In the News 23.6.08

Written by Naďa Straková
Aktuálně.cz CzechNews

Prague – The beginning of last week was not a good kick-off for Czechs, as their national team lost what looked like a shoo-in in their last game at the Euro 2008 football championship against Turkey. Home they went that very day.  

Squandering a 2-0 lead in the last minutes of the game, Czechs left much to be desiredin their uninspired and uninspiring effort.

TOO BIG ECO-FOOTPRINT. If all the people of the world reached the same standard of living as Czechs, we would need more than three Earth-sized planets to survive.

According to the New Economics Foundation, an independent British think-tank, Czechs consume too muchfood and energy and produce too little transportation and generate too much waste. The only consolation is they are not doing it alone, for most of the Western countries facethe similar problem. But is that really a consolation?

PANKRÁC SKYSCRAPERS. Can you picture another skyscraper in Pankrác? Czech conservationists and Arnika association definately cannot. They both battle against a high-rise building called Ice Tower that the Pankrác company plans to build.

“High-rise buildings in the immediate proximityof Prague’s historic centre are a lucrative business. But the construction of other high buildings on the city skyline may destroy the unique character of the capital,” Arnika´s Martin Skalský explains.

EARTHQUAKE IN TEMELÍN? Can the nuclear power plant Temelín be threatened by an earthquake, Austrian experts wonder. Czech experts consider the region around Temelín as “seismic standstill”, the Austrian experts think otherwise. The battle of different views should be decided in a a new special research which will be conducted in the surroundings of Temelín.

HORRID CHILD ABUSE. Last week also saw the first couple of hearings in the case of unprecedented child abuse in Czech crime history. It is quite safe to say not a single person present in the public trial would not feel sickened after hearing all the horrible things two boys of 8 and 10 were made to suffer. The case is all the more appallingas their mother participated in the torture.

NO MORE SMACKING SOON. The Kuřim case is all the more ironic when you consider the grudges Czech parents feel about the new law that bans smacking children. 80% of Czechs agree with corporal punishment as a corrective measure for naughty children. It looks like though, in two years they all will have obey the new bill that the human rights minister Džamila Stehlíková advocates.

DINO GOES EAST. It didn´t take long for Jan Koller, the Czech national team´s all-time top scoring player, to find a new employer after his 1.FC Nuremberg got relegated from German Bundesliga this year.

Dino (as in dinosaur), as the 35-year old striker is sometimes called for his unusual height (202 centimeters), is headed East to play for Russian Premier League´s FC Krylya Sovetov Samara. 

AUNG SAN SUU KYI´S BIRTHDAY. Supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi around the world marked the Burmese pro-democracy leader´s 63rd birthday on Thursday, while the birthday girl herself spent the day in isolation – something she has by now gotten used to, having spent nearly 13 out of the last 19 years in detention in her residence in Rangoon. Prague´s fans of Suu Kyi gathered at Jan Palach Square  for the occasion..

The symbolism of the meeting´s location wasn´s lost on the participants – the space formerly known as the Red Army square today bears the name of Jan Palach, a student at the nearby Philosophical Faculty whose self-immolation in January 1969, in protest against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia five months earlier, sent shockwaves across Europe and wider world.

AGAINST HOMOPHOBIA. Here is a tip for next weekend´s activity – if you do not know what to do and you want to witness the first gay and lesbian pride march, visit Brno, the capital of Moravia. Apart from joining the tradition of gay parades, the event is aimed at reducing the level of homophobia among Czechs.

SACROSANCT MASARYK. If your surname is Masaryk, forget about registering it as a trade mark. The name of the first president of Czechoslovakia – Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk – is so sacrosanct in the Czech Republicthat Slovak vintner Alojz Masaryk will have to rebrand his wines. But you can buy ties or socks named after incumbent president Klaus. Only in Germany, though.

15-MINUTE FAME FOR CZECHS. Czechs hit the global headlines again. But you know that whenever that happens, there is not much to celebrate. After the bed cage debacle brought by an undercover BBC report, this time Czech threat looms the Lisbon Treaty, as BBC reports.