• Czech military police unit in Iraq to stay two months longer than planned
    11/04/2004

    A Czech military police unit serving in Iraq is due to stay two months longer than originally planned, and will now remain in the country until the end of February. The move was approved by both houses of parliament on Thursday after a request from the Iraqi authorities to keep the 80-strong Czech unit in place until after planned elections in January, when tensions are expected to rise. The Czech officers, who are based near Basra in the south of Iraq, have been training local police, helping keep law and order and fighting insurgents.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Senate approves discontinuation of compulsory military service
    11/04/2004

    Meanwhile the Senate has approved the discontinuation of compulsory military service in the Czech Republic from the beginning of next year. Now only the president's signature is needed to make the bill law, bringing to an end 140 years of military duty in this part of the world. The last group of Czech conscripts are due to be complete their service just before Christmas.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Karasek appointed human rights commissioner
    11/04/2004

    Former dissident and Freedom Union MP Svatopluk Karasek has been appointed the government's human rights commissioner, after the recent resignation of Jan Jarab. Mr Karasek, who is a priest of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren and also a singer, says he has no plans to relinquish his seat in the Chamber of Deputies.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czech, Polish ministers criticise EU restrictions on labour movement
    11/04/2004

    Most European Union states are over-protective of their labour markets and discriminate against service companies from central European countries, the Polish Finance Minister Jerzy Hausner and the Czech Labour Minister Zdenek Skromach said after talks in Prague on Thursday. Mr Hausner said there was no reason to maintain transition periods for workers from new EU countries.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Crown hits new high against US dollar
    11/04/2004

    The Czech crown hit a new high against the US dollar of 24.46 crowns on Thursday, following the US elections and downbeat data on the country's economy. Analysts said, however, that the dollar was likely to recover somewhat in the next couple of months.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • National Bank: public finance deficit should fall to 3.5% of GDP in 2005
    11/04/2004

    The Czech Republic's public finance deficit should fall to 3.5 percent of GDP in 2005, according to new estimates just released by the National Bank. That would mark a fall from this year's figure of 4.3 percent.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czech Telecom fined for abusing dominant position
    11/04/2004

    Czech Telecom has been fined 23 million crowns by the Anti-monopoly Office for abusing its dominant position on the telecoms market, a spokesman for the Office said on Thursday. Between February 2002 and January 2003 the company prevented rivals from entering the internet and data transfer markets using ASDL technology.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Sparta Prague beaten 4:1 by Manchester United in Champions League
    11/04/2004

    Sparta Prague were beaten 4:1 by Manchester United in a Champions League football game on Wednesday night. The Czech team's only goal was scored by Lukas Zelenka. Sparta captain Karel Poborsky - a former Man United player - left the field to applause from the home crowd after being sent off minutes from the end after receiving a second yellow card.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Klaus, Svoboda welcome re-election of George Bush
    11/03/2004

    The Czech President Vaclav Klaus has welcomed the re-election of George W. Bush as President of the United States. The Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda said the victory of George W. Bush in Tuesday's U.S. presidential elections was good news for the Czech Republic. Shortly after Senator John Kerry conceded the election, Foreign Minister Svoboda said that the majority of American voters had supported Mr Bush in such key issues as the fight against terrorism and involvement in Iraq, a line advocated also by Czech diplomacy. According to both politicians, President Bush's re-election means welcome continuity in U.S. policies.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Disappointment reigns in Kerry's ancestral Czech village
    11/03/2004

    Disappointment prevailed on Wednesday in the North Moravian village of Horni Benesov where Senator John Kerry's grandfather was born, as the Democratic candidate failed in his bid to become the next US president. One hundred years after his Jewish grandfather, Fritz Kohn, changed his name, converted to Catholicism and left central Europe to seek his fortune in America, many of Horni Benesov's 2,400 inhabitants had been hoping that a Kerry victory would bring prosperity to the once thriving mining town, now struck with high unemployment.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

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