• 11/07/2007

    The Prague Public Transport Company is considering whether to bring ticket-barriers back into operation in the capital's metro system, reported Hospodarske noviny on Wednesday. In an interview given to the paper, the head of Prague's Public Transport Company, Martin Dvorak, said he was 'seriously considering' the idea as a means of cutting down on the number of passengers currently travelling without a ticket. Last year, 296,000 people were caught using the city's public transport without a ticket, a figure up 10,000 on 2005. According to Mr Dvorak, a study on the financial viability of a turnstile system is currently being carried out. The Public Transport Company will start to work out the details of any such system only when the study is completed, in around two months' time. If approved, ticket-barriers could be up and running in the metro by 2009, he said. The Prague underground network had a system of turnstiles up until 1985, when they were removed to lessen congestion in the metro.

    Author: Rosie Johnston
  • 11/07/2007

    Czech national goalkeeper Petr Cech could be out of football for up to a month with a calf injury sustained on Tuesday night. Mr Cech picked up the injury when playing for his team Chelsea in a Champions League match against German team Schalke. On Wednesday, Mr Cech underwent a series of scans to discern whether he would need surgery on the leg. If an operation is required, Petr Cech could be out for up to a month, which would be a major defensive blow for Chelsea, who currently have John Terry, Paulo Ferreira and Ashley Cole all sidelined.

    Author: Rosie Johnston
  • 11/06/2007

    Fourteen hundred police officers will be deployed around Prague's Jewish Quarter on Saturday to prevent an unauthorised demonstration planned by far-right extremists. The neo-Nazi group lost a legal battle to hold a march through the Jewish Quarter on November 10, the anniversary of the 1938 Kristallnacht Nazi pogrom. The Jewish Liberal Union have organised a counter-event, while other anti-fascist demonstrators are also expected to turn out. In a statement, Prague Mayor Pavel Bem said the city's authorities had to prepare for the worst possible scenario, including the possible participation of foreign far-right activists.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 11/06/2007

    Under an agreement reached by Czech and US diplomats, a Czech general and his team would be permanently based at a planned US radar base in central Bohemia. There would also be Czech military personnel at the headquarters of the US global anti-missile defence system in Colorado Springs, the chief Czech negotiator Tomas Pojar said after talks between representatives of both countries in Prague. The Czech Parliament is set to decide next year on whether to allow the Americans to build the radar, which would be linked to a missiles base in neighbouring Poland.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 11/06/2007

    Both the Communists and the Christian Democrats say they are still considering whether to support the possible candidature of Jan Svejnar for the post of president of the Czech Republic. The economist met representatives of both parties in Prague on Tuesday, days after both the Social Democrats and the Greens said they would back in him in February's elections. Mr Svejnar would need the votes of both the Communists and the Christian Democrats to beat the incumbent Vaclav Klaus, the only candidate in the race so far.

    Jan Svejnar, who is 54, has spent most of his life in the United States. He was an economic advisor to former president Vaclav Havel for almost a decade.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 11/06/2007

    Czech Airlines is in the black for the first time in three years. The president of CSA, Radomir Lasak, told reporters on Tuesday that the airline had made a profit of over CZK 550 million in the first three quarters of this year. Mr Lasak said much of the profits in the first nine months of 2007 were down to the sale and leasing back of five Boeing planes, though he said the Czech national carrier would have gone into the black even without that deal.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 11/06/2007

    Under an agreement reached by Czech and US diplomats, a Czech general and his team would be permanently based at a planned US radar base in central Bohemia. There would also be Czech military personnel at the headquarters of the US global anti-missile defence system in Colorado Springs, the chief Czech negotiator Tomas Pojar said after talks between representatives of both countries in Prague. The Czech Parliament is set to decide next year on whether to allow the Americans to build the radar, which would be linked to a missiles base in neighbouring Poland.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 11/06/2007

    The Czech and Austrian interior ministers have signed an agreement on co-operation during next year's European Football Championship, which is being hosted by Austria and Switzerland. Though the Czech Republic will then be in the Schengen zone, Vienna would have the right to carry out border controls during Euro 2008. However, that possibility was not discussed at Tuesday's meeting in Mikulov, said the Czech interior minister, Ivan Langer. Czech police will help their Austrian and Swiss counterparts monitor Czech fans when the Czech Republic is playing.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 11/06/2007

    The Czech crown has again set a new record against the United States dollar. On Tuesday evening the Czech currency was trading at 18:48 to the dollar, after further weakening of the latter on world markets.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 11/06/2007

    The deputy mayor of the south Moravian town of Trebic was taken to hospital on Monday after being attacked at the local town hall by a citizen. Milos Masek sustained injuries to his head, wrist and chest in the attack, which is believed to have been carried out by a man who was angry about the poor soundproofing in his municipality-owned apartment building. Mr Masek said he had shown the man the door when he began speaking offensively, whereupon the man jumped on his back and began hitting him.

    Author: Ian Willoughby

Pages