2013-09-30T09:29:47+02:00 Radio Prague http://radio.cz/en/news urn:uuid:18854061-ae4c-588d-a36f-87463aa644af 2013-09-30T09:29:47+02:00

Monday is the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Munich Agreement allowing the Nazis to annex Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland, border areas chiefly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The deal was agreed on September 29 1938 but actually signed in the early hours of September 30 by the leaders of the UK, France, Germany and Italy. Czechoslovakia was not represented at the talks and considered the deal a betrayal on the part of its nominal allies the UK and France. Six months later the Nazis took over the whole of Bohemia and Moravia.

urn:uuid:c62048b9-5ba6-50c5-b988-fb9647fc3e9f 2013-09-30T09:29:47+02:00

The Czech Republic’s biggest health insurer VZP plans to seek a loan of CZK 2.5 billion from the Ministry of Health, the former’s director Zdeněk Kabátek said on a Czech Television debate show on Sunday. Mr. Kabátek said that the minister of health, Martin Holcát, had already expressed support for such a loan, which would fill a gap in VZP’s budget for this year. The insurer’s director also said that it planned to buy the controversial website IZIP, via which it communicates with its clients, for CZK 59 million. At present VZP spends CZK 72 million every year on the site’s services.

urn:uuid:fdb8deff-c1a7-57c4-bb31-9dac3f10d41c 2013-09-30T09:29:47+02:00

A flood protection system at Prague Zoo should be extended within the next three years, the city’s first deputy mayor Jiří Vávra said at an event marking the 82nd anniversary of the institution’s opening. According to an analysis that Mr. Vávra presented, it is possible to erect barriers around the zoo without causing greater flood damage to other spots in the Czech capital. The report was commissioned after flooding in June that badly affected lower parts of the zoo, which had been devastated during severe floods in 2002. This year’s damages are expected to exceed CZK 100 million.

urn:uuid:4605fecd-f04c-589d-8d66-d2e0b93b22b2 2013-09-29T21:30:10+02:00

VZP plans to seek a loan of CZK 2.5 billion from the Ministry of Health to fill a gap in its budget, the health insurer’s director said on Sunday. | A flood protection system at Prague Zoo should be extended within the next three years, according to a city official. | Tomáš Berdych has been beaten in the final of tennis’s Thailand Open in Bangkok.

urn:uuid:c9c65e92-4a61-53d6-b850-89f5c44e8d61 2013-09-28T21:30:09+02:00

People in the Czech Republic have marked the day of St. Wenceslas, the country’s patron saint. | A group of ultra nationalists demonstrated in Prague on Saturday against the “decay” of the Czech Republic. | The Czech women’s tennis number one, Petra Kvitová, has won her second title of the year in Tokyo.

urn:uuid:d94c22ab-e081-5634-a418-c8ed5a1cdf7f 2013-09-27T19:41:07+02:00

One of the key defendants in David Rath’s corruption case, Kateřina Pancová, has been released from police custody. | Prague mayor Tomáš Hudeček has said that the city’s transportation company may face a financial collapse within six months. | Amnesty International study : more than a third of Czech arms exports are sold to undemocratic countries.

urn:uuid:2028b914-61ec-5a42-a666-3d92fb6a8f9b 2013-09-26T19:52:32+02:00

The EU’s Court of Justice has rejected a lawsuit against the Czech Republic and other countries over their VAT rules for travel agents. | The Czech central bank has kept its key interest rate at a record low of 0.05 percent. | The CEO of Prague’s transit authority has stepped down over disagreements with the firms’ board of supervisors.

urn:uuid:3d7c4a64-2ae7-55cb-aeb9-407552be62e9 2013-09-25T21:30:10+02:00

The interim government has approved its state budget proposal for 2014. | Czech President Miloš Zeman will not take part in the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York. | Legendary footballer Josef “Pepi” Bican has been named to the Czech Football Hall of Fame.

urn:uuid:307b459d-8201-54e0-9e20-b41ef1577532 2013-09-24T21:30:09+02:00

President Miloš Zeman has urged the OKD mining company to keep the unprofitable Paskov mine in operation until 2016. | The Czech Republic has started operating an emergency help line for missing children. | Chechen national Ali Acajev will not be extradited to Russia where he is wanted on suspicion of contract murder.

urn:uuid:4aafc4ff-eb84-572b-9e7d-b8fe2db2a007 2013-09-23T19:21:28+02:00

Most Czechs believe the introduction of direct presidential election was a good move, a poll has found | Every third Czech doctor suffers from burnout syndrome, according to a new study. | The French company Areva has filed a lawsuit against its exclusion from the Temelín nuclear tender.

urn:uuid:7675c03e-9beb-5bdc-a2e9-61d8e2c93432 2013-09-22T21:30:08+02:00

CEO of mining company OKD has confirmed on Czech Television that his firm will not keep the Paskov mine open with its own finances beyond 2014. | Some 65 percent of Czechs want new political parties to enter the lower house after the elections, new poll shows. | Chairman of the ANO party, Andrej Babiš, has said on TV Prima that he will remain the head of the agricultural giant Agrofert.

urn:uuid:39436e9f-9811-530d-a113-a5701d6398db 2013-09-21T22:16:11+02:00

A former TOP 09 MP has put forward a proposal for a constitutional amendment limiting the powers of the president. | The extradition of American Kevin Dahlgren, suspected of murdering four people in Brno, has been suspended for another month. | Former Prime Minister Petr Nečas has married his former chief-of-staff Jana Nagyová, who caused the fall of his government.

urn:uuid:17925c74-82ce-53b2-8b3d-abebc18a5201 2013-09-20T19:40:44+02:00

The caretaker government has said it will not increase the 112-billion crown deficit for next year’s budget. | STEM Poll: More than half of Czechs believe that Miloš Zeman is a better president than his processor. | The Prague City Hall has approved an amendment cutting the number of gambling facilities in the city by half.

urn:uuid:981a8452-ab50-5a68-8da7-c6f3a887c86a 2013-09-19T21:30:11+02:00

EC President Jose Barroso has promised to exert greater effort on behalf of the EC in getting Canada to lift its visa requirement for Czech nationals. | The head of the Energy Regulatory Office and nine other people have been charged with fraud. | The Czech Republic has placed 52nd on the Economic Freedom of the World Index published by the Canadian institute Fraser.

urn:uuid:c6c900c1-aa18-5e48-bdb6-b1d129a713ca 2013-09-18T19:34:38+02:00

The Czech government has refused aid to the mining firm NWR which plans to cut 3,000 jobs at its north Moravian plant. | The Czech finance minister has proposed a state budget for 2014 witih the deficit of 112 billion crowns. | The EU’s new tobacco rules could put hundreds of Czech jobs at risk, President Zeman said in Brussels.

urn:uuid:9be0f374-2909-5d9f-a85a-09331959b99d 2013-09-17T21:30:09+02:00

CEZ is to cut electricity prices by 15 percent from the start of next year. | Thousands of miners held a demonstration in Ostrava on Tuesday against planned salary cuts and layoffs. | Viktoria Plzeň are preparing to host Manchester City in their opening Champions League group game on Tuesday night.

urn:uuid:503d4179-b23e-596a-9124-de9102d752ff 2013-09-16T21:30:09+02:00

Adressing the Forum 2000 conference, Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, stressed the need to strive for a better world in the 21st century. | A Christian sect in Bavaria that is suspected of child abuse is believed to have smuggled a group of children to the Czech Republic to hide them from the police. | A third of Czech hospitals are having serious financial problems, according to a crisis committee of hospital managers.

urn:uuid:244ab706-920a-5751-a9e8-8e65540e49e3 2013-09-15T21:30:08+02:00

Former Czech president Václav Klaus has told Czech Radio he is not intending to run for a seat in the European Parliament. | Doctors will be required to screen patients they suspect of alcoholism, according to novinky.cz | An explosion from a possible gas leak destroyed part of a residential building in Havířov in the early hours of Sunday.

urn:uuid:ebdc6467-459a-5fb7-be91-88878af44840 2013-09-14T21:30:08+02:00

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama arrived in Prague on Saturday ahead of this year’s Forum 2000 conference. | Radioactive material has been removed from a plant slated for demolition in Lovosice. | The men’s tennis team has reached the final of the Davis Cup.

urn:uuid:9ec335d7-7ce9-51eb-9b05-63001ebbe722 2013-09-13T21:30:10+02:00

The Czech Republic’s state debt has reached 1.6 trillion, approximately 160,000 crowns per capita. | The controversial political “lobbyist” Miroslav Šlouf, who was to head the Zemanites’ Prague ballot in October’s general elections, has been rejected by fellow party members. | Tennis player Radek Štepánek has given the Czech Republic a 1-0 lead against Argentina in the semi-final of the Davis Cup.