News

Two thirds of Czech schools inspected by fire officers had safety shortcomings, said a spokesperson for the fire officers' trade union. The most common problems were poor fire extinguishers, inadequate access to hydrants and impassable emergency exits.

An inebriated man died while being taken to a drunk tank by the police in Tabor, south Bohemia on Thursday night. Doctors reportedly told the police to take the 45-year-old man to the drunk tank by car, despite the fact that he had lost consciousness at one point.

The state-owned insurance company, the VZP - under forced administration - has begun sending medical facilities overdue payments worth 5.3 billion crowns, the equivalent of around 230 million US dollars. The troubled insurer had been paying doctors and facilities up to 50 days late for clients covered by VZP insurance. According to the Health Ministry, the situation should improve with payments reduced to 15 or 16 days. The move comes at a time Czech doctors have been planning protest strikes. On Thursday, the General Practitioners' Association's deputy head Jan Jelinek said that the association would now consider whether or not to end strike alert.

The head of the Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority, Jakub Sebesta, has revealed statistics showing that 18 different supermarket chains and other retailers in the Czech Republic received fines worth a total of 19 million crowns, or 800,000 US dollars in 2005. According to Mr Sebesta, the worst offender was the Ahold group, operating the Albert and Hypernova chains, fined a total of 7.6 million crowns. Ahold was followed by Julius Meinl, at 2 million, and Carrefour at 1.8 million crowns. The most common offences included improper packaging or marking of foodstuffs, as well as perishables being left on the shelf past the due date.