-
04/17/2004
Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda underwent a neck operation on Saturday at the Brno Hospital after two days of monitoring and treatment. Mr. Svoboda sustained injuries in a car accident on Thursday. Doctors said Mr. Svoboda was recovering well from the injuries and will most likely stay in the hospital for one or two weeks. That means that Svoboda will probably not be able to participate in a key vote on a VAT bill in the Lower House.
Meanwhile, police have ruled out alcohol as a factor in the accident, which took place when the driver lost control of the minister's vehicle in a difficult turn. All three in the car were injured, but none of the injuries - including the foreign minister's - were life-threatening.
-
04/17/2004
The Czech Republic's Iveta Benesova enjoyed a comfortable win over unseeded opposition to reach the final of the Estoril Open on Saturday. Benesova, seeded sixth, overcame Stephanie Cohen-Aloro 6-3 7-5 in 99 minutes. She is to encounter Emilie Loit of France in the finals.
-
04/16/2004
Three Czech journalists kidnapped in Iraq last Sunday have been released and are now safe at the Czech embassy in Baghdad. Czech TV's Michal Kubal, cameraman Petr Klima, and Czech Radio correspondent Vit Pohanka, were kidnapped by insurgents while en route to Amman, Jordan last Sunday, suffering an intense six days captive at the hands of unknown assailants. Before this Friday's breakthrough release Czech diplomatic authorities had tried in vain to establish contact with the insurgents. Correspondent Vit Pohanka spoke with Czech Radio Friday afternoon saying he and his colleagues were in good condition and were ready to return to the Czech Republic.
"All of us are alright we are in good psychological shape, although as you can imagine there were moments when we didn't feel so great. The main thing was that we were all together. Now we're okay and look forward to everything being sorted out."
Vit Pohanka was also asked by Czech Radio if he and his colleagues had had any contact at all with any of the other foreigners being held in captivity in Iraq:
"No. we were completely isolated. It wasn't even clear who our abductors were. At first we just thought we were being stopped by some locals. No one told us a thing and we had no idea what was going on."
-
04/16/2004
In an interview for Czech TV also on Friday afternoon Michal Kubal also spoke about the events leading up to his and his colleagues' abduction, speculating that their hired Iraqi driver had either made a mistake or had purposely driven the journalists into assailant hands - Mr Kubal said the driver chose a known and dangerous route the journalists had asked him to avoid. At a rebel check-point several dozen kilometres out of Baghdad the vehicle was stopped by rebels, and the journalists were taken out of the car, their hands bound and eyes blind-folded. Mr Kubal then said it was difficult to determine exactly which group had conducted the abduction. Friday afternoon, after several days of promises by their abductors, the three Czech journalists were driven to a Baghdad suburb and released. They then took a taxi to the Czech embassy.
-
04/16/2004
Deputy foreign minister Petr Kolar has meanwhile revealed that one of the factors instrumental to the Czech journalists' release was a diplomatic meeting by the Czech ambassador to Iraq Martin Klepteko with Muslim spiritual leaders. Mr Kolar also praised Czech Muslim representatives for a letter of appeal they sent showing solidarity with the abducted men, asking for the journalists' release. On Friday Mr Kolar spoke with Radio Prague about how and when the journalists would return home.
"The problem is that our jet is not allowed to land in Baghdad because of the security reasons and technical reasons. So, we are probably going to focus on Basra now - to take them to Basra and then have our jet fly there to take them home. So, I hope it is a question of one or two days."
-
04/16/2004
President Vaclav Klaus, on an eleven-day state visit to China, has met with Hong Kong's Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa. The two discussed political and economic ties, with the Czech president saying Hong Kong could serve as an illustration for China's development in the future, stressing it was important to establish contacts with political and business representatives. Mr Klaus is also quoted as saying Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa had praised the Czech Republic as the only EU accession country to have established a business representative office in Hong Kong.
-
04/16/2004
Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda, who suffered a neck injury in a car accident late Thursday evening in Vyskov, south Moravia, has been transferred from the hospital in Vyskov to a hospital in Brno. The foreign minister will spend several days there undergoing monitoring and treatment. Meanwhile, police have ruled out alcohol as a factor in the accident, which took place when the driver lost control of the minister's vehicle in a difficult turn. All three the car were injured, but none of the injuries - including the foreign minister's - were life-threatening.
-
04/16/2004
Czech veterinarians say they may have uncovered the 10th case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy or mad cow disease, in the Czech Republic. A six and a half-year-old specimen in East Bohemia may have the disease; according to State Veterinary Administration head Josef Holejsovsky the results of control tests could be made public next Tuesday. On Fridayspokesman Josef Duben said vets had banned the movement of any animals from the farm under suspicion, a number of animals are now to be slaughtered as a preventive step. Altogether, some 1,600 cows have been slaughtered in relation to the nine BSE cases detected to date. The first Czech BSE case was detected in June 2001.
-
04/16/2004
A new survey released by the CVVM agency has revealed that had elections to European Parliament been held in March some 61 percent of Czechs would have gone to the polls. However, the agency was quick to add that actual participation in elections usually falls short of the numbers polled, saying actual turn-out might number 40 percent.
-
04/15/2004
President Vaclav Klaus has begun an eleven-day state visit to China. This is the first ever visit by a Czech head of state to Beijing since the fall of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1989. Mr Klaus is accompanied by a large delegation of Czech businessmen. The trip is expected to consolidate trade between the two countries, which has been booming in recent years. A number of human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and People in Need, have called on President Klaus to bring up the issue of China's poor human-rights record during his visit.
Pages
- « první
- ‹ předchozí
- …
- 6277
- 6278
- 6279
- 6280
- 6281
- 6282
- 6283
- 6284
- 6285
- …
- následující ›
- poslední »