• Counter-terrorist unit leaves for Afghanistan
    05/18/2006

    Around a hundred members of the Czech counter-terrorist unit have left for Afghanistan, Chief-of-Staff Pavel Stefka told reporters on Thursday. The soldiers will join the rest of the unit who had arrived in the country in April to take part in the US-led operation Enduring Freedom. The contingent is similar to one sent to Afghanistan two years ago; it had 120 members and was under United States command. Currently there are another two Czech contingents serving in Afghanistan, but they operate under NATO command.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Poll: 50 percent of Czechs want to forbid smoking in pubs
    05/18/2006

    According to a poll carried out by the SC&C agency, around fifty percent of Czechs would support a total ban on smoking in public areas, including restaurants, while 41 percent are against it. The poll suggests that supporters of the ban prevail among women, senior citizens and followers of the Christian Democrat Party, whose deputy Josef Janecek has repeatedly failed to push through the ban in the lower house of the Czech parliament.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Number of asylum seekers reaches record low in April
    05/18/2006

    A report by the Interior Ministry says that last month the lowest number of people applied for asylum in the Czech Republic since 1999. Asylum applications were filed by 218 foreigners in April, most of them from Ukraine and Kazakhstan, followed by Belarus, Turkey and Russia. Since 1990, more than 82,000 foreigners have applied for asylum in the Czech Republic. Asylum was granted to almost 3,000.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Late political prisoner to be fully rehabilitated after 50 years
    05/18/2006

    The Supreme Court has taken the final step to fully rehabilitate late political prisoner Viktorin Heller as it annulled the last verdict imposed on him by the Communist judiciary in the 1950s, the Supreme Court informed on its website. The Supreme Court dealt with Mr Heller's case upon the proposal by the Justice Ministry. In 1955, Mr Heller was sentenced to 10 years in prison for high treason and theft of state property. As a high-ranking member of the Czechoslovak Sokol (Falcon) sport community, he was charged with subverting the communist regime and theft of state property. After the collapse of communism in 1989, the courts partially rehabilitated Mr Heller, but they did not annul the sentence for alleged property crime completely.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Poll: Culture Minister Jandak remains most popular politician
    05/18/2006

    Another poll by the STEM agency suggests that Culture Minister Vitezslav Jandak remains the most popular politician in the Czech Republic, with 70 percent of public support. He is followed by three Social Democrat politicians - Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, Education Minister Petra Buzkova and PM and party chairman Jiri Paroubek. Prague Mayor and opposition Civic Democrat deputy chairman Pavel Bem came fifth in the poll. President Vaclav Klaus was not included in the poll.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Czech ice-hockey team beats Russia in dramatic quarter-final
    05/18/2006

    The Czech ice hockey team beat Russia 4:3 in Thursday's dramatic quarter-final match at the World Championship in Riga, Latvia. In Saturday's semi-finals the Czechs will meet the winner of the quarter-final between Finland and Belarus to be played later on Thursday.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Galasek joins Nuremburg after leaving Ajax on free transfer
    05/18/2006

    The Czech international footballer Tomas Galasek has signed a new two-year contract with Germany's Nuremburg, after leaving Ajax Amsterdam on a free transfer. Galasek, who is 33, has been playing in the Dutch league since 1996. He was appointed Czech national captain after Pavel Nedved quit, though it is not clear whether he or Nedved will captain the Czech Republic at the World Cup in Germany, after the Juventus midfielder made a return to international football.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Government delegation leaves for Seoul
    05/17/2006

    A Czech government delegation has left for South Korea to sign a contract with Hyundai on the construction of the company's new car plant in Nosovice, Moravia in the eastern part of the Czech Republic. The signing ceremony is expected to go ahead despite reports that Hyundai may have to put off the start of construction work due to an investigation into corruption allegations against senior representatives of the company. But, Trade and Industry Minister Milan Urban, who heads the delegation, has said that Hyundai officials have assured him that construction work will start on schedule.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Cabinet approves subsidy for NATO mission in Iraq
    05/17/2006

    The cabinet has approved a 1.4 million crown (64,000 US dollars) subsidy for NATO's training mission in Iraq - the Czech Republic also provided a subsidy for the mission last year. At its summit in Istanbul two years ago NATO chose to establish a military training academy near Baghdad: Germany, the Netherlands and the US are the main contributors. Five Czech military instructors are part of that mission, while the largest part of the Czech contingent operates on the British base Shaiba in northern Iraq. About 100 Czech military policemen train local officers there.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Czech Deputy PM welcomes decision on EU 2007-13 budget
    05/17/2006

    The Czech Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy, Jiri Havel, has welcomed the European Parliament's passing the EU budget for 2007 - 2013 on Wednesday, allowing new EU member states, including the Czech Republic, to draw more money from the EU coffers. He said it was a "significant impulse" for the Czech economy. Most Czech Euro MPs supported the budget in the vote, which passed with overall support of 440 to 190, with 14 abstaining. The seven-year budget amounts to 864.3 billion euros, plus an additional 2 billion euros, 1.05 percent of the union's GDP.
    Author: Jan Velinger

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