• More Roma leave for Great Britain
    07/29/2002

    After 30 members of the Czech Roma minority on their way to Great Britain were turned back by German officials on Friday, another group has decided to try its luck. With the first group failing to have the necessary cash and insurance, some 20 Roma left the Moravian city of Ostrava on Monday, armed with money, return tickets and insurance. A large number of Roma in Ostrava have been leaving the Czech Republic, saying that they are being discriminated against, find it hard to get employed, and do not feel safe. Officials at the border areas have therefore been weary about Roma travellers, fearing that their main aim is to apply for asylum at the countries of destination. As far as those who have been turned back are concerned, social workers have expressed fear that many will have to borrow large amounts of money in order to make up for the lost travel expenses.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Poll: a third of Czechs happy with election results
    07/29/2002

    A third of Czechs are happy with the June general election results, according to a public poll conducted by the Centre for Public Opinion Research. Whilst most of the satisfied citizens were over the age of sixty years, most of the 25% who claimed to be dissatisfied were people with a high education and higher income.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Havel flies to Portugal to continue recuperation
    07/28/2002

    President Havel has flown to his summer house in Portugal, where he will continue to recuperate from a recent worsening of his chronic bronchitis. Breathing difficulties forced Mr Havel to cut short a visit to France, and he was released after a week in hospital on Tuesday. The 65-year-old president, who is a former chain smoker, has been hospitalised 16 times since taking office. Mr Havel's term as president ends next February.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Prague deputy mayor expects serious clashes during NATO summit
    07/28/2002

    The deputy mayor of Prague, Jiri Paroubek, has said that he expects serious disturbances on the streets of the capital during the NATO summit in November. Speaking on a Sunday television discussion programme, Mr Paroubek said he thought the clashes would be at least as serious as those which took place during the annual session of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in September 2000. The leaders of NATO's 19 member states are due to attend the Prague conference, at which the alliance is expected to welcome new members.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Germany turns back Romanies planning to apply for asylum in UK
    07/27/2002

    A group of around 30 Czech Romanies bound for Great Britain were refused permission to enter Germany on Friday evening and have returned home. The Romanies, from the Ostrava region of north Moravia, said they planned to apply for political asylum in Britain. They said they did not feel safe in the Czech Republic and were subject to constant discrimination. The British government is currently being taken to court on behalf of six Romanies who British officials refused to allow to fly to the UK from Prague airport. The airport controls have been carried out over the last year in an attempt to stop Czech Romanies from applying for asylum in Britain.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Ostrava Romanies planning to apply for asylum in Britain
    07/26/2002

    A group of around 30 Romanies from the north Moravian city of Ostrava have left the Czech Republic for Great Britain, where they intend to apply for political asylum. They say they do not feel safe and are subject to constant discrimination. The British government is currently being taken to court on behalf of a group of Romanies who British officials refused to allow to fly to the UK from Prague airport. The airport controls have been carried out over the last year in an attempt to stop Czech Romanies from applying for asylum in Britain.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Temelin second reactor will start this year, says Minister Rusnok
    07/26/2002

    The second reactor at the Temelin nuclear power station in south Bohemia will go into operation this year, the Trade and Industry Minister, Jiri Rusnok, said on Friday. Also on Friday, several Austrian anti-nuclear groups criticised statements made in a press interview by the Czech Environment Minister, Libor Ambrozek; Mr Ambrozek said Temelin was safe and should be put into operation. The plant has been forced to shut down several times since the launch of the first reactor began in October 2000. Critics say it is unsafe as it combines Soviet design and western technology.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Poultry meat imports from EU renewed as of August
    07/25/2002

    As of August, imports of poultry from the European Union to the Czech Republic will be renewed, but only under new veterinary rules. According to the spokesman of the State Veterinary Administration, Josef Duben, the veterinary authority in the country of origin will be obliged to provide information as to whether the exported meat was modified with beef proteins. Poultry imports were banned earlier this month after beef proteins had been found in meat coming from the Netherlands. Modification by beef proteins is not allowed in the Czech Republic.
    Author: Alena Škodová

  • Lower house elects new leadership
    07/18/2002

    Czech MPs have elected six deputy chairpersons of the lower house of parliament, completing the seven-member leadership of the chamber chaired by Social Democrat Lubomir Zaoralek who was elected last Thursday. The election-winning Social Democrats have another member in the leadership, deputy chairwoman Jitka Kupcova. Two of the deputy chairpersons of the lower house, Miroslava Nemcova and Ivan Langer, are members of the right-of-centre Civic Democrats, the second strongest party in this year’s elections. Christian Democrat Jan Kasal and Hana Marvanova of the Freedom Union represent the two-party bloc which has formed a coalition government with the Social Democrats. And for the first time since the fall of communism, the Communist Party has a representative in the lower house leadership, Vojtech Filip.
    Author: Vladimír Tax

  • Floods in southern Moravia
    07/17/2002

    The governor of south Moravia Stanislav Juranek has called a state of emergency in five villages where heavy floods killed two people and caused extensive property damage on Tuesday. A huge clean-up operation is underway in the region and volunteers are helping to pile up sandbags on river banks as protection against further flooding. Meteorologists have forecast more torrential rain over the next 24 hours. Tuesday's floods took the region by surprise and rivers rose by two meters in places. The Interior Minister Stanislav Gross, who visited the region on Tuesday, said the state would provide humanitarian aid. The damage has been estimated at over 30 million Czech crowns.
    Author: Daniela Lazarová

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