News

Vladimir Smicer has been ruled out of the Czech Republic's squad for the World Cup after failing a fitness test. Doctors found a blood clot in his thigh muscle last week. The Bordeaux midfielder, who has been capped 81 times, is likely to be replaced by Libor Sionko of Glasgow Rangers. The Czechs' opening game in Germany is against the USA on June 12th.

Compensation for damages suffered during the Soviet-led invasion of 1968 has been paid out to a small minority of claimants, Mlada fronta Dnes reported. A new law last year earmarked over 10 million dollars to compensate those who lost a family member or suffered serious injury or rape during the occupation. However, of almost 400 claimants, just over 50 have been granted compensation by the Interior Ministry. Many of those turned down say it was because they had received a one-off payment in 1990.

The import of cheap eggs from Poland and Lithuania is having a disastrous impact on the egg business in the Czech Republic, the Czech poultry farmers union said on Wednesday. Egg production in this country fell by one fifth in 2005; industry figures say if the current situation continues one half of Czech producers could go out of business next year.

Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek has rejected charges that top government officials have been hampering the work of the country's elite organized crime unit, saying that the accusations were part of an election smear campaign. Late on Monday Jan Kubice, head of the elite unit for fighting organized crime, told a parliamentary committee that Paroubek and other top officials had hindered his unit's work in order to shield Social Democrat colleagues and that criminals had infiltrated the civil service. Evidence supporting the charges was not made public. The PM called a press briefing in Prague on Tuesday to deny the allegations telling journalists that the opposition Civic Democrats had fabricated the charges to swing voters ahead of the poll.