• Government approves foreign policy roadmap
    07/13/2015

    The government on Monday approved a new foreign policy roadmap, focussing on both economic diplomacy but also human rights, the country’s Secretary for European Affairs Tomáš Prouza confirmed. The document is to set the course for years to come. According to the Czech News Agency, the roadmap draws on legacies outlined by Czechoslovakia’s first president T.G. Masayrk, the Prague Spring, or the Charter 77 human rights movement. The document reportedly stresses the Czech Republic’s place withïn the Euro-Atlantic space and membership in the EU and NATO.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Czech finance minister says it would be better for Greece to leave eurozone
    07/13/2015

    Czech Finance Minister Andrej Babiš has expressed little enthusiasm for the results of last-minute talks held by representatives of all 19 eurozone countries, arriving unanimously at a decision to provide Greece with a third financial aid package. In response, Mr Babiš warned, Greece’s crisis would repeat a few years down the line. He said he considered Greece’s departure from the eurozone – and a writing-off of part of Greece’s debt – as better alternatives.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Rath's lawyer says her client should be acquitted of all charges
    07/13/2015

    Marcela Ondřejová, the lawyer for former Social Democrat MP and governor David Rath, has said that her client be acquitted of corruption charges. In a closing statment on Monday, she told the court that the prosecution's arguments were a mix of conjecture and speculation and charged there was no direct evidence, nor a combination of indirect evidence against her client. Mr Rath is on trial on charges of having taken bribes and of having manipulated public tenders in Central Bohemia. In 2012, he was arrested with a suspected bribe of seven million crowns on his person; if found guilty, he could face a sentence of up to 12 years in prison.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Traffic police purchase 85 new Škoda Octavia cars
    07/13/2015

    The country’s traffic police have signed a contract for the purchase of 85 new Škoda Octavia sedans which will be unmarked as police vehicles but will boast surveillance and radar technology. The aim is for officers to be able to crack down on traffic misdemeanors country-wide. Currently some such vehicles are already in use but only in some areas. The Octavias will bring an added boost to a fleet of Passats and Superbs already used by traffic officers.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Foreign police detained over 80 illegal migrants over weekend
    07/13/2015

    The Czech Republic’s foreign police detained 81 illegal migrants, including children, over the last weekend, the Foreign Police spokeswoman Kateřina Rendlová told the Czech News Agency on Monday. During the first six months of the year, policemen detained 3,003 illegal migrants, which is 48 percent more than in the same period last year. Most of the apprehended people come from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and most of them were caught in south Moravia, Ústí nad Labem and Prague. Police stepped up controls on trains and on roads in the border area in mid-June.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Masters of Rock Festival attracts more than 25,000 visitors
    07/13/2015

    The 13th annual Masters of Rock festival which took place in Vizovice in south Moravia attracted over 25,000 visitors this year, the organizers said on Monday. Over four days fans could see bends including Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation, Switzerland’s Krokus and Scottish punk band The Exploited. The festival came to a close with a performance by the Finnish band Nightwish.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Mass served in honour of murdered priest Josef Toufar
    07/12/2015

    Several thousand people have attended a special mass served in honour of the priest Josef Toufar who was murdered by the communist secret police in the 1950s. Toufar died following injuries sustained during his interrogation at the beginning of 1950. Police wanted to force him to admit that he had staged a ‘miracle' at his parish church in Čihošť. The mass was celebrated by the bishop of Hradec Králové, Jan Vokál, ijn the presence of Cardinal Dominik Duka. The two-day event in Číhošť culminated by the burial of Toufar's remains, found at a mass grave in Prague's Ďáblice cemetary last year, at the local church. Toufar's beatification, initiated by the Hradec Králové diocese, should start later this year.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • People marked annual River Bathing Day by jumping into Vltava
    07/12/2015

    Seven people jumped into the Vltava River on Sunday to mark the annual River Bathing Day, initiated in 2005 by Roberto Epple from the European Rivers Network. The 'Big Jump' event was held by the NGO Coalition for Rivers near the Palacký Bridge in the centre of Prague with the aim to highlight the need to protect rivers and return life to them. People could also see an exhibition on rivers and floods.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Rower Mirka Knapková takes silver at World Cup in Lucerne
    07/12/2015

    The Czech Republic's Mirka Knapková won the silver medal in the women's single skulls at the final event of the World Rowing Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland. The reigning Olympic Champion finished seven seconds behind Australia's Kim Crow. In men's single sculls, Czech Ondřej Synek finished in the fifth place.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Southern terminal at Prague's Airport evacuated over found ammunition
    07/12/2015

    Several dozen people were evacuated from the southern terminal of Prague's Václav Havel International Airport on Saturday morning after unexploded WWII ammunition was found nearby. Flights were interrupted and planes and vehicles were towed away for security reasons. The operation of the terminal was resumed in the afternoon, after the ammunition was cleared away by exlosive experts. The terminal is used mainly for private planes and the incident did not affect the rest of the airport.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

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