• State of emergency in country's forests to last for another week
    01/29/2007

    The state of emergency in the country's forests, many of which have been badly damaged by gale-force winds, will end on February 5. Up until then people are banned from entering them in order to give forest workers time to clear fallen trees and fell those which are considered a hazard. A forest worker was killed in the clean-up operation last week.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Insurance companies put damage at 1,5 billion crowns
    01/29/2007

    Czech insurance companies say the damage caused by gale-force winds which swept across the country last week should climb to an estimated 1,5 billion Czech crowns. Close to 50, 000 households and three and a half thousand companies have files damage claims to date. The inclement weather in the mountain regions is reportedly slowing down the work of insurance companies in checking out claims but they say there are prepared to meet their obligations fully.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Protest against US radar base goes ahead despite ban
    01/29/2007

    Opponents to the deployment of a US radar base in the Czech Republic took part in a protest event in the centre of Prague on Monday evening despite the fact that it had been banned by Prague city hall. An estimated two thousand people took part in the protest march. Civic groups and associations who organized the protest say that the presence of a US radar base in the Czech Republic would harm the country's security interests and are demanding a referendum on the issue.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Euro says US radar base likely to be built by Boeing
    01/29/2007

    According to Monday's edition of the weekly Euro, if the plan to build a US radar base in the Czech Republic gets the green light, the base will most likely be built by Boeing and should be ready to go into operation in 2011. The Czech Security Council approved the start of official talks on the base between Washington and Prague last week. Experts say the negotiations could take up to a year.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Olomouc town hall evacuated after bomb threat
    01/29/2007

    The Olomouc town hall was evacuated on Monday after the police received an

    anonymous bomb threat. Close to three hundred employees and members of the public were sent home and some stores situated close to the town also closed for the day for security reasons. A thorough search of the building revealed no explosives. The police are searching for the anonymous letter writer.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Czechs feel threatened by organized crime
    01/29/2007

    A poll just released by the CVVM agency suggests that Czechs consider organized crime to be the biggest security threat to their country in the present day. Sixty nine percent of respondents polled put organized crime at the top of the list, followed by international terrorism. However asked what they considered a threat to themselves and their families the vast majority of respondents said a natural disaster or epidemic.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Injured Czech ski jumper well enough to be flown home
    01/29/2007

    Czech ski jumper Jan Mazoch, who suffered a life-threatening injury at a World Cup event in Poland last week, has recovered sufficiently to be transferred home. Anna Niedzwiedzka, a spokeswoman for Krakow university hospital where Mazoch is receiving treatment, said he would be flown to Prague on Wednesday, where he will follow a rehabilitation programme in a local clinic.

    Mazoch's state of health is said to have improved by the day. He is now able to speak and has even managed to walk a few steps in his hospital room.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Czechs to end controversial North Korean labour contracts
    01/28/2007

    The Czech authorities have decided to end the controversial practice of North Koreans working in factories across the country as breadwinners for their authoritarian regime. Tomas Haisman, an interior ministry official responsible for Czech asylum and migration policy, told the AFP news agency that the ministry would not be offering new work permits to North Korean citizens and did not intend to prolong existing ones. Around 400 North Koreans are currently working in the country, mostly as seamstresses. They are kept on a tight leash by government agents and allowed to keep only part of their wages.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Minister Cunek says he can clear his name
    01/28/2007

    Regional Development Minister Jiri Cunek says he can explain the origin of the suspect half a million crowns which he placed in his account in 2002. In a televised debate on Sunday, Mr. Cunek said he had documents to prove that the money was family savings retrieved from Universal Bank following its bankruptcy. The minister said it was money earned before he entered politics and that he had managed to retrieve it thanks to the fact that the savings account was ensured against bankruptcy.

    The police suspect Mr. Cunek of having taken a bribe when he was in regional politics and the police have asked for him to be stripped of his immunity. His former secretary is their chief witness, having told the police that her former boss not only accepted the bribe but openly boasted about it. Jiri Cunek, who is also a senator and head of the Christian Democratic Party, has dismissed the accusations saying he would clear his name in court.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Public divided over Cunek case
    01/28/2007

    The Czech public is divided over whether Jiri Cunek should remain in politics. According to a poll conducted by the Mlada Fronta Dnes daily 52 percent of respondents think that Mr. Cunek should resign from all his posts and leave politics. Forty-eight percent of respondents said he should be treated as innocent until proven otherwise.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

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