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01/15/2009
The European Union will send Czech Energy Minister Martin Říman and EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs to Moscow on Saturday to discuss the current feud between Russia and Ukraine that has left millions of Europeans freezing. Moscow had originally asked for all of the countries affected by the gas war to send a delegation to the meeting, but the talks have been downscaled to include just Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko, as well as the two EU representatives.
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01/15/2009
Czech prime minister Mirek Topolánek has announced the names of four new cabinet members being appointed as part of a long-promised reshuffle. Daniela Filipiová becomes the new health minister, while fellow Civic Democrat Petr Bendl has been appointed minister for transport. Former rock musician Michael Kocáb was nominated by coalition partners the Greens to be minister for human rights and minorities. Christian Democrat Pavel Svoboda will meanwhile become head of the Government Legislative Council. Speaking on Thursday, Premier Mirek Topolánek said that he had put the new ministers’ names forward to president Václav Klaus for final approval. He said the cabinet newcomers would be officially appointed on January 23.
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01/15/2009
Interior ministers from the 27 member states of the European Union met in Prague on Thursday to discuss a vast new security database for Europe’s border-free Schengen zone. The system was due to be running in 2007 but has been plagued by technical and legal problems. Speaking after the informal meeting, Czech Interior Minister Ivan Langer told press that it was ‘obvious’ the original timetable for the database could not be adhered to, but that the project remained one of the ‘biggest issues’ in the field of European security. The giant database links information gathered by police in 25 countries. It is predicted that the revised completion date of September 2009 will now also prove unrealizable.
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01/15/2009
A large European Union flag erected in the centre of Prague to mark the Czech EU presidency has been damaged for the second time in a fortnight, Czech Television reported on Thursday. The flag was set alight late on Wednesday evening, said an employee of the emergency services. On New Year’s Day, somebody made a hole in the flag, which has been mounted on the giant Prague Metronome monument to mark the Czech Republic taking over from France at the helm of the EU.
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01/15/2009
Former choirmaster Bohumíl Kulínský has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for sexually abusing teenage members of his choir. On Thursday, the High Court in Prague overruled a previous verdict which handed the former head of Bambini di Praga choir a three year suspended sentence for having sexually abused 40 of his female charges. The Prague court ruled that Mr Kulínský should be banned from working with young people for the next ten years. Three of the girls the choirmaster was charged with abusing were under 15 years of age.
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01/15/2009
The annual Prague Autumn International Music Festival will not take place this year due to a lack of funding, it was announced on Thursday. A spokesperson for the festival said that at this time of global financial crisis, it was proving too hard to attract sponsors. The music festival, established in 1991, has brought some of the biggest names in classical music to Prague over the years. In 2008, the festival’s main sponsor, the drugs company Zentiva, pulled out. The firm repeatedly denied the resultant rumours that its withdrawal was linked to strained relations with the festival management.
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01/15/2009
In sport, it’s an all Czech final at the Hobart International Tennis Tournament after Petra Kvítová and Iveta Benešová both won their semifinals in Tasmania on Thursday. Eighteen-year-old Kvítová ended France’s Virginie Razzano’s tournament with a 6-4,6-2 win, while Benešová, ranked 41st in the competition, beat Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybariková 6-1, 6-3. The match for the title will take place on Friday. Kvítová and Benešová share the same coach. Czech women’s tennis number one Benešová has already made it to the finals in Hobart once before, she was denied the title by Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands back in 2006.
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01/14/2009
Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek has outlined the Czech Republic’s plans for its six-month presidency of the European Union in an address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg. He reiterated the motto of the Czech presidency – Europe without Barriers – and the three “Es” Czech officials have made the centre of its programme: economy, energy and external relations. Mr Topolánek told MEPs he wanted to be like the 14th century Czech king and emperor Charles IV, who had to represent the whole of the Holy Roman Empire. In Wednesday morning’s speech, he also strongly rejected criticism of Czech President Václav Klaus over the latter’s Eurosceptic views; he said an EU which had lost the ability to hold a public debate would not be his EU.
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01/14/2009
At a subsequent news conference, Mr Topolánek said one way of moving things forward in the Middle East would be to create a Palestinian state with a strong administration that would be economically stable. He also said a donors’ conference to help the Palestinians proposed by the Czech EU presidency did not look like taking place. But the Czech leader said such a conference must be held, regardless of who organises it. Mr Topolánek said Europe had been a big payer rather than a big player in the Middle East, and that was something which should change.
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01/14/2009
Former Czech president Václav Havel is seriously ill. Mr Havel, who is 72, underwent surgery on Sunday to remove an abscess from his throat after being admitted to hospital with breathing difficulties. His condition subsequently worsened, with doctors now saying it is serious but stable. However, they do not believe Mr Havel’s life is in danger. He is conscious, can communicate and is able to move around his room. The playwright had most of his right lung removed in 1996 after cancer was detected. A former chain smoker, he has suffered repeated lung and heart problems over the years.
One of Czechoslovakia’s most prominent dissidents under communism, Václav Havel led the Velvet Revolution of 1989. He was elected president of Czechoslovakia the same year and later became president of the Czech Republic in 1993, holding that position for ten years. Last year he produced his first new play in two decades.
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