• 10/27/2006

    Czech tennis veteran Jiri Novak, once ranked fifth in the world, ended his top playing career after a second round loss at the Swiss Indoor tournament in Basel on Thursday. The 31-year old had already declared that Basel, where he won the last of his seven major singles tournaments two years ago, would be his last major competition. Novak, now 122 in the ATP rankings, has been plagued over the last year by injury problems. He still counts on playing in smaller tournaments. Jiri Novak reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in 2002 and was for many years the Czech number one player.

  • 10/27/2006

    Temperature records show that it has been an unusually warm autumn in the Czech Republic. While traditional norms connect the end of October with frosty temperatures, temperatures highs have instead been breaking records. On Friday, Prague's Klementinum registered a high of 20.6 degrees Celsius, breaking a 165 year-old record; the previous record of 19.8 degrees Celsius on October 27 was set back in 1841. Thursday also saw warm temperature records fall in the Moravian cities of Brno (18.2 Celsius) and Ostrava (20.5 Celsius), and the Czech capital. Meteorologists are predicting a sharp change over the weekend, with daytime highs dropping to a maximum 14 degrees Celsius.

  • 10/26/2006

    The chairman of the Social Democrats Jiri Paroubek has called on MP Michal Pohanka who left the ranks of the party on Wednesday to give up his seat in the lower house. He alleged that Mr Pohanka was being blackmailed by the police on the orders of the ruling Civic Democratic Party. The Civic Democrats have dismissed such allegations. An internet news server on Wednesday quoted Mr Pohanka as saying he felt pressure from his own party, not the police.

    The Civic Democratic Party issued a statement on Wednesday saying that whatever Mr. Pohanka's reasons for leaving the party they did not intend to exploit the situation and, as they said "rely on one turncoat". Every vote now plays a decisive role in the 200 seat lower house which is equally divided between the right and left-wing parties with 100 votes each. The Czech Republic has been without a stable government since elections in June.

  • 10/26/2006

    Czech lawmakers have approved the main lines of the 2007 state budget in its first reading, overcoming political stalemate which has gripped the country since June's legislative elections. The budget proposal, which counts on a deficit of 91.3 billion crowns (3.22 billion euros, 4.05 billion dollars) was backed by all the parties represented in the lower house with the exception of the Communists. The budget was proposed by the caretaker Civic Democrat government. Last-minute support was won from the second-biggest party, the Social Democrats, with a promise that further consultations would take place before the sale of any shares in Czech power giant, CEZ. The budget must go through three readings in the lower house and then be approved by the president before it becomes law.

  • 10/26/2006

    The Foreign Ministry has announced that three young Czechs were detained at Buenos Aires international airport on Sunday on suspicion of drug trafficking. According to Czech diplomats in Argentina, several grams of cocaine were found on the men. Forty-five Czech nationals are known to have been arrested outside the country in connection with drug-related crime since January, which is the highest number in the last three years.

  • 10/26/2006

    The Czech state-controlled carrier Czech Airlines says it carried 4.2 million passengers in the first nine months of the year, a 5-percent rise compared with the same period in 2005. The airline said the increase was largely due to highter demand on routes to Eastern Europe. CSA reported a loss of 773 million crowns (27.3 million euros, 34.3 million dollars) in the first half of the year compared with 533 million koruna in the same period a year earlier. The company is implementing a plan to break even by 2008 that includes the sale of none-core assets such as its catering division and Prague cargo terminal.

  • 10/26/2006

    The government on Wednesday approved the sale of the state-owned plane manufacturer Aero Vodochody to the investment group Penta for the price of 2.91 billion crowns. The second highest bid by the consortium PPF and JT was 1,2 billion crowns lower. Penta sees Aero's main potential in cooperating with leading world producers of aircraft and aircraft parts. It now has three restructuring priorities: development and production of aircraft and components within broader cooperation projects, construction of airport Vodochody and cooperation with the Czech army.

  • 10/26/2006

    Monaco striker Jan Koller is out for up to two months after injuring the same right hamstring that sidelined him during the World Cup finals this summer, the Czech daily Sport reports. The 33-year-old Czech international record scorer hurt his leg during Monaco's defeat on penalties to Stade de Reims in a French League Cup match on Tuesday. The 2.04-metre (6ft 7in) tall striker moved to Monaco on a free transfer from Borussia Dortmund over the summer after recovering from a serious knee injury he incurred last September. He has since scored once in 11 appearances for his new club.

  • 10/25/2006

    Deputy Michal Pohanka has unexpectedly left the ranks of the Social Democratic Party and has withdrawn from the Social Democrat deputies' group in the lower house. The group's chairman Michal Hasek says he was informed about Mr. Pohanka's decision in writing on Wednesday morning. There is no indication that Michal Pohanka is planning to resign as MP and there is now speculation as to whether the Social Democrats are losing one vote with his departure from the party. Every vote now plays a decisive role in the 200 seat lower house which is split down the middle with the right and left parties having 100 votes each. The Czech Republic has been without a stable government since elections in June.

    In response to the news the Civic Democratic Party issued a statement on Wednesday saying that whatever Mr. Pohanka's reasons for leaving the party they did not intend to exploit the situation. "The Civic Democrats have no intention of forming a government which would have to rely on one turncoat" the party's deputy chairman Petr Necas told the media.

  • 10/25/2006

    Interior Minister Ivan Langer has sent his family abroad for fear of their safety after receiving anonymous threats which the police classified as "very serious". One of the anonymous letters said the interior minister's family home in Olomouc would be blown up. The minister himself is getting heightened protection until the case has been resolved. One of the theories is that the threats could be connected with a recent leak of information from police files, which the Social Democrats claim to have damaged their chances in the elections.

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