• Prime Minister of Albania to visit Czech Republic on Monday
    03/26/2006

    Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha is to start a two-day visit to the Czech Republic on Monday. Mr Berisha is scheduled to hold meetings with his Czech counterpart Jiri Paroubek and other senior politicians, who can share their experiences as Albania aspires to join NATO and the EU. Albania has a population of three million. With a GDP reaching a mere 20 percent of the EU average it is one of the poorest countries in Europe.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Senate to open new Information Centre on Friday
    03/26/2006

    The Upper House of the Czech Parliament, the Senate, will open its first ever information centre on Friday. The centre will offer visitors a chance to monitor an upper house session, learn about the Senate's history and activities, and its seat - the Waldstein Palace.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Thalia 2006 awards
    03/26/2006

    The country's best stage actors, singers, and dancers gathered at Prague's National Theatre on Saturday for the 13th Thalia Awards. The prestigious ceremony is held every year to award the most successful actors, opera and musical singers and ballet dancers. For the second time, distinguished soprano Eva Urbanova won the prize for her role of Kostelnicka in Leos Janacek's Jenufa.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Lukas Pesek claims second place at MotoGP, Jan Kopecky finishes fifth at Catalunya Rally
    03/26/2006

    Czech Lukas Pesek showed great form at Sunday's Motorcycling Grand Prix in Jerez, Spain. The 20 year-old Derbi rider came a historic second in the 125cc class opening race. Spain's Alvaro Bautista produced a commanding performance to claim his first ever grand prix victory, while Italy's Mattia Pasini finished third.

    Meanwhile, Jan Kopecky finished fifth in a Skoda at the Catalunya Rally, the best placement by a Czech driver in this race.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Thrown out Belarusian students may get study stays in Czech Republic
    03/25/2006

    Students in Belarus, who are thrown out of their universities for taking part in demonstrations against their President Alexander Lukashenko could be allowed to continue their studies in the Czech Republic. The Czech government is to discuss this possibility at its session on Wednesday. Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek also plans to discuss the study stays with education minister Petra Buzkova. Massive protest demonstrations are being held in the Belarusian capital Minsk after Mr Lukashenko gained another term in a presidential election last weekend, which is widely believed to have been rigged.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Civic Democrats criticise Prime Minister over EU directive on services
    03/25/2006

    The opposition right-of-centre Civic Democrats have strongly criticised Social Democrat Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek for failing to defend Czech interests at the EU summit in Brussels on Friday. The Czech Republic has backed down from its earlier demand for a stronger directive on the liberalisation of trade in services. The move was criticised at the Civic Democrats' Executive Council meeting in Karlovy Vary. The rival Social Democrats were also scorned for the large number of corruption scandals around the party, a lost arbitration case that could cost the state billions of crowns, and unrest in the health sector.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Vaclav Havel calls US visa policy absurd
    03/25/2006

    Former Czech President and human rights advocate Vaclav Havel has spoken out against the United States' strict visa policy towards the Czech Republic. Mr Havel said the USA was being pedantic and to some extent absurd. Millions of Mexicans cross the border with bags of cocaine and heroin, but the authorities are worried about the Czech student staying too long, Mr Havel told the CTK news agency.

    But unlike foreign minister Cyril Svoboda, Mr Havel believes reciprocal measures against US citizens are not necessary. Instead, Czechs should get the word out by openly talking about it, joking about it, and writing about it in papers, such as the New York Times, Mr Havel suggests.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • German WWII soldiers' remains to stay at factory
    03/25/2006

    The Czech government will not interfere in a decision to keep the remains of German WWII soldiers stored in a factory in the northern town of Usti nad Labem, Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek said on Saturday. The bodies of the Wehrmacht soldiers were exhumed from various graves around the country to be buried at a special cemetery in Prague. The organisers of the project ran out of money, and the remains were stored at the factory instead, where they have been for the last three years.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Medieval crane to be erected at Prague Castle
    03/25/2006

    A replica of a medieval crane that used to be powered by men running inside two large wheels is to be erected at Prague Castle. The crane will be part of an accompanying programme to the Charles IV exhibition that is currently underway. It will be constructed according to images from the famous Wenceslas Bible and similar cranes preserved in the Czech Republic and abroad.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Czech Republic helps initiate sanctions against Lukashenko regime
    03/24/2006

    The Czech Republic within the European Union has helped put forward a plan for sanctions against the Lukashenko regime in Belarus. The plan - initiated by Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda - was been discussed at the EU summit in Brussels on Friday. Sanctions are in reaction to last weekend's elections in Belarus, widely considered flawed. On Thursday night between 300-500 opposition demonstrators protesting Mr Lukashenko's re-election, were confronted by police officers. The exact form of sanctions against Belarus has not yet been agreed, but is expected to include travel restrictions and financial penalties.

    Sanctions may also include a travel ban for Belarus' strong-arm president.
    Author: Jan Velinger

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