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12/13/2004
The US company Central European Media Enterprises (CME) has bought the Czech commercial television channel TV Nova for 642 million dollars in the largest direct US investment in the country. CME announced the deal on Monday and TV Nova's majority-stake owner, the financial group PPF, has confirmed the sale. CME previously held a stake in TV Nova but was involved in a long legal dispute with Nova's former general director Vladimir Zelezny, who is now a Czech MEP. Mr Zelezny eventually broke off all relations with CME and its head, the cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder, in 1999. The news of the sale comes two years after an international arbitration ruled that the Czech state had to pay nearly 360 million dollars in compensation to CME for failing to protect its investment in TV Nova.
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12/13/2004
The Czech crown has improved a two-year high to the euro, firming to 30.52 crowns to the euro, a development which according to analysts was influenced by the sale of the commercial TV Nova. The crown also strengthened to 22.98 crowns to the dollar but closed at 23.05 crowns to the dollar.
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12/13/2004
The Prime Minister Stanislav Gross has said that President Vaclav Klaus does not observe his promise that he would stand above parties and that he behaves like the honorary chairman of the strongest opposition party, meaning the right-of-centre Civic Democratic Party which Mr Klaus chaired for many years. Mr Gross was reacting to Mr Klaus's statement for Saturday's issue of the daily Pravo that the cabinet of Stanislav Gross was unable to solve long-standing problems, reinforcing the power of state over the individual.
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12/12/2004
Delegates at district conferences of the Social Democratic Party held in the towns of Hodonin and Breclav in south Moravia, have voted in favour of Labour & Social Affairs Minister Zdenek Skromach's taking over as head of the Social Democrat Party next year. Mr Skromach has already announced plans to challenge Prime Minister Stanislav Gross for the chairmanship at the party's convention in the spring. At the weekend Mr Skromach took part in meetings in both districts, presenting a plan for the Social Democratic Party to return to its left-of-centre roots.
Otherwise, there are indications that most district organisations continue to support Prime Minister Gross. Mr Skromach does have some high-profile backers, namely retired politician and former prime minister Milos Zeman.
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12/12/2004
The outgoing U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft is set to arrive in Prague on Monday evening ahead of talks on Tuesday with Czech politicians including Justice Minister Pavel Nemec and Interior Minister Frantisek Bublan. Among other things the Czech justice minister and his U.S. counterpart will work to negotiate a new treaty on extradition. The current treaty between the U.S. and the Czech Republic dates back to 1920s Czechoslovakia and a new basis for cooperation between the two countries needs to be adopted, a spokesman for the Justice Ministry has said.
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12/12/2004
Around 70 Russian children and adults on recuperative stay in Karlovy Vary following the tragedy in Russia's Beslan visited the west Bohemian town of Pilsen on Sunday. Visiting sites included Pilsen's zoo. Most of the children and parents invited for the four-week stay in the Czech Republic lost friends or loved ones in the hostage-taking and terrorist stand-off in Beslan, in September, in which terrorists killed 330 people. Of those, 172 were children.
Czech specialists say the children on stay in Karlovy Vary have adapted well, but continue to show deeply-ingrained trauma, evident in their drawings of bombs, graves, and war.
One of the parents told the press on Sunday that returning home would be difficult, that parents would once again fear for their children there.
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12/12/2004
Icy conditions are more than likely to have been a factor in a five-car pile-up in the north Bohemian region of Usti nad Labem on Sunday that left three injured and transported to hospital in Litomerice. One of the cars caught fire in the crash, but was soon put out by fire fighters arriving at the scene.
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12/12/2004
The Czech awards ceremony Cesky slavik - or the Czech Nightingale - held in Prague on Saturday has seen a repeat of winners from 2003: Lucie Bila clinched the title of best female singer while the best musical group award went to Czech heavy metal band Kabat. Czech singer Karel Gott won for a notable 30th time in his extensive career, while young star Aneta Langerova, the winner of the Czech Republic's first ever Pop Idol, was voted best newcomer. Cesky slavik winners are chosen through a public poll: this year some 94,000 Czechs took part.
Besides featuring Czech stars the awards evening also saw performances by Norwegian singer Kurt Nilsen and Ukrainian star Ruslana.
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12/12/2004
Czech ski jumper Jakub Janda built on a fairly successful first day of ski jumping by placing 3rd in a second World Cup event in Harrachov, north-east Bohemia, on Sunday. In Sunday's competition Janda came third, with jumps of 140 and 136.5 metres. His medal finish is his third on the World Cup circuit so far this year. Finn Janne Ahonen clinched the top spot with jumps of 140 and 141 metres.
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12/11/2004
Czech president Vaclav Klaus has come out with strong words against the current coalition government: in an interview for the daily Pravo, published Saturday, the president criticised the cabinet as being, in his view, "incapable of dealing with long-term problems" or presenting a "clear conceptual approach". The Czech president also criticised government ministers for being invisible to the public. The latest interview is hardly the first time Mr Klaus has criticised the government: the president also had strong words following a government crisis earlier in the year that led to the resignation of former prime minister Vladimir Spidla, replaced by Stanislav Gross.
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