The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Czech" ...
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Hidden Wealth of Azerbaijan President
The President of oil-rich Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has been compared to a Mafia crime boss in US diplomatic cables, and man analysts refer to him as a dictator. OCCRP looked deeper than those labels and found that the Aliyev family has systematically grabbed shares of the most profitable businesses in the country. Investigative reports by OCCRP and Radio Free Europe have revealed and more importantly proven for the first time that the ruling family has secret ownership stakes through offshore companies in the country’s largest businesses, including banks, construction companies, gold mines and phone companies. The government Aliyev runs gave these shares. The family also has secretly amassed high-end property in places like the Czech Republic. The Azeri government responded to the revelations first with silence and now claims that OCCRP is an agent of the rival Armenian government. Aliyev’s administration also failed to investigate the harassment and blackmail of OCCRP and RFE journalist Khadija Ismayilova earlier this year. While Azerbaijan has worked at improving its image worldwide, OCCRP’s reporting makes clear that a petty dictatorship remains in control.
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Fields of Terror-The New Slave Trade in the Heart of Europe
People from poor countries are becoming modern day slaves as they are lured in on false pretenses and then being held captive. They were promised “good salaries, accommodations, and food”, but instead were beaten and threatened if they asked for these items. These people were becoming slaves and provided many local restaurants with fresh foods from the surrounding fields. Even though this was all happening, many people were continuing to get away with having these modern day slaves and no one was stopping them.
Tags: Czech Republic; Eastern Europe; illegal immigrants; gangsters; criminals; labor; force; manual labor; work
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Gripen- The Secret Deals
SVT investigated the selling of the Swedish fighter plane, the Gripen to the Czech government. In result the news organization uncovered bribery of politicians, the Austrian Count Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, a former Canadian government minister and a Czech weapons dealer. This prompted further investigation into two other Gripen deals between Hungary and South Africa.
Tags: Gripen; fighter planes; weapons; air force; Czech; SAAB; BAE; undercover reporting; hidden camera; Hungary; South Africa; arms dealer; weapons dealer
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Of Human Bondage
NBC News Dateline investigates a "startling and disturbing new criminal trend: the buying and selling of women for sexual slavery in developed countries like the United States." The story "follows the trail of women from rural Ukraine to the Czech Republic and finally to brothels in the United States," and identifies "entire communities and villages where brothels were stocked with enslaved girls as young as 14 years old." The story "profiles a handful of the estimated 2 million women who are illegally trafficked out of their home countries ..." "The report visits bogus employment offices and documents exactly how recruiters entice young, educated women with false promises of lucrative jobs abroad."
Tags: TAPE; NO TRANSCRIPT; California Public Records Act; prostitution; women; slavery rings; Eastern Europe: Ukraine; Czech Republic; Poland; Bulgaria; Bosnia; INS; FBI; INTERPOL
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Mustard Gas Mystery
Sirens on the chemical detection units began a chorus of mournful wails "whoop-whoop-whoop." With clumsy measured strides inside rubber protective suits, three Czechoslovak chemical warfare experts approached a dark stain in the sand of the Saudi desert. The Czechs called the substance Yperite, commonly known as mustard gas, which causes blindness, skin blisters, inflammation of the nose and throat and eventually a painful choking death. Is the United States responsible for the spill?
Tags: Chemical weapons; Iraq; mustard gas
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Broken Promises
KARE-TV profiles Czech nationals lured to America by unscrupulous companies with the false promise of high-paying jobs. They pay a job broker who dispatch them to K-Mart stores. They are paid half of what they've been promised -- a check that amounts to half the minimum wage.
Tags: TAPE; Immigrants; Exploitation
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Jet-fighter sales to Eastern Europe
The Post-Dispatch breaks international news with exclusive documents obtained by sources in the American defense establishment and foreign governments. The documents showed that U.S. military officials were violating longstanding policy of neutrality in commerical transactions by trying to influence the multibillion Czech decision on which planes to buy, seeking in various ways to tip the balance toward one of the U.S. competitors.
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No title (id: 13228)
Discover examines the collaborative work of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Czech Republic in assesing pollution problems in Ostrava, the industrial center of former Czechoslovakia. The study identified pollutants and their hazards. It also determined risks of exposure and probability of causing disease. This report also outlines the process of turning coal into coke, a key ingredient in making iron.
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No title (id: 10956)
Bloomberg started a worldwide investigation of bogus bank securities after discovering that a Czech bank sold $1.2 millions face value of securities, called prime bank guarantees. Those sales resulted in the bank's collapse and caused the largest U.S. ecumenical group, the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S., to lose about $8 million.