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11/23/2006
The 10 newest members of the European Union stand to receive a huge cash injection from non-member Switzerland this weekend if Swiss voters approve controversial government plans for a one billion Swiss franc (630 million euro) grant. About half of the 10-year development package would go to Poland, ahead of Hungary and the Czech Republic, but the plan is opposed by right-wing isolationists in Switzerland who sought the referendum. The grant would be spent on chosen projects, ranging from fighting corruption, health care, cleaning up the environment, to promoting private enterprise including investment in small and medium sized companies.
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11/23/2006
Czech Foreign Minister Alexandr Vondra received a special "ambassador" on Thursday - a barrel of beer. The barrel, delivered by a horse-drawn carriage from the country's brewing capital, Pilsen, was given the red carpet treatment at the foreign ministry. Signed by Czech President, Vaclav Klaus, sporting personalities and citizens from the West Czech city, the "ambassador at large" will be dispatched on a special mission to Brussels next Tuesday to help the Czech Republic fight an EU proposal to increase excise taxes on beer.
EU finance ministers are due to debate the issue with the Finnish EU Presidency trying to win backing for a compromise proposal that can be swallowed by Europe's traditional beer drinking giants, such as the Czech Republic and Germany.
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11/23/2006
Police in the city of Brno say they caught Civic Democrat MP David Seich drunk driving on Wednesday but Mr Seich has dismissed the accusation. The police stopped Mr Seich's car that was driving along an opposition direction stripe. A breathalyser test showed he had been drinking alcohol. David Seich, 30, faces proceedings before a commission for misdemeanours or before the lower house mandate and immunity committee. If an ordinary citizen had a similar incident, they would face a fine up to 50,000 crowns and could be stripped of their driving licence for up to two years.
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11/22/2006
Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek has launched a new round of talks on forming a government that would end a five-month parliamentary stalemate and move the country towards early elections. After appointed PM for a second time, Mr Topolanek, chairman of the right-of-centre Civic Democrats, is now looking to form a broad coalition with his party's rivals the Social Democrats, the centrist Christian Democrats, and possibly the Green Party. The Social Democrats, who have lost ground in opinion polls, do not want elections until 2008 at the earliest. The Greens, on the other hand, support a spring 2007 vote.
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11/22/2006
Around 200 Czech sugar beet growers protested outside the German and British embassies in Prague on Wednesday against plans by the Anglo-German sugar refining giant Eastern Sugar to close its central European plants. Czech sugar beet growers say Eastern Sugar's closure plans will affect 22.5 percent of the country's EU-set sugar production quota in a single stroke. About 20 percent of the country's 900 sugar beet farmers fear their market will disappear. The chairman of the association of sugar beet growers of Moravia and Silesia, Josef Uchytil, says the Czech Republic is likely to be turned into a net sugar importer because of the changes.
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11/22/2006
The government has decided that the chief of the military office of the Czech President, Vlastimil Picek, will replace Pavel Stefka in the post of chief of staff as of next March when General Stefka's term of office expires. The nomination has yet to be approved by President Vaclav Klaus who is also commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces.
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11/22/2006
The Prague High Court has sentenced David Lubina, found guilty of the murder of a TV technician, to 25 years in prison. A lower instance court sentenced Mr Lubina to 23 years in jail earlier this year but the state prosecutor demanded a tougher sentence. In September 2005, David Lubina shot dead TV Nova editor Michal Velisek in Prague after Mr Velisek tried to defend a woman that David Lubina was threatening.
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11/22/2006
The building of the former Czechoslovak Federal Assembly near Prague's Wenceslas Square has been conveyed from the ownership of the Finance Ministry to the Culture Ministry. The government approved the transfer on Wednesday. The steel-and-glass building which now houses Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty will in future serve as a depository for the nearby National Museum. According to Culture Minister Martin Stepanek, with its 3,000 square metres of exhibition space, the building could eventually become part of the museum.
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11/22/2006
The Czech Republic plans to send a barrel of beer to Brussels as an "extraordinary ambassador" to show its opposition to a proposed rise in EU alcohol taxes. The Czech Republic, the world's biggest beer-drinking nation per capita, is opposed to a 31 percent rise in the minimum EU duty on beer and spirits proposed last month by the European Commission. The rise, which needs the unanimous approval of the EU's 25 member states, would add one euro cent to the price of a half litre of beer. According to Finance Minister Vlastimil Tlusty, who will head to Brussels alongside the barrel for a meeting of EU finance ministers, the Czech Republic is prepared to veto the proposed tax rise.
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11/22/2006
Czech ice-hockey star Jaromir Jagr has set a new National Hockey League record for goals by a European player. The Kladno-born forward scored twice in his New York Rangers 4-0 win over Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday. Jagr, who is 34, became the 16th player in NHL history to score 600 goals on Sunday and his two goals moved him to 602 for his career.
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