News

Czech industrial output in June fell by 12.3 percent compared to the same month last year, according to preliminary data released by the Czech Statistical Office. That is being seen as relatively good news as it represents the smallest drop in the last six months: in January industrial output fell by 23 percent, while in May it decreased by 22 percent, year-on-year. Analyst Jiří Škop told the Czech News Agency that June’s results were a very pleasant surprise. He said the Czech economy, which relies heavily on the auto industry, was benefiting from car scrapping incentives introduced in export markets. Meanwhile, the president of the Czech Chamber of Commerce, Petr Kužel, said Czech firms probably had the worst of the financial crisis behind them.

The soccer player Patrik Berger appeared for Sparta Prague in a 0:0 draw against Bohemians 1905 on Friday, just weeks after he feared his career was over. Berger said if a knee injury he is suffering from had required surgery he would have had to quit the game. The left-footed midfielder, who is 35, has played for Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool and Aston Villa, though he has been out a lot in recent years with injury problems.

The American musician Moby was among the headliners at the Sázavafest music festival at Kácov in central Bohemia on Friday night. Around 20,000 people – a record – attended the second of three nights at the outdoor music festival, which has been running for nine years. The British pop singer Jimi Somerville and the German band Die Happy are due to play on the closing night on Saturday.

Newspaper photographs of top Czech politicians sharing a yacht in Italy with energy lobbyists are causing a stir in the Czech Republic. Among those featured on the photographs are former Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, CEO of the energy company ČEZ Martin Roman, and Social Democratic MP Milan Urban. Czech media outlets, aside from speculating on who is most likely to benefit from the rather expensive detective work, have also made frequent reference to the recent passage of a carbon emissions deal in parliament that resulted in a multi-billion-crown windfall for the energy giant, ČEZ. A number of those featured on the photographs have said the meeting was a chance encounter in a popular holiday area. Compounding the discussion around the photographs is the fact that they were released by Karel Randák, the erstwhile chief of the Czech civilian intelligence agency. Mr Randák has declined to shed more light on the procurement of the photos, saying only that no intelligence agents were involved, and that his decision to release them was taken in order to “show how things work in this country.” Mr Randák was dismissed from his position in 2006 by Mr Topolánek’s government.