• 11/12/2003

    After a meeting in Brno on Tuesday with the ombudsman, Otakar Motejl, President Vaclav Klaus said he still doubted the need for an official defender of citizens' rights. Mr Motejl requested a meeting with Mr Klaus last month, after the president blasted the Office of the Ombudsman, describing it as a cushy job for retired politicians. Otakar Motejl was made the Czech Republic's first ombudsman in December 2000.

    Author: Jan Velinger
  • 11/12/2003

    Cabinet spokeswoman Anna Veverkova has revealed that the government has approved financial assistance of 3.4 billion crowns to help district officials cover heavy debts by district hospitals. Regional governors will receive 2.7 billion crowns by the end of the year, while the remaining 700 million will arrive in 2004. The financial boost should help solve the current financial crisis in the health-care sector. Presently, the government is seeking ways to ensure that similar problems are not repeated in the future: a general plan for health-care reform should be submitted to the cabinet by Health Minister Marie Souckova, by the end of January.

    Author: Jan Velinger
  • 11/12/2003

    A Czech court has given two Czech men and one Swedish national sentences ranging from several months to several years in prison for the production and distribution of child pornography. 43-year-old Pavel Rohel, the head of a modelling agency in the town of Nachod in east Bohemia, received three years in prison, while his 35-year-old employee Jaroslav Hampl received ten months. The Swedish citizen, John Axel Victorin received the highest sentence of three-and-a-half years. The three were found guilty of corrupting the morals of children and youth and sexually abusing models, though Mr Victorin denied any wrong-doing. All three men have appealed the verdict.

    Author: Jan Velinger
  • 11/10/2003

    Police in Prague have launched an investigation after a monument to victims of the Communist era was damaged in an explosion. No-one was injured in the blast, which is believed to have occurred early on Sunday morning. Police are now examining traces of the explosive. The monument, which uses life-sized human figures to represent Communist-era political prisoners, has already been vandalised once before: in August vandals covered the statues with adhesive tape spelling out abusive slogans.

    Author: Rob Cameron
  • 11/10/2003

    Meanwhile police in the northern town of Trutnov say the graves of 15 Jewish girls killed by the Nazis have been desecrated. Fifteen tombstones were overturned and damaged in the attack. Police are treating the incident as racially-motivated. The head of the Prague Jewish Community said the attack could be connected with the 65th anniversary of "Kristalnacht", when thousands of Jewish shops and synagogues across Germany were burned and looted by the Nazis. He said the number of attacks against Jewish monuments rose each November.

    Author: Rob Cameron
  • 11/10/2003

    Newspaper reports say Miroslav Kalousek, the newly-elected leader of the junior coalition Christian Democrats, will not become a minister in the centre-left government. Mr Kalousek defeated Cyril Svoboda, the foreign minister, in Saturday's leadership contest. He told Mlada Fronta Dnes newspaper that he wanted to concentrate on leading the party to success in the 2006 parliamentary elections. Mr Svoboda will remain in his cabinet post, and will serve as one of the party's deputy chairmen.

    Author: Rob Cameron
  • 11/10/2003

    A bus driver being prosecuted over an accident in which 19 people were killed has failed to appear in court on the first day of his trial. Pavel Krbec, charged with causing the crash and also falsifying his driving licence, said he was too ill to attend proceedings. Prosecutors say Mr Krbec was driving too fast for the conditions at the time of the crash, and was not paying due attention to the road. He is also accused of falsifying his bus driver's licence, which had expired. He faces 10 years in prison if found guilty. Mr Krbec himself has filed charges against the father of one of the victims, who recently launched an Internet site describing him as a murderer.

    Author: Rob Cameron
  • 11/10/2003

    The Labour and Social Affairs Ministry has said that unemployment has fallen to below 10 percent. A spokesman for the ministry said unemployment had dropped from 10.1 per cent in September to 9.9 per cent in October. The fall was greater than analysts had predicted, with just over half a million people now out of work. Economists said the floods of 2002 had undermined the Czech economy and that economic activity was displaying a comeback.

    Author: Rob Cameron
  • 11/10/2003

    The Czech Statistics Office said higher prices of food and non-alcoholic drinks pushed consumer prices slightly higher in October, reversing a recent trend. Prices, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), gained 0.1 per cent in October compared with September and rose 0.4 per cent from the level registered in October 2002.

    Author: Rob Cameron
  • 11/09/2003

    Czech customs officers have seized over 20 tonnes of apparently fake brand products at a open-air market at the Hate border crossing in South Moravia. The goods included clothing and shoes as well as pirated CDs and DVDs, worth an estimated 25 million crowns. This was another in a series of raids on border markets aimed at stemming out trade with smuggled and fake brand products.

    Author: Vladimír Tax

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