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06/21/2007
The number of inhabitants of the Czech Republic rose by 19,500 in the first quarter of 2007, crossing the 10.3 million mark for the first time since 1997. The information was released by the Czech Statistical Office on Thursday. As of March 31st this year the Czech Republic had 10,306,700 inhabitants. The increase is mainly due to foreign migration - with the biggest numbers of people coming from Ukraine, Vietnam, and neighbouring Slovakia - but the country has also registered natural growth due to a rise in the fertility rate and a low death rate. The number of children is the highest since 1995, the office has revealed, and the Czech population has been rising for its fifth consecutive year.
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06/21/2007
The Education Ministry has extended the possibility of home schooling for Czech children: currently children can be taught at home at grades 1 through 5, but the ministry has decided to allow a project testing home schooling that would extend through grades 6 to 9. The project will be tested over the next four years in cooperation with five elementary schools: if it proves a success it could then be entered into legislation. Parents wishing to teach their children at home require a university education certificate; currently 350 children in the Czech Republic are taught at home.
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06/21/2007
Culture Minister Vaclav Jehlicka has said he is considering merging or abolishing a number of subsidised organisations on the grounds that the government's draft state budget will provide the ministry with lower funds next year. The ministry now manages 32 subsidised organisations, and it may lower the number by up to one third, the Czech news agency CTK has reported. The institutions, which include 18 museums and galleries, would receive 3.3 billion crowns from the ministry - almost half of its budget last year. The minister stated that the first organisations that might be merged were the Theatre Institute and the National Information and Consultancy Centre for Culture. He also mentioned a long discussed possible merger between the National Theatre and the Prague State Opera.
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06/20/2007
The government has, as expected, survived a vote of no-confidence tabled by the opposition Social Democrats. They and the Communists mustered 97 votes, four short of the majority they would have needed to topple the Civic Democrat-led coalition. The vote came in protest at the coalition's position towards Deputy Prime Minister Jiri Cunek, who is under investigation for alleged bribe-taking.
The prime minister, Mirek Topolanek, described the no-confidence vote as a waste of time that could have been devoted to more useful work. During a debate before the vote Mr Topolanek refused to respond to stinging criticism from opposition leader Jiri Paroubek; the prime minister told journalists there was nothing to say.
President Vaclav Klaus welcomed the outcome of the vote. He said it would have caused instability in the country if the government had fallen.
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06/20/2007
A rebel Civic Democrat MP, Vlastimil Tlusty, has founded his own ten-member faction within the party's deputies' group. He said he did not want to split the Civic Democrats but rather to support the party's original principles. Mr Tlusty was passed over for the job of finance minister and opposes a government tax and welfare reform bill. If he goes through with a threat to vote against it the government could fall - Prime Minister Topolanek has promised to seek early elections if the package of reforms fails.
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06/20/2007
Prague Mayor Pavel Bem has become the most popular politician in the Czech Republic, suggests a poll conducted this month by the STEM agency. Sixty-two percent of respondents said they had a positive opinion of Mr Bem. Defence Minister Vlasta Parkanova has slipped from first to second place in the ratings. Ms Parkanova came in for some ridicule after presenting George Bush with a CD on which she sang backing vocals on a ditty welcoming the idea of a US radar base in the Czech Republic. Pavel Bem, meanwhile, last month became only the tenth Czech to reach the peak of Mount Everest.
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06/20/2007
The Chamber of Deputies has approved a new system aimed at making it easier for citizens to acquire statements from the land register and other official documents. Over 1,000 local authority offices will feature a one-stop "Czech Point", while 2,000 post offices will also join the system. Several Czech Points are already in operation as part of a pilot project.
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06/20/2007
The Czech foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, has presented 17 individuals and groups with the Gratias Agit award for promoting the good name of the Czech Republic around the world. Recipients this year included film director Milos Forman, the late human rights advocate Irena Kirkland and the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Centre. The Gratias Agit award was first given in 1997.
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06/20/2007
A court in Brno has sentenced a woman to 22 years in jail for the killing of her partner and son. In February Martina Hasikova, who is 36, stabbed her partner to death before two days later trying to kill herself and her five-year-old son by burning their house down. The boy suffocated but she survived. Court experts said the woman had been of sound mind when she carried out the killings.
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06/20/2007
Twenty-six people were injured when two trains collided at Cerny Kriz, south Bohemia on Wednesday. Ten passengers were taken to hospital though none of the injuries were believed to be serious. One of the trains was carrying a school group.
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