• Kokoshka painting sold at record starting price
    02/03/2008

    “London, Chelsea Reach”, a 1957 painting by Austrian artist Oskar Kokoshka, was sold for 19.5 million crowns (one million US dollars) on Sunday. It was the highest starting price ever set on the Czech auction market. However, the painting has not beaten the record held by František Kupka’s Élévation IV, which was sold off for 22.1 million crowns last October.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Czech police identifies alleged pimps from CNN report
    02/03/2008

    The police in Teplice, North Bohemia, know the identity of the men who appeared in a recent report by CNN on Czech prostitutes being hired to work in British brothels, TV Nova reported. A CNN reporter posing as a British brothel owner interested in hiring prostitutes for work in Britain contacted the management of several Czech brothels in and around Teplice. They offered the undercover reporter two girls for several thousand pounds and a percentage of their earnings in Britain. One of the Czech brothel owners indicated that he had previously supplied a girl to work in a brothel in Manchester. The men who appeared in the video will now be questioned by the police.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Czechs consider organised crime biggest threat
    02/03/2008

    Czechs consider international organised crime the largest security risk for their country and they are also afraid of terrorists, according to a survey conducted by the CVVM agency in December. It indicated that 62 percent of respondents were afraid of international organised crime and 53 were afraid of terrorists. Nearly 20 percent of respondents considered refugees from other countries as a threat to the country and 10 percent said ethnic minorities living in the Czech Republic presented the largest security risk.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Czech Miss 2008 appointed on Saturday
    02/03/2008

    An 18-year old student from the town of Strážnice in Moravia has won the title of Czech Miss 2008. Eliška Bučková has won a one million crown contract, a one-year lease to an apartment in Prague and car on Saturday. She has also been voted Miss Internet. The new Czech Miss was crowned by French actor Alain Delon, who also presided over the jury.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Sáblíková takes gold in 3, 000 metres
    02/03/2008

    Czech speed skater Martina Sáblíková came first in the 3, 000 metres at a world cup event in Italy’s Baselga di Pine on Sunday, securing her lead in the overall World Cup standings in long-track. She currently has an advantage of 180 points over her nearest rival, Claudia Pechstein of Germany. On Saturday, Sáblíková also took her first medal in the 15,000 metres, when she came second in the race.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Sudova comes fourth in moguls
    02/03/2008

    Czech aerial skier Nikola Sudova came fourth in women’s moguls on Sunday in Deer Valley, USA and is currently third in the overall World Cup standings.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Švejnar’s father signed collaboration with Czechoslovak secret police
    02/02/2008

    Presidential candidate Jan Švejnar announced on Friday that his father has dealt with Czechoslovak secret police in the past. He allegedly signed a pledge in 1961 to cooperate with the Ministry of Interior while he was employed at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and he was to attend a U.N. scientific conference abroad. The envisaged cooperation was terminated a year later. Jan Švejnar has decided to publish his father’s file on his website in order to prevent someone from using the documents to discredit him.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Czech opposition threatens to reject church property restitutions
    02/02/2008

    The Social Democratic Party has threatened to reject the law on property settlements between the state and the church if the government coalition didn’t discuss the bill with them and didn’t agree on a compromise solution. Under the deal, a third of church property confiscated by the communist regime will be returned to its original owners and compensation will be paid for the rest. The compensation was set at some 83 billion Czech crowns (approximately 4.7 billion US dollars). It is to be paid out over the next 60 years at a rate of interest set a 4.8 percent, with the overall figure expected to reach some 270 billion crowns.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Former president Havel expected to leave hospital soon
    02/02/2008

    Former Czech president Václav Havel’s state of health has much improved and he is expected to be out of hospital in the days to come. The head of Prague’s Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine made the announcement on Friday evening. Mr Havel was originally supposed to be released on Saturday. Václav Havel, who is 71, was hospitalized on January 19 with chronic bronchitis and a heart problem. Due to his hospitalization, he missed the premiere of Citizen Havel - a documentary film made in his honour.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

  • Police officer who killed US man in Prague not taken in custody
    02/02/2008

    A Prague police officer charged with the stabbing to death of an American man in the city on Tuesday night was not taken into custody. A Prague court has rejected the proposal made by the state attorney’s office. The 27-year-old officer, who was drunk and off-duty when the incident happened, reportedly attacked the 44-year-old American after a fight broke out over they way the victim had parked his car. The incident took place near the Sazka Arena in Prague 9.
    Author: Ruth Fraňková

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