compensation to Czechoslovaks who lost their property in Subcarpathian Ruthenia after the war.
Growth of the Czech economy should slow to 4.2 percent this year, according to a report by the IMF.
Current Affairs: First Czech five star hotel wins EU ecological award
The first five star hotel in the Czech Republic has been awarded the prestigious EU-Eco Label award for environmental friendliness. The Hotel Chateau Mcely near Nymburk in the central Bohemian countryside may be luxuriously equipped and charge up to 44 000Kc (2,700 US dollars) a night for it's most exclusive suite, but it is certainly not lavish at the expense of the environment. Every care has been taken to ensure that while guests are pampered and indulged, they are treated in a way which is ecologically responsible as well as. This has meant that the hotel, located in a restored and reconstructed Czech chateau, is now proudly able to show the EU flower mark alongside its five stars. Jamie Brindley spoke to the owner and manger of the project, Jim Cusumano, about how the hotel has gone about setting its environmental standards so high.
Current Affairs: Poll: Majority of Czechs oppose ban on physical punishment
Last month the Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Džamila Stehlíková proposed legislation which would ban the spanking or smacking of children on the grounds that in some cases such treatment can border on child abuse. The introduction of such legislation would see the Czech Republic join other EU countries, including neighbouring Germany. But so far, a majority of ordinary Czechs have said they are against such a move.
Current Affairs: National park protection divides ministry, municipalities
What is more important: protecting nature or protecting municipal property? This question is at the heart of a dispute between the Ministry of Environment and municipalities bordering on the Šumava National Park. Environment Minister Martin Bursík this week confirmed his decision to keep the most valuable parts of the Šumava National Park untouched, declining an appeal filed by 15 local municipalities for him to allow trees to be cut down and other measures. They argue that leaving the forest untouched may cause an epidemic of bark-beetle.
Current Affairs: Czech Republic hails success of international drug-bust operation
Czech customs officials have concluded an ongoing international operation designed to bust drugs networks smuggling cocaine to Europe. They have hailed the action as a success, with 31 people arrested for serious drug-related offenses. The police now view the Czech Republic as not only a transit country, but increasingly also as a final destination for many of the world's illegal narcotics.
Czechs in History: Czech Egyptology – from humble beginnings to international renown
Czech Egyptologists have an impressive international reputation, so much so that a new exhibition opened in Cairo this week charting the work Czechs have been doing in the field over the past five decades. The opening, which has received plenty of coverage here in the Czech press, was even attended by President Václav Klaus. Away from the pyramids and back in Prague, I paid a visit to the Czech Institute of Egyptology to meet research fellow Hana Navrátilová. She told me about the history of Czech Egyptology and its main proponents:
