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The Czech cycling star Roman Kreuziger is joining Kazakhstan’s Astana team after five years as part of the Italian Liquigas stable. Astana is believed to have a budget about three times that of Liquigas, but Kreuziger denied he was making the move for financial reasons; the 24-year-old said the main motivation was the chance to work with new people, including the rider Alexandre Vinokourov. The Czech, who turned professional in 2006, has won the Tour of Switzerland, the Tour of Romandy and the Tour of Sardinia. He has finished ninth in the Tour de France for the last two years in a row.

The Czech capital was hit by a severe hailstorm on Sunday night. Six people were injured; one man suffered a serious injury after glass from a broken roof window cut an artery on his leg. Another suffered a head wound after falling in the street and four women were treated for lighter injuries. Fire fighters were called over 130 times, pumping water from cellars and removing fallen trees and branches from streets in the Czech capital. According to the Czech Hydro-meteorological Institute, the city saw between 40 and 45 millimeters of precipitation in the night from Sunday to Monday. Meanwhile, the storms led to a rise in water levels of rivers in the Dečín region in the north of the country, which was badly flooded a week ago. Fire crews were called out 40 times during the night to help remove water from flooded houses.

In an interview for Monday’s edition of Mladá fronta dnes, Petr Fejk, who is the current head of the Czech Center in New York, said that he was having a hard time pushing through his vision of how the center should be run. Mr Fejk, who is the former director of Prague zoo, added that his main goal was for the center to not be fully dependent on state funds. He said he believes that renting the building out for private events can help generate a budget to be used towards cultural events. Mr Fejk is not currently planning to resign from his post and has turned down an offer to run for Prague mayor.

President Václav Klaus is to receive Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek at Prague Castle on Tuesday, continuing a series of meetin+gs between the president and ministers of the newly installed government. Mr Klaus is meeting all ministers to familiarize himself with issues and goals of the new government. He has already received the environment, foreign affairs and transport ministers, as well as Prime Minister Petr Nečas. Mr Kalousek’s main task will be a reform of the tax system as well as ridding the country of debt. Last week, the government approved a state budget deficit of 135 billion Czech crowns for the year 2011.