Karel Kryl, perhaps the greatest Czech protest singer ever, died on this
day 25 years ago, at the age of only 49. Kryl’s spare and highly poetic
songs such as Bratříčku zavírej vrátka (Close the Gate, Little
Czech President Miloš Zeman is attending a meeting of heads of state of
the Bucharest Nine, the countries making up the eastern flank of NATO,
hosted by Slovak president in Košice on Thursday.
The main objective of the meeting, which is also attended by NATO Secretary
Industrial regions, which feature large communities of foreign workers will
be regularly policed by joint patrols made up of policemen from the Czech
Republic, Slovakia and Poland, Interior Minister Jan Hamáček told
War veteran Emil Boček is due to receive the Order of the White Lion,
first class, on October 28, the anniversary of the foundation of
Czechoslovakia. A pilot with the RAF during World War II, he previously
On February 25 1969, exactly one month after Jan Palach, another man set
himself alight in protest to Czechoslovak apathy following the Soviet
invasion of 1968. The name of the second human torch was Jan Zajíc, a high
The roots of Czechoslovak punk stretch 40 years back, to a concert of an
alternative band called Extempore. The gig took place on February 23, 1979
in a Prague pub U Zábranských, and featured several cover versions of
They may not feature sharp alpine peaks, but the Jeseníky Mountains are
beautiful in their own right. The Silesian mountain range offers an
enjoyable pastime to both skiers and mountain hikers, who can also view the
Thousands of people in the Czech Republic and Slovakia attended rallies on
Thursday evening in to mark the first anniversary of the murder of Slovak
investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová.
In tennis, No 2 seed Petra Kvitová reached the semi-finals at the Dubai
Championships on Thursday, after defeating Viktória Kužmová of Slovakia
6-4, 6-0. The two-time Wimbledon champion will face Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei
Thursday is the first anniversary of the shocking murder of Ján Kuciak, a
young Slovak journalist who was gunned down with his fiancée. One year on
rallies in the couple’s honour are being held in Slovakia and Prague,
