News

Prague police have arrested a taxi driver and her boyfriend who they say have confessed to brutally beating and robbing a customer. A police spokeswoman said that the woman had physically attacked the passenger when he did not pay the full fare; she then took his telephone and drove to the home of her boyfriend who was waiting outside with a club and severely beat the passenger. The victim suffered serious injuries requiring several weeks in hospital. Due to that fact, the attackers could face up to 12 years in prison.

President Václav Klaus has said he will name Civic Democrat leader Petr Nečas the country’s next prime minister on Monday. The president on Friday accepted the formal resignation of Jan Fischer’s caretaker cabinet, asking the outgoing government to remain in office until a new administration was in place. Speaking on commercial TV PRIMA on Sunday, Mr. Klaus said the new prime minister would have some time to put together a new centre-right cabinet before the start of a 30-day deadline by which the new government is bound to seek a confidence vote in Parliament. Civic Democrat leader Petr Nečas is in negotiations with two new parties TOP09 and Public Affairs on forming a centre right government. They are expecting to conclude negotiations by mid-July.

The newly appointed Archbishop of Prague Dominik Duka is to visit the Vatican on Tuesday where the Pope will present him with a pallium, a vestment symbolizing the jurisdiction delegated to him by the Holy See. The former bishop of Hradec Kralove took over the Prague archdiocese on April 10th, replacing Miloslav Vlk who resigned on the grounds of advanced age. Archbishop Duka is seen as a man of consensus who may improve relations between the Church and state in the largely atheist Czech Republic. In May he put an end to an 18-year-long legal battle with the state over the ownership of St. Vitus Cathedral by withdrawing the Catholic Church’s property claim and accepting a proposal for joint administration.

Petra Paroubková, the wife of former Social Democrat leader Jiří Paroubek, who resigned after the party’s poor showing in May’s general elections, has revealed that she is working on a book of political memoirs focusing on behind the scenes practices in Czech politics. Mrs. Paroubková, who works as an interpreter, said on a popular talk show that many politicians, journalists and businessmen had a surprise in store. She admitted that she was writing the book partly for the money it would bring, and also because she felt the public had a right to know what goes on behind the scenes in Czech politics. The book is expected to come out in the early autumn.