• Flights resume at Prague Airport
    01/25/2007

    Flights from Prague's Ruzyne airport resumed at 9 a.m. on Thursday. The airport had been closed for almost 30 hours due to heavy snows. The closure forced airlines to cancel hundreds of flights, stranding thousands of passengers.

    The heavy snows also caused a marked increase in road accidents; there were over 1,100 accidents on Wednesday, more than twice the usual number, police said.

    Firefighters have issued a warning against falling icicles. They have removed dangerous icicles at scores of locations in Prague alone. Ambulance crews, meanwhile, say they have been called out to deal with dozens of injuries caused by people slipping on snow and ice.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Cunek gives conflicting explanations over alleged bribe
    01/25/2007

    Deputy Prime Minister Jiri Cunek has apparently given conflicting explanations as to the origin of half a million crowns which he is accused of having taken as a bribe. Police suspect the Christian Democrats leader of receiving the money from a building company when he was mayor of the town of Vsetin. In recent days Senator Cunek has said the money represented family savings. But police say that during earlier questioning he said he had forgotten where he got the money.

    The Senate's immunity committee has recommended that Mr Cunek be stripped of his parliamentary immunity to allow criminal proceedings against him to begin. A final decision will be made in about two weeks' time.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Hospital orderly may have killed up to 13, says Health Ministry
    01/25/2007

    Former orderly Petr Zelenka may have killed up to five more patients than previously believed at a hospital in Havlickuv Brod, according to a Health Ministry expert commission. Zelenka has been charged with using a blood-thinning drug to kill eight patients, but Health Minister Tomas Julinek said the real number of victims could be up to 13.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Vaidisova loses in Australian Open semi-finals
    01/25/2007

    The Czech women's tennis number one Nicole Vaidisova has failed to reach her first Grand Slam final. Vaidisova, who is 17, was beaten 7-6 6-4 in the semi-finals of the Australian Open by Serena Williams of the United States.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Ski-jumper communicating with doctors but still in serious condition
    01/25/2007

    Ski-jumper Jan Mazoch has regained consciousness but remains in a very serious condition. Mazoch, who is 21, had a bad crash during a ski-jump competition in Poland at the weekend. He is able to speak to doctors but has a serious head wound and concussion.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czech skiing season set to start finally this weekend
    01/25/2007

    After a delay caused by unseasonably warm weather, the Czech skiing season should finally start this weekend, Lidove noviny reported. Ski-lift operators said they expect skiers to take to the Czech slopes from Saturday, following heavy snowfalls in many parts of the country this week.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Power giant CEZ receives bomb threat
    01/25/2007

    The state power company CEZ has received an anonymous bomb threat, TV Nova reported. An anonymous caller said an attack on one of the company's facilities would take place on Thursday. Police are monitoring a number of CEZ facilities around the country.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Minister of Culture, Helena Trestikova, has resigned from her post
    01/24/2007

    Minister of Culture, Helena Trestikova has resigned from her post just days after taking office. Ms Trestikova announced her resignation in a letter to Czech Television. She had previously stated that she was unhappy at being pressurised by Civic Democrat Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek to appoint a deputy of his choosing. Filmmaker Ms. Trestikova had been nominated as Minister of Culture by the Christian Democrats, one of the smaller coalition parties in the new administration.
    Author: Coilin O'Connor

  • Former Minister sentenced to five years in jail
    01/24/2007

    Vladimir Mlynar, the former IT minister has been sentenced by Prague City Court to five and a half years in jail for abusing his position as a public official and misusing state funds. The former Freedom Union minister was found guilty of using Testcom, an Internet portal company subsidized and supervised by the state, to fund a private company of a similar name. In October 2003, he earmarked 7.5 million CZK (approx. 345,000 USD) from Testcom's budget for this purpose. Mr Mlynar has appealed the decision.
    Author: Coilin O'Connor

  • Heavy snowfall causes traffic chaos around the country
    01/24/2007

    Heavy snow in the Czech Republic has caused transport chaos around the country. Traffic along the main highway from Prague to Brno was paralyzed for hours following a collision between two trucks in the early hours of the morning and many of the country's smaller roads are impassable. Prague's Ruzyne Airport has had to cancel all flights and will remain closed for until tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, the inclement weather has already claimed one victim. On Wednesday afternoon, a thirty-year old man died in the Moravian city of Ostrava when he lost control of his car on a slippery road and crashed into an oncoming truck.

    Meteorologists predict that it will continue snowing across the country until the weekend and that the snow could be up to half a meter deep in some areas.
    Author: Coilin O'Connor

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