News | All stories

Skoda's new car the Roomster has gone on sale in the Czech Republic. A spokesman for Skoda Auto said the company expected to sell 1,800 Roomsters in this country by the end of the year. The multi-purpose vehicle will be launched in neighbouring Germany and Austria next month.

The actor Boris Rosner has died at the age of 55. Rosner joined the National Theatre in 1987 and went on to win several prestigious theatre awards in a successful stage career. He also appeared in a number of films, did occasional work for Czech Radio and taught drama students at Prague's AMU faculty.

The Prime Minister has decided to file a lawsuit against Jan Kubice, the head of the police organised crime squad, saying he and his wife Zuzana Paroubkova are outraged at the allegations contained in Mr Kubice's secret report that Mr Paroubek sexually abused the teenage daughter of a family friend. Mr Paroubek and his wife said on Thursday they saw behind the report the effort of the right-of-centre Civic Democratic Party to influence the forthcoming general elections.

Eleven former Carrefour supermarkets in the Czech Republic have begun trading under the name of their new owners, Tesco. France's Carrefour decided to pull out of the Czech Republic and swapped its shops here and in Slovakia for a number of outlets in Taiwan.

President Vaclav Klaus has made a strong attack on Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek, accusing him of "one-man rule". Speaking in Wednesday's Mlada fronta Dnes the president said the extent of Mr Paroubek's power over both the government and his Social Democratic Party was unprecedented in the post-revolution era. For his part, Mr Paroubek said the president had broken his pledge to remain above party politics.

The right-wing Civic Democrats, founded by Mr Klaus, are narrowly in front of the Social Democrats in most polls ahead of general elections this weekend.

A convicted killer who escaped to France after breaking out of a Czech prison has been returned to the Czech Republic. Roman Cabrada was serving a 24-year sentence for the murder of a German mayor when he escaped from Bory prison in Pilsen last year.

The Czech Republic's football team beat Costa Rica 1:0 in a friendly in Jablonec on Tuesday evening. The only goal of the game was scored by Vratislav Lokvenc in the 82nd minute; Lokvenc had come on as a substitute for Jan Koller, who started his first international since returning from injury. The Czechs' final warm-up before the World Cup is against Trinidad and Tobago in Prague on Saturday; coach Karel Bruckner has promised to field his strongest team for that game.

Compensation for damages suffered during the Soviet-led invasion of 1968 has been paid out to a small minority of claimants, Mlada fronta Dnes reported. A new law last year earmarked over 10 million dollars to compensate those who lost a family member or suffered serious injury or rape during the occupation. However, of almost 400 claimants, just over 50 have been granted compensation by the Interior Ministry. Many of those turned down say it was because they had received a one-off payment in 1990.

The import of cheap eggs from Poland and Lithuania is having a disastrous impact on the egg business in the Czech Republic, the Czech poultry farmers union said on Wednesday. Egg production in this country fell by one fifth in 2005; industry figures say if the current situation continues one half of Czech producers could go out of business next year.

Miroslav Vana an MP for the ruling Social Democrats was assaulted by an unknown attacker outside his home in Pardubice on Monday night. Vana suffered a head injury and was bruised and shaken by the incident. He says he did not see the attacker, only heard footsteps behind him and felt a blow to the head before falling down unconscious. This is the second physical attack against an MP in recent weeks. The first was against communist party MP Jiri Dolejs who was beaten up by unknown attackers at the end of April. He sustained head and eye injuries and said he was convinced it was a politically motivated attack.