• Klaus names "Prague Avenue" in Lisbon
    03/24/2004

    President Vaclav Klaus has taken part in a ceremony in the Portuguese capital Lisbon naming a local street "Prague Avenue". President Klaus is on the second day of his state visit to Portugal.
    Author: Rob Cameron

  • Klaus offended by chairman of Christian Democrats in European Parliament
    03/23/2004

    Vaclav Klaus has criticised the chairman of the Christian Democrat group in the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, for statements he made after the Czech president cancelled a meeting with him while he was on a visit to Prague. Mr Poettering told Czech and German journalists that such things would only happen in a dictatorship. Mr Klaus has written a letter of protest to Mr Poettering, the president's spokesman said on Tuesday. Mr Klaus, who is sceptical about European Union integration, said such behaviour would not give an encouraging signal to the Czech public or politicians as the country prepares for imminent accession to the Union.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Nine presidential pardons granted
    03/23/2004

    Meanwhile, President Klaus - who is currently on an official visit to Portugal - has granted pardons to nine people, among them a young man who killed his aggressive and bullying father. The pardons have been granted on humanitarian grounds, the president's spokesman said on Tuesday. Mr Klaus has pardoned 16 people since being appointed just over a year ago. He had previously been critical of the number of pardons granted by his predecessor, Vaclav Havel.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Police arrest gang accused of smuggling Chinese people into Europe
    03/23/2004

    The police have arrested a gang of nine Czechs and other nationals who they say organised the smuggling of Chinese people into Europe. The arrests followed co-operation with police in Italy, Germany and Austria. During the time the gang were under surveillance they smuggled around 800 people through the Czech Republic, a police spokesperson said on Tuesday.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Polish police release three suspected of planning attack on Czech Embassy
    03/23/2004

    Polish police have released three men suspected of planning terrorist attacks on the Czech Embassy and other targets in the Polish capital Warsaw. The street where the city's Czech Embassy is located was marked on a map found in the flat of the three men, two Palestinians and a Ukrainian. A spokesperson for the Czech Embassy said on Tuesday that there was no evidence the three had been planning a terrorist attack.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Usti region handing out leaflets in effort to combat child prostitution on border
    03/23/2004

    The Usti nad Labem regional authority has begun handing out leaflets in German alerting tourists who cross the border from the neighbouring state of Saxony of the fact that child prostitution is a crime. Regional governor Jiri Sulc took part in the campaign on Tuesday, handing out leaflets at a border crossing, the website Novinky reported. The German branch of UNICEF published a report in November saying the Czech-German border region was rife with child prostitution, though Czech authorities say it is not a common problem.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Hasek to get off with fine for in-line hockey attack
    03/23/2004

    The Czech ice hockey player Dominik Hasek is likely to escape with a fine after attacking an opponent in a game of in-line hockey last May. According to press reports, Mr Hasek will not appear in court in connection with the incident, because investigators say it was not a crime but a misdemeanour.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Staropramen follow Pilsner Urquell in raising beer prices
    03/23/2004

    The Prague brewery Staropramen is to increase the prices of its draught and bottled beer by around 6 percent from next month, a spokesperson said on Tuesday. The price rise follows a similar move by Pilsner Urquell earlier this month. Since the year 2000 Staropramen has been owned by the Belgian group Interbrew. It has a 14 percent share of the Czech beer market.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Svoboda criticises Israel's killing of Hamas' spiritual leader
    03/22/2004

    Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda has criticised Israel's killing of Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin on Monday. In Brussels Mr Svoboda spoke with the Czech news agency CTK deploring the cycle of revenge attacks, saying such attacks could not "solve anything". At the same time Mr Svoboda had criticism for the Palestinians over the discovery at the weekend of a Palestinian boy with explosives in his school bag. Earlier this year the Czech Republic indicated its aim to specialise in Middle Eastern affairs within the framework of the European Union, which it joins on May 1st. In the past Palestinian leaders such as Yasser Arafat have also asked the Czechs to exert their influence in the troubled peace process.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Polish authorities detain Pakistani nationals
    03/22/2004

    Police in the Polish capital of Warsaw have detained two Pakistani nationals, finding possession of suspiciously marked maps in one suspect's apartment. The Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza has written the maps contain markings outlining the airport, the Warsaw synagogue as well as the locations of the British and Czech embassies, prompting a reaction from Czech embassy officials. They said that although they had not been contacted by police, the Czech embassy would be stepping up security measures. Of the two men in custody one first attracted police attention at Warsaw's main station on Sunday, leading to the arrests. Besides the maps in the apartment police found an Air Italia leaflet showing a plan of a plane allegedly marked with two crosses. Both Pakistani nationals have been in Poland since last November, when they filed for refugee status. Their identities have not been released.
    Author: Jan Velinger

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