News | All stories

One fourth of Czechs, mainly women, say they have encountered sexual harassment at the work place. According to the results of a poll conducted by the Czech Academy of Sciences, thirteen percent said they had experienced it personally, fifteen percent said they had seen it going on or had heard colleagues complain about it. Although sexual harassment was qualified as a crime by an amendment to the labor code in 2004, few cases get to court. The poll indicates that the victims of harassment usually resolve the problem by seeking a job elsewhere.

Czech discus thrower Vera Cechlova-Pospisilova will have to wait until at least Thursday before going for gold at the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki. Cechlova-Pospisilova was leading the field on Tuesday evening when the event had to be abandoned due to heavy rains.

A man who drove through a red light and hit five people at a pedestrian crossing in the east Bohemian town of Pardubice on Tuesday was found to be driving without a license. He is being questioned by the police. The injuries inflicted were serious: an elderly woman died, while the other four pedestrians - including a three-year-old child - have been hospitalised. Minutes before the accident the man had been involved in a minor traffic collision - he was fleeing the scene when he broke the red light.

Czech customs officers say they have confiscated twenty tons of potentially cancer-causing nuts from Turkey. A test of random samples found that they far exceeded the set limits of potentially dangerous substances. The delivery was bound for European markets. In 2004 a load of over 120 tons of nuts from China and Iran was confiscated for the same reason. Experts say the high level of carcinogenic substances found in them is due to certain types of mould which are most likely caused by inadequate storage conditions.

An Interior Ministry inspection team has started interrogating the police officers who were recorded beating and kicking young people at the CzechTek music festival at the end of July. All four officers who are suspected of having broken regulations have been suspended, pending the outcome of the investigation which is expected to take several weeks. A parallel investigation is being conducted by the Ombudsman's Office. The government has been severely criticised for its handling of the open air techno party. Over a hundred people were injured on both sides after riot police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse a crowd of around 5,000 participants, on the grounds that they were trespassing on private property.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia have had the most stable high economic growth among all the countries in the OECD in recent years, according to a study on the organisation's website. The Czech economy is growing by more than four percent a year, while in Slovakia it is five percent.

The Petrin Observation Tower was the most visited sight in Prague last month, according to figures released by the Prague Information Service. Almost 50,000 climbed the city's "little Eiffel Tower" last month. The second most popular sight was the Old Town Hall, which was visited by 37,000 tourists.

The police in Croatia have called for Czech tourists in the country to be better informed about the dangers of holidaying by the Adriatic Sea; 14 Czechs have died in Croatia so far this summer, including a 16-year-old boy who was killed when his rubber boat was struck by lightning on Sunday. Croatia is the most popular foreign holiday destination for Czechs, with an estimated 800,000 due to visit the country this year.

Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek has held meetings with the two men in the running to replace the late Pavel Dostal as culture minister. Mr Paroubek said both actor Viteslav Jandak and Vladimir Darjanin, head of the Czech pavilion at Expo 2005, were qualified for the job in different ways. Mr Jandak's name emerged after many in the Czech arts world questioned the suitability of Mr Darjanin.

Ukraine has lifted visa regulations for Czech citizens. The move is unilateral and will enable Czechs to travel to Ukraine without a visa for a period of three months. The lifting of visa restrictions is permanent, following a temporary agreement which was due to expire on September 1st.