• Number of gambling machines might drop by one third
    07/16/2007

    An amendment to the lottery bill which is being prepared by the Czech finance ministry seeks to reduce the number of gambling machines by up to one third, TV Nova has reported. Municipalities will no longer have the authority to permit the use of the machines but instead will be able to ban all gambling on their territories. Gambling machine operators will have to apply to the ministry for the permission. In the Czech Republic, about 56,000 of these machines are currently in use; last year, a record of over CZK 50 billion (USD 2.5 billion) was spent on them.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • Finance ministry commissions untransparent, says Transparency International
    07/16/2007

    Transparency International is looking into suspicious commissioning of small public orders by officials of the Czech Finance Ministry, the Czech Business Weekly reports. The Ministry of Finance has been contracting companies to remove environmental burdens but Transparency International found out that some of these companies establish subsidiaries to be able to participate in several commissions at once. A ministry spokesperson denied the accusations and said that the Supreme Auditing Office had not come across any suspicious orders.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • Daniel Dvorak is the new head of Brno's National Theatre.
    07/16/2007

    Daniel Dvorak has been appointed the new director of the National Theatre in Brno. He was named by the Brno City Hall and will assume the post in August. Dvorak was the head of the Prague's National Theatre for four years before being dismissed by the minister of culture last September which raised much criticism among theatre experts. The National Theatre in Brno, founded in 1884, has three venues in Brno and works with a budget of CZK 270 million (over USD 13 million). Dvorak previously said that this is far from enough.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • One dead, 14 injured in bus accident in Serbia
    07/16/2007

    A Czech bus had an accident in Serbia, crashing into a lorry early Monday morning some 200 km south to the capital Belgrade. The bus driver was killed in the accident while 14 passengers were injured and had to seek medical care, but were later released from hospital. The bus was carrying 41 Czech tourists coming back from holiday in Greece. They are now awaiting replacement bus to pick them up and bring them home.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • Viktoria Zizkov to play home matches on Sunday mornings
    07/16/2007

    The Prague football club Viktoria Zizkov which will play in the first division in the coming season will play their home matches at the usual 10:15 on Sunday mornings following a long standing tradition. Other clubs refused to accept this at their session in June, but Viktoria have managed to convince the other teams that kicking off early on Sundays will make it easier for the other three first division clubs based in Prague.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • Monday could see temperatures of up to 39 Celsius
    07/15/2007

    Weather forecasters say temperatures in the Czech Republic could reach up to 39 degrees Celsius on Monday, possibly setting new records. In most of the country temperatures will range between 34 and 38 Celsius. Clear skies are also expected and officials have warned people against going out in the mid-day and afternoon sun.

    On Sunday a record dating from 1928 was broken at Prague's Clementinum weather station, when a temperature of 34.6 degrees Celsius was registered.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Possible presidential candidate Dientsbier takes aim at incumbent Klaus
    07/15/2007

    Jiri Dienstbier, a possible candidate for the Czech presidency, has criticised the incumbent, Vaclav Klaus. Mr Dientsbier, Czechoslovakia's first post-communist foreign minister, accused Mr Klaus of spreading negative feeling towards civil society and the European Union; he said a pro-European position would be more appropriate during the Czech Republic's presidency of the EU in 2009. Speaking on a TV debate programme, Mr Dientsbier also accused the president of being a "know-all" who comments on everything from architecture to global warming.

    Jiri Dientsbier appears to have the support of some Social Democrats ahead of presidential elections due next year. His backers are hoping the former dissident can unite cross-party opposition to Vaclav Klaus, who plans to seek a second term.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Poultry farms being disinfected in wake of further bird flu outbreak
    07/15/2007

    Firefighters and soldiers have begun disinfecting five poultry farms in east Bohemia after putting down almost 70,000 birds in the wake of an outbreak of bird flu. Several cases of the dangerous H5N1 strain of avian flu have been found on poultry farms in the area in the last month. Previously the disease had only been detected in wild swans in the Czech Republic.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • State forests body says hurricane caused it significant losses
    07/15/2007

    Forests Czech Republic estimates that it suffered losses of almost CZK two billion (USD 98m) due to January's Hurricane Kyrill. The main cause of the losses has been a fall in the price of wood due to excessive supply and the hurricane's negative impact on the quality of wood sold, said a spokesperson for the state company.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Swimmers say Labe clean
    07/15/2007

    Around two dozen swimmers took part in an event at the weekend aimed at showing that the Czech Republic's longest river the Labe is clean enough to bathe in. The event, near the spot where the Labe meets the Vltava, was being held for the fifth time. Some of the participants in the swim came from neighbouring Germany, where the river is known as the Elbe.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

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