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03/05/2010
The state attorney has proposed that 13 people from a controversial, now defunct squad run by the state-owned energy giant ČEZ to deal with customers suspected of stealing electricity, be charged with oppression. News website iDnes was the first to break the story on Friday, reporting that proceedings against a further 17 individuals had been dropped. The recommendation will now be passed onto the regional state attorney’s office in Olomouc. Controversy over the ČEZ squad erupted in early February, when images of the team’s behaviour, suggesting a wrongful use of authority, were first broadcast on national TV.
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03/05/2010
The Czech energy giant ČEZ, together with US partner AES, has backed out of tender for building a coal-fired power plant in Kosovo. ČEZ issued the statement at a press conference on Friday, citing delays in the tender as well as changes in construction parameters as the reasons for the decision. The tender is on the building of a new plant, while expanding the coal mine in Sibovc, Kosovo. The tender is reportedly worth an estimated 3.5 billion euros. ČEZ and AES applied for the tender in 2006, joined by Italy’s Enel Group and the Greek firm Sencap from the Public Power concern. Last year, Kosovo decided to call a new tender on the project, in which the final design was changed - halving the previous capacity of the proposed plant to 1000 megawatts.
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03/05/2010
The Health Ministry has said it is aiming to link a new network of existing medical centres focussing on patients suffering from stroke. To apply, centres will have to meet certain criteria, making them eligible for additional funding from insurance companies as well as funds from the European Union. The plan is to improve the overall quality of care and to provide patients suffering acute effects the best treatment as quickly as possible. Yearly, 55,000 Czechs suffer stroke, three times higher than in original EU countries. The number of stroke-related deaths, meanwhile, is double.
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03/05/2010
President Václav Klaus on Monday is to meet with the country’s prime minister, Jan Fischer, and the defence minister, Martin Barták, to discuss organisational changes planned in the military. The president revealed the information on his personal website but did not mention details. Last year, Mr Klaus stressed that the Czech Army should function primarily in defence of the state, calling foreign missions supplementary. Currently the army is facing a number of difficulties, among them the after effects of a scandal involving officers who displayed Nazi symbols. Other difficulties include cost-cutting measures, which forced the army last year to let go more than 2,700 people. Despite the cuts in spending, the military did sign a deal for 90 Iveco armoured vehicles for more than 3.6 billion crowns and four transport planes for 3.5 billion.
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03/05/2010
Britain’s Prince Charles, who will be visiting Prague later in March with his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, will meet with former Czech president Václav Havel and his wife Dagmar during their stay. A statement was issued by the British Embassy in Prague on Friday, saying that the meeting between the couples had been planned for March 23. A day after arrival Prince Charles and Camilla will meet at Prague Castle with current president, Václav Klaus. During their stay they will also attend an official state dinner, tour Prague’s Church of Saint Kliment and attend a performance of Don Giovanni at the Estates Theatre. Prince Charles will also head to Moravia to view an ecological village and to visit Masaryk University in Brno. The visit to the Czech Republic will be Prince Charles’s fifth.
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03/05/2010
Czech tennis player Tomáš Berdych got off to an excellent start on Friday in the Czechs’ first game of this year’s Davis Cup. In the opening singles match in Belgium, Berdych beat No. 1 home player Olivier Rochus 6:3, 6:0, 6:4. The second match slated for Friday, pit Radek Štepánek against Xavier Malisse and was equally successful for the Czechs: Štepánek won in straight sets by a score of 6:2, 6:4 7:6. The Czechs are hoping to repeat last year’s highly-successful run, which saw them all the way through to the finals in Spain. While the Czechs played brilliantly against Croatia in the semis, they were unable to steal a win from Spain, the eventual tournament champions.
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03/05/2010
Czech forward Martin Erat earned two assists in the NHL on Thursday to help Nashville down Los Angeles 4:2. He was named the game’s second star. Erat has now earned 11 points in six games against LA. In other action, Martin Rozsíval got one goal and one assist for the New York Rangers against Pittsburgh, helping his team earn one point as the Rangers lost in overtime.
Two Czechs helped Phoenix defeat Colorado: Zbyněk Michálek assisted on Radim Vrbata’s goal, an empty-netter that sealed the game 3:1.
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03/04/2010
The secretary general of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is on a two-day visit to Prague. He is meeting with the Czech prime minister, Jan Fischer, as well as the ministers of foreign affairs and defence, Jan Kohout and Martin Barták. One of the main items on Mr Rasmussen’s agenda is the Czech government’s plans to send 55 more troops to Afghanistan, where over 500 Czech soldiers are now serving. The troop increase is expected to face a major hurdle in the Czech Parliament, where the plan does not have majority support. Defence Minister Barták told Czech Television he hoped the NATO leader’s visit could help increase support for sending more soldiers to the country.
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03/04/2010
The UN commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, on Thursday criticized the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Italy for doing little to prevent continuing discrimination of their Romany minorities. Ms. Pillay said that while other European governments had taken action to improve the life of their Roma minorities, their living conditions in the three mentioned states actually appeared to have deteriorated. She said Romanies were exposed to open racism and negative stereotyping in all areas of life. The human rights commissioner said she wanted to talk to government officials about taking effective measures to combat the problem, starting in Italy next week.
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03/04/2010
The Austrian president, Heinz Fischer, has lashed out against the Beneš decrees, legislation that sanctioned the expulsion and confiscation of property of some 2.5 million ethnic Germans from post-war Czechoslovakia. In an open letter to the Sudeten German Landsmanschaft in Austria, President Fischer said the decrees had been a gross injustice imposed on the Sudeten German community in post-war Czechoslovakia, and should not be sanctioned by the European Union. He said he would fight for human rights to be respected within and outside Austria’s borders and firmly believed that the chance of justice being done in the present day EU was far greater than it had been in 20th century Europe.
After the fall of communism politicians in Austria and Germany called for the decrees to be revoked, opening the way for compensation claims. President Vaclav Klaus tried to block this possibility when he demanded an opt-out from the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights before signing the Lisbon Treaty late last year. In reaction to the letter, President Klaus said it was essential that the opt-out should be approved as soon as possible.
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