News

Hundreds of Czechs and Slovaks gathered on Monday on the Velká Javořina Mountain to celebrate New Year’s Eve together. The event on the peak in the White Carpathians which lies on the Czech-Slovak border took place for the 16th time but for the first time since both the Czech Republic and Slovakia joined the Schengen border-free area. The idea of the annual gatherings first originated in 1992, as a symbolic expression of disagreement with the division of Czechoslovakia.

A thirty-eight-year old woman and her forty-nine-year old partner were remanded in custody on Monday on suspicion of murdering the woman’s five-year-old son. The body of the boy, who had been reported missing since August, was found in the couple’s car on Friday during a random police road check. An autopsy should clarify the cause and time of death. The boy, who had been placed in the custody of his father by a court, stayed with his mother and her partner at an unknown place from August. The boy’s father was looking for his son all over the country. He also turned to the ombudsman for help. He complained of the slow work of the judiciary and police negligence and expressed fear for the boy's life. The woman’s two other children had died before they turned one year.

The Czech government has chosen eight venues for holding informal meetings of ministers from the 27 EU countries during the Czech presidency of the European Union in 2009. Among the sites selected is the chateau in Hluboka nad Vltavou, South Bohemia, the Congress Centre in Prague, and various venues in the spa towns of Marianske Lazne and Luhacovice. The Czech Republic will assume the presidency of the European Union in January 2009. The motto of the Czech presidency is ‘Europe without barriers’ marking 20 years since the fall of the Iron Curtain and five years since the enlargement of the European Union.

The Czech dairy concern Madeta will close two of its plants in Ceske Budejovice and Strakonice, South Bohemia, Czech TV reported on Saturday. Its major milk supplier has cancelled all deliveries for the South Bohemian company. By March 2008, the local milk producer will only be selling milk to German companies because they offer higher prices. The dairy concern will now have to look elsewhere for milk supplies and about 200 employees will lose their jobs as a result. Madeta is the largest Czech milk processing company with about 1500 employees. About 25 percent of its products are sold at foreign markets, including the United States, Russia and various EU countries.