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Also regarding the Social Security Administration, the Czech Press Agency has reported that statistics provided by the administration show a slight decrease in the number of average amount of pension insurance paid out since the criteria for recognising disability pensions were tightened up at the beginning of this year. The stricter criteria are the result of uncompleted reforms undertaken by the previous government, led by the Civic Democratic Party. In December of 2009, the total number of people receiving pension insurance was about 533,000; that number dropped by roughly 58,000 the following month.

A court in Brno has sentenced a man and his stepson to five and a half and six years, respectively, for the long-term sexual abuse of his daughter. The victim, who is now 19, had been sexually abused since the age of six by her stepbrother, who is ten years older. The court heard that molestation by the father, who had been fully aware of the situation, began when his stepson moved away to college, and continued until the girl herself moved out. Neither a gynaecologist nor a councillor to whom the victim turned for help believed her, however, and it was not until a friend intervened that police were contacted. The court gave the two men minimum sentences on the grounds that the abuse did not involve intercourse.

The Czech Republic’s ice hockey players have reached the quarter-finals at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver after a 3:2 victory over Latvia. The Czechs scored two goals in the first period, a feat repeated by the Latvians in the third to force overtime. However, David Krejčí eased Czech nerves with a goal in the sixth minute of overtime to book a place in the last eight. Star forward Jaromír Jágr was taken off less than half way through the game after complaining of neck pain, but is expected to play against Finland in the quarter-final tie. Many Czechs fans will be setting their alarm clocks for that match, which begins at 4 am CET on Thursday.

The lower house’s defence committee has voted not to support a plan to increase the number of Czech soldiers in Afghanistan. The Czech government wants to send 55 more troops to the country, where there is already a contingent of over 500 Czech soldiers. Representatives of the Social Democrats and Communists on the defence committee either voted against or abstained during Tuesday’s show of hands. It is possible that the two left-wing parties will also block the proposal when it goes before both houses of the Czech parliament.