News

Temperature records were broken all over the country on Sunday, as the Czech Republic enjoyed some of the warmest February weather ever measured. The warmest weather was recorded in the South Bohemian town of České Budějovice, where temperatures peaked at 21 degrees Celsius. This smashed the previous record for this day – 17.9 degrees centigrade, recorded on February 25, 1990. In Prague, the record set in 1990 of 16.6 degrees was equaled, while the Czech Republic’s second city, Brno, did not surpass its record, but did enjoy temperatures of up to 14.8 degrees.

Czech tennis star Radek Štěpánek is through to the final of the ATP tennis tournament in San Jose, California, after beating American Robby Ginepri in three sets. Štěpánek, who is seeded fourth in the competition, will now face the favourite for the title, Andy Roddick, in the final. Štěpánek stands the chance of winning his third career title after putting an end to wild card Ginepri’s hopes, defeating him 6-7, 6-4, 6-1. Ginepri had already caused an upset, beating the tournament’s second-seed, James Blake, in the quarter-finals.

Around five hundred and fifty people gathered in Prague at two separate demonstrations on Saturday to protest against Kosovar independence. Nearly 350 people gathered on Palackeho namesti - Prague’s equivalent of Speaker’s Corner - to protest against Kosovo’s declaration of independence. A further 200 or so protestors from the ‘The Central Bohemian Autonomous Nationalist’ group marched through the capital brandishing Czech and Serbian flags. Traffic in the capital was disrupted by the march. Tens of police were on standby in case of any violence, but according to a police spokesperson, both demonstrations passed without any incident. The Czech Republic is still to recognise Kosovo’s independence, but has indicated that it will follow suit should the majority of other EU member countries formally recognise the state.

A legal dispute between health minister Tomáš Julínek and shadow health minister David Rath has been settled out of court. Mr Julínek had sued Mr Rath for defamation of character after the shadow health minister suggested to journalists that Mr Julínek had misappropriated public funds for political purposes. In March last year, a court ruled in favour of Mr Julínek, but Mr Rath immediately appealed the verdict. The court of appeal upheld the original ruling, demanding that Mr Rath apologise to the current health minister, and pay him 20,000 CZK (nearly 1,200 USD) in damages. The dispute was taken before a court for the third time following this verdict, but on Friday, Mr Julínek’s spokesperson said that the minister was tired of dealing with the case, and that a settlement had been found out of court. He did not divulge the conditions of the settlement.