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05/17/2007
A new opinion poll suggests that most Czechs believe the government's public finance reform plan will worsen living standards in terms of health, education, and employment. According to the poll, conducted by the Factum Invenium agency this month, Czechs are pessimistic about life after retirement, fearing that pensions will be low and care of the elderly will be poor.
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05/17/2007
A 29-year-old woman from Prague has become the first Czech woman to climb Mount Everest. Klara Polackova reached the top of the world's highest mountain on Wednesday, guided by the grandson of the legendary mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, who together with Edmund Hillary, was the first to reach the summit and return safely in 1953. Ms Polackova says she is now looking forward to a shower and Czech beer and food. Mount Everest is the second mountain above 8,000 metres that she has conquered, following her earlier climb of Cho Oyu, also in the Himalayas.
Meanwhile, Prague mayor Pavel Bem, who is currently fulfilling a childhood dream to climb Mount Everest, has one last leg to go before he reaches the summit. Due to bad weather on Thursday, he has postponed the final ascent to Friday.
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05/17/2007
The remains of over three dozen German WWII soldiers have been found near the Moravian town of Olomouc. The soldiers are believed to have been killed by the Red Army at the end of the Second World War. The German union for the protection and care of war graves has commissioned a company from northern Bohemia to exhume the remains.
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05/17/2007
The Czech market is witnessing record sales in motorcycles. In the first four months of this year, 6,704 new motorcycles were sold - 40 percent more than last year. The boom has been attributed to the fact that prices of motorbikes have gone down making it affordable for Czechs to buy Japanese, European, and American makes.
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05/16/2007
The search for a missing 13-year-old girl is now into its fifth day. The girl, named Anna, disappeared from a children's home in Brno on Friday night. She lived with Klara Mauerova, who is in custody on child abuse charges, after it emerged she kept her eight-year-old son bound, naked and in the dark. Ms Mauerova was in the process of applying to adopt Anna, who has mental problems; otherwise the authorities have no record of her existence. Many other questions remain unclear in the case, which has shocked the country.
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05/16/2007
The Austrian government has accused the Czech Republic of not fulfilling all its obligations regarding an agreement on the Temelin nuclear power plant in south Bohemia. Austria's chancellor, Alfred Gusenbauer, said a diplomatic note had been sent to Prague, though he said his government had not filed a lawsuit against the Czech state. For its part, the Czech government says it has kept its side of what is called the Melk agreement on safety at Temelin.
Austrian anti-nuclear groups have said if their government does not take legal action against the Czech Republic within four weeks they will again hold protest blockades at all 16 border crossings between the two states. They warned that future protests would be longer than the two-hour blockades held to date.
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05/16/2007
President Vaclav Klaus has published a new book criticising what he calls the "fashionable" issue of global warming. Speaking at Wednesday's launch of "A Blue not A Green Planet", Mr Klaus said those who blame climate change on human behaviour represent a threat to freedom. Environmental activists demonstrated against the president's views outside the book launch at Prague's Café Slavia; their protest featured a person in a Klaus mask saying the world was flat and no geographer could claim otherwise.
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05/16/2007
Meanwhile, architect Jan Kaplicky has hit back at Presidents Klaus's criticisms of his design for a new National Library building. Presenting the project to the Czech Senate, Mr Kaplicky countered a number of arguments put forward by the president. For instance, he rejected Mr Klaus's complaint that its windows could not be opened; Mr Kaplicky said that was common in modern libraries. The green, blob-like structure should be completed on Prague's Letna Plain by 2010.
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05/16/2007
Former Czech president Vaclav Havel has also commented on the matter. He has described Jan Kaplicky's design as interesting and original. Mr Havel said he was annoyed by what he called the very emotive debate surrounding the design. But he said city authorities should have launched a debate on how to rebuild the whole of Letna before the tender for the National Library building.
The International Union of Architects is looking into the tender process, after some claims that Mr Kaplicky's winning design did not meet all the conditions.
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05/16/2007
Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek has admitted he discussed a government reform bill with Milos Zeman, the former leader of the opposition Social Democrats. The prime minister said Mr Zeman, who is retired, still had a great influence on many Social Democrat MPs. He said he hoped some might break party ranks and vote in favour of a bill which envisages significant changes to the tax and social welfare systems.
With the slimmest of majorities and one of Mr Topolanek's own Civic Democrat MPs threatening to rebel, every vote will be crucial. The prime minister says he will push for early elections if the bill fails.
On Wednesday the prime minister said he expected a tough battle to persuade his partners in the three-party coalition to support the reform package between now and next month's vote.
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