Czech Republic

Radomir Luza Dead: Author And Professor Wrote About WWII Horrors

Philadelphia Daily News | John F. Morrison | Posted 12.21.2009 | Books


From bitter years of fighting the Germans, hiding underground and seeing comrades hunted and killed by the Gestapo, including his own father, then bat...

Memorial for Mary Broome is Sunday in GJ

Summit Daily News | Summit Daily | Posted 12.18.2009 | Home


Mary Elizabeth Broome May 25, 1969 - December 7, 2009 Mary Elizabeth Broome (40) and her dog, Precious, died in a car accident near Mexican ...

Mary Elizabeth Broome

Grand Junction Free Press | GJ Free Press | Posted 12.18.2009 | Home


Mary Elizabeth Broome, 40, and her dog, Precious, died in a car accident near Mexican Hat, Utah, on Dec. 7, 2009. She was born on May 25, 19...

A Holiday Focus on Inspirational Musician Tim Janis

Yvonne R. Davis | Posted 12.14.2009 | Impact


Yvonne R. Davis

Janis' music has been widely reported by many throughout the world to have healing qualities. Played in dozens of hospitals with the children and adults in cancer wards, patients and families swear to witnessing various miracles.

Assessing Obama's Foreign Policy: Guess Who Is Small Now?

Leon T. Hadar | Posted 11.30.2009 | World


Leon T. Hadar

Even a Roosevelt, a Kennedy or Reagan would have to deal with the reality that is facing Obama, in which domestic resistance and rising global challenges make it difficult for Washington to secure its military and economic hegemony.

Czech Republic: Iraq Planned Rocket Attack On Radio Free Europe

AP | KAREL JANICEK | Posted 11.30.2009 | World


PRAGUE — Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime planned to use an anti-tank rocket to attack the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in ...

Czechs Celebrate 20-Year-Anniversary Of The Fall Of Communism

AP | KAREL JANICEK | Posted 11.17.2009 | World


PRAGUE — Thousands marched through the Czech capital Tuesday in commemoration of a student protest 20 years ago that grew into the human tidal w...

Uncommon Knowledge: Vaclav Klaus

FORA.tv | FORA.tv | Posted 11.16.2009 | Home


Uncommon Knowledge: Vaclav Klaus Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1941 during WW II, Vaclav Klaus grew up during the Cold War. After earning a doct...

Think Tank's Advice To Europe: Stop 'Fetishizing' American Relationship

Spiegel Online | Gregor Peter Schmitz | Posted 11.03.2009 | World


The council released a study on Monday called "Toward a Post-American Europe," based on wide-ranging interviews and research conducted in the 27 EU me...

Remembering The Fall Of The Berlin Wall And Soviet Domination: Commentary

GlobalPost | Posted 11.02.2009 | World


I first saw the Berlin Wall in 1971. It was then about 10 years old and was the ugliest human structure I'd ever seen: gray, brutal, pitiless, unyield...

Ondra Completes 5.15a/b First Ascent 

Climbing Magazine | climbing | Posted 10.26.2009 | Home


10/26/09 - Adam Ondra, the 16-year-old from the Czech Republic, has completed his hardest route yet, and it was a first ascent: Marina Superstar (9a+/...

The Ironic Curtain, a Czech Film Series, Comes To New York

Brad Balfour | Posted 10.26.2009 | New York


Brad Balfour

The Ironic Curtain opens with the North American premiere of Pavel Koutecký and Miroslav Janek's intimate documentary, Citizen Havel, about the private and public life of this playwright turned president.

Obama Shouldn't Ignore Eastern Europe: Commentary

nytimes.com | MIRCEA GEOANA | Posted 10.23.2009 | World


The decision by the Obama administration to reshape its missile shield deployment in Central and Eastern Europe has been seen by some in the region as...

Switzerland, Slovakia qualify for World Cup

AP | STUART CONDIE | Posted 10.14.2009 | Home


— Switzerland and Slovakia earned Europe's final two automatic berths for next year's World Cup on Wednesday night, while Argentina tried to beat out Uruguay and Ecuador for South America's last certain spot in the 32-nation field.

Costa Rica played at the United States, which clinched its sixth straight berth last weekend, and the Ticos hoped to stay ahead of Honduras and gain the final automatic place from North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Portugal, Greece, Slovenia and Ukraine finished second in their groups and joined Bosnia-Herzegovina, France, Ireland and Russia in the European playoffs. They will be drawn into four pairs on Monday, and the winners of home-and-home, total-goals matches on Nov. 14 and 18 will qualify for next year's 32-nation field.

By the end of Wednesday, 23 of the 32 nations will have been determined for next year's tournament in South Africa.

In addition to the U.S., Mexico had ensured a berth in CONCACAF, while Denmark, England, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Serbia and Spain had clinched automatic berths in Europe. Brazil, Chile and Paraguay had earned berths from South America, and Australia, Japan, North Korea and South Korea won Asia's spots. Ghana and Ivory Coast joined host South Africa, which qualified automatically as host.

Counter-Factual History: McCain Is President and Bono Wins the Nobel Prize

Leon T. Hadar | Posted 10.14.2009 | World


Leon T. Hadar

"I have to admit that I'm beginning to miss George W. Bush," is the way former Republican Senator "Chuck" Hagel responded when being asked by CNN's Wolf Blitzer to assess the foreign policy record of the administration of Republican President John McCain.

Full Throttle to Hyperlocal News in Czech Republic

Magda Abu-Fadil | Posted 10.13.2009 | Media


Magda Abu-Fadil

In the Czech Republic, "news cafés" are springing up, where people can relax, meet, down some brew, see their local paper being produced, mingle with editors and contribute copy.

Czech leader demands addition of footnote to Lisbon Treaty

The Independent | Independent | Posted 10.08.2009 | Home


The Czech President, Vaclav Klaus, raised a new obstacle to ratifying the Lisbon Treaty yesterday, telling Sweden, which holds the EU presid...

New missile defense plan bets on Navy interceptors

AP | RICHARD LARDNER | Posted 11.30.2009 | Home


WASHINGTON — Ever since President Ronald Reagan proposed building a ballistic missile shield in 1983 to prevent a doomsday scenario, the idea has been dogged by an unanswered question: Will it work?

The prime target during the Reagan era was Russian missiles. A scaled-down defensive system recently proposed by the Obama administration would aim to shoot down warheads from Iran, which has heightened concerns by building a clandestine uranium enrichment plant and test firing missiles this week with a range of up to 1,200 miles.

But even as the U.S. prepares to meet on Thursday with Iranian officials in Geneva over the regime's nuclear ambitions, the administration's reliance on missile defense to guard against the unthinkable still amounts to a gamble.

Components of the latest system have shone in controlled test environments, but the new plan relies heavily on radars and ship-based interceptors that haven't endured real battle conditions.

"We're not building all these missile defense systems because we're worried about Iran firing a rocket with TNT on it," said Philip Coyle, the Pentagon's chief of weapons testing from 1994 to 2001. "We're worried about nuclear weapons, and nobody knows whether missile defenses can work with nuclear weapons going off."

Spider On Pope (PICTURE, VIDEO): Spider Crawls On Pope Benedict's Face During Speech In Prague

AP | Posted 11.26.2009 | World


PRAGUE (AP) — President Barack Obama had his fly. Now Pope Benedict XVI has his spider. A large arachnid appeared on the pope's white robes as ...

Medvedev lauds US move on missile defense

AP | SLOBODAN LEKIC | Posted 11.23.2009 | Home


Russian president Dmitry Medvedev lauded on Wednesday the Obama administration's decision to scrap plans for an Eastern Europe-based missile shield, a major irritant in relations with Moscow.

"We view this decision as a constructive step in the right direction that deserve a positive response from the international community," Medvedev said, referring to Washington's decision last week to shelve a Bush-era plan for an Eastern European missile defense shield.

President Barack Obama attributed his decision to abandon the plan to deploy U.S. radars and strategic missile interceptors in the Czech Republic and Poland, to a changed perception of the threat posed by Iran.

He said the U.S. government now considered that short- and medium-range missiles from Iran now pose a greater near-term threat than the intercontinental ballistic missiles the Bush plan addressed. A proposed new missile-defense plan would rely on a network of sensors and interceptor missiles based at sea, on land and in the air as a bulwark against any potential Iranian attack.

The original missile defense plan was one of the thorniest issues in U.S.-Russian relations. Obama has sought to improve ties with the Kremlin, declaring he wanted to "reset" relations with the former Cold War rival.

With Missile Shield Change, National Interests Get a Leg Up on the Military-Industrial Complex

Leon T. Hadar | Posted 11.22.2009 | World


Leon T. Hadar

Remember the good-old days when the perceived Soviet threat was a constant opportunity for politicians, bureaucrats and interest groups to stimulate new arms races?

Poles, Czechs: U.S. Missile Defense Shift A "Betrayal"

AP | VANESSA GERA | Posted 11.18.2009 | World


WARSAW, Poland — Poles and Czechs voiced deep concern Friday at President Barack Obama's decision to scrap a Bush-era missile defense shield pla...

Report: Obama to shelve Bush's plan for missile shield in Europe

Haaretz. | Haaretz | Posted 11.16.2009 | Home


The White House will shelve Bush administration plans to build a missile-defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, the Wall Street Journal repo...

U.S. To Shelve Bush's Nuclear-Missile Shield

AP | ANNE GEARAN | Posted 11.16.2009 | World


WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama abruptly canceled a long-planned missile shield for Eastern Europe on Thursday, replacing a Bush-era project...

Prague: Monstertown

David Parker | Posted 11.15.2009 | Comedy


David Parker

To avoid being robbed of all my korunas and left for dead on a Mala Strana sidewalk, I ducked into a bookstore. In the window, two books were prominently displayed: Mein Kampf and Winnie the Pooh.