• Prime minister, four ministers should resign over motorway contract, says ODS
    04/07/2003

    Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla and four other ministers from his Social Democratic Party should resign over an affair involving a motorway in north Moravia, the opposition Civic Democrats said on Monday. Mr Spidla and the four ministers were in the previous cabinet, led by Milos Zeman, which approved the awarding of the contract to build the D 47 motorway to an Israeli company without a public tender. Last week the government decided to abrogate the contract and to have the motorway built by the state. The police are currently investigating the awarding of the contract.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • CEZ: tests on Temelin nuclear power station successfully completed
    04/07/2003

    Tests on the controversial Temelin nuclear power station have been successfully completed, the state power company CEZ said on Monday. The announcement sets the stage for final licensing by government regulators and means the south Bohemian plant could be in full operation within weeks. Meanwhile anti-nuclear activists in Austria say they will continue their fight against Temelin, which they say is unsafe.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Still no confirmed cases of SARS in Czech Republic
    04/07/2003

    Prague's Bulovka Hospital has discharged the last of 17 patients admitted on suspicion of having contracted Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. All 17 tests proved negative. The last to leave the hospital's infection unit on Monday was a six year old girl who fell ill after a holiday in Thailand. Although no case of the deadly form of pneumonia has been confirmed in the Czech Republic strict preventive measures remain in force at all of the country's airports and the Foreign Ministry has advised Czechs not to travel to Southeast Asia.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Iraq and European Union issues expected to dominate Klaus-Schroeder talks
    04/07/2003

    The situation in Iraq and European Union issues are expected to dominate talks on Thursday between Czech President Vaclav Klaus and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, a German government spokesman said on Monday. It will be Mr Klaus's first visit to neighbouring Germany since he was appointed president just over a month ago. He will also meet his German counterpart Johannes Rau during the one-day visit.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Spidla to seek UN opinion on deployment of field hospital
    04/06/2003

    Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla is planning to send a letter to the United Nations to seek it's opinion on the deployment of a Czech field hospital to Iraq. Speaking in a TV discussion programme, former Foreign Minister and UN General Assembly Chairman Jan Kavan said Mr Spidla intends to get a UN standpoint on the issue before it is discussed in parliament. He added that he had been assured the Czech Republic would try to find a way of sending the hospital to the Middle East solely as part of a humanitarian aid programme and not in the Iraqi Freedom operation. Although it is yet unclear when the future of the Czech field hospital will be discussed in parliament, Prime Minister Spidla said on Saturday, that he was certain most lower house deputies would vote in favour of its deployment.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Hundreds protest against war on Iraq at Prague's Palach Square
    04/06/2003

    Hundreds of anti-war activists gathered on Prague's Palach Square on Sunday to protest against the military campaign in Iraq. Organised by the International Peace Movement and the Initiative Against War organisation, the event resembled a happening rather than a demonstration. Despite the cold weather and occasional snow, participants created banners, ate, drank, and symbolically drowned a puppet representing Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda, who has been publicly supporting the war in Iraq, by letting it float on the Vltava river. Since December, some twenty demonstrations against the war in Iraq have been organised in towns and cities around the country.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Deputy mayor calls on citizens to boycott TV Nova
    04/06/2003

    The deputy mayor of the northern city of Usti nad Labem has called onto the citizens of his city, as well as the Bohemian towns of Lovosice, Decin, Teplice, and Most to boycott the Czech private TV station Nova. Tomas Jelinek holds TV Nova responsible for a verdict of the international arbitration court, which ruled the Czech Republic should pay 10.5 billion Czech crowns (some 350 million US dollars) to a foreign company, for failing to protect its investment in the television station. Mr Jelinek made the public call on his web pages and some 200 posters that have been distributed around the towns in question.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • January statistics suggest rise in Czech exports to EU
    04/06/2003

    Statistics suggest that Czech exports to the European Union, which make up seventy percent of the country's total, have increased significantly in the past few months. In January, a 4.5 % increase was recorded year on year to reach 145 billion Czech crowns, or some 5 billion US dollars. While exports have increased to Italy and Austria, they have decreased to Great Britain and the Netherlands. However, according to economist David Marek, there is not cause for optimism, as exports are expected to remain stagnant.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Police arrest Slovak national
    04/05/2003

    Police say they have arrested a Slovak national on Saturday morning who is believed to be a powerful boss of the Slovak underworld. After having served part of an eight and a half year prison sentence in Slovakia, Mikulas Cernak was released on probation in November. The 36-year old former owner of a private security agency was found guilty of having blackmailed and demanded "protection fees" from entrepreneurs in central Slovakia. Czech police say they have arrested Mr Cernak after finding evidence linking him to Russian-speaking organised crime groups in the Czech Republic. The arrest was confirmed by Slovak Interior Minister Vladimir Palko, who hopes to have Mr Cernak extradited back to Slovakia soon, to face legal proceedings.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Spidla and Gross to meet with Benesova to discuss police reorganisation
    04/05/2003

    Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla said on Saturday that he hoped to meet with Interior Minister Stanislav Gross and the head of the state prosecution service Marie Benesova within the next two weeks to discuss the re-organisation of part of the police force. Speaking on a Czech TV programme, Mr Spidla reacted to Mrs Benesova's recent criticism in the media of the current state of the Czech police. In mid-March, a new corruption and financial crime unit was created through the merging of two elite police units. However, the new office, which is to deal with serious cases of economic crime, corruption, money laundering and military offences, has suffered much criticism since its creation. According to Mrs Benesova, disorganisation and confusion has resulted in a significant number of experienced investigators leaving the Czech police.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

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