• Visegrad prime ministers criticize possible delay in Schengen enlargement
    10/10/2006

    The prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia have issued a joint statement criticizing the possible postponement of their entry to the Schengen border-free zone. The statement says that a year long postponement of their admission to the Schengen region would incur considerable expenses in maintaining border security and would threaten the credibility of EU institutions in the newcomer states. The four central European leaders met in the Hungarian town of Visegrad on Tuesday to celebrate 15 years of regional cooperation within the Visegrad Four Group but political instability and upheavals in all four countries have thrown a damper on celebrations by the four leaders whose countries joined the EU in 2004 and who have been pooling their strength since in order to bolster their position as newcomers in the alliance.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Georgians protest outside Russian embassy in Prague
    10/10/2006

    Some twenty young Georgians living in Prague gathered outside the Russian embassy on Tuesday to protest against violation of human rights in Russia and Moscow's support for the separatist Georgian regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The demonstrators said that Russia's military support for the separatist regions could lead to a civil war that would claim thousands of lives. Relations between Russia and Georgia started to deteriorate three years ago when a new leadership adopted a pro-Western policy and strove to weaken Moscow's influence on Georgian affairs.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Czech Foreign Ministry condemns North Korean nuclear test
    10/09/2006

    The Czech Foreign Ministry has joined the global condemnation of the underground nuclear test carried out by North Korea. In a statement, the ministry said that it was an irresponsible and regrettable act that would lead to further nuclear arms proliferation and threaten international security and stability in the world. The Foreign Ministry has called on North Korea to return to diplomatic negotiations within the six-party talks.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • President to start talks on new government on Thursday
    10/09/2006

    President Vaclav Klaus will launch a new round of talks on a new government on Thursday after he accepts the resignation of the minority cabinet of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek on Wednesday. A spokesman for the president's office said Mr Klaus will meet representatives of all five parties in Parliament. Talks will begin anew after Mirek Topolanek's cabinet failed a vote of confidence in Parliament last week. President Klaus said earlier he would not appoint a new prime minister until after the local and Senate elections later this month.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Former health minister acquitted of charges
    10/09/2006

    A district court in Prague has acquitted former Health Minister Marie Souckova of charges in the Diag Human case. Ms Souckova was charged with breach of trust and abuse of power for signing a contract between the ministry and lawyer Zdenek Novacek under which the ministry was to pay him up to 170 million crowns for his services if it won a legal case against the blood plasma trading company Diag Human. Ms Souckova faced between three and ten years in prison and a fine of 10 million crowns.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Czech unemployment falls to 7.8 percent in September
    10/09/2006

    Czech unemployment fell to 7.8 percent in September from 7.9 percent one month earlier, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs announced on Monday. A total 427,331 people were registered as jobless and fit to work at the end of September, the ministry said. In September 2005, unemployment stood at 8.8 percent, the ministry added. Economists had expected a slight fall in the September jobless figure due to ongoing seasonal employment and school leavers and graduates starting work. Wide regional differences in unemployment rates persist with Prague's eastern region having the lowest national figure at 2.3 percent and the northern town of Most the highest at 20.3 percent.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Czech inflation falls to 2.7 percent in September
    10/09/2006

    Czech inflation was 2.7 percent in September on a 12-month comparison after 3.1 percent in August, the Czech Statistical Office announced on Monday. In September, consumer prices fell by 0.7 percent from the August figure. Prices rose in August by 0.2 percent compared with July. The lower cost of package holidays at home and abroad, the first drop in the cost of petrol after rises during the previous five months, and lower seasonal prices of fruit and vegetables contributed to September's lower inflation rate, the office explained.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Psychiatrists: depression on the rise in Czech Republic
    10/09/2006

    Czech psychiatrists have been reporting an increase in the prevalence of mental disorders in recent years. The most marked rise has been reported in patients with depression. According to the head of the Czech Psychiatric Society, Jiri Raboch, their number has doubled over the last decade. On the eve of World Mental Health day, Dr Raboch said some 1,500 Czechs commit suicide every year, with a significant proportion of them suffering from depression or having some type of addiction.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Havel suggests adopting global moral minimum
    10/09/2006

    Former Czech President Vaclav Havel has put forward the idea of a "global moral minimum" that could be adopted as a basis for the rules and norms of the coexistence of nations and supranational communities in the future world. Speaking at the Forum 2000 conference of world personalities in Prague on Monday, Mr Havel said he had already made several unsuccessful attempts at the creation of such a minimum and its adoption as a new official document, for instance on UN soil. This year, the annual conference focuses on the Dilemmas of Global Co-existence. Among the speakers are Belarusian opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich, Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, and Nobel Peace Prize laureates the Dalai Lama and US author Elie Wiesel.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Prague Mayor Bem: next government should be caretaker government
    10/08/2006

    The Prague Mayor and deputy chairman of the Civic Democratic Party, Pavel Bem, says current Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek would not hold onto the post if his party were given a second chance to form a new government. Mr Topolanek's cabinet is expected to resign on Wednesday after it failed to win a vote of confidence in the lower house of Parliament last week. In a televised debate Mr Bem, who is strongly in favour of early elections, said the next government proposed by the Civic Democrats would be a caretaker government. He added that there are at least three independent experts who his party sees fit to hold the post of prime minister.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

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