Czech the funk
/ 5 March 2010

Czech the funk

Silenced by communism 40 years ago, Czechoslovakia’s ‘funky as hell’ music of the 1960s and 1970s has been given a new voice.

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/ 20 March 2008

Snowstorm causes 100-car pile-up in Czech Republic

About 100 cars collided in a huge pile-up in a heavy snowstorm in the Czech Republic on Thursday, completely blocking its main highway, officials said. Six people were seriously injured and about 18 others suffered light injuries in accidents on the road from the capital, Prague, to the south-eastern city of Brno, said regional governor Milos Vystrcil.

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/ 24 January 2008

Back to Africa for endangered antelopes

Lili, Demi and Mek, three female antelopes born in a Czech zoo, will soon be set free in Swaziland under a programme to reintroduce endangered species to their African homeland. Swaziland’s last living example of the roan antelope was killed in a trap almost half-a-century ago in 1961.

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/ 26 April 2007

R190 000 bonus after Christmas-tree mishap

A Czech court ruled on Thursday that a British tourist who was seriously injured when a Christmas tree collapsed on top of him should receive 560 000 koruna (about R190 000) compensation. British tourist Malcolm Tuffin suffered a fractured femur and injuries to his spine and chest when the 23m tree fell on top of him.

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/ 22 December 2006

Czechs launch war on Santa, ‘usurper’ of Christmas

Czechs have launched an ”anti-Santa” campaign against the white-bearded usurper they fear is edging out the infant Jesus or ”Jezisek”, the traditional bearer of seasonal gifts for centuries. ”I do not have any wish to see a fat man dragging a bag at Christmas. I want to retain my own vision of the infant Jesus,” said the founder of the campaign, Prague publicity agency manager, Petr Vlasak.

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/ 19 October 2006

Startled giraffes die after zoo power failure

Three young giraffes died at a Czech zoo, famed for its work on endangered species, as a result of a power cut, the head of the zoo said on Thursday. ”When the power came on again in their enclosure after the power failure, the animals were startled by the lamps. They bolted and suffered fatal injuries when they fell,” the zoo said.

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/ 24 August 2006

Pluto kicked out of planet club

Pluto on Thursday lost its seven-decade status as the ninth and outermost planet of the solar system, the world’s top astrononomical body decided. The decision was made at an assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). ”The eight planets are Mercury, Earth, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune,” said the IAU.

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/ 21 August 2006

Evergreen Capirossi still has what it takes

Italian Loris Capirossi, starting from second in the grid on a Ducati, won the Czech MotoGP, the 12th leg of the world championship, in Brno on Sunday 16 years after his maiden victory in the 125cc category. Capirossi took an early lead in the 22-lap race, at one point opening up a near-eight-second gap on the chasing pack.

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/ 17 August 2006

Pluto set to be a planet and a pluton

The question of whether Pluto is a real planet, hotly debated by scientists for decades, came to a head on Wednesday when the global astronomers’ body proposed a definition of a planet that raises their number to 12 from nine. Pluto would remain a planet but would fall into a newly created category called ”plutons”.

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/ 1 August 2006

Czech Republic holds a feast for the eyes

A feast for the eyes awaits any hiker or biker who struggles up the steep grade to reach a mountain peak in the tiny village of Peklo, Czech Republic. Peklo is home to one of the scores of scenic overlooks that dot the mountain and cliff-tops throughout the Jizerske Hory mountain range, about 150km north of Prague.

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/ 3 May 2006

Suppressed Freud makes comeback

After decades under suspicion, Sigmund Freud is making a comeback in the country of his birth 150 years ago, where he left a legacy complex enough to merit a few sessions on the couch. In Prague, seminars, conferences and public exhibitions over his influence on art, as well as smaller events in his birthplace Pribor, all testify to something of a Freud revival in the Czech Republic.

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/ 3 April 2006

Czech Republic declares flood emergency

Czech officials declared a state of emergency in seven flood-hit regions while rivers continued to rise in neighbouring European countries on Monday, forcing evacuations in some areas. Flooding was reported in Germany, Poland, Hungary, Austria and Slovakia. The Elbe River swelled toward a new peak in Germany on Monday.