• Supreme Court judges sign deal with government over retroactive pay
    04/23/2015

    Judges of the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic on Thursday signed a deal on retroactive pay with the government. Under the deal the state will find around 1.2 billion crowns to partially compensate judges for insufficient pay over the years 2012 to 2014. The settlement became necessary after the Supreme Court ruled that the Ministry of Labour had made a miscalculation when it set the pay levels of judges and state attorneys, which led to them being unknowingly underpaid for three years. The deal will save the state some four million crowns.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Amnesty International: Czech schools discriminate and segregate Roma children
    04/23/2015

    Roma children in Czech schools face daily discrimination and segregation, the human rights watchdog Amnesty International says in a report released on Thursday. According to Amnesty International, the situation is caused by the Czech government’s longstanding failure to address deeply engrained prejudice within the education system. Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Salil, Shetty, said that that by “failing to properly address this issue for years the Czech government is not only breaching European Union and human rights law but is restricting the life chances of tens of thousands of Czech citizens.” In reaction to the report, the Czech Ministry of Education told the Czech News Agency that it had recently taken a number of measures in support of inclusion.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Nearly 26 million tourists came to CR in 2014
    04/23/2015

    Some 25.7 million foreign tourists visited the Czech Republic last year, according to figures released by the Czech Statistical Office and the Ministry of Regional Development on Thursday. Nearly ten percent of them merely transited the country and 51.6 percent of them stayed for one day only. Among those who stay for a longer period of time are mainly Germans, Russians and Slovaks. They usually spend on average six days in the country. Most of the one-day visitors to the Czech Republic also come from Germany and Slovakia, followed by tourists from Austria.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Cabinet clears troop deployments for Mali, Golan Heights UN missions
    04/23/2015

    Czech troop deployments for the United Nations missions in the Golan Heights and Mali were approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday. A total of around 30 soldiers would participate in both missions lasting through 2016. The Czechs already have been operating in Mali as part of a security force in the capital and in training local soldiers. But the new mandate in the north of the country would involve 26 specialists helping to counter Islamic radicals. The mandate in the Golan Heights could result in up to five Czech soldiers being sent there. The UN would be expected to cover around 80 percent of the costs of the missions. Parliament will still have to approve the Cabinet decision.
    Author: Chris Johnstone

  • Czechs beat Finland 4:1 in ice hockey warm up
    04/23/2015

    In ice hockey, the Czech team won 4:1 against Finland in its warm up match for the world championships on Wednesday night. The Czechs came back after going behind in the first minute of play. Four NHL returnees featured in the Czech line-up: Jan Heyda, Jakub Voráček, Tomáš Hertl, and Martin Erat. Jakub Voráček played a key role in three of the Czech goals without scoring himself. The Czech win makes it six victories from the last seven for the national team. Manager Vladimír Růžíčka said the defensive performance in the first period was weak but said he was satisfied with the overall performance.
    Author: Chris Johnstone

  • Czech PM says EU should tackle human traffickers and root emigration problems
    04/22/2015

    Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said Wednesday that the Czech Republic will push for the EU to clamp down on human traffickers and deal with problems in emigrants’ home countries at a special meeting Thursday to debate the immigration crisis facing Europe. Sobotka said EU foreign policy should also seek as a priority to tackle the problems in Libya, where national government has broken down amid a power battle between rival groups. The Czech prime minister said Prague is broadly in accord with the 10 point programme drawn up after a meeting of EU foreign and interior ministers on Monday. He stressed however that Prague is opposed to national quotas for sharing out immigrants who arrive in the EU. Such a share out would likely increase the number of immigrants which the landlocked Czech Republic would be forced to take in. At the moment the country is mainly on transit routes and not a target for the large flow of immigrants landing in such frontline countries as Italy.
    Author: Chris Johnstone

  • Police seek to resurrect fraud prosecution of Czech billionaire
    04/22/2015

    Police have recommended that criminal proceedings are revived and charges pressed against billionaire businessman Pavel Tykač for his part in the alleged tunnelling of CS Fondů, according to Czech Television. Charges were originally lodged against Tykač for his part in a 1.23 billion channelling of cash abroad from the three funds managed by the company in the late 1990s. They got back almost worthless shares in return. Czech prosecutors blocked previous moves to prosecute Tykač for his part in the massive fraud for lack of witnesses. Proceedings have been revived now by the police because three witnesses with testimony putting Tykač as the main organiser of the fraud have come forward. Tykač’s personal worth is estimated at around 30 billion crowns.
    Author: Chris Johnstone

  • GE Money Bank set for sale
    04/22/2015

    Czech bank GE Money Bank is being put up for sale by its US parent company, General Electric. The general manager of the Czech unit, Sean Morrisey, confirmed that the aim is for the sale to take place within two years. The story of the intended sale was broken by business daily Hospodářské Noviny. GE Money Bank is the sixth largest bank on the Czech market with around one million clients. Its sale could fetch up to 40 billion crowns for its owners, the paper reported.
    Author: Chris Johnstone

  • Czechs average eighth longest working week in EU
    04/22/2015

    Czechs on average work 41.8 hours a week, according to figures released by the European statistics office, Eurostat. The figures for 2014 put Czechs in eighth place among the EU 28 countries for the longest working week. Greeks topped the table with just over 44 hours followed by Austrians and British. Poles worked around half an hour longer every week than Czechs but Slovaks slightly less. Danes put in the least hours with an average 38.8 hours worked a week. The working week is shortening though for Czechs with just over 43 hours the length of the average in 2003. The main issue is not hours worked but productivity of the time at work.
    Author: Chris Johnstone

  • Czech train services disrupted by German strike
    04/22/2015

    Train services between Prague and Berlin and Hamburg were disrupted Wednesday by a strike by German train drivers. Trains from the Czech capital were forced to stop at Dresden where an emergency service took over. The strike over wages and conditions with national carrier Deutsche Bahn (DB) is due to last until Friday. Two thirds of long distance and regional DB passenger services were due to be affected. Services by other operators from the Czech Republic to Munich and across the border from Cheb were not expected to be hit.
    Author: Chris Johnstone

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