• Czech expedition finishing works on Antarctic polar station
    12/27/2005

    A team of Czech experts have spent Christmas at a Czech-built polar station on James Ross Island between the Antarctic and the southernmost tip of South America. Building works on the site started a year ago and the station should be completely finished by April. It is expected to host climatologists, biologists and geologists who will study climate change and the origin of the so-called Antarctic "oases", areas where the glacier had receded and allowed some simple forms of life to inhabit the location.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Seventy "hardy-men" take part in 59th annual swim in Vltava River
    12/27/2005

    Some 70 "otuzilci" ("hardy fellows") braved the cold water of the Vltava River in the centre of Prague in a traditional St Stephen's Day swim on Monday. Among the participants were 13 women and also swimmers from Belgium, Germany and Slovakia. Also taking part were Stanislav Bartusek, who swam the English Channel this year in ten hours seven minutes and a veteran of the St. Stephen's Day swim, 92-year old Ladislav Nicek. This year has been Mr Nicek's 56th time in the 59-year old history of the swim.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Czechs send record number of mobile phone text messages on Christmas Eve
    12/27/2005

    People in the Czech Republic sent a record number of SMS text messages from their mobile phones on Christmas Eve. According to data supplied by mobile phone operators, Czechs sent 58.5 million SMS messages, which is a 15-percent increase compared to last year. Czechs also sent 250,000 MMS's which is twice as many as last Christmas Eve. Czechs also made some 37 million calls from their mobile phones, approximately the same as last year.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Czech BBC broadcasts final programme
    12/23/2005

    The Czech-language service of the BBC broadcast its final programme on Friday evening. After the BBC World Service announced it was axing it and several other language services, the Czech BBC failed in a bid to continue as part of BBC Worldwide with commercial backing.

    The station, which had a small but influential audience, will broadcast news bulletins until the end of January.

    Meanwhile the BBC World Service is hoping to win the agreement of the Czech Broadcasting Council to maintain its English broadcasting in the Czech Republic.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Birth rate up in first nine months of 2005
    12/23/2005

    The number of babies born in the Czech Republic in the first nine months of this year was around 4,000 higher than in the same period in 2004. Almost 80,000 babies were born, and though the number of deaths exceeded the number of births, the gap became smaller this year, the Czech Statistical Office said.

    Meanwhile, almost 30,000 more people immigrated to the Czech Republic than moved abroad. The number of marriages up to the end of September was slightly up at 41,000, while 24,000 couples got divorced, marginally less than last year.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Klaus accepts resignation of Jahn
    12/23/2005

    President Vaclav Klaus on Friday accepted the resignation of Martin Jahn as deputy prime minister for the economy. Mr Jahn is to be replaced by Jiri Havel, formerly the head of the National Property Fund.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Military exports up, Czech firms doing more business with EU states
    12/23/2005

    Exports of Czech arms and military equipment have increased, says a Foreign Ministry report quoted by Lidove Noviny. Since joining the European Union the Czech Republic has significantly increased arms exports to other EU states, which are regarded as more demanding markets. Its main customers are India, Slovakia and Poland, the paper says.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Carp prices down as more Czechs opt for non-traditional Christmas dinner
    12/23/2005

    Prices of the traditional Czech Christmas food carp have fallen, as the fish faces competition from other foods such as salmon and poultry. Carp prices are about 5 percent lower than last year, a spokesperson for the biggest Czech carp producer, Rybarstvi Trebon, told the AFP news agency.

    Many Czechs take live carp home and keep them in the bath, killing the fish themselves shortly before consumption on Christmas Eve.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Syndicate of journalists rings alarm bells
    12/22/2005

    The Czech Syndicate of journalists has issued a warning about efforts to curtail freedom of the press. In a statement published on Thursday, the syndicate said its concern stemmed from a recent amendment to the penal code which would make slander a criminal act and tighten the rules for the use of a hidden camera. Miroslav Jelinek, the syndicate chairman also said he was concerned about the government's efforts to interfere with or restrict the work of radio and TV journalists. He denied that the statement was made in connection with a recent government complaint about the content of the satirical TV show Bez Obalu. It has since been announced that the programme will be scrapped for financial reasons.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

  • Working group to evaluate situation in Kosovo
    12/22/2005

    The Czech government has set up a special working group to evaluate the situation in Kosovo and assess what kind of set-up would best ensure a peaceful coexistence of its diverse ethnic groups. The Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek and the Foreign Ministry now hold radically different views on the matter. The Foreign Ministry supports the view of the EU that no territorial changes or divisions of the province should be made. The Prime Minister recently told Parliament he thought it would be best to divide Kosovo along ethnic lines.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

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