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08/23/2010
Data from the Czech Meteorological Institute and reported by the news site Altualne.cz shows that 18% of the Czech population, or roughly 2 million people, was effected by polluted air in 2009. The institute’s data shows increased levels of air containing hazardous dust particles compared with 2008, and expects the situation to be worse this year. The worst levels were recorded in the area of the eastern city of Ostrava.
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08/23/2010
The state prosecutor’s office for Prague 7 has filed a lawsuit against the president of the Supreme Audit Office, František Dohnal. The prosecutor accuses Mr Dohnal of improper management, saying he availed himself of upscale residences for state money. Mr Dohnal says that his living expenses were within those allotted by the office, and his attorney has said that the case is politically motivated. If found guilty he would be removed from his position, a penalty he could also receive from the president at the behest of the Parliament.
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08/23/2010
The Ministry of Transport says it is asking regional governments to cancel lesser used train connections in order to save on state subsidies. The suggestion follows from the policy of the previous transport minister, Gustav Slamečka, who noted that in a number of places the state would save money paying for taxis for passengers rather than trains. Regions pay roughly eight billion crowns a year to Czech Railways for the operation of local lines, three billion of which comes from the state. The ministry has given no indication of whether it may decrease that subsidy next year, though the Transport Minister Vít Bárta has said that Czech Railways too should expect cuts.
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08/23/2010
Physicist Jiří Niederle died on Sunday at the age of 71. The academy professor was well known internationally for his work in elementary particles, and played an important role in getting the Czech Republic involved in international science programmes, such as within NATO and UNESCO. As the government envoy to the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, it was also through Dr Niederle that many Czech scientists came to be involved with the LHC particle collider in Geneva.
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08/22/2010
The prime minister, Petr Nečas, says that government cost-cutting measures could cause growth in the Czech economy to slow by 0.6 or 0.7 percent next year. Speaking on a TV debate programme he said, however, that the cuts were necessary – otherwise debts would pull the country’s economy down in the medium term. Mr Nečas’s coalition government has pledged to balance the budget by 2016. To achieve this, it plans to reduce state sector salaries and expenditures by 10 percent, cut social welfare and limit support for building savings.
The Czech National Bank predicts GDP growth of 1.8 percent in 2011, while the Finance Ministry is more optimistic, foreseeing growth of 2.3 percent.
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08/22/2010
Prime Minister Nečas has raised doubts over the introduction of a solidarity fund to deal with the effects of flooding in the future. Following floods in north Bohemia two weeks ago, the minister of finance, Miroslav Kalousek, said all working Czechs would contribute to the fund in the form of a CZK 100-a-month cut in income tax breaks, a move some critics slammed as nothing less than a new tax. On Czech Television on Sunday the prime minister said he was now considering whether to go ahead with the plan, adding that the money to deal with flooding ought to be found from other sources.
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08/22/2010
Speaking on the same television show, Prime Minister Nečas confirmed that Ivan Hodač was a candidate for the newly created post of state secretary for European Union affairs. Mr Hodač has been the head of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association for nearly a decade. The prime minister said there were two other serious aspirants for the post, with the chosen candidate due to be announced in a few weeks’ time. The filling of the post, which would succeed the deputy PM for EU affairs of previous governments, has ruffled some feathers in the governing coalition. The foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, told the newspaper Lidové noviny that if Mr Nečas’s party the Civic Democrats wanted a car lobbyist, it was their issue.
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08/22/2010
A woman of 20 was found by a neighbour with a knife sticking out of her throat in a corridor of her apartment building in the Prague suburb of Stodůlky on Sunday afternoon. She is now in a serious condition in hospital, a police spokesperson said. There have been media reports that the woman’s boyfriend is a suspect in the attack.
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08/22/2010
A 34-year-old man was shot in the leg by an unknown assailant while floating on the River Vltava in Prague on Sunday. Police said the shooting occurred around noon in the suburb of Sedlec. The man and another foreigner were fishing from a rubber dinghy when shots rang out from the bank of the river. The victim has been taken to hospital and police are investigating the incident.
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08/22/2010
Around 500 bat experts from around the world are gathering in Prague for the 15th International Bat Research Conference, which gets underway in the Czech capital on Monday. The first such meeting was held in Prague in 1968, though it was marred by the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops. Accompanying the conference will be the launch of a new publication mapping the bat populations of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and the broadcasting of a documentary made in collaboration with Czech Television.
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