News
Public Affairs to insist on four ministerial posts
Ahead of a meeting of coalition leaders, junior coalition partner Public Affairs have announced that the party will insist on four ministerial posts in the current three-party coalition government. The party’s de-facto leader Vít Bárta told the daily Právo that unless personnel questions within the coalition are resolved in a satisfactory way, Public Affairs is prepared to leave the government coalition. After a corruption scandal within Public Affairs led the government into a serious crisis in May, the party’s chairman, Radek John, was forced to resign from his post as interior minister. The three coalition parties, the Civic Democrats, TOP 09 and Public Affairs, are set to further discuss the cabinet’s personnel on Sunday.
Finance minister slams de-facto Public Affairs leader
In related news, the deputy chairman of the TOP 09 party, Miroslav Kalousek, said on Saturday that he considered Víta Bárta’s statement regarding personnel changes an ultimatum. Mr. Kalousek, who is one of five TOP 09 ministers in the current three-party, right-of-center government coalition, added that issuing such a statement a day ahead of negotiations with coalition leaders was inappropriate. He said he is not willing to give in to the junior coalition member’s demands.
2011 Prague Spring festival draws to close
The 66th Prague Spring international classical music festival comes to a close on Saturday night with a special event – the first performance in the Czech capital in five years by the world-renowned Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra is conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, husband of Czech opera star Magdalena Kožená. The programme of the Prague Spring, which began on May 12, has featured over three dozen concerts and seven operas. The biggest single event was a performance of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony by 500 musicians at the city’s O2 arena.
Press: Vietnamese immigrants now own 3,000 stores around Czech Republic
The number of shops owned by members of the Czech Republic’s sizable Vietnamese minority has now risen to around 3,000, the newspaper Lidové noviny reported on Saturday. Vietnamese immigrants own corner shops selling mainly foodstuffs, as well as clothing stores and nail salons. Their combined turnover is around CZK 30 billion a year. While in the past the Vietnamese were known for running market stalls, the newspaper said in a few years they would be doing business almost exclusively in bricks and mortar shops.
Five-thousand chickens killed in fire
Some 5000 chickens were killed in a fire in the Opava region, in the north of the country, on Saturday morning, when a chicken farm caught on fire. A spokesman for the local firefighter unit said that the firefighters were able to save another 4000 chickens from the flames. Police are investigating the case.
Czech duo win doubles title at French Open
The Czech Republic’s Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká beat the Indian-Russian pair of Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina 6-4 6-3 to win the women’s doubles in tennis’s French Open in Paris on Friday. It was the duo’s fifth title win but their first in a Grand Slam tournament. Remarkably, the unseeded Czechs did not lose one set on their way to victory at Roland Garros.
European first: all-women team referees Czech men’s league game
What is being described as a European first takes place on Saturday, when a Czech men’s soccer league game will be officiated entirely by women. Referee Dagmar Damková and two female assistants Adriana Šecová and Lucie Ratajová – who recently won plaudits for their refereeing of the women’s Champions League final – are overseeing a game between Dukla Prague and Zlín in Czech football’s second tier. Damková has been refereeing men’s games since 2003, when she became the first Czech woman to do so.
Weather
Sunny and warm conditions with highs of up to 28 degrees Celsius are expected to continue, with a chance of isolated thunderstorms on Saturday afternoon.
