• Temperatures fall in Karlovy Vary region
    11/27/2013

    Temperature records were broken overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday across the Karlovy Vary region in the western part of the Czech Republic. In cities, temperature went down to around 7 degrees Celsius below zero, while in some rural areas it was as low as minus 17.9 degrees. Meteorologists say that this is the lowest temperature for this week in the past decade. In most of the region, there is already snow on the ground since Monday night. The weather is expect to warm up slightly by the end of week.
    Author: Masha Volynsky

  • Plzeň prepare to face Manchester City in Champions League
    11/27/2013

    Viktoria Plzeň are preparing to face Manchester City in a Champions League game on Wednesday night. The West Bohemians were beaten 3:0 by City at their own ground and have taken no points in their four Champions League group games to date. If CSKA Moscow take any points from Bayern Munich in this week’s other Group D game, Plzeň will need to equal that result in Manchester to keep alive their hopes of securing third spot and a berth in the second-tier Europa League.
    Author: Masha Volynsky

  • Senior Social Democrat: Final coalition deal should be ready in two weeks
    11/26/2013

    The final version of a coalition deal between the Social Democrats, ANO and the Christian Democrats should be drawn up within a fortnight, the Social Democrats’ deputy leader Alena Gajdůšková said on Tuesday. Officials from her party are preparing a draft agreement that will be presented to the other two parties involved in negotiations at the weekend. To date the Social Democrats and ANO, the largest groupings in the likely coalition, have divided a few key positions between themselves.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Christian Democrat: Ending of lustration law could rule out participation in coalition
    11/26/2013

    The Christian Democrats may not join a coalition if a law preventing collaborators with the communist-era secret police, the StB, from attaining high office is removed from the statute books. The party’s deputy leader, Jan Bartošek, said he foresaw a “big collision” in connection with the issue. The leader of the Social Democrats has questioned the usefulness of the lustration (screening) law. The head of ANO has been listed as a collaborator with the StB, which could mean he cannot become a minister.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • ANO boss Babiš agrees deal to buy most popular radio station
    11/26/2013

    The leader of ANO, business tycoon Andrej Babiš, is set purchase the company that operates Impuls, the most popular radio station in the Czech Republic. Mr. Babiš’s Agrofert have signed a letter of intent with Londa, the owner of Impuls, with the deal yet to be considered by the country’s anti-trust agency. Earlier this year, Mr. Babiš’s firm bought the publisher of two leading Czech newspapers. An Agrofert executive has said the company is also considering the acquisition of a TV station.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Radovan Suchánek, 40, becomes Constitutional Court judge
    11/26/2013

    President Miloš Zeman has named Radovan Suchánek a Constitutional Court judge in a ceremony at the head of state’s residence at Lány near Prague. Justice Suchánek was previously a legal advisor to the Social Democrats and has pledged not to rule in cases where he could be accused of bias. At 40, he is the youngest member of the court. Mr. Zeman is recuperating at Lány from a knee injury and was making his first public appearance in around a month.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Press: Police following two line of inquiry over murder of local political player
    11/26/2013

    Police in Chomutov in northwest Bohemia are following two lines of inquiry in connection with the shooting dead last week of Roman Houska, a businessman and influential member of the local Social Democrats, Mladá fronta Dnes reported on Tuesday. The daily said detectives suspect the murder may have been linked to either the distribution of subsides or a loan made by the deceased. Police reportedly believe that Mr. Houska knew his killer. In the past, he had been accused of blackmail and corruption but never found guilty.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Former deputy PM Lanský dies at 79
    11/26/2013

    Journalist, diplomat and former deputy prime minister Egon Lanský has died at the age of 79. Mr. Lanský served in the government of Miloš Zeman and was also a senator for Mr. Zeman’s then party, the Social Democrats. He was active opponent of the communist regime and was best known before 1989 as a journalist with the radio station Radio Free Europe.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Funeral of Pavel Bobek held in Prague
    11/26/2013

    The funeral of singer Pavel Bobek has taken place in Prague. There was long applause at the end of Tuesday’s ceremony at a packed crematorium in the capital’s Strašnice district. Mr. Bobek passed away last week after a long illness at the age of 76. A trained architect, he was a member of the Semafor musical theatre but was best known for his versions of US country pop hits.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Nightwork call time on career with Prague concert
    11/26/2013

    The hugely popular Czech pop band Nightwork brought their career to an end with a concert in front of 15,000 fans at a sold-out O2 Arena in the capital on Monday night. The Prague-based group, fronted by the actor and singer Vojtěch Dyk, put on a big show featuring songs from throughout their seven-year career.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

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