News
PM comments on Germany's elections
Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek of the Social Democrats has said the election results in neighbouring Germany could be motivating for his party and inspiring for the voters. Prime Minister Paroubek emphasised the fact that Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats got only three seats fewer than the Christian Democrats whom pre-election opinion polls had suggested would be the clear winners. Mr Paroubek also said such a balanced election result in Germany was favourable for Czech national interests and could not be expected to bring any changes in Czech-German relations.
Poll: Civic Democrats would take 32.8 of vote
A poll by the STEM agency suggests that if elections were held today in the Czech Republic, the opposition right-of-centre Civic Democrats would be the winners, with 32.8 percent of the vote. The ruling Social Democrats would come second with 21.1 percent, followed by the Communists with 13.5 percent. The next general elections in the Czech Republic are scheduled for mid-next year.
Paroubek wants Bublan to submit information on neo-Nazi concert
Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek has asked Interior Minister Frantisek Bublan to explain why police did not intervene during Saturday's concert of neo-Nazi bands in south Bohemia, although racist slogans and the "Sieg Heil" Nazi salute were chanted at the concert. The lower house defence and security committee will discuss the matter on Tuesday.
Italy asks for extradition of convicted mafia boss
Italy has asked the Czech authorities for the extradition of Luigi Putrone, a Sicilian mafia boss who had been convicted in absentia of a number of crimes committed in the 1980s and 1990s. They included the kidnapping and murder of a 13-year-old boy, the son of a Mafia informer. For at least the last five years Putrone had been living under an assumed name in the north Bohemian town of Usti nad Labem where he was arrested by Czech police last month.
Writer Pavel Kohout fails at Strasbourg court - press
Czech writer Pavel Kohout and his wife Jelena Masinova failed with their complaint against the Czech Republic over protracted court proceedings, presented to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, the daily Hospodarske noviny wrote on Monday. Mr Kohout and his wife complained about the length of court proceedings deciding on the copyright for a Czechoslovak film on which they participated in the 1960s. The Strasbourg court ruled that the proceedings, which lasted for seven years, were not groundlessly protracted. Until now, 61 complaints against the Czech Republic have been lodged with the Strasbourg court and the country won only four cases including this latest one.
Premiership appeals to me says Czech star Koller
Borussia Dortmund's Czech international striker Jan Koller admits he is still uncertain where he will be playing next season but admitted it would be outside of the Bundesliga. The 32-year-old Koller turned down a contract offer from Dortmund and will leave at the end of the season, when his contract expires, but he is not rushing his decision. Koller, a 12 million euro signing from Anderlecht in 2001, admits a move to the English Premiership is enticing. The Czech target-man quashed suggestions that he was prepared to join Dortmund's local rivals Schalke 04.
Sparta players and staff attacked by angry fans after defeat
Players and staff at Sparta Prague came under attack from angry fans after the reigning Czech football league champions fell to a 2:0 defeat at the weekend, a club spokeswoman said on Monday. Around 60 radical supporters managed to get into Sparta's stadium after the bus carrying the team returned from their away defeat to eleventh-placed FC Slovacko, a spokeswoman said, adding that "tighter security measures" would be put in place during Sparta's home match this Saturday against Banik Ostrava. But she declined to comment on reports that coach Jaroslav Hrebik and his family were under police protection.
Weather
We can expect partly cloudy skies in the next couple of days with daytime temperatures just under 20 degrees Celsius.
