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Two times ice hockey world champion Eduard Novák has died at the age of 63. Novák won his first world championship in 1976 and was a member of the winning Czechoslovak team again a year later. In the domestic league he was five times a winner of the championship with Kladno and scored 306 goals in 16 seasons at the top level. He afterwards became a trainer at Kladno and with other clubs. In April of this year Novák was made a member of the Czech ice hockey hall of fame.

The Vítkov arson trial came to an end on Wednesday with the conviction of all four defendants, who received extra-ordinary sentences. The Regional Court of Ostrava on Wednesday morning sent three of the culprits to 22 years in prison for racially motivated attempted murder. The remaining perpetrator received 20 years because he did not assist in planning the attack. The four neo-Nazis were found guilty of throwing Molotov cocktails into a house they knew was inhabited by a Romany family on April 19, 2009, likely to mark the anniversary of the birth of Adolf Hitler. Of the nine people in the house, three were injured in the attack, including a two-year-old child, Natálka, who suffered burns to 80% of her body. The girl’s mother was present at the sentencing and said she had not expected such high punishments, and was glad the case was over. The perpetrators must also pay more than 17 million crowns in compensation for damages, 9.5 million of which will go to the injured child. Lawyers for each of the defendants said they would appeal.

The government on Wednesday also approved the issuing of state bonds in the amount of 148.2 billion crowns for most of last year’s state budget deficit. The Ministry of Finance hopes that the proposal is passed in its first reading in Parliament. The bonds cover the remainder of the amount approved by Parliament earlier this year, with 37.7 billion in bonds already having been approved. The state’s economic result in 2009 ended with a deficit of 192.4 billion crowns, while the original budget anticipated a deficit of 38.1 billion.

President Václav Klaus and former prime minister Mirek Topolánek have exchanged harsh criticism of one another for the growing association of lobbying and politics in the course of their careers. According to the president, the main factor behind the failure of the Civic Democratic Party (which Mr Klaus originally founded) in local elections was the “unfortunate” chairmanship of Mr Topolánek and the emergence of a lobbying structure within the party. Mr Topolánek replied that he was “disgusted” by the remarks, and said that if there was anyone in the Czech Republic who symbolised the merging of business and politics it was Mr Klaus, who he said has surrounded himself with a circle of businessmen since the times of “wild privatisation”. He added that he was not to blame for the party’s election result, as he was neither its chairman nor its candidate.