• 07/26/2007

    A spokeswoman for the Czech central bank has revealed the bank raised its key interest rate by a quarter of a point to 3.0 percent on Thursday in order to contain inflation risks at a time of robust growth. At mortgage bank Hypotecni Banka, managing director Jan Sadil told the AFP news agency the increase was "in line with what financial markets expected". Banking circles have said a further increase by the end of the year could not be ruled out. According top Ales Michl, of Raiffeisenbank, the bank reacted to three factors this year: household consumption, which has been the strongest in the last three years, as well a hike in salaries, the sharpest in the last five years, and the weakness of the Czech crown against the euro.

    Author: Jan Velinger
  • 07/26/2007

    56 out of 170 Kazak-Czechs were repatriated to the Czech Republic on Thursday as part of an Interior Ministry plan to help remaining ethnic Czechs in Kazakhstan return to their "original" homeland. Two more flights will follow. The Czech community in Kazakhstan is made up of the descendents of family members who left Bohemia in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Last year the Interior Ministry decided to extend resettlement invitations because economic and security conditions for ethnic Czechs in Kazakhstan had grown increasingly worse in recent years. The Kazak-Czechs arriving now follow approximately 650 Czechs from Kazakhstan who relocated back to the Czech Republic in the late 1990s.

    Author: Jan Velinger
  • 07/26/2007

    Authorities for have declared the majority of bathing areas or swimming ponds in Central Bohemia currently safe, although warnings have been issued for a number of swimming sites, for example, two ponds in the areas of Brandys nad Labem and Cesky Raj, where a higher concentration of cyanobacteria has registered. The quality of the water there worsened last week. In all, the water quality is monitored at around thirty bathing areas in Central Bohemia.

    Author: Jan Velinger
  • 07/25/2007

    Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek has written to his British counterpart Gordon Brown offering assistance in removing the damage caused by devastating floods affecting southern England. Speaking after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Mr Topolanek said the Czech Republic could offer Britain some very efficient pumps and drying equipment as well as the services of flood experts who have extensive experience of dealing with the damage caused by massive inundations. The Czech Republic itself suffered disastrous floods in 1997 and 2002. Britain is currently trying to cope with its worst floods in 60 years.

    Author: Coilin O'Connor
  • 07/25/2007

    Czech police have lodged a file with the state attorney recommending that Czech billionaire Radovan Krejcir should face new charges of illegally siphoning off assets worth 150 million Czech crowns or 7.5 million US dollars from a technology leasing company. If found guilty of the charges, the controversial businessman could face a jail sentence of 12 years.

    Mr Krejcir is already wanted in the Czech Republic for various crimes, including conspiracy to murder, money forgery, tax evasion, extortion, and abduction. He has been on the run from the Czech authorities after fleeing from the Czech police to the Seychelles in 2005. He is currently residing in South Africa, where he is on bail pending the outcome of an extradition hearing.

    Author: Coilin O'Connor
  • 07/25/2007

    According to a Swedish newspaper, a Swedish citizen of Lebanese origin who is being held in the Czech Republic pending the outcome of a hearing to extradite him to the United States on terrorism charges has applied for asylum in this country. The Swedish daily Expressen claims that Oussama Kassir has asked for asylum in the Czech Republic because he is disappointed with how the Swedish authorities have handled his detention in this country.

    Mr Kassir is wanted in the US on suspicion of running an Al-Qaeda training camp in Oregon. Although he was exonerated of terrorist-related offences by a Swedish court, he was arrested on the basis of an international arrest warrant during a brief stopover in Prague while he was flying from Stockholm to the Lebanon in December 2005. The Czech authorities have neither confirmed nor denied Mr Kassir's alleged asylum application.

    Author: Coilin O'Connor
  • 07/25/2007

    The Czech Ministry of Labour has said it is wants to announce a new tender to count the number of prostitutes working in the Czech Republic. After a previous tender to carry out a census of the number of sex workers operating in the Czech Republic attracted no bidders, a spokeswoman for the ministry said a new selection procedure would in all likelihood be launched in the near future.

    The Ministry of Labour wants to ascertain exactly how many prostitutes are working in the Czech Republic and which regions have the most sex workers. Current official estimates put the number at 10,000 but several NGOs say the figure could be three times higher. The ministry hopes to complete the new survey by the end of 2008.

    Author: Coilin O'Connor
  • 07/25/2007

    Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek told journalists on Wednesday that he would like to divorce his wife Pavla, but that she has refused to countenance the idea. Mr Topolanek said that he fully respected his wife's stance. He added that if Mrs Topolankova would agree to a divorce, he would be willing to transfer ownership of their home to her and still continue paying the mortgage.

    The Prime Minister was making his comments a day after his mistress - fellow Civic Democrat MP Lucie Talmanova - gave birth to the couple's son Nicolas. Mr Topolanek publicly admitted in January that he had left his wife to live with Ms Talmanova, who was then pregnant with their child. He told journalists on Wednesday that he was "very proud" of the birth of his son and that, although he had possibly been a bad husband, he hoped to be a good father to his newborn child. Mr Topolanek already has three children from his first marriage.

    Author: Coilin O'Connor
  • 07/25/2007

    More than 200 Czech holidaymakers were left stranded at Prague's Ruzyne airport on Tuesday when it became apparent that travel agent, I'm Travelling, had been unable to pay for their flights abroad. Those affected were travelling to Turkey and Tunisia. A spokesperson for I'm Travelling, which has a yearly turnover of around 300 million CZK or 15 million USD and is one of the largest travel agencies operating in the Czech Republic, said that the agency had filed for bankruptcy.

    Author: Coilin O'Connor
  • 07/25/2007

    Seven civic and environmental organisations have filed a complaint with the European Commission over the Czech Republic's failure to draft strategic noise maps within a deadline set by the EU. The country was supposed to have mapped noise levels in several Prague cities and areas near motorways and railways by 30 June, but had so far only submitted data on railroads. A spokeswoman for one of the organisations said that 90,000 people suffer from excessive noise levels in Prague alone, and that so-called noise-maps were urgently needed to come up with action plans for limiting noise pollution. The government is supposed to draft anti-noise measures by July of next year, and these will be partly financed by the EU.

    Author: Coilin O'Connor

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