• Špotáková named Czech Athlete of Year for third time in succession
    11/08/2009

    Barbora Špotáková has been named Czech Athlete of the Year for the third time in a row. Špotáková holds the women’s world record in the javelin and is the reigning Olympic champion. This year she took silver at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin, becoming the only member of the Czech team to take home a medal. Hurdler Petr Svoboda came second in the annual poll, while high-jumper Jaroslav Bába was in third place. Barbora Špotáková’s coach Rudolf Černý was named trainer of the year at Saturday night’s award ceremony in the Czech capital.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czech hockey players lose all three games in Karjala Cup
    11/08/2009

    The Czech Republic’s ice hockey players lost all three of their games at this year’s Karjala Cup in Helsinki. On Sunday the Czechs were beaten 4:3 in overtime by tournament winners Russia, despite having gone 2:0 up through Jan Bulis and Pavel Brendl. They had previously lost 4:3 to Sweden and 2:1 to hosts Finland.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Teplice go three points clear in top-of-table clash
    11/08/2009

    Teplice extended their lead at the top of the Czech football league on Saturday, with a 1:0 home win over second-placed Jablonec. Teplice are now three points in front of their nearest rivals, with 14 of the league’s 30 rounds played. The only goal of the game was rather curious; the ball bounced off the cross-bar and went in after hitting the fit of the Jablonec goalkeeper.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • PM rejects suggestion he could become European commissioner
    11/07/2009

    The caretaker prime minister of the Czech Republic, Jan Fischer, has rejected the idea that he could become the country’s next European commissioner. The news website idnes.cz reported that the two biggest parties the Social Democrats and the Civic Democrats were in favour of putting Mr Fischer forward for the post. However, in a statement issued on Saturday he said he and his government had taken on the responsibility of leading the country until elections next year and he would not give up that responsibility overnight. The prime minister said he hoped the political parties could agree on a candidate; if not, the interim government is expected to select a nominee at the start of next week.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Topolánek: Fischer made total u-turn after showing interest in post
    11/07/2009

    Jan Fischer’s predecessor as head of the government, Mirek Topolánek, said the prime minister had expressed interest in taking the job of European commissioner. The Civic Democrats leader said after weeks of complicated negotiations Mr Fischer’s nomination was the only compromise that could be reached, and that he could not understand the latter’s complete u-turn over taking the post. He also praised the prime minister (by profession a statistician), saying he had shown he could represent the Czech Republic well on the European scene.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Group set up with aim of averting Prague transport strike…
    11/07/2009

    The mayor of Prague, Pavel Bém, has established a crisis committee aimed at averting a strike by workers at the city’s transport authority. At its first meeting on Saturday, the group set as its targets preventing industrial action and dealing with the company’s poor financial situation. Mr Bém described a planned strike by transport workers as irresponsible, saying they would hold Prague to ransom. For their part, they say mooted pay cuts of seven percent are unacceptable. According to unofficial information the strike could take place next Tuesday.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • …while Social Democrats give support to strike
    11/07/2009

    The Czech Republic’s biggest left-wing party the Social Democrats have backed the threat of strike from the capital’s transport workers. Deputy leader Zdeněk Škromach said after a meeting of the party’s leadership on Saturday that Prague City Hall had adopted an irresponsible approach that could not lead to a reasonable agreement. Mr Škromach said if Prague citizens were angered by a strike, they should aim that anger at the city authorities, not the workers.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Klaus reiterates view that communism collapsed due to internal weaknesses
    11/07/2009

    The Czech president, Václav Klaus, has reiterated his view that the communist regimes of Europe collapsed mainly because of internal weaknesses. He made the comments at a conference in the United States on the role played by Ronald Reagan in the fall of communism. Mr Klaus said if there were external reasons for that collapse, Mr Reagan and the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher had contributed. The Czech president has previously suggested that the role of dissidents in bringing about the end of communism was exaggerated.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Chamber votes to lift immunity of MP Wolf
    11/07/2009

    The Chamber of Deputies has voted to lift the immunity of independent MP Petr Wolf. Mr Wolf, who was elected for the Social Democrats, is accused of abuse of state subsidies. He told reporters that Friday’s vote, which was supported by the Social Democrats and the Communists, was to do with politics not legality, and was revenge for the fact he had quit the former party.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Theatre director Otomar Krejča dies at 87
    11/07/2009

    The renowned Czech theatre director Otomar Krejča has died at the age of 87. He was director of the National Theatre’s drama department for six years before helping found the theatre Divadlo za branou. Krejča directed over 80 productions, many of them outside the Czech Republic, in such cities as Brussels, Vienna and Havana.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

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