• 03/23/2004

    Polish police have released three men suspected of planning terrorist attacks on the Czech Embassy and other targets in the Polish capital Warsaw. The street where the city's Czech Embassy is located was marked on a map found in the flat of the three men, two Palestinians and a Ukrainian. A spokesperson for the Czech Embassy said on Tuesday that there was no evidence the three had been planning a terrorist attack.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 03/23/2004

    The Usti nad Labem regional authority has begun handing out leaflets in German alerting tourists who cross the border from the neighbouring state of Saxony of the fact that child prostitution is a crime. Regional governor Jiri Sulc took part in the campaign on Tuesday, handing out leaflets at a border crossing, the website Novinky reported. The German branch of UNICEF published a report in November saying the Czech-German border region was rife with child prostitution, though Czech authorities say it is not a common problem.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 03/23/2004

    The Czech ice hockey player Dominik Hasek is likely to escape with a fine after attacking an opponent in a game of in-line hockey last May. According to press reports, Mr Hasek will not appear in court in connection with the incident, because investigators say it was not a crime but a misdemeanour.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 03/23/2004

    The Prague brewery Staropramen is to increase the prices of its draught and bottled beer by around 6 percent from next month, a spokesperson said on Tuesday. The price rise follows a similar move by Pilsner Urquell earlier this month. Since the year 2000 Staropramen has been owned by the Belgian group Interbrew. It has a 14 percent share of the Czech beer market.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 03/22/2004

    Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda has criticised Israel's killing of Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin on Monday. In Brussels Mr Svoboda spoke with the Czech news agency CTK deploring the cycle of revenge attacks, saying such attacks could not "solve anything". At the same time Mr Svoboda had criticism for the Palestinians over the discovery at the weekend of a Palestinian boy with explosives in his school bag. Earlier this year the Czech Republic indicated its aim to specialise in Middle Eastern affairs within the framework of the European Union, which it joins on May 1st. In the past Palestinian leaders such as Yasser Arafat have also asked the Czechs to exert their influence in the troubled peace process.

    Author: Jan Velinger
  • 03/22/2004

    Police in the Polish capital of Warsaw have detained two Pakistani nationals, finding possession of suspiciously marked maps in one suspect's apartment. The Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza has written the maps contain markings outlining the airport, the Warsaw synagogue as well as the locations of the British and Czech embassies, prompting a reaction from Czech embassy officials. They said that although they had not been contacted by police, the Czech embassy would be stepping up security measures. Of the two men in custody one first attracted police attention at Warsaw's main station on Sunday, leading to the arrests. Besides the maps in the apartment police found an Air Italia leaflet showing a plan of a plane allegedly marked with two crosses. Both Pakistani nationals have been in Poland since last November, when they filed for refugee status. Their identities have not been released.

    Author: Jan Velinger
  • 03/22/2004

    The head of the National Gallery Milan Knizak has announced that he will be withdrawing his bid to run in elections to the European Parliament in June. Although just two weeks ago Mr Knizak promised the National Coalition he would run as one of its representatives, the National Gallery head has since come to the conclusion he would be unable to balance his duties as "eurominister" and gallery head if he were elected. Mr Knizak, withdrawing his bid on Monday said he would concentrate instead on making the National Gallery one of European calibre.

    Author: Jan Velinger
  • 03/22/2004

    Customs officers have revealed they caught a Czech man on Monday trying to smuggle almost 70 snakes, lizards and other rare reptiles into the Czech Republic. The man was detained arriving from Indonesia at Prague's Ruzyne Airport. The smuggled animals, worth an estimated 650,000 crowns, were found in the man's luggage and clothes, customs spokesman Zdenek Malek said. The suspect, who is believed to be a leading organiser in the illegal trade of animals in western Europe, could now face up to five years in prison. Czech environmental officials, meanwhile, have taken the smuggled reptiles into their care. This latest case follows a similar arrest in January when another Czech man - also arriving from Indonesia - was caught trying to smuggle in similarly rare specimens.

    Author: Jan Velinger
  • 03/21/2004

    The government and opposition parties have agreed to set up a joint committee to create a long-term pension policy for the Czech Republic. A group of experts nominated by all five parties in the Chamber of Deputies should be formed by the middle of April, the prime minister, Vladimir Spidla, told reporters late on Saturday evening. He said the pension system needs to be reformed because of the Czech Republic's aging population and low birth rate.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 03/21/2004

    The case of former Communist era StB secret police agent Pavel Minarik is to be reopened, Czech Television reported on Saturday. He is accused of planning to bomb the headquarters of Radio Free Europe in the German city of Munich. Mr Minarik worked as an StB agent at the station from 1969 to 1976 and sent at least three proposals to carry out a bomb attack to his superiors in Prague, according to the Office for the Documentation and Investigation of the Crimes of Communism. His case has been in and out of the Czech courts for over a decade.

    Author: Ian Willoughby

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