• Klaus signs bill on electronic road toll system
    03/02/2006

    President Vaclav Klaus has signed a bill that introduces a road toll system for vehicles above 12 tonnes in 2007. The state currently makes around 1 billion crowns (around 42 million US dollars) off special coupons that drivers have to buy to use the country's motorways. The new system, which is to be provided by the Austrian company Kapsch, is estimated to bring in around 10,5 billion crowns a year.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Czechs draw with Turkey in football friendly
    03/02/2006

    The Czech football team drew 2:2 in a friendly match with Turkey in Izmir on Wednesday night. Karel Poborsky and Jiri Stajner scored for the Czech Republic, who appeared to be heading for victory until the Turks scored two goals in the last four minutes. Earlier a team of Czech reserves had been beaten 3:1 by their Turkish counterparts.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Putin starts two-day visit to Czech Republic
    03/01/2006

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Prague for his first official visit to the Czech Republic. During his two-day visit, Mr Putin is expected to discuss energy issues as well as economic, cultural and military cooperation with an emphasis on the war against terrorism. His first engagement on Wednesday was meeting with his Czech counterpart President Vaclav Klaus.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Havel denounces Russian 'return to autocracy', ahead of Putin visit
    03/01/2006

    Just hours ahead of President Putin's arrival, former Czech president Vaclav Havel and several world-renowned statesmen launched an attack on Mr Putin and his policies in a text published in a Czech newspaper. The group, led by Mr Havel and including former UN Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and Nobel Prize winner Desmond Tutu, sharply accused Mr Putin of "censorship" of information from Chechnya and called for the world to stop "closing its eyes" to atrocities taking place in Chechnya.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Cesky Telecom to merge with mobile operator Eurotel
    03/01/2006

    Czech fixed-line operator Cesky Telecom, whose majority owner is Spanish phone giant Telefonica, has announced that it will merge with its wholly owned mobile-telephone business, Eurotel. The merged company to be named Telefonica O2 faces increased competition on the converging Czech telecoms market. T-Mobile, owned by Deutsche Telekom, jousts with Eurotel for the top spot among mobile operators and Vodafone is third, following its acquisition of Oskar Mobile from Canada-based TIW last year.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Poll: Social Democrats' popularity falling, Greens' rising
    03/01/2006

    A poll carried out by the CVVM agency suggests that 23 percent of Czechs would vote for the ruling Social Democrats if elections were held tomorrow, 4 percent less than last month. On the other hand, support for the Green party has increased to 6 percent compared to 2.5 percent in January. The opposition Civic Democrats lead the poll with 28.5 percent of public support. The Communists would get some 11.5 percent and the Christian Democrats are supported by 7.5 percent of voters, according to the poll.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Czech owner of Semtex name targets Madonna over trademark misuse
    03/01/2006

    The Czech company Explosia, which produces the plastic explosive Semtex and owns the rights to the trademark, has said it launched legal action to prevent American pop-star Madonna from misusing its most valued and internationally-recognized asset. The pop singer was revealed to have registered a company in Britain called "Semtex Girls Limited". Production of Semtex began in the 1960s but only became widely known in the 1980s as a favourite tool for terrorists because it was virtually undetectable. Because of the threat of global terrorism, the company has added a substance to make it easily detectable and now makes only small amounts of Semtex for use by the army and a number of Czech companies.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • MP Hojdar resigns his post
    03/01/2006

    Parliament deputy for the Social Democratic party Josef Hojdar has announced that he is resigning his post for health reasons. He is to be replaced by Cyril Zapletal, election leader in the Liberec region.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Finland will open its labour market to EU newcomers
    02/28/2006

    On an official visit to the Czech Republic the Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhannen said his country would open its doors to workers from the Czech Republic and the European Union's nine other new members as of April. The Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek thanked his Finnish counterpart, saying that he hoped other EU countries would follow Finland's example. At the moment only three of the EU's old members -Britain, Ireland and Sweden - have welcomed workers from the newcomer states. Portugal and Spain are believed to be considering a similar move.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Exporters harmed by strong crown
    02/28/2006

    The Czech Exporters Association, which groups around 50 companies, has set up a crisis committee to coordinate efforts against the strengthening of the Czech crown. Exporters have suffered losses of around 15 to 20 billion crowns /530 -706 million euros/ as a result of a strengthening crown over the last few months. The association's president Jiri Grund predicted growing unemployment, possibly even bankruptcy of some exporters. Exporters say the government is directly responsible for their plight, which is further aggravated by the inaction of the Central Bank. Responding to the criticism, the Prime Minister said on Tuesday that exporters should be prepared to deal with the situation. He predicted earlier this month that the Czech currency would stand at 25 crowns per euro when the country adopted the single European currency in 2010.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

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