• Beckenbauer visits Prague
    01/30/2006

    Former football international and coach turned head organiser of Germany's football World Cup, Franz Beckenbauer, is in Prague on a two-day visit to promote soccer's biggest event. On Monday afternoon Mr Beckenbauer met with both Czech football officials as well as with Czech president Vaclav Klaus. On Tuesday Mr Beckenbauer will meet with the Czech prime minister. The World Cup will kick off in neighbouring Germany in June. The last time Czechs competed in the event was sixteen years ago, in Italy in 1990.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • One Czech officially known to have died in Polish tragedy, two more feared dead
    01/29/2006

    One Czech is officially known to have been among the 66 people who died when a hotel roof collapsed in the Polish city of Katowice on Saturday night. Meanwhile, a second Czech is believed to have been among the dead and yet another is unaccounted for.

    The Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, sent his condolences to his Polish counterpart, Lech Kaczynski. Mr Kaczynski had been due to visit Prague on Monday but cancelled the trip after announcing a day of mourning in Poland.

    A group of Czech rescue workers have been helping look through the rubble of Saturday's disaster in Katowice, which is near the Czech-Polish border.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Government to help Dutch firm after factory closes doors
    01/29/2006

    The government is willing to provide assistance to Dutch company LG Philips, which shut down a factory employing 1,300 people in Moravia on Friday. The minister of finance, Bohuslav Sobotka, said the government would use the instruments at its disposal to help the TV screen manufacturer, but did not specify how. He said it was a pity, however, that LG Philips had not informed the Czech state it was in difficulties until it had shut its doors.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Defence minister takes bribery affair as personal failing
    01/29/2006

    The defence minister, Karel Kuhnl, has described a case of corruption uncovered at his ministry as a personal failing. Mr Kuhnl's spokesperson told Czech Radio the minister would not neglect to take responsibility in the case, in which the director of the Defence Ministry's infrastructure division, Miroslav Bena, was arrested after being caught last week allegedly accepting a bribe of one million Czech crowns (over 40,000 US dollars). It is the biggest bribery scandal involving the ministry in some years.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Coalition "no longer exists", says Christian Democrat leader
    01/29/2006

    The three-party governing coalition has ceased to exist, says the leader of the second largest coalition party, the Christian Democrats. Miroslav Kalousek told Czech Television that the largest party, the Social Democrats, were counting on co-operating with the Communists after elections in June. But Social Democrat chief Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek,said his party had never considered, were not considering and would not consider any such a scenario.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Social Democrats vote on pre-election manifesto
    01/29/2006

    The Social Democrats are to include direct elections to the post of president in their pre-election manifesto, after a vote on the issue at a policy conference in Prague. The party also promise to create 150,000 new jobs in the Czech Republic and to cut unemployment to 6 percent.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Klaus may not sign bill allowing registered gay partnerships
    01/28/2006

    President Vaclav Klaus has indicated that he may not sign into law a bill allowing for registered partnerships for homosexuals. The president has expressed opposition to the law in the past, and told journalists they could expect his decision to follow "quite clear indices". The bill was passed by the Senate on Thursday after previously being approved by the lower house.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Paroubek rules out co-operation with Communists, expects minority Social Democrat government
    01/28/2006

    The Social Democrat prime minister, Jiri Paroubek, has again ruled out post-election co-operation with the Communist Party. Speaking at a party policy conference on Saturday, Mr Paroubek said a minority Social Democrat government was the most likely outcome of general elections in June. He said a third of the cabinet in such a scenario would be made up of non-party "experts".
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Social Democrats choose orange as colour for elections, Civic Democrats to do likewise
    01/28/2006

    The Social Democrats have, as expected chosen orange as the main colour in their election campaign. Prime Minster Paroubek said the colour was modern and confident. The main opposition party, the Civic Democrats, say they too will use orange.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Civic Democrats bring out ads linking Communists, Social Democrats
    01/28/2006

    The Civic Democrats have launched an advertising campaign linking the Communist Party with the Social Democrats, under the combined acronym KSCSSD. However an advertising company has refused to put the poster up on billboards outside the Social Democrats conference in Prague. The firm Euro AWK said such a campaign harmed the advertising profession.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

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