News
Lower house to try and elect chairman again of Friday
The lower house of the Czech Parliament will make another attempt at electing its chairman of Friday. The two candidates for the post are Social Democrat MP Lubomir Zaoralek and Christian Democrat MP Jan Kasal who is running for the emerging centre-right coalition of the Civic Democrats, the Christian Democrats and the Green Party. However, neither candidate has sufficient support in the chamber after the June parliamentary election resulted in a perfect split between the leftist and the centre-right parties in the lower house.
State attorney's office seizes property of people charged with coruption in state bail-out agency case
The state attorney's office has started seizing the property of the people charged with corruption in the case of Czech Consolidation Agency. The agency's executive board member Radka Kafkova was arrested on Tuesday night after she made a money exchange, Czech Television reported on Wednesday. She has been charged with large-scale corruption, along with a former employee of the agency, Josef Tykva and businessman Pavel Hrach. Police have been investigating the case, which involves tens of millions of crowns, for three years. One of the Consolidation Agency's main tasks is to bail state-owned companies out of problematic loans.
Interior Minister confirms high-ranking police officer broke traffic law
Interior Minister Frantisek Bublan has confirmed that the head of the traffic police in the town of Frydek-Mistek, Michael Cas, had been drinking before he caused a traffic accident in Ostrava on Saturday night. Mr Cas who failed a breathalyser test after the accident, says another person was driving the car, though he refuses to say who. The incident happened only three weeks after new traffic regulations came into effect. Mr Cas had previously praised the positive reaction of Czech drivers to the new traffic law and also wrote a university dissertation on ethical driving.
Number of Czech citizens rises - due to immigration
The Czech Statistical Office has announced that the number of the Czech Republic's citizens has grown for the fourth year in a row, but mainly due to immigration. In a report released on Thursday, the office says that while last year saw the highest number of births, the figure still remains lower than the country's mortality. Statisticians have warned the ageing of the Czech population will continue, as the Czech Republic has one of the lowest fertility rates in Europe.
Young British chess player falls to her death in Czech Republic
A young British chess player taking part in a chess tournament in the Czech Republic has died after a fall from her hotel room, the event's organisers said on Thursday. Jessie Gilbert, 19, fell from the eighth floor of her hotel in the town of Pardubice on Wednesday. A police spokeswoman said most likely nobody else was involved in the fall, but police are waiting for the results of the autopsy. Some 4,000 players of all categories from 50 countries are taking part in the Pardubice event, the biggest in the world, according to its organisers.
Nedved to stay at Juventus despite relegation
The Czech footballer Pavel Nedved is staying at the Italian club Juventus, who were stripped of their last two Italian league titles and relegated to the second division after being caught match fixing. Several of the club's other stars have left, but Nedved's agent said on Wednesday that his client was not planning to join the exodus. The 33-year-old former Czech captain has not yet said whether he will continue to play for the national team.
Weather
The tropical weather is expected to last in the coming days with daytime highs of up to 37 degrees Celsius. Scattered thunderstorms have been forecast for later in the week.
