• Proposal to extend deadline for filing restitution claims rejected
    11/30/2005

    Meanwhile, the Chamber of Deputies has rejected a proposal to extend until the end of 2009 the deadline for the return of property confiscated under communism. The current deadline for the filing of restitution claims is the end of next month. The Social Democrats and the Communists, who together hold a majority in the Chamber, voted against the extension.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Average monthly salary up to almost 19,000 crowns
    11/30/2005

    The average monthly salary in the Czech Republic rose to 18,883 crowns (around 750 US dollars) during the third quarter of this year, according to figures released by the Statistical Office. Adjusted for inflation it represents an increase of 4.2 percent.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Prince Albert II of Monaco in Prague to support football team
    11/30/2005

    Prince Albert II of Monaca came to the Czech capital on Wednesday to support football club AS Monaco in a UEFA Cup game against Slavia Prague. The prince is due to hold a private meeting with the Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, on Thursday morning.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Prague Big Band celebrates 30th anniversary
    11/30/2005

    The Prague Big Band founded by jazz pianist Milan Svoboda is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a concert at the city's Lucerna hall on Wednesday. Some 105 members have passed through the group since it was founded in 1975.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Britain proposes EU budget cuts
    11/29/2005

    Britain, which now holds the rotating EU presidency, is set to propose cuts to the union's 2007-2013 budget proposed by the previous presidency. Britain is expected to suggest slashing the proposed EU budget by three percent in part by lowering regional aid to newcomers like the Czech Republic and rural development funds to several old member states. Prime Minister Tony Blair is due to meet central and east European leaders on a trip to Estonia and Hungary on Thursday and Friday, and the proposed cuts are certain to top the agenda. The Czech Prime Minister, Jiri Paroubek, appealed to Blair in a letter on Monday to reconsider the matter.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Ombudsman says police crackdown was legal
    11/29/2005

    Ombudsman Otakar Motejl says the police crackdown on a techno music rave in July of this year, which left several dozen people injured, was legal. The Ombusdsman's Office undertook an investigation into the affair, following widespread criticism of the police who used brute force, water canon and tear gas to disperse the participants. In his report the Ombudsman says that the police acted within the bounds of the law since the rave had spilled over onto private property. On the other hand he expressed the view that the officers present failed to take adequate preventive measures that might have helped to avoid the later use of force.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Civic Democrats call of health minister to resign
    11/29/2005

    The opposition Civic Democrats have called on Health Minister David Rath to resign over suspected corruption. When Mr. Rath was president of the Medical Chamber his advisor Eva Klimovicova allegedly demanded huge bribes from pharmaceutical companies in exchange for preferential treatment. The health minister has distanced himself from the scandal, saying he had no knowledge of such activities.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • A 'Neo-Nazi' who rallied in support of a German Holocaust denier faces three years in prison on similar charges
    11/28/2005

    A Czech man who joined a demonstration outside the German embassy in Prague for the release of a far-right extremist imprisoned in Germany for denying the Holocaust will himself face trial for the same offence. Czech state attorney Zdenka Galkova said on Monday that the unidentified 21-year-old man -- whom media have described as a Neo-Nazi - faces three years in prison. The accused was among some seventy far-right extremists who protested in support of author and Holocaust-denier Ernst Zuendel, now on trial in Mannheim, Germany. The rally on October 28, a state holiday, was shouted down by a larger much group of anti-fascists. The accused was one of two far-right extremists arrested that day.
    Author: Brian Kenety

  • Britain is set to propose EU budget cuts that would reduce aid to newcomer states like the Czech Republic
    11/28/2005

    Britain, which now holds the rotating EU presidency, is set to propose cuts to the union's 2007-2013 budget proposed by the previous presidency. Britain is expected to suggest slashing the proposed EU budget three percent in part by lowering by 10 percent regional aid to newcomers like the Czech Republic and rural development funds to several old member states. U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair is due to meet central and east European leaders on a trip to Estonia and Hungary on Thursday and Friday, and the cuts are certain to top the agenda. The Czech Prime Minister, Jiri Paroubek, appealed to Blair in a letter on Monday to reconsider the cuts.
    Author: Brian Kenety

  • The Czech Republic could join ERM II - a major step towards adopting the Euro - in the second half of 2007
    11/28/2005

    The Czech crown could join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism II in the second half of 2007, the finance ministry said in a statement Monday, stressing that the timetable would not affect plans to adopt the euro at the start of 2010. Two years of ERM II membership is a condition for joining the so-called Eurozone. During that time the currency is pegged to the euro and can fluctuate within a very narrow band. Slovakia this weekend became the fifth post-communist European Union member state to join ERM II, after Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia.
    Author: Brian Kenety

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