• Customs officials uncover counterfeit bills worth 1.2 million US dollars
    05/23/2006

    Customs officials in the west Bohemian town of Cheb say they have uncovered over one million fake 100 US dollar bills in two containers that were brought into the country from Vietnam. The police are now investigating what the bills, which are printed on both sides but are in brighter colour, were to be used for. While 450,000 bills were discovered last Tuesday among kitchen utensils, the others were found three days later hidden among food supplies.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • IDC study: Czechs acquire every second copy of software illegally
    05/23/2006

    Forty percent of the packaged software installed on personal computers in the Czech Republic in 2005 was illegal, a worldwide study conducted by the IDC firm concludes. This amounts to over one million US dollars in losses due to software piracy, is four percent higher than the EU average, but the lowest rate in Central and Eastern Europe. Overall, the study found PC software piracy in emerging markets declining and remaining stable worldwide.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • SNK-ED accuse Social Democrats of damaging their election campaign
    05/23/2006

    Prague's coalition of the Association of Independent Candidates and European Democrats (SNK-ED) has accused the Social Democrats of damaging its pre-election campaign. The coalition says the Social Democrats have posted their election slogans over hundreds of their own pre-election posters and wants to be compensated for its losses.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Number of social security payers rising faster than number of pensioners
    05/23/2006

    The number of people in the Czech Republic paying social security is growing faster than the number of pensioners, the Czech Social Security Office says. At the end of March, there were around 110,000 more social security payers than five years ago; the number of pensioners, on the other hand, had only risen by 47,000.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Czech football star Rosicky joins Arsenal
    05/23/2006

    The Czech football star Tomas Rosicky has signed a long-term contract with one of Europe's biggest clubs, Arsenal. The midfielder moves to the English Premier League after five years with Germany's Borussia Dortmund. It had appeared that he would join Atletico Madrid, but the deal fell through after the Spanish club were late with a down-payment. Rosicky, who is 25, has scored 15 goals in 53 appearances for the Czech Republic, and is set to be one of the team's key players at the forthcoming World Cup.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Ice Hockey: Kaberle helps Carolina down Buffalo in 4:3 win
    05/23/2006

    Czech defenseman Frantisek Kaberle scored once in the NHL Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Finals on Monday to help lift his team, Carolina, over the Buffalo Sabres 4:3. The best-of-seven series is now tied at one apiece.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Czech and German soldiers targeted in Afghanistan
    05/22/2006

    Czech as well as German soldiers serving in northern Afghanistan on NATO's ISAF peacekeeping mission were targeted in two attacks on Monday. Explosions damaged vehicles in two separate incidents. The Czechs were reportedly targeted in the town of Faizabad: none of the soldiers suffered injury. The Czech Republic has around 40 members of the Armed Forces in the area, serving together with German and Danish troops.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • State attorney: Macek 'slap' a misdemeanour
    05/22/2006

    An incident at the weekend in which Miroslav Macek - a long-term advisor to the Czech president - assaulted the country's health minister has been qualified as a misdemeanour by a state attorney. The statement was made after the state attorney reviewed video of the incident from the weekend. On Saturday at a doctors' conference Mr Macek surprised Health Minister David Rath when he walked over and - without warning - slapped him on the back of the head. The attack was subsequently condemned by Czech politicians, including the prime minister.

    Mr Macek defended the action by saying that he had been settling a personal score.

    But, with elections a fortnight away, some political commentators are speculating over Mr Macek's intentions: he is a former deputy chairman of the right-of-centre Civic Democrats, the party currently leading in pre-election opinion polls. Mr Rath, meanwhile, is a representative of the Social Democrats, 4 points behind the leaders in a recent survey.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Doctors launch week of protests against health minister
    05/22/2006

    The incident by Mr Macek came at the start of a week of protest actions against the policies of Health Minister David Rath. Doctors, dentists, and pharmacists who are taking part say that the planned events will be mostly symbolic: not restricting care or in any way impacting patients. The week-long protests against the minister's reforms will involve demonstrations and public debates in the three largest cities of Prague, Brno, and Ostrava. The protesters say that the minister's reforms are harming both medical staff as well as patients, in their view worsening the quality of health care in many areas.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • PM to sue Topolanek for slander
    05/22/2006

    Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek has filed a lawsuit for slander against the leader of right-of-centre Civic Democrats Mirek Topolanek. During a heated TV debate on Sunday Mr Topolanek suggested that Mr Paroubek had connections to the underworld, statements the prime minister has said are not based on truth. The debate on Sunday was the first of four planned debates between the two men before the upcoming general election.
    Author: Jan Velinger

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