Copyright (c) 2010 Radio Prague (Cesky Rozhlas 7 - Radio Praha)
News Sunday, July 25th, 2010
By: Ian Willoughby
* Around 1,000 people held a protest in Moravsky Krumlov on Sunday over
the moving of Alphonse Mucha's Slav Epic to Prague.
* Two police cars collided in Prague on Saturday evening.
* The Czech cyclist Roman Kreuziger has come ninth in the Tour de
France for the second year in a row.
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Protest in Moravsky Krumlov over move of Mucha masterpiece to Prague
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Around 1,000 people held a protest in Moravsky Krumlov on Sunday over
the moving of Alphonse Mucha's Slav Epic to Prague. The series of 20
paintings has been housed in Moravsky Krumlov castle for over 50 years
and is the town's main attraction. However its owner, the city of
Prague, will on Monday begin moving it to the capital, where it will be
displayed at the Veletrzni Palac modern art gallery. Mucha's heirs are
also opposed to such a move, which they regard as merely temporary. The
Art Nouveau pioneer gave the Slav Epic to Prague, on the condition that
the authorities built a dedicated home for his late masterpiece, a
condition that remains unfulfilled. Saturday was the 150th anniversary
of the birth of Alphonse Mucha in the Moravian town of Ivancice.
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Two police cars collide in Prague while in pursuit of other vehicle
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Two police cars collided in Prague on Saturday evening, the news
website idnes.cz reported. The vehicles, both using their sirens, were
in pursuit of another car when they crashed into one another at a
crossroads in the district of Holesovice. Although one of the police
cars came to a halt on its roof, there were no injuries. The driver
they were pursuing, who had sped off when challenged to pull over for a
roadside control, managed to escape.
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Ministry: Czech ID suffices to enter non-EU Serbia
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Though Serbia is not in the European Union, Czech tourists can enter
the country with a Czech state ID card and need not show a passport,
the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced on its website.
However, several other European states that are not members of the EU
have already extended this advantage to Czechs; they include Norway,
Switzerland and Iceland.
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Wife of Jiri Paroubek sparks row with comments about women in coalition
parties
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The wife of former Czech prime minister Jiri Paroubek has sparked a row
with comments she made about female members of parties in the recently
formed coalition government. Petra Paroubkova suggested the women had
slept their way into high office in an SMS message she sent to
reporters after losing a court case. Kristyna Koci of Public Affairs
said for her part she had gotten into politics thanks to the voters of
her constituency. Public Affairs' Katerina Klasnova, who is deputy
speaker of the lower house, recently married the party's main financial
backer, Vit Barta, who is minister of transport. Both women appeared
with female party colleagues in a "glamorous" calendar that has made
international news. Regarding Petra Paroubkova's suggestion, Communist
MP Miloslava Vostra said if she was to reply in the same tone, then the
former knew what she was talking about.
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Man arrested on suspicion of causing women's death in fire
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Police in Prague have arrested a 44-year-old man on suspicion of
setting fire to a prefabricated container-like building in which a
woman died. The body was discovered in the Prague 8 district on Friday
night. A post-mortem confirmed that the victim, who was 40 and not
Czech, had burnt to death. Police thanked members of the public who had
come forward with information about the incident.
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Cause of deaths of 2,000 fish unclear
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Around 2,000 carp died in a fishpond in the village of Luzenice in west
Bohemia, novinky.cz reported. Fire officers arrived at the scene on
Saturday and the cause of what the news website referred to as an
environmental disaster will now be determined by laboratory tests.
Several possible causes have been advanced, including chemicals running
off from nearby fields and a lack of oxygen in the water.
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Mikulov festival celebrates town's tradition of diversity
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An annual festival aimed at drawing attention to Mikulov's tradition of
cultural diversity and tolerance is being held in the south Moravian
town. Visitors to the three-day event, taking place this year for the
11th time, have been sampling various kinds of food from around the
region and beyond. One of the organisers told the Czech News Agency
that a noble family which ruled Mikulov for five centuries, the
Dietrichsteins, had tolerated 13 different religious faiths. The town,
which is near Vienna, was home to one of Moravia's biggest Jewish
communities.
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Czech cyclist Kreuziger comes ninth in Tour de France for second
consecutive year
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The Czech Republic's Roman Kreuziger has come ninth in the Tour de
France for the second year in a row, reaffirming his position as one of
the world's top cyclists. Kreuziger, who is 24, was junior world
champion in 2006 and has to date won the Tour de Romandie, the Tour de
Suisse and the Tour of Sardinia, making him one of the most successful
Czech cyclists of all time.
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Cech calls for change in rules to ensure substitute goalkeepers get
league medals
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The Czech football goalkeeper Petr Cech has called for a change in the
rules to allow substitute goalies to receive medals if they play any
part in a league competition. Currently all players have to have made
at least 10 appearances during a Premier League season to receive a
medal if their club win the title. But in an interview for the Observer
newspaper the Chelsea star said it never happens that a second choice
goalkeeper makes that many appearances in a league campaign. Cech said
the current regulation was "ridiculous" and should be amended to take
into account the different situation of back-up keepers.
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Weather
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We should see rain and sunshine in the Czech Republic in the next few
days. Temperatures are due to reach up to 23 degrees Celsius.
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Articles posted on www.radio.cz today
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Czech Books
Hearth and Horizon: cultural identity in a globalised world.
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This week's Czech Books visits the home of the distinguished
philosopher and author, Professor Erazim Kohak, to discuss his book,
Hearth and Horizon. After exile from Czechoslovakia in 1948, Professor
Kohak had a long academic career in the United States, and is Professor
Emeritus at Boston University. He returned to his native land in 1990,
and since then has continued to teach philosophy and write, is the
recipient of the highest academic and cultural honours, and is one of
those who could truly be called a public intellectual. Hearth and
Horizon is his book about cultural identity in a globalised world and
in particular asks the question - what does it mean to be Czech? I
first asked Professor Kohak what the impetus for writing the book had
been.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/130122
Letter from Prague
The perils of the Pilsen train stop
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For a few months from late July until the nights draw in from September
and force me to change my weekend timetable, I look out of the window
with some suspicion when my Prague-bound train pulls up at Pilsen on
Sunday evenings. The cause of my fear can usually be heard before it
appears: returning football supporters after an away game in the West
Bohemian city.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/130080
Mailbox
Mailbox 7.25.2010
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Today in Mailbox: heat in Prague, buying Czech produce, the Czech
pavilion at World Expo. Listeners quoted: Colin Rose, Chun-Quan Meng,
Charles Konecny, Xiu-Ping Qian.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/130084
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