News

Some 25,000 children are set to go on summer camps organized by the Czech Scouts and Guides this summer, the group said on Friday. The number of their camps has grown to over 1,000, despite the economic crunch felt by many families. The camps last some 15 days on average, and cost between 800 and 1,000 crowns per child and week. Last year, around 170,000 children went to summer camps organized by schools and various groups.

Responding to developments in Egypt, the Czech Foreign Ministry has said it is closely monitoring the situation and is concerned by the deep polarization of the Egyptian society in the course of the transformation process. The ministry urges a speedy restoration of democratic processes in Egypt by free and fair elections. It strongly condemns all acts of violence, especially violence against women, and firmly hopes that the security forces will take effective measures to protect the population.

The Czech Pirate Party has asked the Czech Interior Ministry to offer political asylum to American whistleblower Edward Snowden who leaked details of the U.S. Prism mass surveillance programme to the press. The party sent the outgoing Interior Minister Jan Kubice an open letter asking the ministry to publicly condemn the U.S. surveillance practices and assure the public that the Czech intelligence services are not involved in similar surveillance programmes.

Snowden, a former CIA contractor, confessed that he had revealed details of the top-secret Prism programme of the US government, including the monitoring of Internet and phone communication, to the media. The U.S. State Department has accused him of espionage and theft of official documents. Snowden is presently in a transit area of the Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow and has applied for political asylum in over 20 countries.

Many ministers of the outgoing centre-right government have refused an invitation from President Miloš Zeman for dinner at Prague Castle on Monday, in what is perceived as an obvious snub to the head of state in the wake of recent developments. No ministers from the TOP 09 party will be present, according to the CTK news agency, and Karolina Peake the head of LIDEM, the smallest party in government has also refused the invitation. It is not clear how many Civic Democrat ministers may show up. The centre-right coalition has criticized the head of state for ignoring the fact that the centre right parties collected 101 signatures -a majority in the lower house – in support of their nominee for prime minister Miroslava Němcová. They accuse Mr. Zeman of forming his own “puppet” cabinet.