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An electric cooker has been established as the cause of a large fire which destroyed part of the Art Deco Industrial Palace at Prague’s exhibition grounds last October. The biggest fire Prague had seen in more than three decades erupted in the left wing of the palace during a dentistry technology expo, causing damages that amounted up to one billion crowns, or nearly 45 million US dollars.

An 18-year-old snowboarder died on Friday in the Jeseníky Mountains, northern Moravia, after having been rescued from an avalanche. He was rescued by three of his friends; mountain rescuers than transported him to a valley. His wounds were however so severe that he died in an ambulance on the way to hospital. Rescuers said bad weather did not allow them to use a helicopter.

The Czech president, Václav Klaus, says he will not veto a bill that would bar the media from publishing or broadcasting police wiretaps. In a letter to the chairman of the Czech Syndicate of Journalists, Miroslav Jelínek, the president said he did not see any way in which a new law on the subject contravened the Czech constitution. A number of Czech and international journalists’ groups have called on Mr Klaus not to sign the bill, which they say would be an infringement on the freedom of the press. Speaking in response to the president’s letter, Mr Jelínek said the matter should now go before the Constitutional Court.

Last week MPs from most parties in the Chamber of Deputies voted to overturn a Senate veto on the law. If it comes into effect, journalists who publish wiretaps could face up to five years in jail.

A brothel owned by a former Social Democrats regional boss received over CZK 5 million in state grants from ministries run by MPs for the party, the newspaper Mladá fronta Dnes said on Thursday. Miroslav Mrština was the head of the Social Democrats in the Hradec Kralové region and was a member of the party’s leadership. His brothel in the town of Náchod is alleged to have received CZK 1.3 million from the Ministry of Regional Development when it was headed by Radko Martínek and a further CZK 4 million from the Labour Ministry under the helm of Zdeněk Škromach. The leadership of the Social Democrats have denied the charges, saying they may take legal action over the matter.