• 08/18/2007

    The police charged on Friday a 19-year-old man from Kaplice, South Bohemia, with breaking the copyright. The man recorded an illegal copy of the Simpsons movie in July in a cinema in Ceske Budejovice and posted it on the internet. Since then, an estimated 100,000 people downloaded the movie which has cost Bontofilm, the Czech distributor of the film, five million cronws or almost 250,000 US dollars. The man is facing between six months and five years of prison time and a fine of up to five million crowns.

    Author: Jan Richter
  • 08/18/2007

    The forests around the Masaryk Circuit near Brno, where motorcycle Czech Grand Prix is held over the weekend, has been set on fire at several places, the CTK news agency reported on Saturday. Nine fire fighting trucks are fighting at least four isolated fires. The incidents have not put at risk any of an estimated 70,000 visitors who came to see the qualifier for the Grand Prix races that will start on Sunday.

    Author: Jan Richter
  • 08/18/2007

    All adult Czech citizens will get e-mail addresses from the state to receive court warrants, the daily Lidove Noviny reported on Saturday. The system should start functioning in the middle of next year. The establishment of individual e-mail addressed provided by the interior ministry is included in an amendment to the civil administrative code. The e-mail addresses should facilitate deliveries of warrants to appear at courts. Many people do not collect warrants at post offices which causes significant delays in court proceedings.

    Author: Jan Richter
  • 08/18/2007

    Czech rider Lukas Pesek crashed during the qualifier on Saturday for the 125 ccm Czech Grand Prix race in Brno and came in fifth. He started off very well and was leading the qualification, but after his crash, two of his direct competitors for this year's title Gabor Talmacsi from Hungary and Spain's Hector Faubel were faster. At the start of the race on Sunday, Gabor Talmacsi will start from the pole position while Lukas Pesek will only be in the second row. About 200,000 spectators are expected to support Lukas Pesek during his home Grand Prix race.

    Author: Jan Richter
  • 08/17/2007

    The Czech Army's chief hygiene officer, Petr Navratil, has said that a US radar installation which could be deployed in the Czech Republic's Brdy military zone, would not pose a health threat, provided safety zone requirements were met. He made the statement on Friday, a day after a 200-page report on the project was made public by the Czech government. The study - the first by Czech officials - is based on specifications and technical data from the US. The chief hygiene officer said the base, as outlined, would meet all limits on non-ionic radiation, ruling out harmful effects. In past weeks and months, villages near the Brdy zone have come out strongly against the radar plan, while polls have suggested only one third of Czechs support the idea. The US has asked the Czech Republic to house the base as part of the United States' missile defense system.

    Author: Jan Velinger
  • 08/17/2007

    Social Democrat leader Jiri Paroubek has revealed that his party will not back reopening debate on the government's planned fiscal reforms ahead of a third reading in the lower house. Mr Paroubek made the statement on Friday in reaction to criticism by "rebel" Civic Democrat MP Vlastimil Tlusty, who has raised new demands for changes to the reform package. He is one of three ruling party MPs threatening to vote against the reforms if further changes are not implemented. The Social Democrats - the country's largest opposition party - originally tried to have voting on the reform package postponed until late September. But on Friday, the party's leader Jiri Paroubek said the government should "reap what it has sown".

    Author: Jan Velinger
  • 08/17/2007

    The Czech Out-Patient Specialists Association today addressed an open letter to members of the lower house asking them to soften the sanction doctors would face for not demanding cash payments from patients while debating the government draft public finance reform. A week ago the government coalition approved the reform proposals by Health Minister Tomas Julinek. The out-patient specialists say in the letter that a 50,000 crown sanction envisioned in Mr Julinek's proposals is too high. They say doctors cannot bear the responsibility for patients' refusal to pay, they can only ask them to pay. The law should therefore set down the obligation for doctors' to request cash payments, but not to collect them. Under the reform, patients are to pay 30 crowns per doctor visit and per prescription, 60 crowns for each day in hospital, and 90 crowns for emergency treatment.

    Former health minister and chairman of the Chamber of Deputies health committee David Rath said on Friday that he considered patients' cash payments - and the high sanction set down for doctors - unconstitutional. He added if the reform was passed and signed by the president, he would file a constitutional complaint against this part of the law.

    Author: Jan Velinger
  • 08/17/2007

    The Czech daily Mlada Fronta Dnes has reported that Czech police have blocked fugitive businessman Radovan Krejcir, awaiting an extradition ruling in South Africa, access to some 30 million crowns on accounts in the Czech Republic. Radovan Krejcir, wanted in Prague on a number of charges including fraud and conspiracy to murder, confirmed the accounts had been frozen. He told the newspaper that the funds belonged to his mother and that they were dividends from business dealings. According to the report, she was to transfer the sum to a South African account. Radovan Krejcir escaped from Czech police during the search of his family's luxury villa in June 2005. He took refuge in the Seychelles before being arrested in South Africa earlier this year.

    Author: Jan Velinger
  • 08/17/2007

    The spokesman for the Sparta Prague football club has responded to an open letter sent by the head of the Prague Jewish Community, Frantisek Banyai, and the director of the Prague Jewish Museum, Leo Pavlat expressing concern over some fans' anti-Semitic behaviour at Sparta stadium. According to the senders, anti-Semitic chants could be heard during a Sparta-Arsenal game this week. Some in the audience reportedly yelled the slogan "Jude Slavia" referring to Sparta's city rival, playing on the same day. Sparta's spokesman has made clear the incident will be investigated; he also indicated the club will take a tough stance on anyone guilty of committing racist acts at the club's stadium.

    Author: Jan Velinger
  • 08/17/2007

    President Vaclav Klaus has lodged a complaint with the Constitutional Court calling for the annulment a section in Czech legislation dealing with courts and judges. The provision concerns the methods of the functioning and the management of the Supreme Court, under which the court can only have one deputy chairman. Mr Klaus has been locked in a long dispute with court chairwoman Iva Brozova over the issue. In the past, he appointed Jaroslav Bures second court deputy chairman on the basis of the Czech Constitution, which mentions court deputy chairpersons in the plural. The Constitutional Court received the president's proposal on Friday.

    Author: Jan Velinger

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