• Cocaine import to the Czech Republic on rise
    10/25/2007

    Czech customs officers have registered increased amount of cocaine smuggled to the Czech Republic during this year. Prior to Thursday, they have seized almost 27 kilograms of the drug, which is four times more than for the whole of last year. According to the Czech Customs Administration, the Czech Republic is becoming a target country for cocaine and Czechs often participate in its illegal import.

    Earlier this year, Czech police and anti-drugs groups have warned that use of cocaine is on the rise. One gram of cocaine now costs around 2000 CZK (100 USD), which is much cheaper than in the past. Despite the rise in the drug's popularity, the number of addicts seeking treatment is still extremely low. Since 1997, only 0.5% of those being treated for drug addiction in the Czech Republic have been addicted to cocaine.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Czech policeman to be dismissed over neo-Nazi support
    10/25/2007

    A municipal policeman from the east Bohemian town of Pardubice is an active neo-Nazi, Nova TV reported on Wednesday. The Anti-fascist Action group has acquired some photos on which the policeman is depicted in Nazi uniforms and under swastika. The policeman will be dismissed from the police at the end of October. According to the TV, it couldn't be ruled out that more police officers were involved in the case.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Prague Hilton evacuated over gas leak
    10/25/2007

    Some 2,500 people were evacuated this morning from Prague's Hilton Hotel, the largest hotel in the country, and surrounding buildings due to a gas leak from a broken pipeline in a nearby ditch. The gas got into the hotel through its air-conditioning system. According to fire service spokesmen Vit Pernica, it has been the largest evacuation in Prague since the disastrous floods in 2002.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Town Hall files complaint in effort to stop far-right march through Jewish Quarter
    10/24/2007

    Prague Town Hall has filed a complaint against a decision by a Prague court to overturn the Town Hall's banning of a march by a far-right group through the city's Jewish Quarter. The demonstration is due to due to take place on the November 10 anniversary of the notorious Kristallnacht Nazi pogrom of 1938.

    Czech President Vaclav Klaus has described the march as politically and morally unacceptable, and called on the Prague authorities to prevent it taking place.

    Meanwhile, the city's Jewish community is planning to oppose it by holding a memorial to the victims of Kristallnacht in the Jewish Quarter at the same time as the far-right event.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Hammer and sickle to return to monument to Red Army soliders
    10/24/2007

    The hammer and sickle symbol is to return to a monument to Red Army soldiers in the Brno district of Kralovo Pole, city councillors decided on Wednesday. The communist symbol was removed without authorisation by the deputy mayor of Kralovo Pole in June. But Brno mayor Roman Onderka said the hammer and sickle should be returned as councillors did not want to rewrite history. Many Russian soldiers died in the liberation of Brno at the end of World War II and some of them are buried at Kralovo Pole. The memorial was built following a collection by local people after the war.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Five hundred take part in simulation of radiation leak from Temelin
    10/24/2007

    Thirty-two towns and municipalities in south Bohemia have taken part in training in what to do in case of a disaster at the Temelin nuclear power station. A radiation leak was simulated in the exercises which were the biggest held in five years, with around 500 people taking part. A spokesperson for Temelin said the chance of a real radiation leak was "one in tens of millions of years".
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Infant mortality rate in Czech Republic reaches record low
    10/24/2007

    The infant mortality rate in the Czech Republic reached a record low last year, according to the country's institute for health information. In 2006 3.3 Czech babies in every 1,000 died before reaching the age of one; that was a slight improvement on 3.4 percent in 2005, which was also a record. Over 100,000 babies were born in the Czech Republic last year, with 100 girls for every 115 boys.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Havel receives award for public speaking...
    10/24/2007

    Former Czech president Vaclav Havel has been presented with Germany's Dolf Sternberger Award for public speaking at a ceremony at Prague's Goethe Institute. The prize is given for achievement in combining public addresses with political aims, and is named after a German philosopher noted for his concept of citizenship. Speaking at Tuesday's award ceremony, Mr Havel said the 'banalisation' of political speech was a sign of the 'banalisation' of thoughts and deeds.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • ...while documentary about former president is set for cinema release
    10/24/2007

    A documentary film about the former president entitled Obcan Havel (Citizen Havel) is to go on release in Czech cinemas from the end of January, a spokesperson for its distributors said. The original director Pavel Koutecky died during the making of the film; it was subsequently completed by Miroslav Janek.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Greens boss Bursik still looking for candidate for education minister
    10/24/2007

    Greens leader Martin Bursik says he is still searching for a candidate for the post of education minister, after the resignation of his party colleague Dana Kuchtova. The Green Party's national council put forward Dusan Luzny for the post. However, Mr Bursik said on Radio Impuls that he could not imagine how Mr Luzny, who worked at the Education Ministry under Ms Kuchtova, could overcome the prime minister's reservations about appointing him. Dana Kuchtova stepped down over failing to draw on EU funds to the maximum possible extent.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

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