News of Radio Prague

Foreign ministry: immigration procedure not discriminatory

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kavan said on Friday he had no indications of discrimination of Roma citizens in strict new immigration controls at Prague's Ruzyne airport introduced by the British government. The measures are aimed at limiting the inflow of Roma asylum seekers to the UK. Mr Kavan said after meeting the British ambassador to Prague, David Broucher, that the procedure was legal and in no sense discriminatory. However, Roma themselves as well as some human rights organisations are calling for the measures to be abolished.

Roma in Ostrava organise neighbourhood patrols

The Roma community on the city of Ostrava, Northern Moravia, have established neighbourhood patrols to report cases of racial discrimination and racially motivated attacks to the police. Four-member groups will start patrolling the streets on Wednesday. They will also monitor whether restaurants and discotheques discriminate against Roma customers. According to Roma representatives, the decision comes in reaction to the latest attack against Roma citizens by neo-Nazi skinheads. The aim is to make sure the police know about racially motivated offences, which they say are frequent in Ostrava.

A high-ranking police officer has been found guilty of bribery

A district court in Prague has sentenced a high-ranking police officer, Jan Mares, to three years in prison for corruption and abuse of office and prohibited him from serving in the police force for ten years. Mares was investigating an economic crime case involving the company Skloexport. In 1998, he promised a member of Skloexport's board of directors impunity in the case and received a bribe of 250,000 CZK from him.

Opposition parties critical of draft state budget

Economic experts belonging to opposition parties represented in parliament have said that the draft state budget approved by the government this week overestimates revenues. They also criticise the fact that the government included proceeds from privatisation in the budget revenues. Some MPs for the ruling Social Democratic Party expect that the opposition parties, which have a majority in the Lower House, will reject the budget at least once. The government's draft state budget includes a deficit of 10 billion Czech crowns, in line with political agreements between the minority ruling Social Democrats and the senior opposition Civic Democrats.

Czech weather report

And finally, the weather forecast. Saturday and Sunday should be hot and sunny. On both days, we are expecting virtually cloudless skies with the highest daytime temperatures ranging from 25 to 29 degrees Celsius.