News

According to figures released by the Health Ministry 98 people have succumbed to swine flu or related complications in the Czech Republic to date. The H1N1 virus was confirmed in 2,400 cases, but the actual number of people who have had the swine flu is believed to be much higher since only seriously ill patients get tested. As in other countries, there is a marked lack of interest in getting the flu shot due to a fear of possible side effects, which has left the authorities with large quantities of unwanted vaccinations on stock. The Health Ministry has said it will try to renegotiate contracts on as yet undelivered supplies of the vaccine. Even so, three quarters of the available supplies remain in storage.

The daily Mladá fronta Dnes reported on Wednesday that President Václav Klaus was considering returning to the Civic Democratic Party, which he founded in 1991, if it were to suffer a defeat in May’s general elections. Citing people close to the president, the paper said his return would hinge on the resignation of the current party leadership, with which Mr. Klaus has long fought an ideological battle. He left the post of honorary chairman in 2008, saying that the party was becoming more based on lobbying interests than ideas. It is not clear if the president would consider returning to the post of honorary chairman or take a more active role in party politics when his second term in office ends. The Office of the President has not commented on the story.

A court has sentenced a 51-year-old man from Plzeň, west Bohemia, to two years in prison for scaremongering and attempted bribery. The man called the town hall threatening to poison the town’s water supplies with the toxic chemical sarin unless he was given five million crowns. The threat launched a large-scale security operation involving the police, firefighters and the town’s waterworks. The man was handed a sentence at the low-end of the scale after expressing deep regret and saying he had been very drunk when he made the call.

Prime Minister Jan Fischer said Tuesday that the Czech Republic is prepared to offer its assistance in mediating disputes between Israel and its neighbours in the Middle East. Speaking at a conference marking the 20th anniversary of the renewal of diplomatic relations between the Czech and Jewish states, Mr Fischer said that the Czech Republic’s experience and good relations with the countries of the Middle East could help aid international relations there. He also said that having a clear stance towards Israel would be one of the main tasks of any integrated foreign policy in the European Union, and that his country would help in building one. Relations between Czechoslovakia and Israel were frosty between the early 1950s and the fall of the Iron Curtain, since which time the two countries have developed strong economic, scientific and technological cooperation.