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03/27/2008
Social Democrat leader Jiří Paroubek, who is on a visit to Russia has claimed that an agreement between the US and Russia concerning a missile defense system to be placed in Poland and the Czech Republic is close to being finalized. In an apparent dig at Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, he also stated that Poland had played a far more meaningful role in the negotiations than did the Czech Republic. The purported deal would allow the Russian authorities to inspect the US military sites, ensure that Russian airspace is not monitored by the radar, and also to not install rockets in Poland until a perceivable threat is discerned. Despite this apparent agreement, Russia continues to point out that it is opposed in principle to the Bush administration project.
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03/27/2008
The Czech Anti-Monopoly Commission has approved the sale of the Czech food company Hamé to the Icelandic Nordic Food Partners group. Hamé is one of the largest food companies in the country, specialising in products such as ketchup, and bottled and canned foods and has an annual turnover of more than two billion crowns. Nordic Partners has also seen approval for a request to purchase another Czech food company, Otomac, which specialises in meat products.
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03/27/2008
Czech President Václav Klaus has said that he will be staying away from the Beijing Olympics. In remarks published on his personal website on Wednesday, Mr Klaus said he would not attend the opening ceremony nor any of the August 8 – 24 games. Mr Klaus stressed that his actions should not be seen as a reaction to China’s crackdown in Tibet. The Czech press reported on Thursday that he would be undergoing a hip operation at the time. Mr Klaus had been invited to attend the games by the Czech Olympic Committee, which said that it fully respected the president’s decision.
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03/27/2008
Jan Koller scored to salvage a 1-1 draw for the Czech Republic against Denmark in an international friendly on Wednesday. Koller, the all-time leading Czech scorer, headed in the equalizer in the 42nd minute off a cross from Libor Sionko from the right. It was his 52nd goal in 86 games for his country. The Czechs were yet to win an international this year going into this match, and had lost to Poland 2-0 in a friendly last month. The Czechs will now play two more friendliest in Prague – against Lithuania and Scotland in May – before opening Euro 2008 on June 7 in Basel against Switzerland. They also face Turkey and Portugal in Group A of the tournament.
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03/26/2008
Czechs will not be issued with passports which bear their fingerprints until April 2009. The government originally wanted to issue passports containing such biometric data as early as May of this year, but due to a hold-up at the European Union end, this date has now been put back. According to Interior Minister, Ivan Langer, the adjournment was not caused by the Czech Republic’s lack of preparation, but by a discussion within the European Union about what exact biometric data the passports should contain. On Wednesday, the Czech Senate approved a bill which delays the issue of such passports for another year.
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03/26/2008
The use of cage beds in health and social care facilities should be defined by law, the government voted on Wednesday. The absence of legally defined conditions surrounding the use of cage beds in the Czech Republic has come under fire from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture. There are calls from within the government to regulate the use of cage beds - alongside other means of restriction such as straightjackets - in the law on public health or the health services’ law. Cage beds were outlawed in Czech social care facilities in 2005, in the same year, the government brought out a series of recommendations to govern their use in the country’s psychiatric facilities. A recent BBC report which claimed that Czech children’s homes were still using cage beds illegally again brought the controversial topic into the public eye.
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03/26/2008
Czech soldiers on foreign missions are to be given an extra 900 USD a month on top of their basic pay. The defence minister Vlasta Parkanová made the announcement on Tuesday, adding that this was just a temporary measure until a new rewards system was put in place. The army had been pushing for soldiers on foreign missions to receive such an allowance for some time. Those behind the proposals argued that extra remuneration was needed due to the US dollar’s slump in value against the crown, and because Czech soldiers are finding themselves on increasingly dangerous foreign missions. The average monthly salary of a full-time Czech soldier is around 23,000 CZK (just over 1,400 USD).
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03/26/2008
Former president Václav Havel’s new play ‘Odcházení’ or ‘Leaving’ will be premiered on May 22 at Prague’s Divadlo Archa, it was announced on Tuesday. The play is Mr Havel’s first after a gap of nearly two decades. Several other Prague theatres had been named as possible locations for the play, but negotiations failed for various reasons. Talks with the National Theatre collapsed in part over Mr Havel’s insistence that his wife play the female lead. The play was also withdrawn from the capital’s Divadlo na Vinhradech, with technical difficulties being cited as the reason.
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03/26/2008
The opposition Social Democrats’ proposal to award pensioners each a one-off lump sum of 6,000 CZK (around 360 USD) was rejected by the Czech Lower House on Wednesday. The Social Democrats had argued that pensioners required such a financial boost to offset the impact of the government’s public finance reforms, which came into effect as of January this year. But Labour and Social Affairs Minister Petr Nečas responded that the opposition’s proposals were nothing but sheer populism. The government is considering raising pensions itself by 465 crowns (28 USD) a month from August onwards. This proposal will be discussed in Parliament on April 1.
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03/26/2008
The Czech police have arrested a man they say was an accomplice to František Procházka, who stands accused of stealing half a million crowns in cash, in what the Czech media has dubbed ‘the theft of the century’. The police have refused to disclose the suspect’s identity. The theft took place last December, when Mr Procházka, then a security guard, made away with half a million crowns that he was supposed to be delivering. Police are yet to locate Mr Procházka, and are hoping that the arrest of one of his accomplices may lead to his whereabouts.
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