Top Czech News - Prague Daily Monitor

The number of crimes in Prague dropped by 11.4% in the first seven months of the year compared with the same period last year.

Senate chairman Přemysl Sobotka condemned the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops on 21 August, 1968, as shameful at a commemorative meeting outside the Czech Radio building Saturday.

Doctors have registered as many as 118 new cases of HIV infection in the first seven months of 2010, more than in 2006 and almost as many as in 2007, and they say the situation may further worsen in the months to come.

Prime Minister Petr Nečas yesterday confirmed that the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association Head Ivan Hodač is one of the three most serious candidates for the post of the Czech state secretary for the EU.

Czechs consider drunk drivers and those driving under the influence of drugs the biggest risk to road traffic safety, while they do not mind the often criticised billboards along roads or cars in a poor condition, an Internet poll the SANEP agency conducted in July showed.

About 500 experts from 52 countries will attend the 15th International Bat Research Conference that starts in Prague today.

The planned visit by Bavarian PM Horst Seehofer to Prague would be pointless if it focused on the post-war Benes decrees only, it should accentuate the future, Prime Minister Petr Nečas told German reporters during his visit to Berlin Thursday, the dpa German new agency reported.

Four women from Moldova, who held a residence permit for managers in the Czech Republic, actually worked as chambermaids, cleaning ladies and waitresses in Prague centre, foreigner police spokeswoman Jana Dudová told CTK Thursday.

Roman Joch, a critic of democracy and advocate of far-right authoritarianism, would discredit the Czech right much more than its controversial economic policy if PM Petr Nečas really chose him as his human rights adviser, daily Právo writes Thursday.

A large flower carpet of Belgian begonias that will be seen at Old Town Square in the city centre in two weeks will point to the fact that Belgium presides over the European Union from July to December, Belgian Ambassador Renilde Loeckx said Thursday.

The exploration of the alleged grave of Germans murdered after WWII near Dobronín, South Moravia, was completed Thursday, and six bodily remains were exhumed, regional police spokeswoman said.

A total of 116 soldiers from the Warsaw Pact armies died in the then Czechoslovakia while and after invading the country in 1968, daily Hospodářské noviny writes today, citing historians.

A new picnic area opened in Prague yesterday behind the National Theatre's New Scene. The lawn carpet will stay in place until the middle of September.

Prague Thursday adopted new rules for placing public orders to exclude companies with bearer shares, and it is preparing a new code of conduct for municipal assemblymen within its anti-corruption strategy, deputy Prague Mayor Milan Richter said. Under the new rules, the City Hall section heads will be authorised to sign orders for up to CZK 6 million, while the City Council will decide on larger orders. So far the limit for section heads was CZK 20 million.

The European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) head Ivan Hodač will be Prime Minister Petr Nečas's secretary of state for the EU, respect.ihned server and Lidové noviny write Thursday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes the Czech cabinet's austerity measures and efforts aimed at budget consolidation, she said after meeting Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas in Berlin Thursday.

One of the suspected perpetrators of the late-May 1945 massacre of 15 German civilians near Dobronín where the victims' grave has been uncovered these days, is still alive, detective Michal Láska told Hospodářské noviny.

The cabinet Wednesday approved a draft amendment to the law on foreigners' stay that introduces residence permits with biometric data and employers' co-responsibility for foreign employees.

Social Democrat senator Vladimír Dryml wants to run for party chairman at the ČSSD election conference in March 2011 because he is dissatisfied with the situation in the party, he told ČTK Wednesday.

The portion of Czech employees on sick leave has been the lowest since the early 1960s in 2009, with only 4.2% of the employees paying sickness insurance being officially ill on average, according to the latest data from the Czech Institute of Health Information and Statistics (ÚZIS).