• Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney to play Prague on Sunday
    06/06/2004

    Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, who arrived in Prague on Saturday, will play Prague's T-Mobile Park on Sunday to tens of thousands of dedicated fans. Before he takes to the stage on Sunday evening, Mr McCartney is expected to meet briefly with the Czech Republic's former president, Vaclav Havel. Mr Havel is already known for camaraderie with the Rolling Stones. Among songs Mr McCartney is expected to perform in his three hour set will be such Beatles' classics as Yesterday, The Long and Winding Road, and Hey Jude.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Former IPB bank managers face further charges over huge losses
    06/05/2004

    Six former managers of the collapsed bank IPB have been charged with being responsible for losses of nine billion crowns, the newspaper Mlada fronta Dnes reported on Saturday. The six, who were already facing similar charges, face up to eight years in prison if found guilty. IPB was put under forced administration in the summer of 2000 and was bought by CSOB bank three days later. The state took on IPB's losses at a cost of around 100 billion crowns.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • First group of Greeks complete anti-chemical training in Czech Republic ahead of Olympics
    06/05/2004

    The first group of Greek anti-chemical soldiers taking part in exercises in the Czech Republic ahead of the Athens Olympics in August have completed their training and returned home. Some 48 Greek soldiers underwent training with a variety of deadly gases at a specialist camp in Vyskov, south Moravia. There have been reports that NATO may ask the Czech authorities to send Czech anti-chemical troops to Athens for the Olympics, though no such request has been made as yet.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Jarab calls Chinese statement on Tiananmen Square evasive, trivialising
    06/05/2004

    The head of the Senate's foreign affairs committee, Josef Jarab, has expressed disappointment with a statement Chinese deputies made about the Tiananmen Square massacre. In a response to a request from the Czech Senate to outline their position on the event, which took place 15 years ago on Friday, the deputy chairman of the Chinese foreign affairs committee said it had been necessary to clear the square in order to allow normal traffic to resume. Mr Jarab described the statement as evasive and trivialising.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Deliberate contamination of water supply being investigated
    06/05/2004

    Police in the south Moravian district of Znojmo are investigating an incident in which somebody allowed 15,000 litres of a liquid believed to be either oil or diesel to escape into the local water supply. According to a report on Czech Television, the incident is also being investigated by environmental inspectors.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Slovak referee being questioned over Czech football bribery scandal
    06/05/2004

    Czech police are questioning a Slovak football referee in connection with a bribery scandal involving the Czech club Synot, the Slovak football association announced on Friday. Several Czech referees and a senior official from Synot have already been arrested over the alleged match-fixing affair, which has been described as the biggest scandal in the history of Czech football. Several Slovak referees officiate in the Czech league.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czech football team preparing for last warm-up game before Euro 2004
    06/05/2004

    The Czech football team have travelled to the north Bohemian town of Teplice for a match against Estonia on Sunday evening, their last warm-up game before the European Football championships in Portugal. The Czech Republic's first game at Euro 2004 is against Latvia on June 15; the other teams in Group D are Germany and the Netherlands.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • State sells stake in Unipetrol to Polish concern
    06/04/2004

    The Czech state is selling its majority stake in Unipetrol to the Polish concern PKN Orlen. On Friday the Polish refinery company signed a 13-billion-crown contract with the National Property Fund and the Czech Consolidation Agency to buy the state's stake in the petrochemical company. The European Commission now has to approve the deal, which is the biggest privatisation carried out by the current Czech government.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Suspended sentences of police officers who beat up Romany increased
    06/04/2004

    Pilsen Regional Court has increased the suspended sentences of three police officers found guilty of beating up a Romany man. The three had previously been given ten-month suspended terms for abuse of power; two of the officers' sentences were increased to 14 months, and the third to 16 months. In 2001 the three drove Romany Karel Billy to a forest near Karlovy Vary, where they punched, kicked and beat him with nightsticks.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • New express train route from Liberec to Berlin opened
    06/04/2004

    A new express train from the north Bohemian town of Liberec to Berlin set off for the first time on Friday morning. The train leaves at 4:15 in the morning and arrives in the German capital at 8:45 before continuing to the town of Binz on the Baltic coast.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

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