• Bambini di Praga choir master to remain in custody on sex abuse charges
    02/04/2005

    The director of the Bambini di Praga girls choir, Bohumil Kulinsky, is to remain in custody for another three months, after a Prague court accepted the argument of a prosecutor that he might try to influence witnesses. Mr Kulinsky is charged with sexually abusing 25 members of the choir, with the oldest accusations dating back to 1984.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Judge removed after case drags on for 13 years
    02/04/2005

    The head of the Prague-West District Court has been dismissed, after a child custody case she was in charge of dragged on for 13 years. Judge Marie Drahokoupilova failed to order a mother to grant her former husband access to their son, despite the father winning a ruling to that effect. The judge said she was not guilty of any wrongdoing, and was considering suing the Justice Ministry.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Press: bank charges higher in Czech Republic than Austria, Germany
    02/04/2005

    Bank charges are higher in the Czech Republic than in Germany and Austria, where salaries are up to five times higher, the daily Pravo reported on Friday. For instance, banks in the Czech Republic charge fees for withdrawing money from ATM machines, a service which is free in Germany and Austria. Furthermore, interest on current accounts is higher in those countries, while interest on overdrafts is lower.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Ceske Budejovice barracks named monument, thwarting plans for shopping centre
    02/04/2005

    The Marianske military barracks in the south Bohemian town of Ceske Budejovice has been declared a national monument by the Culture Ministry. The move looks likely to spell the end of plans to build a new shopping and office centre on the site. Officials in the town have welcomed the decision.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Novak advances to quarter-finals in first tournament of year
    02/04/2005

    The Czech men's tennis number one, Jiri Novak, has reached the quarter-finals of the Millennium International Championships in Raleigh, North Carolina, after beating Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber in two sets on Friday. It is Novak's first tournament of the season; the 29-year-old took January off to spend time with his family.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Eastern EU deputies demand ban on communist symbols
    02/03/2005

    European Parliament members from Eastern Europe are calling for a ban on communist symbols such as the hammer and sickle if the European Union decides to outlaw Nazi symbols, such as the swastika. Lawmakers from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovakia said that any such ban should also cover communist symbols because of the killings and torture suffered by people in the former Soviet Union and the countries of the Eastern Bloc. The deputies wrote to the EU's Justice, Freedom and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini to press their demand.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • President signs bill limiting movement of some asylum seekers
    02/03/2005

    President Vaclav Klaus has signed a law restricting the movement of some unsuccessful asylum seekers in the Czech Republic. The law prevents foreigners whose application for Czech asylum has been rejected from leaving the refugee facility for some time until they are transported to a facility in another EU country which can assess their asylum application. These asylum seekers will be allowed to leave the refugee centre only in clearly specified cases, as, for instance to see a doctor or arrange documents for their asylum application. A group of Senators object that the law is at variance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, and they are planning to turn to the Constitutional court in this respect.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Tests confirm 17th BSE case in Czech Republic, 300 cows to be killed
    02/03/2005

    Tests have proved that a four-year-old cow from a farm in the eastern Jihlava district was infected with mad cow disease or BSE. The state veterinary office has announced it is the 17th BSE case in the Czech Republic, and some 300 cows will have to be killed in a preventive measure. The first BSE case occurred in the Czech Republic in June 2001. Since then all slaughtered animals over 30 months of age have had to be tested for BSE.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Czech company to withdraw anti-semitic television advertisement
    02/03/2005

    The Czech branch of the garden tools company Mountfield has decided to withdraw a TV commercial featuring a miserly orthodox Jew after Israel's ambassador to the Czech Republic complained it promoted anti-Semitism. The commercial for a sale at Mountfield's stores featured an orthodox Jew happily rubbing his hands together at the announcement of price reductions. The company defended itself saying the commercial promoting their radical price reductions featured a prudent shopper. The commercial will be taken off the air from February 7. The advertisement had been screened on all four of the country's terrestrial television channels since January.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Eastern European currencies hit highs against the euro
    02/03/2005

    The Czech crown passed the key psychological barrier of 30 crowns to the euro on Thursday, hitting the highest point for two and a half years of 29.95 crowns to the single European currency in morning trading. Vis-à-vis the US dollar, the crown is stable, trading around 23.02 crowns. Analysts explain the development by investors' expectations of strong December trade figures being published on Friday. Other Eastern European currencies strengthened sharply against the euro on Thursday as well, leading the Slovak central bank to intervene in the market to weaken its currency.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

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