-
05/30/2009
The Tatra car plant in Kořivnice has announced it is laying off 450 workers as a result of the economic crisis. A spokesman for the plant said the employees would be let go at the end of August but would get bigger severance pay if they agreed to leave at once. The plant is due to finish work on an order of 550 trucks for the Czech army before breaking off for an early summer break. The Škoda car plant in Mlada Boleslav which currently has plenty of commissions thanks to the scrap incentives introduced in neighbouring states has said it might take on some of the laid-off Tatra workers on a temporary basis.
-
05/30/2009
The Posazaví car rally ended in tragedy on Saturday as one of the racing cars unexpectedly swerved off the track and rammed into a tree, killing the driver. The cause of the accident is being investigated. The rally, in its 12th year, is part of the five-race series of the Czech Open Cup. It was cancelled immediately after the tragedy. Eleven people have been killed in car rallies in the Czech Republic in the past ten years.
-
05/29/2009
Prime Minister Jan Fischer presented the programme priorities of his government to members of the lower house of Parliament on Friday. Mr Fischer did not publicly disclose the document but the news website aktualne.cz reported that the cabinet’s priorities included implementing a stimulus package to boost the economy, the preparation of privatisation of some key state-owned companies such as the carrier ČSA, and investments into education and transport infrastructure, among others. The interim government will not proceed with a planned reform of the retirement pension system or with the health care reform launched by the previous cabinet.
Prime Minister Jan Fischer’s government is set to ask for confidence in the lower house of the Czech Parliament on June 7. Mr Fischer took office earlier this month after the centre-right cabinet of Mr Topolánek fell in a no-confidence vote.
-
05/29/2009
In related news, PM Jan Fischer, has said that nuclear power is the only alternative to coal and gas. Speaking at a meeting of the European Nuclear Energy Forum in Prague on Friday, Mr Fischer said that nuclear power was also the only way of complying with the Czech Republic’s commitments in the field of climate protection. The leader of the caretaker government warned that after 2015, the country may face shortage of power. Mr Fischer also said that the decision whether to build two new blocks at the Czech nuclear power plant in Temelín is for the next government to make.
Several environmental organizations, including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Sortir du nucleaire left the meeting in Prague in protest; they said that the Czech and Slovak governments only used the venue to present their countries’ nuclear ambitions.
-
05/29/2009
The Czech energy giant ČEZ is going to take part in the construction of a new block at the Slovak nuclear power plant of Jaslovské Bohunice. The Czech energy producer signed an agreement with a Slovak partner company towards that end in Prague on Thursday. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed. The ČEZ energy producer is also planning to build two new blocks at the Czech nuclear power plant in Temelín, southern Bohemia, and another two at a plant in Romania.
-
05/29/2009
In related news, the ČEZ company is going to pay some 300 million crowns, or around 15.7 million US dollars, to several municipalities in the vicinity of the Temelín nuclear power plant in southern Bohemia. The sum will be distributed among five villages and towns and used to improve local public services.
ČEZ is planning to complete another two blocks at the Temelín power plant; if approved by the government, the new blocks will be built on land owned by the municipality of Temelín. The village will receive 100 million crowns, or more than 5 million US dollars, although ČEZ management denied any direct link between the subsidy and the plans to build two new blocks.
-
05/29/2009
Industrial production in the Czech Republic dropped by more than 23 percent in April, according to government figures released on Friday. Experts believe however that Czech industry is already over the worst of the crisis and expect that production will start rising again in the course of the year. In the second half of 2009, Czech industry is also expected to benefit from car scrapping subsidies introduced in several neighbouring countries. On the whole, the country’s industrial production is expected to drop by some 10 percent by the end of 2009.
-
05/29/2009
Three Romanies were sentenced to four years in prison on Friday for a racially motivated assault on a 35-year-old man. Two of them brutally beat the victim in a town outside Karlovy Vary in western Bohemia in December 2007, repeatedly calling him “a white swine”. The third man, who was a policeman at the time, was convicted of trying to cover up for them and obstructing the investigation of the case. Two of the men appealed the verdict on the spot.
The men faced sentences of up to ten years in prison but the court did not consider the attack to be attempted murder. The victim gave evidence under protection and will be given a new identity.
-
05/29/2009
The only Czech patient diagnosed with swine flu is healthy and has been released from quarantine, a Prague hospital spokeswoman said on Friday. The 29-year-old pilot, who contracted the virus in New York, was diagnosed with the disease last week but the course of the disease was mild.
In the Czech Republic, 143 people have been tested for suspected swine flu since the outbreak of the disease; only one case was confirmed and 21 people are still waiting for their tests results. The swine flu virus has been detected in 55 countries around the world so far.
-
05/29/2009
The Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi has criticized the Czech EU presidency for an alleged lack of authority. Speaking at a business conference in Rome on Thursday, Mr Berlusconi said the European Union was at the moment unable to exercise a lead role in world affairs because there is no one with authority at its helm. US President Barack Obama has no one to call to find out what’s going on, the Italian leader said. Referring to the Czech PM Jan Fischer, Mr Berlusconi said he found it paradoxical that an expert on statistics is now the president of the EU.
Pages
- « první
- ‹ předchozí
- …
- 5528
- 5529
- 5530
- 5531
- 5532
- 5533
- 5534
- 5535
- 5536
- …
- následující ›
- poslední »