News

Uzbek President Islam Karimov has cancelled a planned visit to the Czech Republic, a spokesman for the Czech president’s office said on Thursday. The controversial Uzbek leader, who was set to arrive in Prague next week, asked Czech President Miloš Zeman to postpone the visit; the decision came after Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, other cabinet members and Prague City Hall officials refused to meet the Uzbek president. Mr Karimov, who has been in power since 1991, faces accusations of severe human rights abuses in his country. Earlier this week, a number of NGOs called on Mr Zeman to cancel the invitation. The president refused, arguing that Uzbekistan was an ally of the US in its fight against terrorism in the region.

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka is visiting Slovakia, on his second trip abroad since he was appointed last month. Among the issues discussed on Thursday by Mr Sobotka and his Slovak counterpart, Robert Fico, were plans to stage a joint session of the Czech and Slovak governments in the coming months. The Czech leader said the two cabinets should discuss, among other things, improving road connections between the two countries. The prime ministers also talked about joint acquisitions of military technology for the Slovak and Czech armies.

President Miloš Zeman on Thursday formally called elections for the European Parliament in the Czech Republic for May 23 and 24. Voting in all EU member states will take place at the end of May. Czech polls will open at 2 PM on Friday, May 23; they will close at 10 PM to reopen the next day between 8 AM and 2 PM. Czech parties are now finalizing nominations for the elections. The Social Democrat ballot will be headed by sociologist Jan Keller, ANO is fielding former European commissioner Pavel Telička and the Civic Democrats have nominated MEP Jan Zahradil as their electoral leader.

NWR, the owner of the mining company OKD, has reported a net loss of 970 million euro for 2013, down from a loss of 1.25 million euro posted for the previous year. NWR management said the scope of the loss was caused by last year’s depreciation of the company’s fixed actives, worth around 800 million euro. Analysts say the results were affected by low coal prices and an uncertain outlook for the company; with over 17,000 workers, it is the largest employer in the northern Moravia-Silesia region.