• State budget posts higher than expected deficit
    01/02/2007

    The 2006 state budget posted a 97. 3 billion crown deficit in public spending, which is over 13 billion crowns higher than expected, the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday. Parliament originally approved a deficit of 74.4 billion crowns, but the figure was later revised to 83.7 billion. The ministry said lower tax and social insurance revenues were to blame. The target was also exceeded as a result of lawmakers transferring cash to regional government coffers from funds earmarked for mandatory government spending.

    The Czech government no longer counts on adopting the European single currency by the original target date of 2010 but has not set any new deadline. In order to adopt the euro, governments must meet strict EU targets for public debt, deficits and inflation.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Almost half of Czechs for Olympics in Prague, suggests poll
    01/02/2007

    Some 49 percent of Czechs are in favour of the Olympic Games being held in Prague, suggests a new poll released by the STEM agency. The Czech capital is set to decide this year whether to bid to host the Olympics in 2016 or - if that bid fails - in 2020. The Prague city authority is due to set up a special committee to examine the issue.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Over 200 gay couples enter registered partnerships
    01/02/2007

    There are now more than 200 registered homosexual partnerships in the Czech Republic, a daily newspaper reported on Tuesday. A new law allowing gay and lesbian couples similar rights to married couples came into effect on July 1. Jiri Hromada of the Gay Initiative said they had expected much less interest in registered partnerships.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • 150,000 tourists celebrate New Year's in Prague
    01/02/2007

    Around 150,000 thousand foreign tourists visited Prague for the New Year's holiday, according to the head of the Association of Czech Travel Agencies Tomio Okamura. He said another 120,000 visitors had celebrated New Year's elsewhere in the Czech Republic.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Klaus criticises failure to form government in New Year's address
    01/01/2007

    In his traditional New Year's Day address, President Vaclav Klaus hit out at the failure of political parties to form a new government since elections in June. He said seven months without a government capable of surviving a vote of confidence was a record, and one of which the Czech Republic could not be proud.

    The president compared the post-election stalemate, in which the lower house is evenly divided between left and right, to a "civil cold war". He said the Czech state had often paid the price in the past for lacking "internal unity".

    Mr Klaus also warned against efforts to revive the European Union constitution under Germany's presidency. He said the EU offered new opportunities and removed unnecessary barriers, but also organised, regulated and controlled the lives of citizens; Czechs should do their best to ensure the first mentioned aspects prevail.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • 10,000 attend free New Year's Eve concert on Wenceslas Square
    01/01/2007

    An estimated 10,000 people attended a free concert on Prague's Wenceslas Square on New Year's Eve. The show, which was broadcast live on TV Nova, featured almost 200 singers and musicians. Police said the event had passed off peacefully.

    Elsewhere the city's rescue workers had their busiest New Year's Eve in five years; they were called out to investigate almost 300 cases of injury, mostly due to alcohol.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Inebriated man dies of hypothermia after being left outside by friends
    01/01/2007

    Outside the capital, a middle-aged man died of hypothermia when friends at a party in Ostrava left him lying outside, after he had become extremely inebriated. Another man was found lying dead on the ground by passers-by in Brno. Meanwhile a student at Ostrava Technical University is fighting for his life after being brought to hospital with alcohol poisoning.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Man dies after being hit in face by firework
    01/01/2007

    A 26-year-old man died after being struck in the head by a firework in Cheb, west Bohemia on Saturday. After setting off one firework outside a bar, the man went to check on why a second had not taken off. It hit him directly in the face. The man, who was Vietnamese, died of his injuries at a hospital in Plzen.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czechs lose in first round of tennis's Hopman Cup
    01/01/2007

    The Czech Republic were beaten 2:1 by India in the first round of tennis's Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia on Sunday. The Czech team of Tomas Berdych and Lucie Safarova - who are a couple - were seeded third in the mixed team's event, while India were making their debut.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czech Foreign Ministry welcomes Saddam execution
    12/30/2006

    The Czech Foreign Ministry has welcomed the execution of the former dictator of Iraq Saddam Hussein. In a statement the Ministry said his death was an important historic milestone and represented at least partial satisfaction for the families of Saddam's victims. In the short term his killing could cause instability in Iraq, but in the long term the end of the era of Saddam Hussein will move the country closer to stability and democracy, it said. Though the death penalty contradicts European values his execution should be looked at from the perspective of Iraq today, said the Foreign Ministry.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

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