• Croatian prime minister receives award in Prague
    07/29/2006

    The Croatian prime minister, Ivo Sander, received an award in Prague on Friday from the Vasek and Anna Maria Polak Foundation. The award has been presented for services to democracy and the free market since 1994, and has previously been won by Vaclav Havel and Lech Walesa. Vasek Polak had a bicycle repair shop in Prague before later building up an extremely successful car dealership business in the United States.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Jehovah's Witnesses gather in Prague for weekend of ceremonies
    07/29/2006

    A mass baptism of Jehovah's Witnesses is being held at a football stadium in Prague on Saturday. Organisers say around 20,000 of the faith group's members from around the world are in the Czech capital for a weekend of religious ceremonies. There are over 15,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in the Czech Republic.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Budvar alcohol-free beer sees big sales increase due to new road law
    07/29/2006

    The Budejovicky Budvar brewery reports says it has sold 60 percent more of its alcohol-free beer in July than in the same month last year, Mlada fronta Dnes reported. The surge in sales is attributed to new traffic regulations which have stiffened punishments for drink driving.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Vaidisova to face Clijsters in California
    07/29/2006

    The Czech tennis star Nicole Vaidisova has reached the semi-finals at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California. The 17-year-old beat Australia's Samantha Stosur 6-4 6-2 to set up a clash with top seed Kim Clijsters of Belgium.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czech footballer Skacel joins Southampton
    07/29/2006

    The Czech football player Rudolf Skacel has signed a four-year contract with the English Championship club Southampton. Skacel was a great success at Scotland's Hearts last season and is reunited with the club's former manager George Burley at Southampton.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Lower house again fails to elect chairman
    07/28/2006

    The lower house of the Czech Parliament has again failed to elect its chairman. The only candidate, Christian Democrat MP Jan Kasal running for the emerging centre-right coalition, did not receive enough support in the chamber on Friday morning. He received 100 votes in the 200-member lower house which is evenly split between the leftist and the centre-right parties after the June national election.

    The lower house will meet again next Friday. New candidates for the post of chairman are to be nominated by Wednesday. Before the lower house elects a chairman, the government of Prime Minister Paroubek cannot resign.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Topolanek to report to President Klaus on state of coalition talks
    07/28/2006

    The chairman of the Civic Democrats, Mirek Topolanek, who was authorised in June by President Vaclav Klaus to lead the post-election coalition talks, has said that early elections may be the way out of the political deadlock in the country. Mr Topolanek said after Friday's failed election of the lower house chairman that he was going to report to President Klaus on the state of the coalition talks on Wednesday. The would-be coalition of the Civic Democrats, the Christian Democrats and the Green Party has not been able to negotiate tolerance in the lower house with the second largest party, the Social Democrats.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Three remanded in custody in state bail-out agency case
    07/28/2006

    All three people charged with corruption in the case the Czech Consolidation Agency have been remanded in custody, a Prague court announced on Friday. The agency's executive board member Radka Kafkova was arrested on Tuesday night after she made a money exchange. She has been charged with large-scale corruption, along with a former employee of the agency, Josef Tykva and businessman Pavel Hrach. Police have seized 420 million Czech crowns from their bank accounts. One of the Consolidation Agency's main tasks is to bail state-owned companies out of problematic loans.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Jehovah's Witnesses meet in Prague
    07/28/2006

    Over 18,000 people from 18 countries of the world have arrived in Prague for a three-day open-air meeting of Jehovah's Witnesses. The meeting started on Friday afternoon at the Rosicky Stadium in Prague and will include a baptism ceremony on Saturday. A spokesman said there are around 15,000 followers in the Czech Republic. The religious association was registered in the Czech Republic in 1993.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Family of dead teenage chess star pays tribute to 'exceptional' player
    07/28/2006

    The family of a promising British chess player who plunged to her death from a hotel window in the Czech Republic paid tribute on Friday to the "exceptionally talented" teenager. Nineteen-year old Jessie Gilbert fell on Wednesday from the eighth floor of her hotel in the central city of Pardubice, where she had been competing in a chess tournament. Her family said fellow British players participating in the Czech Open tournament abandoned matches as a mark of respect. Police were continuing Friday to investigate Gilbert's death amid newspaper reports that the teenager from Surrey, southeast England, had been taking medication for depression.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

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