News of Radio Prague
Civic Democrat Pavel Bem elected mayor of Prague
Pavel Bem, a member of the right-of-centre Civic Democrats, has been elected as the new mayor of Prague. Mr Bem, who is 39, was elected in a closed session of the Prague city council. He replaces Civic Democrat colleague Igor Nemec, who has held the post in the interim since former mayor Jan Kasl resigned last May. Mr Kasl gave up his post and left the Civic Democrats after accusing his colleagues of refusing to tackle corruption.
Police call for upper house to strip new senator Vladimir Zelezny of immunity
Czech police have asked the upper house to strip newly elected senator and head of TV Nova Vladimir Zelezny of immunity, so that investigations can continue into the TV magnate's business dealings. The businessman turned senator is charged with attempting to cheat a former creditor in the Czech Republic's most successful private television station TV Nova, which Mr Zelezny runs. Police say they will provide the Senate's Mandates and Immunity committee with full documentation on the case - the Mandates and Immunity committee is expected to meet in January.
Vaclav Klaus the first official candidate for Czech presidency
The leader of the opposition Civic Democrats Vaclav Klaus has become the first official candidate for the post of Czech president, with his party submitting his candidacy Thursday. Mr Klaus's candidacy was confirmed by the lower house's election committee chairman Pavel Hojda, who said the committee would discuss his nomination next week. The next Czech president, after Vaclav Havel steps down, will be elected by the both houses of parliament - the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, with the first round of the presidential elections taking place on January 15th, 2003.
Former culture minister acquitted of mishandling state property
A Prague court has cleared former culture minister Jindrich Kabat of charges accusing him of the gross mishandling of state property. The public prosecutor's office charged Mr Kabat with having used two historical buildings in the centre of Prague as collateral for a 300 million crown loan from a Czech bank in 1993, to start a state-run lottery aimed at financing cultural projects in the Czech Republic; the lottery went bankrupt after four months of operation. The public prosecutor's office had charged that the former culture minister, and the Culture Ministry as a whole, had no right in using the historical buildings, which include the U Hybernu Palace and the cubist At the Black Madonna building, as collateral. Danger of the state losing the valuable buildings, forced the Czech Republic to cover the 300 million crown debt. Thursday Mr Kabat defended himself in court saying that he had relied on the expertise of economists and lawyers in the ministry's employ.
Consulting firm J.P. Morgan makes offer to manage share in Czech Telecom
The consulting firm J.P. Morgan has made an offer to manage the Czech state's 51 percent share in Czech Telecom for the next three years in return for the 55 billion crowns the Czech government was seeking in a privatisation deal that fell through earlier in the week. It is expected that the Czech government will turn the offer down. On Thursday ministerial spokesman Libor Vacek pointed out that J.P. Morgan was a consultant in the privatisation process of the fixed-line communications giant, not an investor, and added that the nature of the offer raised questions about the correctness of the firm's intentions overall. Until now the Czech government had been trying to sell off the 51 percent state share to potential investor Deutsche Bank. But, the deal fell through after Deutsche Bank failed to meet the share price demanded by TelSource, which holds a 27-percent stake in Czech Telecom.
Czech Statistics Bureau: construction of new flats up by almost 15 percent
The Czech Statistics Bureau has released numbers revealing that so far in 2002 the construction of new family apartments in the Czech Republic rose by 14.9 percent compared to the previous year. Almost 25, 000 new apartments were built, which means more than 3, 200 more than in 2001. According to the Statistics Bureau the positive growth in construction was influenced by favourable mortgage rates, as well as a rise in available funds from the State Fund for Home Development.
Smallest coins to be pulled next year
The smallest coins in the Czech Republic have been marked for extinction. The Czech National Bank said on Thursday it plans to remove the tiny 10-heller and 20-heller coins from circulation next year, because the costs of producing and handling the aluminium coins exceeds their usefulness. A 10-heller coin equals three-thousandths of a dollar, or one- tenth of a Czech crown. In recent years, fewer Czech consumers have bothered to use the coins even though retailers still mark prices in 10- and 20-heller increments.
Weather
Friday will be cloudy with a chance of showers and fog in places. Daytime temperatures are expected to reach highs between 6 and 10 degrees Celsius.
