Prague Monitor

Politics | ČTK

Experts say ČSSD conference laid out same old

Social Democrats' election targets put forward at their conference on Saturday have brought no surprises, analysts told ČTK. Expert Vladimíra Dvořáková said the outcome of the conference was interesting from a marketing point of view and highlighted that the Social Democrats often used the word "change". "We want change in the leadership of the nation!" Paroubek said. He criticised the previous government and warned of the return to power of Topolánek's ODS and TOP 09.

National | ČTK

Students protest university system reform

About 70 students marched through Prague center on Friday in protest of a planned reform of the university system that they say would instill a market approach to education.

National | ČTK

Interior Minister accused of interfering with criminal case

Czech Interior Minister Martin Pecina intervened in the criminal case of a senior police officer, Former Interior Minister and ODS Chairman Ivan Langer told television station Prima yesterday.

National | ČTK

Same-sex couples push for child adoption

The civic group of gays and lesbians STUD Brno yesterday sent the Human Rights Minister Michael Kocáb a petition called "Good of children in all families" demanding that homosexuals in registered partnerships be allowed to adopt children.

National | ČTK

Communist Youth Association resumes activities

The Communist Youth Association, dissolved in 2006 by the Interior Ministry but approved again by the Prague City Court this January, held its reconstituting congress on Saturday.

National | AFP

Cambodian king visits ČR

Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni began on Sunday a week-long private visit to the Czech Republic where the monarch lived for 13 years in his youth.

National | aktuálně.cz

ČR to build new pipelines amid gas crisis fears

The Czech Republic is going to have another safety net against future gas cut-offs.

Prague | ČTK

Romanian pickpocket gang accused in Prague

Prague police have accused 14 members of an alleged Romanian pickpocket gang that mostly robbed elderly people outside post offices, causing a damage of CZK 0.5 million, Ivan Smékal of the Prague police headquarters told journalists Friday.

National | ČTK

British help at Czech military academy to continue till 2015

The Chamber of Deputies Friday approved the proposal that British experts should assist with training at the Czech Military Academy in Vyškov, south Moravia, until October 2015.

News | ČTK

Abducted Czech humanitarian worker in Haiti released

A Czech and a Belgian aid worker, employed by Doctors without Borders in the quake-hit Haiti, were abducted and held for almost a week before they were set free on Thursday, Czech Ambassador to Venezuela Stanislav Slavický confirmed Friday.

News | ČTK

Former MEP calls on EC, antitrust office to check environmental tender

Former Czech MEP Jana Hybášková (extra-parliamentary European Democratic Party) has called on the European Commission, the Czech antitrust office and the Supreme Audit Office to check the tender for the removal of environmental damage, she announced Friday.

National | ČTK

Plzeň introduces cards to facilitate doctor-patient communication

Plzeň is the first Czech city to introduce a system of language cards facilitating communication between doctors and foreign patients, Plzeň Deputy Mayor Marcela Krejsová said.