• Senator quits ailing Freedom Union
    05/20/2004

    Meanwhile, the Freedom Union, which one of the polls suggested would receive only 1.1 percent of the vote, suffered another blow on Thursday with the resignation of Senator Robert Kolar from the party. Mr Kolar, who had been a critic of the Freedom Union for some time, said he would join either the Civic Democrats' or the Christian Democrats' group in the upper house.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Police treating attack on Romany family as racially motivated
    05/20/2004

    A group of youths who are alleged to have attacked a Romany family in the north Moravian town of Krnov almost two weeks ago were arrested on Thursday. Police are treating the incident, in which the youths wore masks and attacked a young woman and a 16-year-old boy, as racially motivated.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Thousands die needlessly through misuse of medicines, says expert
    05/20/2004

    Around 4,000 people die in the Czech Republic every year due to combining inappropriate medicines, a spokesman for the Czech Medical Chamber said on Thursday. Lubomir Chudoby said that only around a half of people suffering from chronic illnesses use medicines correctly, adding that the consumption of medicines in general was on the increase in this country.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Second Prague tram in two days burns out
    05/20/2004

    A Prague tram burnt out on Wednesday evening, the second tram in the city to go on fire in the space of just two days. Nobody was injured in the latest fire, which broke out on the number 8 tram on Milada Horakova Street in Prague 7. An investigator said the fires might have something to do reconstruction work on the capital's tram system.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czech Republic sending medical team to Basra
    05/19/2004

    The Czech Republic is preparing to send six army doctors and nurses to Iraq, where they will reinforce medical staff at the Shaiba base near Basra. The move comes in response to a British request. Czech army doctors and nurses worked in Basra till the end of 2003 when the 7th field hospital ended its operation in southern Iraq and was replaced by a team of 80 military police officers. The medical team should be ready to depart in June.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • President Klaus swears in new judges
    05/18/2004

    Czech President Vaclav Klaus swore in 44 new judges at Prague Castle on Tuesday. The judges will be working in district, regional and town courts across the country. According to the Justice Ministry, there were 2,696 active judges in the Czech Republic at the start of the year. Over 100 are currently on maternity leave and the ministry hopes to see the number of active judges rise to 3,054 by the end of the year to focus on improving procedures criticised by the Czech people and international organisations. While President Klaus said in January that several verdicts are inconsistent the European Human Rights Court has pointed out that courts are much slower in the Czech Republic than in other similar European states.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Kubinyi under criticism from opposition MPs
    05/18/2004

    Several members of the Czech parliament's health committee have been warning Health Minister Jozef Kubinyi not to make personnel changes without a clear concept for a new health reform plan. In the month that Mr Kubinyi has been in the post of health minister, he has sacked the head of the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, put pressure onto the director of the country's biggest health insurer, Vseobecna Zdravotni Pojistovna, to step down, and has fired his deputy Jaroslav Civin.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Zetor to double yearly output
    05/18/2004

    The Brno-based tractor manufacturer Zetor announced on Tuesday, it plans to increase production to reach a yearly output of 10,000 units within two to three years. Zetor, which is now owned by the Slovak company HTC Holding, after it was bought from the Czech state two years, used to be a thriving manufacturer under Communist Czechoslovakia in the 1980s, when it exported tens of thousands of tractors to Africa and Asia. Today, its key markets are Poland, Britain, and the United States.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Sparta Prague wins Czech Cup Final
    05/18/2004

    Petr Johana scored six minutes from full time to give Sparta Prague a 2-1 win against league champions Ostrava in the Czech-Moravian Cup final on Tuesday. Jan Rezek also scored for the Prague side in the first ever cup final between teams placed first and second in the Czech league. It was Sparta's first cup win since 1996, and their 15th overall including results from the former Czechoslovakia. Ostrava, who trailed 1-0 until Mario Licka's 56th minute shot drew his team level, won the league title by five points over Sparta, who had won the title in 10 of the previous 11 seasons. Ostrava had been looking to become the first club to win a Cup-League double since Sparta accomplished the feat in 1989.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Grebenicek re-elected party leader
    05/16/2004

    At a weekend conference of the Communist party Miroslav Grebenicek successfully defended his position as party leader, withstanding pressure for reform by his main rival Miloslav Ransdorf. Mr. Ransdorf advocated the need for a radical transformation which would enable the party to come out of isolation. Disappointed by his defeat, Mr. Ransdorf did not seek re-election as deputy chairman. Four of the five newly elected deputy chairmen are also in favour of retaining the status quo.

    Political analysts say the outcome of the conference is not surprising since in recent years support for the party has grown. Although the communists are currently the second strongest party on the Czech political scene, their chances of entering government are nil since no other parliamentary party will cooperate with them on that level.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

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