• Cihak gets suspended sentence for financial machinations
    03/17/2006

    Vaclav Cihak, the former head of the finances department at the Czech embassy in Albania has received a three year suspended sentence for financial machinations with the embassy's funds. Cihak pleaded not-guilty but admitted to having moral responsibility for the loss of 1.8 million crowns from the embassy's funds in 2002. He said he had not used the money for his own private purposes and was merely guilty of mismanaging funds. He claims to have no idea where the money went.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Poll shows Green Party gaining ground
    03/17/2006

    A new poll released by the STEM polling agency has suggested the Green Party - not in Parliament - has continued to gain ground ahead of general elections this year. The survey suggests that if elections were held tomorrow the Greens would get 9.4 percent of the vote - a marked jump from earlier polls which showed the party at around 5 or 6 percent. The right-of-centre Civic Democrats continue to top the poll at 26.7, followed by the left-of-centre Social Democrats at 21.8, and the Communists at 12.4.

    According to the STEM poll the last party to cross Parliament's 5 percent threshold would be the Christian Democrats at 6.1 percent.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Acclaimed Japanese author chosen for prestigious Franz Kafka Award
    03/17/2006

    Acclaimed Japanese writer Haruki Murakami - the author of such novels as "Kafka on the Shore", "Norwegian Wood", "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World", has been named as the winner of this year's Franz Kafka Prize, awarded by Prague's Franz Kafka Society. An international panel chose the author as the winner this week. Mr Murakami becomes the sixth author in all to receive the prize (worth 10,000 US dollars) following British playwright Harold Pinter last year. Mr Murakami will reportedly travel to Prague in October when the prize will officially be awarded.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Czech snowboarder clinches historic World Cup win
    03/17/2006

    Czech snowboarder Michal Novotny has become the first Czech to win on the World Cup snowboardcross circuit. The 24-year-old racer triumphed in the final in Japan's Furano on Friday, edging past Swiss competitor Marco Huser and Canadian snowboarder Jasey Jay Anderson.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Tottenham to sign Pehkhart
    03/17/2006

    Tottenham have won a three-way race to sign highly-rated Czech teenager Tomas Pekhart from Slavia Prague. The 16-year-old striker will move to London in July after signing a three-year contract with a further option of two years. Spurs sporting director Damien Comolli told the club's website that two other Premiership clubs had been interested in signing the player.
    Author: Jan Velinger

  • Train drivers go on token half hour strike
    03/16/2006

    Train drivers went on a half hour token strike on Thursday in protest of proposed changes in the labour code. The association's chairman Petr Cechak said 90 percent of train drivers on duty at midday had joined the strike, but Czech Railways said there had been almost no disruption of rail transport as a result. Only five percent of the days train connections were allegedly affected by the strike, with a maximum 15 minute delay.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Senate approves permanent residence bill for foreigners
    03/16/2006

    The Senate has approved a bill under which foreigners could be granted permanent residence in the Czech Republic after only five years, as opposed to the present ten. The bill concerns some 38,000 foreigners living in the Czech Republic and is seen as a fundamental breakthrough. It is yet to be signed by President Vaclav Klaus.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Conflict of interest bill passed by the Senate
    03/16/2006

    Senators have also approved a tougher conflict of interest bill which would tighten control over property belonging to politicians and other officials in the public sector such as the police force and the judiciary. Any income or gifts over the sum of 4,000 US dollars would have to be declared. Any violation of the law could result in a fine of up to 20,000 US dollars. The bill must be signed into law by the president.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Protest outside Cuban embassy
    03/16/2006

    Around 50 people demonstrated outside the Cuban embassy in Prague on Thursday demanding the release of political prisoners on the island. The protest was held on the third anniversary of the 2003 brutal crack down on Cuban dissidents when 75 members of the opposition were thrown into jail. The protesters in Prague read an open letter asking the Cuban regime to release its political prisoners many of whom are in seriously bad health. The Cuban embassy's doors remained closed.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Record number of newly recorded HIV cases last year
    03/16/2006

    There were 90 newly recorded cases of HIV infection in the Czech Republic in 2005, a new record. The total number who were HIV positive at the end of last year was 827, 650 men and 177 women. The head of a centre for victims of the disease, Miroslav Hlavaty, said on Thursday that figures for the first two months of this year indicate a further increase is possible in 2006. Almost 200 people in the Czech Republic have contracted AIDS, of whom 118 have died.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

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