News

Attempt to abolish regulated rents fails

The Constitutional Court has ruled against invalidating an article of the law that allows the government to de-regulate rents gradually. The Court was dealing with the case on the grounds of a complaint from house owners who claim that the ceilings on rents are so low that they do not collect enough money to cover maintenance costs. The Constitutional Court ruled that although the respective article of the law would not be abolished the courts themselves could begin the process of rent-deregulation by judging complaints on a case by case basis. Czech house owners have filed more than 3,000 complaints with the European Court of Human Rights over rent-deregulation.

Police president to crack down on corruption

The police president Vladislav Husak wants to crack down on corruption inside the police force. He unveiled on Tuesday a package of anti-corruption measures which include built in cameras at police stations and in police cars and equipment which would enable drivers to pay fines with their credit cards. The aim is for there to be as few transactions in cash as possible, Mr. Husak said. An anti-corruption hot line is already in operation and a special commission is to be set up to deal with individual cases.

Former football referees fined

A Czech court on Tuesday fined two former football referees 70,000 koruna (around 2,400 euros) for their part in trying to fix the result of a first division league game in November 2003. Lubomir Pucek, a former referee and the current sporting manager of first division Czech football club Slavia Prague, and Jiri Vodicka were sentenced by a court in Havirov, in the east of the Czech Republic. Vodicka also received a two-year ban from refereeing any games. Both men have said they will appeal the verdict.

Foreign trade surplus

Figures released by the Czech Statistics Office show that in January the Czech Republic posted a foreign trade surplus of 11.2 billion crowns (467 million dollars). According to the Statistics Office the result was driven by exports of cars and machinery. The CTK news agency says analysts had predicted a marked surplus of exports over imports.

Express train derails

An express train derailed just outside the Pardubice railway station at around 1 pm on Tuesday. No injuries were reported. Rail workers said the poor state of the rails was most likely to blame. The cause of the accident is being investigated.

Vote on gay-marriage bill postponed

The lower house of Parliament has put off voting on a same-sex registered partnership bill until next Tuesday. The bill which would legalize gay marriages in the Czech Republic had already passed through both houses of Parliament but President Klaus' veto sent it back to the lower house. The bill's advocates would need a majority of 101 votes to override the president's veto, and have postponed the vote in order to make sure that as many deputies as possible are present.

Czechs giving more money to charities

The number of Czechs who contribute to charities is on the rise. Four out five Czechs said in a poll they had contributed to some humanitarian organization in the course of the last two years. Seventy percent of people polled said they now contribute to charities regularly, that's up from 45 percent in 2004. The increase in solidarity has been apparent ever since the tsunami disaster in south east Asia when Czechs collected a record sum of money in emergency aid.

Janda places 8th at World Cup ski jump event

Czech ski jumper Jakub Janda placed eighth at the World Cup ski jump event in Finland on Tuesday. The only other Czech to make it to the second round was Borek Sedlak who came in 30th. The victory went to Andreas Kuttel from Switzerland who defended his lead in the first round with a 129 metres jump.

Weather:

Wednesday is expected to be partly cloudy to overcast with scattered snow showers and day temperatures between 3 and minus 1 degrees Celsius.