• Social Democrats "disappointed" by Civic democrat's proposed policy programme
    11/30/2006

    The Social Democrats have expressed disappointment at the content of a government policy programme proposed to them by the Civic Democrats. The party says the manifesto is the exact copy of that of the Civic Democrat's planned three-party coalition with the Christian Democrats and the Greens that was rejected in the autumn. The Civic Democrats say the policy programme is only to serve as a basis for discussion.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Civic Democrats for special lower house meeting on new Labour Code
    11/30/2006

    The Civic Democrats intend to call a special lower house meeting to hold discussion on the date when a new Labour Code is to come into effect. Cabinet has proposed to introduce the Labour Code on January 1. 2008 instead of 2007. But Social Democrat and Communist deputies, who together hold 100 of the 200 seats in the lower house of Parliament, have blocked plans to vote on the proposal in Thursday's regular session.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Pavel Bem re-elected Lord Mayor of Prague
    11/30/2006

    Civic Democrat deputy chairman Pavel Bem has been re-elected Lord Mayor of Prague. With the vote of 49 of 69 town representatives, Mr Bem will serve another six year term.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Police detain eleven suspected people smugglers
    11/30/2006

    Police have detained eleven foreign nationals suspected of people smuggling. The detainees, who include three women, are from five states and have been long term residents of the Czech Republic. Police suspect they issued citizens of Dagestan, Kazakhstan, and Syria official invitations to get them into the Czech Republic and from there smuggle them into Germany and France in trucks. They face up to ten years in prison if found guilty.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Czech crown reaches new record high to US dollar
    11/30/2006

    The Czech crown reached a new record high to the US dollar with an exchange rate of 21.18 crowns to the dollar on Thursday.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • President Bush and US Ambassador to Prague on visa policy
    11/29/2006

    US President George W. Bush speaking with President Vaclav Klaus at the NATO Summit underway in Riga, has reportedly reiterated conviction that visa requirements for Czechs travelling to the US will eventually be waived. Speaking to reporters after a brief meeting with his US counterpart, Czech President Vaclav Klaus said President Bush anticipated intense debate in Congress, which will have the final word.

    While Czech Foreign Minister Alexandr Vondra has put two years as an estimate for changes in visa policy, some US officials are being more cautious. The US Ambassador to Prague Richard Graber on Wednesday reacted by suggesting that while two years was perhaps a good estimate, the timeframe couldn't be guaranteed.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Premysl Sobotka re-elected as Senate chairman
    11/29/2006

    Premysl Sobotka of the right-of-centre Civic Democrats has been re-elected to the post of Senate chairman. On Wednesday, 74 out of 77 senators present supported him in a secret ballot. It was the highest support for any chairman in the upper house's ten-year history. Mr Sobotka's party has a majority in the senate, holding 41 of 81 seats. Regarding his continuing on in the post, Mr Sobotka said one of his priorities was to increase the Senate's role in foreign policy.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • War of words interrupts lower house session
    11/29/2006

    Wednesday's lower house session had to be interrupted after a row broke out between MPs of the two strongest parties. The deputies were in their first reading of laws and contracts when the Social Democrats and Civic Democrats clashed over a proposal to fully dissolve the Ministry of Information Technology in 2007. The war of words was sparked off by a remark made by former health minister and Social Democrat MP David Rath. He accused Civic Democrat Interior Minister Ivan Langer of being particularly eager to take over one of the IT ministry's projects because he would benefit from it personally.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Introduction of electronic road toll system may be postponed
    11/29/2006

    The Austrian company Kapsch will not be able to launch test operations of a new road toll system this Friday. The transport ministry has not given the test run the green light. The ministry says some toll gates are hundreds of metres from where they were supposed to be. It also criticises the use of diesel units. Without the test operation, the introduction of the country's first electronic road toll system for vehicles above 12 tonnes cannot be launched on January 1. The new system is estimated to bring in around 10.5 billion crowns (over 4.5 million US dollars) a year.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Tests confirm 25th case of BSE; 2nd case this year
    11/29/2006

    Tests have confirmed the Czech Republic's 25th case of BSE, or mad cow disease. The State Veterinary Authority reported on Wednesday that the infected cow was from a farm near Semily in northeast Bohemia. Some two hundred cows will have to be slaughtered as a precautionary measure. Since 2001, when the first case of BSE was recorded, over one million cows have been tested.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

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