• Czech Republic finally files ratification papers at ICC
    07/22/2009

    The Czech Republic has filed ratification papers at the International Criminal Court in the Hague, becoming the 110th state to recognise the permanent tribunal’s jurisdiction. The statue will enter into force on the first of January next year. The Czech Republic was the last member of the European Union to sign up to the International Criminal Court, which led to criticism from Brussels.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Total number of swine flu cases detected in Czech Republic rises to 32
    07/22/2009

    Three more cases of swine flu have been detected in the Czech Republic, bringing the total number to 32. The latest cases concern people who had been on separate visits to the United Kingdom; none of the three are seriously ill, a spokesperson for the Czech health ministry said on Wednesday.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czech arms exports reach record level
    07/22/2009

    Exports of arms and military materials from the Czech Republic reached a record CZK 4.9 billion (USD 270 million) last year, a spokesperson for Czech trade ministry said on Wednesday. Over 30,000 revolvers and pistols manufactured in the Czech Republic were exported last year, along with a range of other guns and weapons. The Czech arms and security industry association said its members should enjoy similar turnover this year to 2008.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Kasík dismissed as director of Czech Radio
    07/22/2009

    Václav Kasík has been dismissed as the director of the public broadcaster Czech Radio (of which Radio Prague is part). He was removed by an extraordinary meeting of the Czech Radio Council, who appointed head of programming Richard Medek as acting head of the station. The council said it had replaced Mr Kasík because renovations of Czech Radio’s historic building on Prague’s Vinohradská St had gone over budget and for hiring a person without the required security clearance to head the station’s “secretariat”. Václav Kasík had headed Czech Radio since July 1999.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Three die in car crash in reported attempt to escape from police
    07/22/2009

    Three people aged 18 and 19 died in the early hours of Wednesday when they were involved in a car crash as they reportedly attempted to evade a police control in the eastern town of Holešov. A fourth person, aged 28, was taken to hospital with serious injuries after the accident. He denies having been the driver, and police say it is as yet unclear which of the four was at the wheel. A spokesperson said the police could not confirm that they were pursuing the car when the crash occurred as it was still under investigation.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • First “electronic tram stop” goes up in Prague
    07/22/2009

    The first stand featuring an electronic display informing passengers of when the next tram is coming has appeared at a tram stop in Prague, Mladá fronta Dnes reported. A spokesperson for the capital’s transport authority told the newspaper there were plans to introduce 260 of such LCD displays in the city centre and districts including Žižkov, Holešovice and Smíchov by the end of this year.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Suzanne Vega-Čechomor joint tour underway
    07/22/2009

    The American singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega and the Czech group Čechomor played a sold-out concert together in Loket on Tuesday night. Four and a half thousand people saw the joint show at an amphitheatre in the small west Bohemian town. The mini-tour continues with concerts in Prague and Žďár nad Sázavou. Suzanne Vega has appeared in concert in the Czech Republic several times.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Former Czech FA head Mokrý arrested on suspicion of tax evasion
    07/21/2009

    Police arrested a former head of the Czech football association, Pavel Mokrý, on Tuesday on suspicion of tax evasion. Two others were also arrested: another former member of the Czech FA executive, Václav Chvála, and Ladislav Malý, who was a senior official at the ministry of education and sports. One of the three, not believed to be Mr Mokrý, has been formally charged. The news website novinky.cz reported that police were investigating the activities of Fotbal Trading, a daughter company of the Czech FA which is currently in liquidation. Pavel Mokrý was chairman of Czech soccer’s governing body for four years; he stepped down at the end of last month.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Fischer begins three-day visit to Israel
    07/21/2009

    The Czech prime minister, Jan Fischer, is beginning a three-day visit to Israel, where he is due to meet the country’s president, Shimon Peres, on Wednesday. He will also lay a wreath at Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. Mr Fischer is being accompanied by a delegation of Czech business people and will launch a “round table” for Czech and Israeli entrepreneurs at the Czech Republic’s embassy in Tel Aviv.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Academics protest against planned cuts in subsidies for Academy of Sciences
    07/21/2009

    Hundreds of Czech academics and their supporters protested in Prague on Tuesday against government plans to significantly reduce its funding of the Academy of Sciences. The state wants to cut subsidies for the institution from around CZK 5.9 billion to about half that amount by 2012, a move which academics say will threaten the future of research in the Czech Republic. They say qualified scientists will be fired and the country’s scientific infrastructure destroyed if the government goes ahead with the cuts. Tuesday’s demonstration was the first time members of the Academy of Sciences have protested since the fall of communism.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

Pages