News

The Prague football club Bohemians 1905 could be forced to leave their Ďolíček stadium in Vršovice, Lidové noviny reported. A representative of the company which owns the stadium, CTY Development, told the newspaper it did not have the funds to rebuild it to meet new Czech league standards due to come into effect in 2012. However, the club’s director Lukáš Přibyl said he hoped compromise could be reached in the matter, adding that remaining at Ďolíček was the number one priority of fans. Bohemians 1905, who are currently in the Czech second division, are one of the best supported clubs in the country.

Two hundred candidates will run for the seats in the Senate elections this autumn, in which one third of the Senate - 27 of the 81 Senators - are to be replaced. The deadline for the registration of the candidates expired on Friday. Altogether 31 parties and movements have fielded their candidates. Only three parties, the Civic Democrats, the Social Democrats and the Communists have fielded their candidates in all 27 constituencies. Out of the 27 senators whose mandate expires in the autumn, 20 will seek re-election.

The number of Czechs arrested or imprisoned abroad has risen in recent years. According to the data released by the Foreign Ministry, 869 Czechs were arrested in 2005, while a year later it was 999. Last year the figure increased to 1093. Czechs are most frequently detained abroad on suspicion of theft, burglary, violent crime or the violation of their residence conditions. Most cases have been reported in Austria, Germany, Poland and Slovakia, which are countries visited by a high number of Czechs.

Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek has rejected request by Education Minister Ondřej Liška for an additional funding for universities amounting to two billion crowns (approximately 120 million US dollars). Mr Topolánek said the money could be acquired by reassessing the distribution of means in the budget of the Education Ministry. Ondřej Liška justified his request by pointing to the growing number of university students. He also stressed that the annual state allowance per student in 2009 will be lower than in the previous years.