• Outgoing prime minister says Czech Republic should wait before implementing scrap premium
    04/11/2009

    In an interview with Mladá fronta Dnes on Saturday, the outgoing prime minister, Mirek Topolánek, said that he did not expect a scrap premium, included by the government in its anti-crisis stimulus package, to be implemented this year. The scrap premium, akin to subsidies already in place in Germany and Slovakia, was proposed by the opposition Social Democrats in return for their support of the package in the Czech Lower House. The scheme would encourage those with cars over ten years old to scrap them for a newer vehicle. The Social Democrats want to see the scheme in operation in this country by the autumn. But on Saturday, the outgoing prime minister said that Czech carmakers were already having difficulty meeting demand, and that the scrap premium should be implemented next year, or at least when that demand dried up, and not before.
    Author: Rosie Johnston

  • Czech EU presidency congratulates Algerian president on third term
    04/11/2009

    The Czech presidency of the European Union has congratulated Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika for securing a third term in office. Mr Bouteflika won a landslide victory after changing the country’s constitution to allow himself another five years at the helm. On Friday, the Czech presidency of the European Union congratulated Mr Bouteflika and described Algeria as an ‘important and reliable partner’ in the Mediterranean region. In a statement, the Czech presidency paid homage to Algeria’s role in the ‘mutual fight against terrorism and illegal migration’.
    Author: Rosie Johnston

  • Poll: few Czechs think of Easter in a religious context
    04/11/2009

    Czechs think of Easter more as a festival to mark the arrival of spring than as a religious holiday, a poll conducted by the Median agency for Saturday’s edition of Lidové noviny suggests. Nearly 50 percent of those polled said that they thought of Easter as the start of a new season, while considerably less said that they thought of Easter as a commemoration of Christ’s death - only 18 percent of respondents said that they would be attending church to mark the festival. The survey suggested that Easter traditions are alive and well in the Czech Republic, with around 60 percent of those polled saying that they would be painting Easter eggs, and around the same amount linking the festival with the whipping of women, an age-old Czech custom at Easter time.
    Author: Rosie Johnston

  • Canoeist drowns in north Moravia
    04/11/2009

    A 31-year-old woman has died after the canoe she was rowing overturned in the Opava River in north Moravia on Saturday. The woman was in a group of eight canoeists; after her boat overturned they succeeded in dragging her to the bank of the river. By the time emergency services arrived on the scene, however, she was already dead, a spokesperson for Bruntálsko regional police said.
    Author: Rosie Johnston

  • Record temperatures for April 11 registered around the country
    04/11/2009

    This Saturday, April 11, was the hottest on record in the Czech Republic, with meteorologists measuring a temperature of 22.5 degrees Celsius in Prague this afternoon, and warmer temperatures being recorded around the country. The temperature measured at Prague’s Klementinum broke the record for this day set in 1781. According to the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, Teplice in north Bohemia enjoyed temperatures of 24.1 degrees on Saturday afternoon, while temperatures in South Moravia reached 24.7 degrees Celsius.
    Author: Rosie Johnston

  • Ice-hockey: Jágr returns to Czech Republic ahead of World Championships
    04/11/2009

    This Saturday, Czech hockey star Jaromír Jágr flew back to the Czech Republic from Russia, where he has been playing this season with Avangard Omsk, saying he was fit and ready to play in the upcoming World Championships for his country. Omsk’s season ended on March 16, but the veteran Czech attacker stayed on in Russia to train some more on his own and with his club. He will start training with his Czech teammates next week in Liberec ahead of the country’s final matches in the Euro Hockey Tour.
    Author: Rosie Johnston

  • Czech EU presidency concerned about fate of journalist in Iran
    04/10/2009

    The European Union's Czech presidency has voiced serious concern about espionage charges leveled against US-Iranian journalist Roxana Sabery in Iran. The Czech EU presidency called on Teheran to respect human rights and honour all international human rights treaties ratified by the country. It emerged on Wednesday that Sabery who has been detained in a notorious Teheran prison since January, has been charged with spying. She was initially reported to have been detained for illegally buying alcohol.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Media reports say ministerial team almost completed
    04/10/2009

    Czech media reported on Friday that the new Prime Minister Jan Fischer has almost assembled his cabinet. The daily Mladá fronta Dnes said 11 positions have been filled with only four still in question. In many cases, the new cabinet members will be deputy ministers already serving in the ministry. Newspapers report that the head of the competition office Martin Pecina is one of the outside experts being brought in. He is tipped to take over at the Ministry of Interior. Outgoing Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek told Czech Radio on Thursday that the former Czech EU ambassador Jan Kohout would be heading the Foreign Ministry. He is now serving as a deputy foreign minister responsible for development, consular and visa affairs and international and community law. Jan Fischer’s caretaker cabinet is to have 16 ministerial posts. It is due to take over on May 9th and lead the country until early elections in October.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Close to half of Czechs happy with Fischer as PM
    04/10/2009

    Forty-eight percent of Czechs consider Jan Fischer an appropriate choice for prime minister and believe he will cope well with the challenges ahead, according to a poll conducted by the Factum Invenio agency. A third of respondents said they did not think he was equipped to take over, especially in the middle of the country’s EU presidency. At 58, Jan Fischer he is the country’s oldest-ever prime minister. Some people have reservations to the fact that he is essentially a technocrat, others criticize the fact that he spent ten years in the communist party.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Czech Republic to provide IMF with 1,3 billion euro loan for countries in trouble
    04/10/2009

    The Czech Republic will provide a loan worth 1.3 billion euros (around 27 billion crowns) to the International Monetary Fund for possible help to countries hit by the financial crisis, the internet daily E15 reported on Friday, citing Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek. The loan is the Czech contribution to a trillion dollar aid package which the G20 countries agreed on at their London summit earlier this month. The Czech contribution should be drawn from foreign exchange reserves of the Czech National Bank.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

Pages