• Egyptian Koral Blue airlines banned from Czech airports
    10/29/2007

    The Czech Transportation Ministry banned on Monday Egyptian airlines Koral Air from flying into the Czech Republic. According to a ministry spokesperson, the company has not sufficiently guaranteed the reliability of its charter flights; the airline has had repeated problems and its flights were often delayed. Koral Blue had applied for four licences for flights between Prague and Red Sea resorts.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • Number of drug users stable
    10/29/2007

    The number of drug users in the Czech Republic in 2006 was the same as in the previous year, according to a report by a governmental committee on drugs. About 30,200 people abused methamphetamine and opiates. The report also says that fewer schoolchildren experienced with drugs in 2006 than the year before. While prevention and treatment of drug users cost 1.36 billion crowns, or more than 72 million US dollars, law enforcement and suppression was almost four times more expensive.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • Czech Republic celebrates independence anniversary
    10/28/2007

    The Czech Republic commemorates the 89th anniversary of the foundation of independent Czechoslovakia in 1918. President Vaclav Klaus laid wreaths on Sunday to the grave of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, the founder of Czechoslovakia and its first president. A commemorative ceremony will be held on Sunday evening at Prague Castle where distinguished Czech personalities will be decorated. Among those who will receive awards are Anna Honova, an anti-communist resistance fighter, Marie Goretti Boltnarova, a member of the catholic order of Sisters of Mercy, Second World War veteran Stanislav and visual artist Oldrich Kulhanek who designed the currently used Czech banknotes.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • Military students took oath
    10/28/2007

    In related news, 250 students of the Brno Defence University took the oath on Sunday in Hradcanske namesti outside Prague Castle as part of the celebrations of the foundation of Czechoslovakia. The oath was attended by President Vaclav Klaus, Defence Minister Vlasta Parkanova, Chief of General Staff Vlastimil Picek and the heads of both chambers of the Parliament.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • Environment Minister urges CEZ to change investment policy
    10/28/2007

    Environment Minister Martin Bursik said on Sunday that the major Czech energy producer CEZ should focus on local investments rather than seek acquisitions on foreign markets. The state-owned energy giant has been recently investing in Poland, Bulgaria and Rumania, but according to Mr Bursik, it does nothing for its Czech customers. Last week, CEZ bid in a tender to construct two blocks of a nuclear power plant in Romania. Mr Bursik, who is also deputy prime minister and Green Party leader, criticized the company for not investing enough into refits of their coal-powered plants in the Czech Republic.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • Parties closer to presidential candidate agreement
    10/28/2007

    Chairman of opposition Social Democrats Jiri Paroubek and the head of the coalition Green Party Martin Bursik told Czech TV on Sunday that an agreement is much closer on a candidate to run for the president's office against incumbent Vaclav Klaus. Their parties might agree on Czech-born economist Jan Svejnar who is currently a professor at the University of Michigan in the US. The current president's term will expire in February next year which is when the elections will be held. The Czech Presidents has to gain a majority of 141 votes of the two chambers of the Parliament.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • Greens still seek education minister candidate
    10/28/2007

    Green Party head Martin Bursik met with regional leaders of his party in Prague on Saturday to discuss a suitable candidate for the position of the education minister. The Green leaders however failed to reach any agreement on who should replace Dana Kuchtova who had held the post but was forced to resign a month ago for failing to draw on EU funds. The Green Party had previously come up with Dusan Luzny as a possible candidate but Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek rejected Mr Luzny as the new education minister.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • Nine new countries ready to join Schengen zone
    10/28/2007

    Nine new EU countries are ready to join the Schengen zone of free travel on 21st December, according to the Prague Declaration, a document adopted by interior ministers and other representatives of EU countries who met in Prague on Friday and Saturday. The declaration says that the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia are well prepared for abolishing border checks on their frontiers with other Schengen zone members, and enter the free-travel area on 21st December this year. Some old Schnegen zone members, such as Austria, are however considering policing their borders with the acceding countries even after this date.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • 'A Town Called Hermitage' wins documentary film festival in Jihlava
    10/28/2007

    Film entitled 'A Town Called Hermitage' won the prize for the best Czech documentary at the International Documentary Film Festival in Jihlava. The film by Ondrej Provaznik and Martin Dusek concentrates on a town called Poustevna (Hermitage) and describes the border region in the north of the Czech Republic, formerly known as Sudetenland. Its original German-speaking population was expelled after WWII and replaced by ethnic Czechs.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • Goalkeeper Petr Cech wins dispute against Sun reporter
    10/28/2007

    Petr Cech, the goalkeeper for Chelsea FC and the Czech national football team, has won a court dispute against Kelvin MacKenzie, a reporter for British daily the Sun. The court ruled that Mr MacKenzie inaccurately described a dog fight between the pets of Mr MacKanzie's girlfriend and Mrs Cech. Mr Cech is to be compensated with 30,000 pounds; he said he would distribute the amount among a hospital and a charitable fund in the UK.
    Author: Jan Richter

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