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Albatros, the famous Czech publishing house specialising in children’s books, has changed owners, after being sold by the Bonton Group. The buyer is a Czech company known as Narcia Consulting, aktualne.cz reported, in effect the publisher’s CEO and others. According to sources, Albatros’s CEO Michal Krejčí and marketing director Petr Bělohradský had been trying to buy Albatros stock assets since the beginning of the year. The cost of the deal was not announced, but ČTK has cited sources estimating the deal could be worth between 150 to 200 million crowns, (the latter the equivalent of around 10.3 million US dollars). Albatros’s history goes back to 1949. It has published thousands of different titles, including the Czech editions of the Harry Potter series.

Deputy Michal Pohanka, who was elected to the lower house as a Social Democrat MP, but later switched to being an independent, has said he will resign. Mr Pohanka gained notoriety following the 2006 parliamentary elections, which essentially resulted in a stalemate. Along with fellow Social Democrat MP Miloš Melčák, he voted to give confidence to the opposition coalition government. The move earned the MP the label of “defector” and Mr Pohanka soon left the Social Democrat ranks. The move undoubtedly makes life somewhat more complicated for the governing coalition as the Social Democrats are likely to appoint a replacement whom they believe will vote along party lines. The stated reason for Mr Pohanka’s decision is to give space for the governing Civic Democrats and opposition Social Democrats to negotiate, particularly over the future of the Lisbon Treaty – the MP denied that political pressure had played a role in the decision. Many fellow MPs said they were surprised by the resignation.

A day after the lower house passed the 2009 state budget, the country’s Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek has admitted that the deficit may be twice as high as that predicted. The budget passed by Parliament, factored-in a deficit of 38.1 billion crowns and assumes a 4.8 percent GDP growth. However, a day later, Mr Kalousek conceded that due to an economic slowdown expected next year, the state coffers may be short by tens of billions more crowns – while adding that the deficit could reach as high as sixty billion crowns. The Czech National Bank has repeatedly lowered its GDP growth forecasts for 2009 as the effects of the global economic slowdown become more apparent in the Czech Republic.

New figures reveal that the birth rate in the Czech Republic continues to rise. According to a report released by the Czech Statistical Office during the first three quarters of 2008, 91,300 children were born in the Czech Republic, a figure 4900 higher than during the same period last year. Overall, the Czech population increased by 65,000 to 10.446 million in the third quarter, partly aided by around 51,400 immigrants who came to the country. So-called natural population growth," brought 13,600 births in the first nine months of 2008, a figure 4800 higher than 2007 numbers, while infant mortality remains among the lowest in the world. The baby boom is likely to further assuage demographers who have for years warned that the Czech population may begin to shrink, causing among other issues, problems for the state’s ability to pay pensions to retirees.