• Minister does have right to make personnel changes, says PM
    08/18/2009

    Minister Kovářová does have the right to hire and fire people at the justice ministry, she said after talks with Prime Minister Jan Fischer on Tuesday. She had requested the meeting after the prime minister wrote her a letter last month saying that interim governments had a limited mandate and that he was disquieted by the number of personnel changes being made at the ministry of justice. Daniela Kovářová said she did not know what had led Mr Fischer to change his opinion on the matter.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czech prime minister meeting senior officials in Kosovo on Wednesday
    08/18/2009

    The Czech prime minister, Jan Fischer, is due to hold talks with senior officials in Kosovo on Wednesday. Bilateral relations and Czech support for the development of Kosovo will be on the agenda when Mr Fischer meets the country’s president, Fatmir Sejdiu, and prime minister, Hashim Thaci. The Czech Republic recognised Kosovo in May 2008, three months after it broke away from Serbia.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Dalai Lama to visit Prague in September
    08/18/2009

    The Dalai Lama is due to visit Prague next month for a conference on democracy and human rights in Asia, his spokesman said on Tuesday. Tibetan officials said they were expecting China to protest against the visit of the exiled spiritual leader to the Czech Republic and neighbouring Slovakia.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czech government approves directive on product placement
    08/18/2009

    The Czech government has approved a European Union directive governing product placement in films and television serials. Under the regulations, it would have to be made clear in film or serial credits that particular products were being promoted, though such product placement would not be allowed in programmes for children. The Czech lower house is expected to vote on the matter in the next couple of months.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Burčák being sold may not be real thing, say experts
    08/18/2009

    Sales of the partially fermented grape juice known as burčák have begun at wine bars and roadside stands in south Moravia. However, some experts say much of the burčák being sold is not the genuine article as it may have been made from imported grapes. According to Czech regulations, the name burčák can only be used when the drink is made from grapes grown in this country.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Derailing causes eight-hour delay on Prague-České Budějovice line
    08/18/2009

    Services on the Prague to České Budějovice line were interrupted for around eight hours on Tuesday after a train was derailed. It is not yet clear why a train went off the tracks between Benešov and Tábor, though a broken rail has not been ruled out. Trains later slowed down at the spot where the derailing occurred as a precaution, a spokesperson for Czech Railways said.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Bednář free to return for West Brom after receiving drugs fine
    08/18/2009

    The Czech football player Roman Bednář has been fined by West Bromwich Albion for buying marijuana and cocaine. Bednář, who is 26, was photographed buying the drugs by a UK tabloid newspaper near the end of the 2008-2009 season. He was suspended by the club and also received a retrospective three-month ban from England’s Football Association. The striker has three international caps.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Government to submit proposal to ban far-right party in September
    08/17/2009

    The government plans to submit a new petition to the Supreme Administrative Court asking it to outlaw the far-right Workers’ Party. Interior Minister Martin Pecina told reporters on Monday that the government should discuss the petition in two weeks time and submit it to the court in September. The Czech government first tried to have the Workers’ Party dismissed last year over its links to far-right groups, such as the National Resistance movement. The Supreme Administrative Court rejected the government’s petition in March saying the cabinet had not provided sufficient grounds for a ban.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Czech police may arrest extremist leaders over Vítkov firebomb attack, says representative of affected family
    08/17/2009

    A representative of the Roma family whose house was firebombed in April in Vítkov, North Moravia, has said the four people whom the police accused in the case were mere pawns who were only fulfilling orders. He added the police would now focus on the people who gave the orders. Late last week, the police charged four men with racially motivated attempted murder. Three are accused of directly carrying out the firebombing; the other was their driver. If found guilty they face 12 to 15 years in prison, or possibly a life sentence.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Toddler injured in firebomb attack to undergo more operations
    08/17/2009

    The two-year old girl who suffered critical burns in the Vítkov firebomb attack in April is to undergo another five operations, doctors from the burns centre at Ostrava’s university hospital told reporters. According to the head of the department, Zdenka Crkvenjaš, the treatment may last several years and potential life-threatening complications cannot be ruled out. Burns experts in Ostrava are using artificial skin grafts to treat the child’s injuries. She suffered severe burns to 80 percent of her body.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

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