• Foreign trade surplus recorded in month of July for first time
    09/02/2005

    The Czech Republic recorded a foreign trade surplus of 1.2 billion crowns in July, an improvement of over 8 billion compared to the same month last year. It is the first time there has been a surplus in July, when there is usually a downturn due to seasonal factors. The balance particularly improved in the field of machinery and transport machinery.

    Friday's positive figures caused the Czech crown to rise in strength against the euro- it reached a three-year high of 29.21.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Police refusing to comment on shooting incident
    09/02/2005

    Prague police are refusing to comment on the shooting dead of a 22-year-old man, believed to be from Ukraine, in the early hours of Friday morning. The CTK news agency reported that he was shot by the police, who were responding to a call from a woman who said men were "restricting her freedom" in her flat. A spokesperson said the police were continuing to investigate the incident.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Troja to be last Prague district to receive flood defences
    09/02/2005

    The Prague district of Troja will be the last part of the city to receive flood defences; they are to be installed after the world kayaking championships are held there next August, deputy Prague mayor Jan Burgermeister said on Friday. Many areas of the city were damaged three years ago during the worst flooding in centuries.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czech footballers in Romania for important game
    09/02/2005

    The Czech football team have arrived in Romania, ahead of an important World Cup qualifying game on Saturday. They are currently second in their group, but a win against Romania could help them guarantee a place in the finals - the two second-placed teams with the best results go through without having to take part in playoffs. The Czechs last reached the World Cup in 1980.

    Meanwhile, the national ice hockey team got off to a winning start under new coach Alois Hadamczik on Thursday, beating Finland 2:1 in Liberec in the Ceska pojistovna cup.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Poland's public prosecutor's office may question Czech officials
    09/01/2005

    Officials from Poland's public prosecutor's office have said it is likely the office will seek to question Czech politicians in connection with the privatisation of the Czech petrochemical company Unipetrol earlier this year. The Czech Republic's stake in Unipetrol was bought by Poland's PKN Orlen concern. In recent days reports as well as video footage have surfaced linking the former head of the Czech government office, Zdenek Dolezel, with a possible bribe in the sale of Unipetrol, a charge he has denied. Now, according to unofficial sources, the Polish public prosecutor's office would like to question two high-standing Czech politicians in connection with the sale: Czech Finance Minister Bohumil Sobotka and former prime-minister Stanislav Gross.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • President sees Unipetrol case as "serious"
    09/01/2005

    In related news, Czech president Vaclav Klaus has called the Unipetrol case "serious" although he did stress on Thursday he wasn't drawing conclusions. The leader of the opposition right-of-centre Civic Democrats, Mirek Topolanek, meanwhile, called on the prime minister in a letter to make public all documentation compiled by Polish officials. In Mr Topolanek's view recent developments have "cast doubt" on the transparency of the Unipetrol sale earlier this year.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Experts: Hurricane Katrina, floods, could lead to a rise in home insurance rates
    09/01/2005

    A number of insurance experts in the Czech Republic have indicated in a new survey (conducted by the CTK news agency) that recent floods in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the devastating Hurricane Katrina in the U.S., could have a wider impact in raising home insurance rates - both in the Czech Republic as well as abroad - next year. According to observers Hurricane Katrina alone will hit global insurance companies hard, and in the survey experts say companies may choose to compensate for damages of around 26 billion US dollars by raising rates on different markets.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • September 1st means "back to school"
    09/01/2005

    September 1st meant "back to school" for 1.4 million Czech pupils, after their two-month summer holiday. This year some 88,500 entered the first grade, while around 139,000 students began high school. Education Minister Petra Buzkova paid a visit to a primary school in the Central Bohemian town of Melnik, while Czech president Vaclav Klaus visited two schools in the South Bohemian town of Pisek.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Czech Radio launches new station
    09/01/2005

    Czech Radio has launched a new 24-hour station specialising in programmes about science, technology, and nature. Called "Leonardo", the station now broadcasts on the internet and as of October along with other Czech Radio stations it will be available in digital form in the DVB-T system. Leonardo is one of Czech Radio's four digital projects, along with the news station "Radio Cesko", the classical music channel "D dur" and a youth channel due to start broadcasting at the end of 2005.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Czech Cabinet approves much-awaited bankruptcy bill
    08/31/2005

    The Czech government has approved a bankruptcy bill that should facilitate bankruptcies and increase creditors' powers. The Czech Republic has long been criticised for its existing bankruptcy legislation with proceedings dragging on for years and creditors in the end receiving only 17 percent of their claims, the lowest percentage in the EU. Bankruptcies in the Czech Republic by far exceed settlement with creditors. Some 4,000 petitions for bankruptcy are filed every year in the Czech Republic, while the cases of settlement number just several dozen.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

Pages