• Pastoral letter said to give Catholics pointers on voting in forthcoming elections
    05/19/2006

    A pastoral letter aimed at helping Catholics decide who to vote for in the coming elections is to be read at Roman Catholic churches around the country this Sunday, newspapers reported. The letter does not mention any particular party by name but seems to favour the Christian Democrats. The head of the Roman Catholic church in the Czech Republic, Cardinal Miroslav Vlk, denied the pastoral letter gave concrete instruction on who to vote for. But he said Catholics should not vote for the Communist Party, which persecuted the church when it was in power.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Large number of civil cases unresolved in slow court system
    05/19/2006

    Around 9,000 civil cases have been in the Czech court system for a period of at least five years, according to new Justice Ministry figures quoted in Mlada fronta Dnes. In the last eight years the number of unresolved cases has risen by about 3,000. For their part judges complain they are too few in number, and say they get bogged down in paperwork. Most cases the Czech state loses at the European Court of Human Rights concern the excessively slow resolution of cases within the Czech court system.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czechs preparing to take on Finns in World Championships semi-finals
    05/19/2006

    The Czech ice hockey team are preparing to play Finland in the semi-finals of the World Championships in Riga on Saturday. The Finns have the best defensive record of any team in the tournament, although the Czechs scored three goals against them in a drawn game in the first group stage.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Government delegation signs agreement with Hyudayi
    05/18/2006

    A Czech government delegation has signed an agreement in South Korea with Hyundai Motor on the construction of the company's new car plant in Nosovice in North Moravia. The document was signed by the Czech Trade and Industry Minister Milan Urban and the vice-president of Huyndai Motor Kim Dong-jin. Minister Urban said that he is not afraid that the current investigation into the financial scandal in the company could delay the construction. Hyundai is planning to invest some 800 million dollars in the Czech Republic.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Counter-terrorist unit leaves for Afghanistan
    05/18/2006

    Around a hundred members of the Czech counter-terrorist unit have left for Afghanistan, Chief-of-Staff Pavel Stefka told reporters on Thursday. The soldiers will join the rest of the unit who had arrived in the country in April to take part in the US-led operation Enduring Freedom. The contingent is similar to one sent to Afghanistan two years ago; it had 120 members and was under United States command. Currently there are another two Czech contingents serving in Afghanistan, but they operate under NATO command.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Poll: 50 percent of Czechs want to forbid smoking in pubs
    05/18/2006

    According to a poll carried out by the SC&C agency, around fifty percent of Czechs would support a total ban on smoking in public areas, including restaurants, while 41 percent are against it. The poll suggests that supporters of the ban prevail among women, senior citizens and followers of the Christian Democrat Party, whose deputy Josef Janecek has repeatedly failed to push through the ban in the lower house of the Czech parliament.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Number of asylum seekers reaches record low in April
    05/18/2006

    A report by the Interior Ministry says that last month the lowest number of people applied for asylum in the Czech Republic since 1999. Asylum applications were filed by 218 foreigners in April, most of them from Ukraine and Kazakhstan, followed by Belarus, Turkey and Russia. Since 1990, more than 82,000 foreigners have applied for asylum in the Czech Republic. Asylum was granted to almost 3,000.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Late political prisoner to be fully rehabilitated after 50 years
    05/18/2006

    The Supreme Court has taken the final step to fully rehabilitate late political prisoner Viktorin Heller as it annulled the last verdict imposed on him by the Communist judiciary in the 1950s, the Supreme Court informed on its website. The Supreme Court dealt with Mr Heller's case upon the proposal by the Justice Ministry. In 1955, Mr Heller was sentenced to 10 years in prison for high treason and theft of state property. As a high-ranking member of the Czechoslovak Sokol (Falcon) sport community, he was charged with subverting the communist regime and theft of state property. After the collapse of communism in 1989, the courts partially rehabilitated Mr Heller, but they did not annul the sentence for alleged property crime completely.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Poll: Culture Minister Jandak remains most popular politician
    05/18/2006

    Another poll by the STEM agency suggests that Culture Minister Vitezslav Jandak remains the most popular politician in the Czech Republic, with 70 percent of public support. He is followed by three Social Democrat politicians - Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, Education Minister Petra Buzkova and PM and party chairman Jiri Paroubek. Prague Mayor and opposition Civic Democrat deputy chairman Pavel Bem came fifth in the poll. President Vaclav Klaus was not included in the poll.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Czech ice-hockey team beats Russia in dramatic quarter-final
    05/18/2006

    The Czech ice hockey team beat Russia 4:3 in Thursday's dramatic quarter-final match at the World Championship in Riga, Latvia. In Saturday's semi-finals the Czechs will meet the winner of the quarter-final between Finland and Belarus to be played later on Thursday.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

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