• Law barring heavy vehicles from motorways on Friday evenings comes into effect
    07/14/2007

    Filling stations and car parks near Czech motorways were jammed with parked trucks on Friday evening, as a new law came into effect barring vehicles weighing 7.5 tonnes or more from motorways between 5 and 9pm on Fridays in July and August. However, the hauliers' group Cesmad Bohemia complained there were far too few parking spaces for heavy lorries; some drivers had to either park in inappropriate spots or continue driving and face possible fines, a Cesmad representative told TV Nova.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Wooden Orthodox church to pay tribute to Romanians who died for Czechoslovakia
    07/14/2007

    A wooden Orthodox church is to be built in the north Bohemian town of Most as a memorial to the 40,000 Romanian soldiers who died during the liberation of Czechoslovakia during World War II. The announcement was made in Prague by the metropolitan of the Orthodox church in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and the head of the Romanian Orthodox church. The church, dedicated to St Valentine, should open its doors for the first time in 2009.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Communist bill protecting Czech language likely to get nowhere
    07/14/2007

    Three Communist Party deputies have prepared a bill aimed at protecting the Czech language. The lower house has refused to discuss similar bills in the past on the grounds that legislation defining Czech as the state's official language and a "cultural heritage" was unnecessary. Communist MP Ivana Leva, a former teacher of Czech, conceded that this latest attempt was also unlikely to get anywhere.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Vltava in Prague far cleaner, says Town Hall
    07/14/2007

    The section of the Vltava River running through the Czech capital is far cleaner than it used to be, the Prague Town Hall said. Evidence of improvement in the water quality is the return of eels and other fish. Prague councillor Petr Stepanek said the variety of fish in the Vltava was really high considering that the city has a million inhabitants.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czechs drawing 1:1 with Spain after first day of Fed Cup tie
    07/14/2007

    The Czech Republic's women's tennis team is drawing Spain with 1:1 after the first day of a Fed Cup tie between the two countries in Spain. Iveta Benesova was beaten in the opening rubber, but Lucie Safarova won her singles match to draw the two sides level in a best-of-five play-off for a place in the Fed Cup's elite World Group. The Czech women's number one Nicole Vaidisova was forced to pull out due to illness.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Smidova cuts Olympic qualification close after poor finish in Portugal
    07/14/2007

    The Czech Republic's only ever winner of an Olympic medal in sailing now has only one chance to reach the 2008 games in Beijing. Lenka Smidova and her partner Veronika Fenclova finished a poor 36th in a regatta in Portugal which could have guaranteed them qualification. That means the pair, who began sailing together this year, must do well at next year's World Championships in Melbourne in order to take one of five remaining Olympic berths.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Czech prison castrations concern Council of Europe
    07/13/2007

    The anti-torture committee of the Council of Europe expressed concern over the use of chemical and surgical castrations in the Czech Republic for sex offenders convicted of murder. Following several visits to Czech prisons and psychiatric facilities earlier this year, members of the committee questioned the concept of free and informed consent to castration when prisoners are given a choice between castration and confinement in a psychiatric hospital. Czech authorities claim these procedures are carried out in accordance with the law, but more detailed legislation on the matter is expected to come into focus later this year.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • Czech Republic sues EU over fine for extensive food supplies
    07/13/2007

    The Czech Republic is filing a lawsuit against the European Union over a fine of CZK 350,000,000 (just over USD 17,000,000). The EU penalized the Czech Republic for having too large supplies of some foodstuffs before joining the Union in 2004. The European Commission holds that some of the new member countries, for speculative reasons, accumulated great supplies of food under lower customs duty than was valid within the European Union at the time. In the Czech Republic, this refers to excessive reserves of tangerines, pineapples, tinned mushrooms, rice and chicken.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • Czech economy grew 6.2 percent in Q1 2007
    07/13/2007

    The growth of the Czech economy reached 6.2 percent in the first quarter of 2007, according to a European Commission forecast. This differs slightly from an estimate by the Czech Statistics Office, which puts growth at 6.1 percent in the same period. This growth rate places the Czech Republic eighth of all 25 member states. The list is topped by Latvia and Estonia with 11.2 and 9.8 percent of growth respectively.
    Author: Jan Richter

  • Poland to establish air force training base using Czech aircraft
    07/13/2007

    Poland seeks to establish an air force training base in cooperation with the Czech Republic in Deblin, some 90 km south-east of Warsaw. The intention was debated in Warsaw by Czech and Polish defence ministry officials. The Polish defence ministry is now considering that the Czech L-159 aircraft would be used for the training, but it remains to be seen whether Poland will buy the planes or if they will be vested by the Czech side. Other Central European countries expressed interest in the project as well.
    Author: Jan Richter

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