News

The European Parliament has authorised Austrian representative, Maria Berger, to begin a fact-finding mission concerning Czech member of the European Parliament Vladimir Zelezny, after a Prague court asked that Mr Zelezny be stripped of parliamentary immunity. Czech officials are looking to summon Mr Zelezny to court in connection with an alleged case of customs fraud, in which Mr Zelezny may have failed to declare a number of valuable paintings brought into the country.

An exhibit featuring some 300 nativity scenes - including rare showpieces - has opened in the north Moravian city of Ostrava. Visitors will be able to see such rare exhibits as a mining-themed nativity scene that depicts a replica of a hoist tower and uses various nuts and bolts and other metal objects to represent traditional nativity figures. Other exhibits have been crafted from non-traditional materials like ceramics and even glass.

The cabinet has decided to keep its options open over the privatisation of Cesky Telecom: it will first try to find a suitable investor. If that should fail, it will sell its 51% stake in the telecommunications company on the capital markets. A number of foreign investors have expressed interest in taking part in the tender, which will close at the end of March. Cesky Telecom has an estimated market value of 114 billion crowns; it operates three and a half million fixed lines and is the sole owner of mobile operator Eurotel, which has almost four and a half million customers.

A group of children from the Russian town of Beslan have arrived in the Czech Republic, where they will undergo medical treatment and rehabilitation. A hostage crisis at their school in September ended in the deaths of more than 300 people. The children, accompanied by parents and teachers, as well as psychologists, will be staying in the west Bohemian spa town of Karlovy Vary, where there is a sizable Russian community.