• Report: number of hard-drug users on the decline
    11/26/2004

    A report by the National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addictions says that the number of people addicted to heroin and the Czech-made methamphetamine pervitin has dropped by some 7, 500 since the year 2000 when the centre registered over 37,000 users of heroin and pervitin. However, the number of young people experimenting with recreational drugs is on the rise. Forty-four percent of 16-year-olds admit they have tried marijuana and 8 percent say they have experience with club drugs.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Foreign Minister criticises Ukraine's election, Vaclav Havel urges Ukrainian opposition to persevere
    11/25/2004

    The Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda has criticised the ruling of Ukraine's central election committee that proclaimed the current Ukrainian Prime Minister, Viktor Yanuchovych, as the winner of the recent presidential election. Mr Svoboda said the second round of the election did not meet democratic standards, adding that he did not believe the results reflected the genuine will of the Ukrainian people. The former Czech president, Vaclav Havel, urged the Ukrainian opposition to persevere and said they had the support of all credible national and international organizations.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Courts to decide on extradition of Czech nationals
    11/25/2004

    In future, regional and high courts should decide on the extradition of Czechs to other EU countries on the grounds of the European arrest warrant. Requests for extradition should be addressed to the regional state attorney's office or the municipal state attorney's office in Prague. However the European arrest warrant will only apply to crimes committed after November 1st 2004 and only to serious crimes such as terrorism, paedophilia, murder or trade in weapons and drugs.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Pension bonuses for all political prisoners
    11/25/2004

    All political prisoners of the former communist regime are to receive pension bonuses by way of compensation. The government recently approved bonuses for political prisoners and labour camp inmates between the years 1948 and 1968 but has now extended the decree to cover people persecuted in the last twenty years of communist rule. Prisoners of conscience should in future receive regular bonuses to their pensions, 50 crowns for every month that they spent in a communist prison or labour camp.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Police launch nationwide search for illegal migrants
    11/25/2004

    Czech immigration and border police have launched a nationwide operation targeted at illegal migrants in the Czech Republic. Police officers are searching dormitories, building sites and railway stations for illegal immigrants, focusing mainly on the citizens of Ukraine and other countries of the former Soviet Union.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • High cholesterol levels in children on the rise
    11/25/2004

    According to Czech doctors, more than half of Czech children have high cholesterol levels and their number is on the rise. Only about one-fifth of adults in the Czech Republic suffer from high cholesterol levels and their number is decreasing. Doctors say that while adults are aware of the benefits of a healthy diet they fail to make sure their children eat healthily and get enough exercise. Children with high cholesterol levels face a higher risk of heart attack later in life.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Vaclav Havel urges Ukrainian opposition to persevere
    11/24/2004

    The former Czech president and leader of the country's 1989 Velvet Revolution Vaclav Havel has urged the Ukrainian opposition to keep up their protests against a disputed presidential election. "All respected domestic and international organizations agree that your demands are justified," Mr. Havel wrote in an open letter from Taipei, in which he wished the opposition "strength, perseverance, courage and good decisions".
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Ukrainian nationals stage protest in Prague
    11/24/2004

    Meanwhile, some three hundred Ukrainian nationals met outside the Ukrainian embassy in Prague to demonstrate support for the opposition candidate Viktor Jushchcenko and demand a review of the polls or new elections. They handed over a petition to embassy officials and appealed on the Ukrainian embassy staff in Prague to publicly express support for the opposition. Many Ukrainians living in the Czech Republic boarded busses for Kiev at the start of the week in order to join the protests in their homeland.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Slovak aid worker released five months after being kidnapped in Ingushetia
    11/24/2004

    A Slovak aid worker kidnapped in Ingushetia in June has been released. Miriam Jevikova, who is a student of Prague's Charles University and was working for a Czech humanitarian agency, has been in telephone contact with her family in Slovakia and is currently being debriefed by Russian security services. The kidnappers had demanded a $1 million ransom for the release of Ms Jevikova, but the Slovak foreign minister said on Wednesday the money had not been paid.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Parliament -budget
    11/24/2004

    The regions should get an additional 28 billion crowns from state coffers next year in line with an amendment to the law passed by the Lower House of Parliament on Wednesday. The amount is only half of what the regional authorities had asked for, but the Lower House turned down a proposal that they should administer money for education themselves. The remaining 28 billion, which is to cover teachers' salaries, will be distributed directly by the government. MPs said they wanted to make sure that the money would not be used for other purposes.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

Pages