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Who killed Czech Clyde? Bonnie or did he shoot himself? Plzeň - The runaway prisoner that the police intercepted on Wednesday night was not killed by the police. Police spokesperson Martina Lídlová has confirmed the information. "The autopsy showed that it was a different gun that killed Tauchen. The Czech police don't use such a kind of gun," said the spokeswoman. There are two possible versions at the moment: either Pavel Tauchen shot himself in the head shortly before the police opened fire at him and his wife. The other option is that Dagmar Tauchenová shot her 42-year old husband...

The president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, has signed the EU's Lisbon Treaty, the final step in the charter's ratification.

Revelling in the fuss he was causing, Vaclav Klaus, the president of the Czech Republic, calmly tucked into a plate of steamed shellfish on the terrace of the elegant Adriatic hotel in the Albanian seaside resort of Durres last week. In faraway Brussels furious diplomats were calling for his impeachment and even his country’s expulsion from the European Union because of his obstinate refusal to sign the Lisbon treaty. Klaus, now the only European leader holding out against ratifying the document, made it clear he did not give a damn. European leaders were told he was not available to take...

“If the president is obstructing the democratic process and opposing the decision of parliament as well as the will of the people, he is moving beyond the law and will need to face the consequences,” a German diplomat told The Sunday Times. Jiri Oberfalzer, a member of the Czech senate and Klaus’s closest ally, said Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, had already threatened the Czechs with expulsion from the EU. “Ideas of changing the constitution just to get rid of the president only shows how weak our young democracy is,” said Oberfalzer, a Eurosceptic. The political hot potato now lands...

The Irish Yes to the Lisbon Treaty has been greeted with whoops of joy by the European establishment from Cork to Cracow. But the long battle over Lisbon is not over. The spotlight now falls on the Czech Republic and its President, Vaclav Klaus. EU elites may have successfully defeated democracy for the fifth time – they overrode the Danish No to Maastricht in 1992, the Irish No to Nice in 2001, and the Dutch and French Nos to the European Constitution (the forerunner of Lisbon) in 2005. But the Lisbon Treaty still remains unratified in two Central European states...

Thousands of believers flocked to the Czech Republic's second largest city Brno in south Moravia on Sunday to greet Pope Benedict XVI and attend a mass he celebrated out in the open. A region with the highest concentration of believers in the largely secular Czech Republic, Brno was a key stage on the pope's visit and pilgrims came from near and far to get a glimpse of him – some arriving well before daybreak to get a good vantage point. Jan Richter attended the mass in Brno and reported on the atmosphere there in the course of the morning. Pope...

Pope Benedict XVI sought to reach out to the heavily secular people of the Czech Republic on Saturday, decrying the "wounds" left by atheistic communism and urging them to rediscover their Christian roots. ...Benedict said Christianity has an "irreplaceable role" to play in their lives. The Czech Republic is one of the most secular countries in Europe, with nearly half the country professing to be non-believers.... Vatican organizers are hoping for a crowd of up to 200,000 people for the pope's Sunday Mass in Brno, in the Catholic heartland of the Czech Republic.... The [papal vespers] service was held in...

Bipartisan and Allied outrage! Poles, Czechs: US missile defense shift a betrayal By Vanessa Gera Associated PressSep 18,2009 WARSAW, Poland – Poles and Czechs voiced deep concern Friday at President Barack Obama's decision to scrap a Bush-era missile defense shield planned for their countries. "Betrayal! The U.S. sold us to Russia and stabbed us in the back," the Polish tabloid Fakt declared on its front page. Polish President Lech Kaczynski said he was concerned that Obama's new strategy leaves Poland in a dangerous "gray zone" between Western Europe and the old Soviet sphere. ~~~ The Bush administration's plan would have...

CBO compares the potential cost and performance of MDA’s proposed European system with the cost and performance of three other options for deploying missile defenses in Europe... * Defense of Europe. All of the alternatives CBO considered would provide defense of most of Europe roughly equivalent to the defense provided by MDA’s proposal against most types of ballistic missiles that Iran is thought to have developed or could develop in the future... * Extended Defense of the United States. MDA’s proposed system would complement the coverage already available from U.S.-based interceptors by providing redundant defense from a third interceptor site...

Despite the outcry that President Obama has sold out the Europeans and caved to the Russians by cancelling missile defenses in Europe, it was the right thing to do. Those defenses were not going to work (or work well enough or soon enough to matter in any major crisis with Iran), and the diplomatic price we were paying for them was far out of proportion to any small gains we might have made by annoying the Russians or reassuring the Czechs and the Poles. (The stated reason for the cancellation — that we’re more worried about medium-range missile threats —...

News comes on the 70th Anniversary of Soviet Invasion of Poland in WWII!Remember all Obama's talk during last year's presidential campaign about improving our relations with other nations? Well, today, President Obama gave a huge slap in the face to Poland and the Czech Republic, two allies who went out on a limb to support U.S. plans for a missile defense shield needed ever more so in an era when Iran and North Korea are threatening the world with these dangerous weapons.The move is a transparent bid to appease Russia, which continues to refuse every plea that it help us...

PRAGUE – Czechs and Poles expressed rancor and relief Thursday that President Barack Obama had scrapped plans for a U.S. missile defense shield on their territories, reflecting deep divisions over a proposal that had also enraged Russia.

Czechs praise Kaczynski’s apology for 1938 annexation 03.09.2009 09:43 Jan Sechter, the Czech Ambassador in Warsaw, has praised remarks by President Kaczynski, describing Poland’s part in the annexing of Sudetenland just before WW II as “a sin”. “Poland’s participation in the annexation of Czechoslovakia in 1938 was not only an error, but above all a sin,” Kaczynski told an audience of world leaders, including Prime Minister Putin and Chacellor Merkel on September 1. “This was and shall forever remain a wrong,” he added. President Kaczynski’s remarks were made in speeches commemorating the 70th anniversary of the start of WW II...

RUMOR MILL (as of yet unconfirmed since the report has not been made public yet): Per Investor's Business Daily Friday, there's a report going around that the O'admin has decided to renege on building a missile defense system in Europe to protect Poland and the Czech Republic. If it's true, Obama has... once more... indicated to our allies that Obama's "remade America" is there not to protect them, but to betray them. The U.S. has abandoned plans to install a missile defense system in Europe, according to a report. If true, this is a major strategic error that will have...

Czech archaeologists have uncovered a unique 1000-year-old mark engraved into an oak tree the remains of which were found near Celakovice in Prague, which is probably the oldest preserved sign of this kind in the world. According to a report from the Czech News Agency, the real meaning of the 10-cm star-shaped mark on the oak trunk is not certain. Experts say it may have marked the territory or serve some iconic purposes. This find is rare as so old engraved signs were not previously mapped and they are not systematically searched for either, archaeologist Jana Marikova of the Academy...

"Many Eastern Europeans today still feel enormous gratitude to U.S. efforts to oppose their oppressive communist-era regimes, with a particular affection for Ronald Reagan and other Republican leaders. Polish analyst Olaf Osica, with the Natolin European Center think tank in Warsaw, said the region tends to view Democratic administrations with more skepticism, fearful they will favor a "realistic" approach to Russia over the "idealism" of opposing Moscow's strength" "Had a 'realist' view prevailed in the early 1990s, we would not be in NATO today and the idea of a Europe whole, free, and at peace would be a distant dream,"...

The Czech social democrat party is discussing the possibility of suspending president Vaclav Klaus' powers if he does not sign the EU's Lisbon treaty. The temporary suspension would require a simple majority of 41 votes in the country's 81-seat senate and would allow caretaker prime minister Jan Fischer to sign the document instead. Social democrat senator Alena Gajduskova is leading an "intensive debate" on the subject in her party, the secretary of the senate's constitutional commission, Jan Kysela, told EUobserver. Ms Gajduskova's campaign is also linked to president Klaus' refusal to sign off on the Rome Statute of the International...

If Plastic Surgery Won’t Convince You, What Will? By DAN BILEFSKY PRAGUE — When Petra Kalivodova, a 31-year-old nurse, was considering whether to renew her contract at a private health clinic here, special perks helped clinch the deal: free German lessons, five weeks of vacation, and a range of plastic-surgery options, including complimentary silicone-enhanced breasts. “I would rather have plastic surgery than a free car,” said Ms. Kalivodova, who opted for cosmetic breast surgery that would normally cost €2,600, or about $3,500, as well as liposuction on her thighs and stomach. These were physical enhancements, she said, that she could...

Czech PM does not regret ‘road to hell’ row By Tony Barber in Prague Published: May 7 2009 08:55 | Last updated: May 7 2009 08:55 Mirek Topolanek, the outgoing Czech prime minister, says he has no regrets about condemning US economic policies as a potential “road to hell” in spite of the deep embarrassment his remarks caused the European Union. In an interview with the Financial Times, he also said that, if he could have done one thing differently during the four months he steered the EU’s affairs, it would have been to rein in the free-ranging Middle East...

Topolanek: Pyongyang's nuclear programme 'extremely dangerous' Posted : Sun, 03 May 2009 19:41:49 GMT Author : DPA Category : Europe (World) News Alerts by Email ( click here ) Europe World News | Home Prague - Outgoing Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country presides over the European Union until June 30, on Sunday called North Korea's nuclear programme "extremely dangerous."Topolanek spoke to reporters after bilateral talks with his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso, who arrived in Prague for an EU summit on Monday to be chaired by Czech President Vaclav Klaus. On Wednesday, North Korea threatened to test a nuclear...

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek met with President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem on Friday, and reiterated his country's commitment to strengthen ties between Israel and the European Union.

Israel has finally opened up its collective eyes and once again elected leaders who are willing to assert that Israel is indeed a sovereign nation and will act like one. The last Israeli leadership virtually relinquished Israel's sovereignty to the wishes of an American State Department which fought against Israel's rebirth in the first place and has been mostly hostile ever since. The first duty of any sovereign nation--whether an America which stretches 3,000 miles from coast to coast, Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany, China, or a miniscule Israel--must be the safety of its people. The security and survival of...

PRAGUE (AFP) – The Czech Republic's prime minister hopes to persuade US President Barack Obama not to abandon a controversial missile shield project in Eastern Europe when he visits Prague this weekend. "I will tell him that we, unlike him, are complying with the ratification" of diplomatic and military contracts on the missile shield signed in 2008, outgoing Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said recently on the Czech Radio. Washington's new policy of dialogue with Moscow has increased anxiety among Prague and Warsaw leaders who support a radar base on Czech soil and anti-missile interceptors in Poland despite loud protests from...

Here is a video report on the remarks of Czech Prime Minister Topolanek in which he said President Barack Obama's economic policies are a "road to hell." Topolanek far more fiscally conservative and was a strong ally of former President George W. Bush. He made the comments before the European Union Parliament. . . . . . (Watch Video)

The Czech Republic's centre-right minority government has lost a vote of confidence in parliament midway through the country's six-month EU presidency. The result came after a group of four rebel MPs voted with the opposition Social Democrats and Communists against Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek. Together they garnered 101 votes in the 200-seat chamber, the minimum required. Mr Topolanek said he would step down, but correspondents say it is unclear how long he will remain in the post. Social Democrat leader Jiri Paroubek said ahead of the vote that the government could "complete the Czech EU presidency or its substantial part"....

PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek's minority center-right government lost a vote of confidence on Tuesday, forcing it out of office and undermining policy-making during the global economic downturn.

KRAKOW, Poland, Feb. 19, 2009 – A NATO ballistic missile defense system wouldn’t be needed if Iran didn’t pose a threat, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here today. “We continue to be very concerned about the Iranian missile threat, particularly as they continue to work on what we believe are weapons of mass destruction,” Gates told reporters following the beginning of the NATO defense ministers meeting here. NATO has agreed to a ballistic missile defense that would protect against a launch from Iran. The Czech Republic will host a radar for the system, with the missiles based in Poland....

Czech president compares EU to Soviet Union BRUSSELS – The European Union has turned into an undemocratic and elitist project comparable to the Communist dictatorships of eastern Europe that forbade alternative thinking, Czech President Vaclav Klaus told the European Parliament on Thursday. Klaus, whose country now holds the rotating EU presidency, set out a scathing attack on the EU project and its institutions, provoking boos from many lawmakers, some of whom walked out, but applause from nationalists and other anti-EU legislators. Klaus is known for deep skepticism of the EU and has refused to fly the EU flag over his...

Czechs criticised over castration The Czech Republic has been strongly criticised by Europe's leading human rights body for continuing to surgically castrate male sex offenders. The Council of Europe said castrations had sometimes been performed without warnings of side effects and on men not capable of making an informed decision. Those requesting castration feared life in jail if they did not do so, it said. The Czech government says 94 procedures have been performed in the past 10 years, all in accordance with its laws. A further 300 Czech men have undergone chemical castration - involving the injection of drugs...

A new art installation going on display at the European Council building in Brussels has angered EU members with its lampoons of national stereotypes. Entropa portrays Bulgaria as a toilet, Romania as a Dracula theme-park and France as a country on strike. The Czech Republic, which holds the EU presidency, thought it had commissioned work from 27 European artists. But it turned out to have been entirely completed by Czech artist David Cerny and two associates.

Cheney stressed the US support for the Gaza operation, saying the rocket fire on Israel must stop.

Nicolas Sarkozy has sparked a diplomatic row by attacking the 'wounding and outrageous' refusal of the Czech president to fly a European Union flag from Prague Castle. The French president sided with federalist Euro-MPs who are engaged in a bitter feud with Vaclav Klaus, the Czech president and a Eurosceptic. Senior MEPs, including the president of the European Parliament, Hans Gert Poettering, caused a diplomatic incident ten days ago after demanding that Mr Klaus hoist the European flag over his residence during bad tempered talks in Prague. "It was a wound, it was an outrage to see that flags had...

TAJI — The Czech contingent, Senior Iraqi and Coalition partners gathered at the Iraqi Army Armor School here Dec. 4 to mark the Czech Republic end-of-mission and to recognize the Czechs for their work training and advising the Iraqi Army. Czech Republic Army Maj. Frantisek Grmela commanded 14 Soldiers who served as trainers and advisors to the IraqiArmy Armor School at Taji for the past six months. Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq TAJI — The Czech contingent, Senior Iraqi and Coalition partners gathered at the Iraqi Army Armor School here Dec. 4 to mark the Czech Republic end-of-mission and...

PRAGUE (AFP) – Central Europe's top power producer, Czech-based CEZ, is pinning hopes on the financial crisis to thwart the approval of the EU's green package, saying it would hit hard at the region's coal-dependent industry. The EU's climate-energy package seeks to raise the share of renewable sources in power production by 2020, boost energy savings and tighten the rules for trading in CO2 emission permits in a bid to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Martin Roman, CEZ chairman and chief executive, said in an interview with AFP that a "yes" vote on the package from EU members in the region...

via translation - ALERT - Pakistan: the Czech ambassador was killed PRAGUE - The Czech Republic's ambassador to Pakistan, which had called for help from the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad shortly after the attack Saturday, died Sunday announced in Prague public television CT 24.

LONDON, Sept. 19, 2008 – The United States and the Czech Republic signed agreements today that will allow the United States to build a limited ballistic missile defense system to protect Europe from missiles fired from Iran or other rogue nations. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Czech Defense Minister Vlasta Parkanova signed the status of forces agreement that will allow basing of U.S. forces in the Czech Republic and a declaration on strategic defense cooperation between the two nations. Gates is here for a NATO defense ministers meeting. The Czech Republic will host a U.S.-built radar that will protect...

Czech Muslims complaining about Islamophobia Prague Daily Monitor, Czech Republic - 9 hours ago ... Sept 8 (CTK) - Muslims living in the Czech Republic complain about a "steep increase in islamophobia, anti-Arabism and anti-Muslim moods" in the Czech ...

PRAGUE (AFP) - An express train crashed into a collapsed road bridge in the Czech Republic on Friday killing at least six people and injuring 31, rescue services said. The train was travelling at about 140 kilometers (85 miles) an hour when it hit debris and derailed near Studenka in the northwest of the country, said a Czech railways spokesman. The locomotive and six passenger carriages came off the tracks and were left a mass of twisted metal. There were about 400 people on the train at the time, including a large group heading for a music festival in the...

Last week the Archive of the Czech Security Forces posted data on the internet compiled by former Czechoslovakia’s military counter-intelligence. The data lists some 140,000 names of people who were either monitored by the military counter-intelligence or were agents, and it hasn’t taken long for the files to stir controversy. Czech TV reported that five of the country’s MPs, including Social Democrat and former Olympic ski jumper Pavel Ploc, were among those listed. He and the other deputies reacted quickly, denying cooperation of any kind with the Communist intelligence service, saying they were now considering legal action in response. The...

FOB SHANK, Afghanistan (July 10, 2008) — Czech soldiers mentored and trained Logar Police Academy cadets at an Afghan national police compound, here, recently. The Czech soldiers have an ongoing mission of training 36 cadets, who will become Afghan national police officers upon graduation from the academy, July 17. Coalition soldiers actively support the Afghan national security forces by training the ANP. The police academy, led by a U.S. Police Mentoring Training team, cooperates daily with Czech Provincial Reconstruction Team Logar soldiers at FOB Shank, Logar province. These efforts focus on training the Afghanistan national auxiliary police to become members...

Compare that relatively small $2.7 million in federal aid to the $310 million originally set aside for a U.S. radar base project in the Czech Republic. It’s totally unjustified to fund unproven missile technologies and radar bases in foreign countries while U.S. roads, bridges, dams, levees and tunnels are in dire need of repair. As Czechs and Americans see U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Czech officials sign off on a document signaling the acceptance of the Czech government to the installation of a radar tracking system on Czech soil, there are more than a few ironies worth noting.

National Security: Russia's threat to target Prague in response to our missile defense deal with the Czech Republic shows why such a security system is needed and why Barack Obama should not be president.Russia on Tuesday reacted to the signing of a formal agreement to locate U.S. missile defense radars in the Czech Republic with bluster reminiscent of the Cold War. "We will be forced to react not with diplomatic, but with military-technical methods," its Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The radars are designed to work with missile interceptors to be stationed in Poland to intercept nuclear-tipped missiles launched...

PRAGUE (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg signed a bilateral missile defence agreement in Prague on Tuesday allowing a US tracking radar on Czech soil. Washington wants the radar, twinned with interceptor missiles in neighbouring Poland, to counter the threat of an attack from "rogue" states such as Iran.

A MOTHER is accused of partially skinning her caged son and feeding it to relatives. Kalra Mauerova, 31, of Brno in the Czech Republic, wept in court as she admitted torturing her son Ondrej, and his ten-year-old brother, Jakub, The Sun reported. Ms Mauerova, a member of the Grail Movement cult, caged Ondrej for months while relatives, also members of the cult, ate his raw flesh, a judge heard yesterday. The court in Brno heard the family sexually abused the boys and made them cut themselves with knives.....

"Stolen Kosovo" Documentary Censored in Czech Republic: Suffering of Kosovo Serbs Cannot be Shown on National TV That there can be no freedom of expression under the dictatorial regimes was confirmed yet again by the state-owned Czech TV, supposedly a "public service" which took part in the financing of the Vaclav Dvorak's documentary "Stolen Kosovo" prior to Czech Government's recognition of the mafia state on Serbian territory, but now, after their FM announced recognition of the fake state, refused to air it. According to the Czech daily Aktualne, the representatives of the state television justify their refusal to show the...

24 May 2008 | 22:42 | FOCUS News Agency Prague. President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus is ‘ashamed’ of the decision of the right-centrist government to acknowledge the independence of Kosovo, AFP reports. The government of PM Mirek Topolanek officially recognized Kosovo on Wednesday, three months after the state declared its independence. As a result, Serbia recalled its ambassador to Prague. ‘It is not a secret and I could not accept the recognition of Ksovo’, Kaus said before the media.

WASHINGTON, May 19, 2008 – The NATO International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan has made significant progress in the country despite the command being “under-resourced,” the alliance’s top officer in the country said today. In a conference call with defense experts from his headquarters in the Afghan capital of Kabul, U.S. Army Gen. Dan K. McNeill also said opium poppy cultivation continues to be a major threat to Afghanistan. “In some portions of the country right now, mostly in the south, the cultivation of poppy is a far greater threat to the Afghan government -- to the security and stability...

01.04.2008] - Talking Point - Dominik Jůn The Czech Republic and Tibet Several weeks ago, the Czech Republic raised eyebrows by celebrating the International Day for Tibet with particular enthusiasm. Politicians hung the Tibetan flag from government offices, and ministers showed open support for the plight of the Tibetan people. The event is usually regarded as little more than an act of symbolism. But this year, following the subsequent unrest in Tibet, this region, for sixty years part of China, has again come under the spotlight. Ondřej Liška For China, which is hosting the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer, these events...

China cancels official Czech visit in Tibet flag row AFP[Saturday, April 05, 2008 10:53] PRAGUE - China cancelled a visit by Czech education officials because Prague's government ministry raised a Tibetan flag in one of its windows, Chinese authorities said in a statement released here. "The displaying of the so-called Tibetan flag signifies direct support for the independence of Tibet," said the statement from the Chinese education ministry, released by China's embassy in Prague on Friday. "We cannot accept it and that is why we have cancelled this visit." The delegation to Beijing was to have been led by a...

Prague - For years, Poland was the European Union's prickliest post-communist nation. Now that role seems to be shifting to the Czech Republic, its smaller neighbour. With strong support for missile defences in Eastern Europe and a unilateral deal for Czechs to travel visa-free to the United States, the Prague government is on track to overtake Poland as the region's top US friend. "Most people expected that the Czech Republic will progress towards Europe and Poland against it," said Piotr Kaczynski, an analyst at the Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies. "Now it is the other way around." By securing...