• 04/19/2007

    A new official census of homeless people living in the Czech capital suggests that there are around 2000 people without a permanent home in Prague. Around a thousand of them sleep rough, the other half use the services of shelters run by various charities. The new census was carried out by local town halls in individual Prague districts. A broad census conducted three years ago by humanitarian organisations suggested that there were around 3,000 homeless people in Prague, with some estimates putting the figure even higher at 6,000.

  • 04/19/2007

    Austrian opponents of the Temelin nuclear power plant say they are planning to blockade 10 Czech-Austrian border crossings next Friday. The organisation Atomstopp Oberoesterreich has announced that unless the Austrian government decides to take legal action against the Czech Republic over alleged breach of agreements on Temelin on Wednesday, they will begin blockades at 10 out of 16 border crossings between the two countries on April 27. Most recently, the Austrian activists staged protests last week at seven border crossings.

  • 04/19/2007

    The Czech Senate has approved the establishment of a joint Czech-Austrian parliamentary group which would supervise the safety situation at the South Bohemian Temelin nuclear power plant. At the same time, the chamber elected three members of the group: two Civic Democrat Senators and one Senator for the Green Party. An upcoming session of the lower house should produce another ten members from among the MPs. According to Senate Chairman Premysl Sobotka, the group should help calm down the situation regarding the Temelin plant, including frequent protests and blockades at border crossings.

  • 04/19/2007

    The Senate has approved an amendment to the health care law giving patients the right to view and copy their medical records. Under the legislation, people should also have the possibility to pass this right onto their next of kin. Unless individuals wish otherwise, in cases of their death family members would be entitled to information about the cause of death and results of an autopsy. To become law, the amendment has yet to be signed be the President.

  • 04/19/2007

    The Prague City Court has ruled that Czech MEP Vladimir Zelezny does not have to apologise to MEP Jana Bobosikova, his former party colleague, for statements he made about her a few years ago. In a libel suit, Mrs Bobosikova demanded that her former boss from the commercial television station Nova apologise for untrue statements he allegedly spread about her in the media. Mrs Bobosikova and Mr Zelezny were elected to the European Parliament for the Independents movement. However, briefly after they were elected, they fell out. Mrs Bobosikova said soon after her election that she would not support the Independents due to Mr Zelezny's growing influence in the movement. Mr Zelezny said that Mrs Bobosikova had betrayed the movement. He also criticised her for having hired her husband as her assistant.

  • 04/19/2007

    The New York Rangers - with star forward Jaromir Jagr - have become the first NHL team in this year's postseason to advance to the second round of the NHL playoffs. The Rangers defeated Atlanta 4:2 on Wednesday night, completing a four-game sweep. Jagr as well as fellow Czech Michal Rozsival contributed with a goal apiece on the night while Martin Straka tallied one assist. The last time the Rangers won a playoff series was in 1997.

  • 04/18/2007

    Trade unions and management at Skoda Auto have reached agreement in a long-running pay dispute at the car-making plant. Workers' unions announced on Wednesday that they had accepted an offer of a pay increase of 12.7 percent beginning from April 1st next year. Employees will also receive a once-off payment of 2500 Czech crowns or just over 120 US dollars in July 2008. Earlier, thousands of Skoda workers had joined in a strike action on Tuesday in protest at their wages. No cars were produced at the factory in the course of the day and the company's losses were estimated to be 55 million crowns (or over 2.5 million US dollars). The deal now means that a threatened follow-up strike on Thursday will no longer go ahead.

    Author: Coilin O'Connor
  • 04/18/2007

    A new poll indicates that the biggest party in the coalition government, the Civic Democrats are losing ground to the opposition Social Democrats. The survey conducted by the STEM research agency suggests that the Civic Democrats are still the most popular party in the country with 29.2 percent of the vote, ahead of the Social Democrats who have 24.9 percent. Nevertheless the Civic Democrats' lead over their main rivals has dropped from eight percent last month to just over four percent this month. According to the poll, the Greens are the third most popular party in the country with 11.6 percent of the vote followed by the Communists with 10.9 percent and the Christian Democrats with 6.6 percent. The survey suggests that no other party would cross the five-percent threshold needed to gain seats in parliament.

    Author: Coilin O'Connor
  • 04/18/2007

    The cabinet on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill that should radically limit the immunity of Czech MPs and senators if it is approved. If passed by parliament, the bill will only protect MPs from lawsuits taken against them for speeches they make in parliament. It will not protect them from criminal investigations. The bill received the support of all the coalition parties, including the Christian Democrats whose leader Jiri Cunek was recently stripped of his parliamentary immunity so that he could be investigated by police on corruption charges. Critics of the proposal say that it has not been accompanied by the necessary legislative amendments to the Penal Code or the parliamentary rules of procedure.

    Author: Coilin O'Connor
  • 04/18/2007

    Around 80 people demonstrated in support of Christian Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Jiri Cunek outside government offices on Wednesday. The organiser of the event, musician Zdenek Horvath, said that the demonstrators were there to protest against the way police are investigating corruption allegations made against Mr Cunek, who is accused of taking a bribe of 500,000 crowns (25,000 US dollars) when he was mayor of the Moravian town of Vsetin five years ago. Mr Horvath said that those prosecuting Mr Cunek were simply hellbent on ousting him from politics and were not afraid of forging evidence to help their case. Mr Horvath also praised the deputy prime minister's controversial views on Roma integration. Mr Cunek met briefly with the demonstrators to thank them for their support.

    Author: Coilin O'Connor

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