News

Three of the four suspects who are on trial for an arson attack against a Roma family that left a two-year-old fighting for her life face extraordinary sentences. In her closing speech the state attorney on the case on Tuesday proposed sentences of 15 to 25 years for what she said was clearly premeditated, racially-motivated attempted murder. The fourth member of the group –the only one who admitted to the crime in court and expressed regret over his actions – faces up to 15 years in prison. Verdicts in the case are expected within a fortnight.

The Molotov cocktail attack on the home of a Romany family in April of last year left three people badly injured, including a two-year old girl who suffered third-degree burns to 80% of her body. The attack met with widespread condemnation and received international media publicity as shocking evidence of the racial intolerance Roma face in the Czech Republic.

Some 200 students gathered on Prague’s Wenceslas Square on Tuesday to protest against the planned introduction of uniform school-leaving exams for secondary school students around the country as of this year. The Education Ministry says that a uniform exam will set a certain standard and improve the quality of education but many students fear that their schools may not have prepared them well enough for such a test. Up until now schools have been free to set their own curricula and school leaving exams.

Over a dozen suspicious-looking objects that caused a security scare in Prague on Monday have turned out to be harmless. The police was alerted to 16 small plastic devices that someone had attached to street lamps in Prague’s Lesser Town and explosives experts were called in to dismantle them. A police spokeswoman said on Tuesday that the devices had been attached to the street lamps by magnets and contained nothing potentially dangerous. Police are searching for the culprit. The Czech Republic has stepped up security in the wake of US warnings of a possible terrorist attack in Europe. Tightened security measures are in place at airports, railway stations and bus terminals as well as around foreign embassies and high-risk facilities.

The Czech economy should grow by 2 percent this year and by nearly 3 percent in 2011, according to estimates released by Ernst & Young on Tuesday. The forecast is significantly more optimistic than that of the Czech central bank which predicts a GDP growth of 1.6 percent this year and 1.8 percent next year. In its long-term outlook Ernst & Young also believes that the Czech economy will outperform that of the euro-zone with a predicted growth of 4 to 4.5 percent in 2012 and 2013.