News

The US Embassy has confirmed that a team of American experts will come to the Czech Republic on Monday to examine the conditions for stationing a possible US radar base at the village of Misov, some 90 kilometres southwest of Prague, which was chosen as the most suitable location.

Municipalities near the Brdy military area, where the radar base is to be positioned, are against the plan, fearing the radar could affect the environment or the health of local residents. They have repeatedly rejected the base in locally- held referenda.

Social Democrat chairman Jiri Paroubek plans to marry his new partner

The chairman of the opposition Social Democrats, Jiri Paroubek, is planning to marry his new partner Petra Kovacova once he divorces his wife Zuzana Paroubkova, Pravo reported. Speaking to the daily, Mr Paroubek indicated that all of the media would have to write about Miss Kovacova "decently", referring to the fact that some tabloids had called his partner his "mistress".

The opposition leader announced a month ago that he and his wife were divorcing after 28 years and that Ms. Kovacova, some 20 years his junior, was his new girlfriend.

The vice-chairman of the opposition Social Democrats, Milan Urban, has called for state prosecutors to be given an increased amount of independence from the government. He made the announcement on Wednesday morning, one day after the deputy prime minister, Jiri Cunek, had all charges of corruption against him dropped. Mr. Cunek stood accused of accepting a half-a-million-crown bribe from a building company, when he was mayor of Vsetin, in 2002. His case was transferred from one prosecutor to another by Renata Vesecka, the Supreme Public Prosecutor, in early June, in a move that was considered by many to be politically motivated.

On Tuesday, the sale of the Central-Bohemian Krusovice brewery to Dutch group Heineken was approved by the Czech anti-monopoly office. The merger is expected to give Heineken an 8% share of the Czech market, making it the third biggest beer-producer in the country. Heineken already owns the Starobrno brewery in Moravia, and with this new addition to its portfolio is expected to produce more than 1.85 million hectoliters of beer a year, here in the Czech Republic. The largest brewery in the Czech Republic remains, however, Plzensky Prazdroj, with a share of almost 45% of the domestic market.

Unemployment in the Czech Republic grew slightly in July, according to figures released on Wednesday by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. Unemployment rose from 6.3% in June to 6.4% the following month. The rise was predicted by analysts, who cited the new wave of graduates from Czech universities as one of the major reasons for the upturn in the number of unemployed. The unemployment rate is at its second lowest since July 2004, when the current measurement system was adopted.