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05/17/2009
In the same interview, Interior Minister Martin Pecina said that budget cuts being discussed in the Czech Interior Ministry would not affect the country’s police force. Speaking on Czech Television’s Vaclav Moravec show on Sunday, Mr Pecina said that if cuts had to happen, they would not affect the country’s police force, fire brigade or projects being co-financed by the European Union. Mr Pecina said he would reevaluate the sale of some ministry properties proposed by his predecessor at the ministry Ivan Langer. Mr Pecina stressed that he was for the sale of ‘redundant property’ to raise ministry funds, but added that he would review the proposed sale of a number of ministry properties and cancel the sale of others altogether.
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05/17/2009
Sir Nicholas Winton, a British man who saved the lives of almost 700 Czechoslovak Jewish children on the eve of World War II, celebrated his 100th birthday in London on Saturday, in the company of some of those whose lives he had saved. Mr Winton organized transport out of Czechoslovakia and UK visas for 669 mostly Jewish children shortly before Czechoslovakia was occupied by the Nazis in 1938. Today, ‘Winton’s children’ have around 5,000 descendents.
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05/17/2009
The Civic Society of Home Owners has called upon Czech President Václav Klaus not to sign a law which would postpone the deregulation of rents in some parts of the Czech Republic until 2012. Last week, the Senate approved a draft law which would see the process of rent deregulation slowed in some regions by several years. The proposal not to raise rents in some homes around the country was mooted as part of the government’s anti-crisis package. But, on Sunday, the Civic Society of Home Owners said that the crisis was affecting everyone, including them, and that the decision to pass off the burden on home owners especially was unfair. As well as asking President Václav Klaus to veto the bill, the association has asked the International Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to look at their case.
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05/17/2009
Saturday’s ‘Museum Night’ in the Czech Republic’s second city, Brno, was a record success, according to organizers. Some 16 institutions took part in the event, opening up more than 30 buildings on Saturday night and into Sunday morning. Staff registered more than 151,000 visitors, a figure up by more than 23,000 on last year. The most visited institutions were the Moravian Gallery and Brno Municipal Museum, according to Lenka Němcová, a spokesperson for the event. Several special events were put on as part of the evening, Špílberk Castle in the centre of the city played host to a firework display and special performances. The Museum of Romany Culture also put on a special concert of Romany music. Museum Night was held in the run up to International Museum Day, which falls on May 18.
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05/17/2009
In sport, English Premier League side West Bromwich Albion have suspended Czech striker Roman Bednář following allegations that he bought illegal drugs. The 26-year-old international was named and pictured in a newspaper report on Sunday and the Midlands club has taken swift action. A statement from the club said ‘Roman Bednář has been suspended while the club conducts an internal investigation into the matter’.
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05/17/2009
Prague Archbishop Miloslav Vlk is celebrating his 77th birthday this Sunday, in what is thought to be his last year in the function. The head of the Czech Catholic Church told media at Easter that he planned on retiring from his post before the end of the year, though, he said, he would not retire before Pope Benedict XVI visits the Czech Republic at the end of September. According to press, a successor to Cardinal Vlk is already being sought. In 2007, the head of the Czech Catholic Church underwent heart surgery and after collapsing from exhaustion in 2008, he said he planned to retire by 2010.
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05/16/2009
Around 20,000 people gathered on Prague’s Hradčanské náměstí on Saturday to protest about the negative effects that the financial crisis is having on Europe’s workers. According to trade unions, who organized the demonstration, the figure was possibly closer to 30,000 and attendance was higher than could have been expected. The Prague demonstration is part of a several day long wider European programme to raise awareness about the curtailment of workers’ rights being brought about during the current economic downturn. Organisers said that protesters had come from as far away as Germany, Poland and France on Saturday. Related demonstrations took place in Madrid on Thursday and Brussels on Friday.
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05/16/2009
Meanwhile, hundreds of teachers from both the Czech Republic and abroad demonstrated outside the Czech Education Ministry against low pay on Saturday morning. After protesting at the ministry, they joined the mass demonstration held near Prague Castle at Hradčanské náměstí. A spokesperson from the Czech education workers’ trade union, František Dobšík, said that a further drop in wages in light of the current financial climate was ‘simply unacceptable’ for education workers and urged the government on Saturday to rule out the move. A pay raise of 3.5 percent for those working in the public sector, set to affect teachers in particular, was approved by the government of Mirek Topolánek just before it fell in March. Trade union officials, however, complain that the Czech education sector is grossly underfunded.
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05/16/2009
In an interview with Lidové noviny on Saturday, Czech president Václav Klaus said that he was ‘disappointed’ in the former government of Mirek Topolánek, and never had a cabinet succumbed to such pressure from lobbyists. Mr Klaus said that in the history of the Czech Republic, he had never seen a government which yielded so much to lobbyists’ interests and named former Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek’s advisor Marek Dalík as one lobbyist to have penetrated the upper echelons of the Czech government in particular. On Friday, President Václav Klaus denied allegations that he had a hand in the fall of Mirek Topolánek’s cabinet in March. The former prime minister has accused Mr Klaus, Prague mayor Pavel Bem and rivals within his own Civic Democratic Party of having orchestrated the fall.
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05/16/2009
Some 87 people have been tested for swine flu infection in the Czech Republic since the virus was discovered in Mexico earlier this month. Of the 87 tests, 82 have come back negative and the results of five are still waiting to be known. There are currently three people hospitalized with suspected cases of swine flu in the Czech Republic, one in Brno, one in Pardubice and one in Prague. On Saturday, India and Turkey recorded its first cases of the virus, according to news agencies.
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