• 12/14/2008

    The Association of Czech Travel Agents says it expects visitors to the Czech Republic during the Christmas and New Year period to spend a round a fifth less than in the same period 12 months previously. The association’s Tomio Okamura says around 420,000 tourists are expected to visit the country, around the same number as last year. He said he expected a fall in spending because more eastern Europeans and fewer western tourists are coming to the Czech Republic than previously. The strength of the Czech crown is another factor.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 12/14/2008

    Singer Karel Gott has won the Český slavík (Czech Nightingale) award for the 34th time in a career spanning five decades. The multi-million selling 69-year-old collected the men’s prize in person at Prague’s State Opera on Saturday night. The women’s award went to Lucie Bílá, while the group prize also went to last year’s winner, Kabát. The Český slavík awards, originally known as Zlatý slavík, have been running since 1962. The winners are voted by members of the public.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 12/14/2008

    The Czech Republic have come fourth at the Floorball World Championships, after losing 4:5 to Switzerland in a game to decide third place in Prague on Sunday. The match was tied at 4:4 at full time, with the Swiss – who also took bronze in the competition two years ago – winning the tie with a goal in the 70th minute. Some 13,211 spectators attended the game at the O2 Arena, the third highest attendance in the history of the World Championships and the highest ever seen at a floorball game in the Czech Republic. Finland beat Sweden 7:6 after extra time in the final - the first time Sweden have failed to win the World Championships.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 12/14/2008

    A European Poker Tour competition held at Prague’s Hilton hotel has been won by the Italian Salvatore Bonavena, who collected EUR 774,000. Over 550 people took part in the four-day tournament, which was being held in the Czech capital for the second time. Among the Czechs who finished among the top ten percent of competitors was Pavel Blatný, who has several times been crowned Czech chess champion. The European Poker Tour is the continent’s biggest poker competition.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 12/13/2008

    The leader of the opposition Social Democrats says a planned agreement with the government on the running of the Czech Republic’s European Union presidency represented neither a truce nor a tolerance pact. Jiří Paroubek said the agreement only covered some aspects of European policy, not Czech foreign policy as a whole, and not domestic politics at all. He said the Social Democrats would not support any government bills which contravened their own policies. Mr Paroubek also said he could not guarantee his party would not table a vote of no-confidence during the six-month EU presidency. The Czech Republic takes the helm of the 27-member bloc on January 1.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 12/13/2008

    The Ministry of Finance is ready to allow Czech betting companies to operate on the internet for the first time, the newspaper Mladá fronta Dnes reported. The five biggest betting firms in the country had petitioned the ministry to allow the change, saying they were losing huge amounts of money to internet gambling sites based in other states. A spokesman for the Finance Ministry said, however, that no final decision had been made on the subject.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 12/13/2008

    The Railways Inspectorate has filed a complaint against the Ministry of Transport for allegedly manipulating the selection process to find a new boss for the state body, Prima TV reported. The position’s current holder, Roman Šigut, said the Transport Ministry was trying to install somebody who would cover up for things in a way he was not willing to do. The Railways Inspectorate had previously accused Transport Minister Aleš Řebíček of trying to influence the investigation of a train crash, a charge denied by the minister.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 12/13/2008

    Local representatives in Prague 3 are calling for a new line of the city’s underground rail network to reach their district, as originally planned, the newspaper Lidové noviny reported. A project to build a “D” line envisages five stations in Prague 3’s Žižkov district. However, there have been suggestions it could instead end at Náměstí republiky in the centre of the city. A Prague metro representative said no decision on the matter had yet been made.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 12/13/2008

    A survey carried out by the operators of Prague’s metro system last month found that over a million people use it every day, a spokesperson said. Nearly 1.2 million people used the metro on November 12, a 5 percent increase on the last such survey conducted in 2004. The busiest station was I.P. Pavlova, which was used by 118,000 people. Just 10,000 fewer used the second busiest station, Dejvická.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 12/13/2008

    Around 150 extremists and other people opposed to conditions in a district of Litvínov largely populated by Romanies held an unauthorised march on Saturday. The north Bohemian town saw running battles between hundreds of neo-Nazis and the police last month. Meanwhile, a group of anarchists held a demonstration in Prague against racism.

    Author: Ian Willoughby

Pages