• Liverpool striker Baros too expensive for Schalke
    07/29/2005

    German Bundesliga runners-up Schalke admit they are unlikely to sign Czech international striker Milan Baros from Liverpool claiming the seven million pound asking price is too high. Schalke entered the race for Baros's signature on Thursday but have baulked at Liverpool's valuation of the topscorer from the Euro 2004 finals. Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is prepared to let the 24-year-old Baros go after signing Peter Crouch from Southampton but he wants a sizeable transfer fee for the marksman. Premiership side Aston Villa have already had a five million pound offer turned down and are considering whether to up their bid.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • RFE/RL to move from Prague centre to safer location
    07/28/2005

    Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is to move from its current location at the top of Wenceslas Square to a safer place away from the centre of Prague, the United States-funded broadcaster announced on Thursday. Security at the station was stepped up in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the US, and Czech politicians had called for RFE/RL to relocate as it posed a risk to the general population. It is moving to a new building in the Prague 10 district of Hagibor.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Memorial held in honour of Pavel Dostal at National Theatre
    07/28/2005

    A memorial ceremony for Culture Minister Pavel Dostal, who died on Sunday, has been held at Prague's National Theatre. The ceremony was broadcast live on Czech Television and was attended by President Vaclav Klaus, Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek and other politicians, as well as many well known figures from the world of Czech culture. Mr Dostal will be laid to rest in a private family funeral on Friday.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Press: Slovak Darjanin set to replace Dostal as culture minister
    07/28/2005

    Meanwhile, there were press reports on Thursday that Vladimir Darjanin has provisionally agreed to replace Mr Dostal as minister of culture. Mr Darjanin is currently the head of the Czech pavilion at the Expo 2005 in Japan; he is not a member of any political party and comes from eastern Slovakia.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Paroubek to stand in regions to avoid possible Prague battle with Topolanek
    07/28/2005

    The prime minister, Jiri Paroubek, looks set to stand as a Social Democrat candidate in the Usti nad Labem region in general elections next year, two Czech dailies reported on Thursday. Mr Paroubek currently represents Prague and may have wished to avoid a possible head-to-head battle with Mirek Topolanek, chairman of the opposition Civic Democrats; his party are traditionally strong in the Prague area.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czechs await suitable conditions for English Channel swim
    07/28/2005

    Three Czechs hoping to swim the English Channel are still waiting for suitable weather conditions. One of them, professional swimmer Yvetta Hlavacova, had to be rescued during a training session near Dover on Wednesday, after the sea turned very rough. She and fellow Czechs Richard Haan and Stanislav Bartusek have until August 3 to attempt the gruelling 21-mile swim.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Germany's Schalke interested in signing Czech footballer Baros
    07/28/2005

    Czech football star Milan Baros has been in talks with German club Schalke over a possible transfer. Baros has been at England's Liverpool for three and a half years, but is not the club's first choice striker. He has a remarkable record at international level, with 25 goals in 37 games for the Czech Republic.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Electrical engineering Czech Republic's biggest industry
    07/27/2005

    Electrical engineering has become the Czech Republic's biggest industrial sector, having more than doubled since the year 2000, and having posted a turnover of 436 billion crowns (19 billion US dollars) last year, the economic daily Hospodarske noviny writes. The steel and metal industry in the second place generated a turnover of 400 billion crowns and engineering, the third largest sector, 374 billion crowns last year. Behind the fast growth of Czech electrical engineering is modernisation of companies already integrated into the EU supply system and the launch of new large plants built by foreign investors at the turn of the millennium.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Theatre director Darjanin hot candidate for Czech culture minister
    07/27/2005

    Theatre director and general commissioner of the Czech exposition at Expo 2005 Vladimir Darjanin is a hot candidate for the post of Czech culture minister to replace Pavel Dostal who died of cancer on Sunday, Czech dailies wrote on Wednesday. If Mr Darjanin were appointed, he would become the fourth non-party member in the coalition cabinet, besides Deputy Prime Minister Martin Jahn, Interior Minister Frantisek Bublan and head of the government Legislative Council Pavel Zarecky. Mr Darjanin who is still in Japan is expected to meet Prime Minister Paroubek later this week.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Former finance minister reports to prison
    07/27/2005

    Former finance minister and member of the Social Democrat Party, Ivo Svoboda, has reported to a Prague prison to serve a five-year sentence for embezzlement. He and his former adviser, Barbora Snopkova were found guilty of embezzling funds worth 300,000 US dollars from a bankrupt baby carriage manufacturer between 1996 and 1998 and they lost a final appeal in the case last autumn. Mr Svoboda is the first member of a post-Communist Czech government to be handed down a prison sentence.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

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