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11/02/2007
Despite pressure growing within his own party for him to resign, Christian Democrat leader Jiri Cunek has expressed a desire to stay on in his party's top post. On Friday Mr Cunek reacted to criticism from a number of senior figures as well as regional groups calling for his resignation, saying he had always intended to see through reforms as well as to unify his party - tasks he says he is still prepared to undertake.
Discontent with Mr Cunek's leadership has grown over the reopening of an investigation into alleged corruption from the time when he was the mayor of Vsetin, North Moravia, as well as over a fresh scandal which broke this week, in which it was alleged that Mr Cunek abused welfare benefits while a private citizen. Against the backdrop of the latest scandal, Mr Cunek said on Thursday he would give up the government posts of deputy prime minister, as well minister for regional development, next week.
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11/02/2007
The party leadership of the opposition Social Democrats has revealed the intention that the party seek a vote of no confidence on the country's centre-right government. The announcement was made on Friday. The Social Democrat leadership made clear it is hoping for early elections. The decision follows developments in government this week involving outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Jiri Cunek. In the Social Democrats' view, the latest developments "deepened" what they see as an "ongoing government crisis". The centre-right government led by Mirek Topolanek survived a motion of no confidence in June 2007, relying on the additional votes of two former Social Democrat MPs.
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11/02/2007
The Prague Municipal Court has upheld a ban by Prague City Hall on a planned march by right-wing extremists through the Prague Castle complex. The court did so by rejecting a complaint put forward by right-wing activists. The decision was taken on formal grounds: a missing signature and stamp in the complaint. The extremists originally hoped to march through the city's historic quarter on November 10th - the anniversary of the Nazi pogrom known as Kristallnacht against Jews in Germany in 1938, but reported eight possible alternative routes for their march earlier this week. All have been blocked by City Hall. The organisers have claimed their march was to protest against the Czech military presence in Iraq. Jewish organisations have protested, saying the march was a provocation and an insult.
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11/02/2007
President Vaclav Klaus has entrusted Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Green Party Martin Bursik with the temporary running of the education ministry. The news was made public by the president's spokesman on Friday. Mr Bursik, who also holds the post of environment minister, will take the interim job until a long-term candidate can be found. The Greens have tried but so far been unsuccessful in finding a successor to former minister Dana Kuchtova, who stepped down in October.
Mr Bursik has admitted finding a successor had proven more complicated than expected; he said on Thursday that the education ministry should first be stabilised before a new minister is appointed.
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11/02/2007
The government coordinator for missile defence Tomas Klvana, together with popular Czech actor Jiri Labus, launched advertising related to the government's information campaign on missile defense on Friday. They posted the first of 500 posters which ask whether the Czech Republic should join the United States' missile defense system. The US is currently negotiating with the Czech Republic on the country hosting a US radar base. Mr Klvana told journalists the public would be able to find additional information on an official website and said seven meetings with the public were planned in November, in which he will take part. Opponents of the US base, meanwhile, have been running their own information campaigns critical of the US plan.
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11/02/2007
Czech international footballer Milan Baros, who plays in France's Ligue 1, will face a court date and the possibility of a high fine, after he was caught speeding in France on Thursday. According to reports, Baros exceeded the speed limit on a highway between Lyon and Geneva by 141 kilometres per hour. The footballer was at the wheel of his Ferrari sports car when he was stopped. French police confiscated both Mr Baros' licence as well as his vehicle. In addition to a hefty fine, the 26-year-old striker will face the possibility of a driving ban of three years.
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11/02/2007
World champion speed skater Martina Sablikova is in doubt for the start of World Cup speed skating in November. The skater suffered a fall in training, leading to a torn muscle in her shoulder. Sablikova fell at the speed of 50 km an hour, together with colleague Pavel Kulma, who suffered a slight fracture and is definitely out for the World Cup start in Salt Lake City.
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11/02/2007
In NHL ice hockey action on Thursday defenseman Michal Rozsival helped his team the New York Rangers by scoring the second goal in the Rangers' 2:0 win over Washington.
In other games: seasoned forward Martin Rucinsky notched up his first goal of the season for St Louis over Minnesota, as did Martin Erat for Nashville. Nashville won 3:0 over Vancouver.
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11/01/2007
Jiri Cunek has announced that he is stepping down as deputy prime minister and minister for regional development. At a news conference on Thursday morning, the Christian Democrats' leader said he will quit the posts next Wednesday. Mr Cunek said he was resigning because of the reopening of an investigation into whether he had accepted bribes while he was mayor of Vsetin in 2002. He said he wanted there to be an independent enquiry into the allegations.
On Monday, Czech Television broadcast a report claiming that during the 1990s, Mr Cunek collected social welfare benefits while depositing millions of crowns into different bank accounts. Following the broadcast, Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek called on him to refute the allegations quickly and clearly or resign.
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11/01/2007
The last living prosecutor at the trial of Milada Horakova has received an eight-year prison sentence for judicial murder. Ludmila Brozova Polednova sat on the panel that condemned the democratic politician Milada Horakova to death in 1950, under the Czechoslovak Communist regime. On Thursday, a Prague court sentenced Mrs Polednova to eight years in a high security jail. Many had thought that Mrs Polednova, who is now 86, would not receive a jail sentence on grounds of her age, but the judge presiding over the case said that she had acted in contempt of the law, and should therefore go to jail. Acting as an accomplice to murder normally carries a fifteen-year jail sentence, but Mrs Polednova received a lesser sentence because of her age and, according to the judge, because of the time that had lapsed since the event. Milada Horakova was the only women ever to be executed in communist Czechoslovakia for political reasons, and was condemned following a trail that many thought was staged.
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