• Havel receives prestigious Polish prize
    10/11/2003

    Former Czech President Vaclav Havel has received the St George Prize, awarded by the Polish Catholic weekly Tygodnik Powszechny. Havel is the first Czech to receive the prize. Also awarded was Polish journalist, human rights promoter and a friend of Mr. Havel's, Adam Michnik. The prize goes every year to personalities who act for the general benefit. Established in 1945, Tygodnik Powsechny is the oldest independent weekly in the former eastern bloc countries.
    Author: Vladimír Tax

  • Football - under-21 Czech team beat Austria 2-0 in Euro 2004 qualifier
    10/11/2003

    Football - The Czech Republic beat Austria 2-0 in a Group Three qualifier for Euro 2004 under-21 championship. The scorers were Kolar and Sverkos.
    Author: Vladimír Tax

  • Havel among leading candidates to win Nobel Peace Prize
    10/09/2003

    Former President Vaclav Havel is being tipped as one of the favourites to win this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Mr Havel, nominated for the eighth time, is among three leading candidates for the prize along with Pope John Paul II and the Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Most observers believe the ailing Pope will win; however some believe the pontiff's views on abortion and the use of condoms against AIDS make him too controversial. There are a record 165 nominees this year: the winner will be announced at 9:00 GMT on Friday.
    Author: Rob Cameron

  • Kinsky loses two more court cases
    10/09/2003

    Franz Ulrich Kinsky, a descendant of the Kinsky noble family, has lost two further court cases involving property confiscated after the Second World War. A court in the northern town of Decin rejected Mr Kinsky's claim that he was the rightful owner of a hunting lodge and a restaurant. Franz Kinsky has filed a total of 157 lawsuits against the Czech state, asking the courts to declare him the legal owner of property including country homes and woodland. Most of the property was confiscated after 1945 from Mr Kinsky's late father, an alleged Nazi sympathiser who died before the war. However Mr Kinsky says the property belonged to him, not his father, and the confiscation was therefore illegal.
    Author: Rob Cameron

  • Unemployment rises to highest level in seven months
    10/09/2003

    Unemployment in the Czech Republic has risen to its highest level in seven months, reflecting the slow rate of growth in the nation's economy. The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs said the registered jobless rate rose to 10.1 percent in September from 10.0 percent in August and was up from 9.4 percent in September 2002. This was the highest level since February 2003, when the registered jobless rate stood at 10.2 percent.
    Author: Rob Cameron

  • Spidla begins two-day official visit to Bulgaria
    10/09/2003

    Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla has begun a two-day official visit to Bulgaria with talks with his Bulgarian counterpart Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the country's former king. Mr Spidla is in Bulgaria to boost trade and bilateral relations. A government spokesman said the Czech Republic saw Bulgaria as a stabilising factor in the Balkans, and supported the country's bid to join NATO and the European Union. Mr Spidla is being accompanied by Trade and Industry Minister Milan Urban and Agriculture Minister Jaroslav Palas, as well as a large delegation of Czech businessmen. Meanwhile President Vaclav Klaus has ended his three-day state visit to neighbouring Hungary.
    Author: Rob Cameron

  • PM Spidla says cabinet will put forward referendum on EU constitution
    10/07/2003

    The Chamber of Deputies has been holding a special session to discuss the planned constitution for the European Union, days after an inter-governmental conference on the document began in Rome. Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla said on Tuesday that his cabinet would put forward a bill allowing for a referendum on the proposed constitution. Meanwhile, MP Jan Zahradil of the opposition Civic Democrats, which called the debate, said the EU was already functioning well without a constitution. The Czech Republic and nine other countries are to become members of the EU next May.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • President Klaus starts three-day official visit to Hungary
    10/07/2003

    President Vaclav Klaus has met his Hungarian counterpart Ferenc Madl at the start of a three-day official visit to Hungary. Mr Klaus is also expected to hold talks with the Hungarian prime minister, Peter Medgyessy and other senior officials.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czechs to help Iraq establish interior ministry
    10/06/2003

    The Czech Republic is to assist Iraq in establishing its interior ministry and fire brigade. The Czech Interior Minister Stanislav Gross, who has just ended a working visit to Baghdad, said the Iraqi authorities had requested this assistance from Prague since the Czech Republic had experience in undergoing a transformation from a totalitarian regime to a democracy. Czech experts will thus not only be involved in the process of training policemen and investigators but will advise Iraq on structural changes at the ministry. Members of the Czech military police are already training future Iraqi policemen in Basra.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Iraqi children recovering from surgery
    10/06/2003

    Eleven Iraqi children are recovering from surgery in Czech hospitals. The Motol hospital spokeswoman Eva Jurinova said there had so far been no complications and the project of helping Iraqi children with serious inborn defects was going according to plan. The children, many of whom have serious heart defects, were diagnosed by doctors at the Czech field hospital in Basra, southern Iraq. They had no hope of getting adequate medical care in their own country. A group of four more children are expected in Prague shortly.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

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