Czech News 21.5.2014 - 15.05.2014

CR: 21.5.2014 

Life sentences handed down to methanol poisoning masterminds

A Czech court has handed down life sentences to two mean accused of being the ringleaders of the methanol scandal which cost the lives of more than 50 people. The regional court in Zlín handed down the sentences to Tomáš Krepela and Rudolf Fian, who were accused of masterminding the mixing hard spirits with deadly methanol in a concoction which started to kill from September 2012 onwards. Slovaks and Poles as well as Czechs numbered amongst the victims. A third man who acted as distributor, Jiří Vacul, was given a 15 year sentence. Lighter punishments were given to another seven co-defendants.

Industry minister calls for resignation of head of state export bank

Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Jan Mládek has called on the head of the state bank for promoting exports to immediately resign. Mládek said in news release Wednesday that the head of the Czech Export Bank, Jiří Klumpar, had overstepped his managerial competences. The minister added in a news release Wednesday that instead of getting to grips with problems at the bank, Klumpar had proposed that a new bank be created out of part of the existing institution without consulting anyone else about such a move. Mládek said he should resign before the bank’s supervisory board kicked him out. The export bank has been investigated by police in connected with suspect loans made in particular to Russian companies.

State fund seeks criminal probe of delayed fantasy film

The Czech state fund aimed at encouraging filmmaking in the country has decided to launch criminal proceedings against one of the most expensive projects it has supported. The fund, on the back of expert analysis, has suspicions that fraud could have played a role in funding for the more than 200 million crown Czech fantasy film ‘Last from Aporver.’ The state fund put forward 47 million crowns to support the film. It was supposed to have been completed in 2011 but that date has been put back four times with no clear indication when it might be screened in cinemas.

Czech president sees business opportunities in Romania

Czech president Miloš Zeman has said on a visit to Romania that Czech firms could play a major role in building the country’s transport and energy infrastructure and new power production capacity. Turning to foreign relations, Zeman said that Romania feared for the future of the former Soviet state, Moldova. Fears were based not just on the possibility of invasion but also the fact that the country had not built up sufficient independent energy capacity and links to the European Union. The Czech head of state is due to visit Moldova on Thursday and Friday.

Government grants exemptions to teaching qualification demands

The government of Wednesday agreed to specific exceptions allowing teachers without specific qualifications to continue with their career. The exceptions regard teachers older than 55 years who have 20 years of experience or who teach specialized subjects on a less than full time basis. Without the exceptions thousands of teachers would have had to quit the profession with serious disruption threatened in some regions. An estimated 11,000 teachers do not have the university level teaching qualifications required by law. The exemptions are believed to cover around three quarters of that total.

Finance minister seen backing down on tax battle with coalition partner

Finance minister Andrej Babiš has backtracked on proposed moves to clamp down on the tax breaks offered to the self-employed. Public broadcaster Czech Television said the minister was no longer insisting on changes ahead of a meeting of leaders of coalition parties on Wednesday. The smallest party in the government, the Christian Democrats said they were totally opposed to Babiš’ proposed changes but they received support from the left-of-centre Social Democrats. The main change advanced was the abolition of tax breaks for those who opted to automatically write off tax on 60 percent of their earnings.

Czechs have no need to fear gas shortage despite Ukraine crisis, says Sobotka

The Czech Republic has gas reserves to last 100 days and neither households nor firms need fear a shortage, says Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka. He made the comment after a meeting of the State Security Council called to discuss a possible halting of Russian gas supplies through Ukraine due to the crisis in the latter country. Mr. Sobotka said the Czech Republic could help Slovakia by supplying it with Russian gas from the Baltic Nord Stream pipeline. Prague is not in favour of a Polish proposal for EU states to buy gas and oil from Russia together, a suggestion reportedly aimed at reducing Moscow’s ability to “blackmail” individual states reliant on it for power.

Czech Television sends hockey championship erection adverts to sin bin

Czech television has announced that it will ban adverts for erection pills for the remainder of the world ice hockey championships, according to new server novinky.cz. The head of the public broadcaster Petr Dvorák told the broadcaster’s supervisory council that the move had been sparked by protests from viewers over the vulgar content of the ads and the likelihood that children were watching matches ahead of 10 pm. The final Czech group match with France on Tuesday evening was watched an average by 1.3 million viewers with even more expected for the semi-final clash with the United States.

Czechs beat France at Worlds to set up clash with USA in quarter-finals

The Czech Republic beat France at the Ice Hockey World Championship in Belarus on Tuesday evening. The Czechs, who have not been performing well in the tournament, were 3:0 down at the end of the first period but fought back to make it 3:3 and force overtime, in which they won the game 4:3 on penalties. The Czechs finished third in their group and will face the USA in the quarter-finals on Thursday.

Suspected Czech egg smuggler stopped at Sydney airport

A Czech has been stopped at Australia’s Sydney airport on suspicion of trying to illegally smuggle bird eggs into the country. The 39-year-old was checked by customs officers after he arrived on a flight from Dubai and was found to be hiding 16 small eggs in his underpants. He is expected to appear in court. The maximum penalty for smuggling eggs of endangered species is 10 years in prison.

20.5.2014 

Sobotka : Medium-term target for defence spending 1.4 percent of GDP

The Czech prime minister, Bohuslav Sobotka, says the government's medium-term target is to raise spending on defence to the equivalent of 1.4 percent of the country’s GDP. He said it was not aiming for the 2 percent encouraged by NATO, of which the Czech Republic is a member. Nevertheless, the country will reduce its military spending in 2015, Mr. Sobotka told reporters on Tuesday. On a recent visit to Prague the secretary general of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, called on the Czech Republic to boost defence spending.

News sites: Ex-East Timor president Ramos-Horta listed as collaborator in StB files

Nobel Peace Prize winner and former president of East Timor Jose Ramos-Horta is listed as a collaborator in the files of Czechoslovakia’s communist era secret police, the StB, the news sites iDnes and Echo24 reported on Tuesday. According to the StB records, Mr. Ramos-Horta provided StB officers with information against the United States in New York in the 1970s, when he was at the UN representing the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor. Mr. Ramos-Horta, who was president of East Timor until 2012, denies having spied for Czechoslovakia; he says he was approached by StB agents but refused to cooperate with them.

Intelligence report: Growing crossover between football hooligans and neo-Nazis

There is a growing crossover between football hooligans and neo-Nazi groups, according to a newly published report from the BIS intelligence service. The trend has been observed at anti-Roma demonstrations. The report said that in general political extremists did not represent a genuine threat to democracy in the Czech Republic last year. However, the number of crimes committed linked to political extremism grew slightly in 2013. The most common such crime was “supporting groups aimed at repressing the rights and freedoms of others”.

Brno opens the way for Amazon warehouses

Brno councillors on Tuesday approved changes to the city’s local development plan which will enable e-commerce giant Amazon to build a long-disputed distribution centre on the outskirts of Brno. The decision approved by 29 votes out of 55, comes after weeks of controversy and protests from some of the locals regarding the presence of warehouses in relatively close proximity to Brno’s housing estates. In order to facilitate the deal, which is expected to create 1,500 new jobs, the government recently removed a clause banning the use of land being offered to Amazon for warehouses. At the start of April Amazon representatives indicated that they had given up on investing in Brno; however, after talks with the Czech prime minister they said they would reconsider.

Press: Police believe Nečas knew Nagyová ordered spying

The police believe that then prime minister Petr Nečas was aware that his chief of staff Jana Nagyová had ordered the intelligence services to monitor people, Mladá fronta Dnes reported on Tuesday. Ms. Nagyová, who is now married to Mr. Nečas, is accused of having military intelligence officers spy on his then wife. A document from the police’s organised crime unit obtained by Mladá fronta Dnes says that all their information indicated that Mr. Nečas was one of at least three other people who knew about Ms. Nagyová’s actions. Mr. Nečas’s government collapsed in the wake of the arrest of Ms. Nagyová and others last year.

Czech president begins state visit to Romania

Czech President Miloš Zeman begins a two-day visit to Romania on Tuesday at the invitation of his Romanian counterpart President Traian Băsescu. The Czech head of state is expected to meet with Romanian government officials and business leaders with economic interests high on the agenda of the talks. The two sides are also expected to discuss EU matters and security issues in the light of the Ukraine crisis. Bucharest recently announced it wanted to join the Eurozone by 2019. The Czech Republic has yet to set a time frame for euro-adoption.

Thieves make off with millions of crowns worth of watches from upmarket Pařížská St.

Thieves made off with watches worth CZK 4.5 million after a robbery at a shop on Prague’s upmarket Pařížská St. at lunchtime on Monday, a police spokesperson said. The police have posted a video of the incident on their website and appealed for witnesses, particularly a taxi driver who may have driven the Russian speaking thieves to the Audemars Piguet branch that was robbed.

Manuscript of The Trial among highlights of Prague exhibitions marking Kafka anniversaries

Two exhibitions at Prague’s Old Town Hall will mark the 90th anniversary of the death of the author Franz Kafka next month and the 100th anniversary of when he began writing his novel The Trial. The centrepiece of an exhibition entitled The Trial will be the original manuscript of one of the greatest works in world literature, while a concurrent exhibition will focus on the portrayal of Kafka and his work in comics by artists such as Robert Crumb and Jaromír 99. Both begin on May 23 and run until June 30. Theatre performances and lectures are also planned in connection with the anniversaries.

Winds and rain destroy over 3 percent of forestry agency’s annual output

Heavy winds and rain in the last week destroyed almost 250,000 cubic metres of wood owned by state forestry agency Lesy ČR, a spokesperson said on Tuesday. The wood lost amounts to over 3 percent of Lesy ČR's annual output. Removing and processing the trees blown down could take weeks or even months. People have been warned to be careful if they visit forestry hit by the recent adverse weather conditions, which had a particularly strong impact in Moravia.

Rosický missing Finland friendly due to illness

Captain Tomáš Rosický will miss the Czech Republic’s soccer friendly against Finland on Wednesday due to illness. Rosický, who on Saturday won England’s FA Cup with Arsenal, joined the Czech squad on Monday afternoon but on Tuesday reported gastroenteritis and has not travelled to Helsinki. Coach Pavel Vrba said he was disappointed but in any case wanted to experiment without the creative midfielder for part of the game.

19.5.2014 

Sir Nicholas Winton is to receive the Order of the White Lion

Sir Nicholas Winton, who saved the lives of 669 children by bringing them out of German-occupied Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War, is to receive the Order of the White Lion, the Czech Republic’s highest state distinction. President Miloš Zeman’s office announced the news on the occasion of Sir Nicholas Winton’s 105th birthday. Winton organized train transports of Jewish children from Czechoslovakia to Britain in 1939, securing departure permits from the German authorities, entry permits from Britain and their admission to British families. The children would otherwise have ended up in concentration camps and gas chambers. Czech top officials have repeatedly nominated Sir Nicholas Winton for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Czech Embassy in London hosts birthday celebration for Sir Nicholas Winton

The Czech Embassy in London is hosting a celebration in honour of Sir Nicholas Winton’s 105th birthday on Monday. Sir Nicholas is expected to attend the event together with some of the 669 children whose lives he saved in an operation known as the Czech Kindertransport. His daughter, Barbara Winton, will present a new biography of her father called “ If it's Not Impossible…” exploring the motivation and early experiences that led him to save young lives when others looked the other way. There are around 6,000 people in the world today who owe their lives to Sir Nicholas Winton, descendants of the children whose lives he saved. An exhibition of photographs on Prague’s Kampa Island also maps Sir Winton’s brave deed.

Ruling parties finalizing draft law on the civil service

The three parties of the ruling coalition are to meet on Monday to finalize the details of a draft law on the civil service. The bill, which will set down rules governing the civil service and determine the status of the country’s 80 thousand or so civil service employees, should help secure a professional efficient and non-corrupt administration. The Czech Republic is the only EU member state which has so far failed to implement such a legislation, which has elicited strong criticism from Brussels.

PM wants more money for civil servants

Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka has said he will push for civil servants to get a salary increase higher than the 2.5 percent proposed by Finance Minister Andrej Babiš. Salary hikes for civil servants in 2015 have become an issue of controversy between the two biggest coalition partners, the Social Democrats and ANO, with the Social Democrats trying to make good on their generous election promises, and ANO, which controls the finance ministry, pushing for greater fiscal restraint. The junior partner in the centre-left coalition the Christian Democrats have so far failed to take a stand. The matter is to be debated at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting.

Finance Ministry launches spring issue of government bonds

The Czech Finance Ministry on Monday launched its spring issue of government bonds worth about 5 billion Czech crowns. It is offering investors three different maturities. Interest in the bonds is said to be considerable. The ministry, which has spring and autumn bond sales, plans to issue 20 to 50 billion crowns worth of retail bonds in 2014. The gross borrowing need for this year is expected to be 400 billion crowns. To date, the state has issued retail bonds worth 87.6 billion crowns or 5 percent of the overall state debt.

Food Inspection Office issues cherry tomato warning

The Czech Food Inspection Office has issued a health warning with regard to cherry tomatoes imported from Morocco which may cause indigestion, vomiting and stomach cramps. The warning comes from the French authorities where 16 people suffered severe indigestion problems after consuming this particular brand of cherry tomatoes. According to the Food Inspection Office over 50,000 kilos of these tomatoes were imported to the Czech Republic. They are being sold in the Kaufland, Billa and Penny Market chains. Potentially contaminated batches were sold after April 20th.

Painter and graphic artist Adriena Šimotová dies at 87

The renowned Czech painter and graphic artist Adriena Šimotová has died in Prague at the age of 87. Šimotová launched her career in the early 1960s to become one of the most distinguished artists on the Czech art scene during the latter half of the 20th century. Her early lyrical landscape motifs were later replaced by a single major theme - the human body. Her works included painting, textile collage, graphic art, drawing, frottage, installation and pigment drawing for which she won numerous foreign and Czech awards. Her works can be found in Tokyo, Paris or Stockholm.

Older Czechs at health risk due to fatty foods and inactivity

A three-year research project on the state of Czechs’ health conducted by Masaryk University concludes that poor eating habits and a lack of physical activity negatively affect people’s health as they grow older, with people over 50 at high risk. This concerns particularly natural age-related changes such as loss of muscle tissue, bone density and internal fat stored up around vital organs which progress faster due to a poor life-style. The research conducted on 3,000 people shows that Czechs over 50 generally get little physical activity, do not walk enough and often move at a slower pace than their fitter compatriots elsewhere.

Police searching for stolen bees

Police in the town of Mankovice are investigating a curious case –the theft of ten beehives complete with thousands of bees. Their owner said the hives had been stolen over the weekend from his cherry orchid. The damage is estimated at over 60 thousand crowns. It is the second bee theft in the region this year, and the forth case since 2011. None of the hives were ever traced.

Czech national hockey team beats Norway 1-0

The Czech national hockey team is close to reaching the quarter-finals of the ice hockey world championships after beating Norway 1-0 in Sunday night’s game at Chizhovka Arena. The only goal of the game was scored after 39 seconds, when Norway’s goaltender Steffen Soberg lost track of a rebound after a Tomáš Hertl shot from close distance. Vladimír Sobotka, trailing, picked up the puck and put it past the netminder. The win takes the Czech team up to 10 points, giving them an opportunity to secure third place in Group A with a win in Tuesday’s game against France.

18.5.2014 

Czech aid to flood victims in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Czech charity organizations have started collecting money in aid of flood victims in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina where the floods ravaged homes and claimed over 30 lives. The NGO People in Need has already earmarked one million crowns in emergency aid to the region. The Czech Republic has likewise sent a group of nine firefighters to Serbia to help with the rescue effort.

Swollen rivers subsiding around the country

Water levels are returning to normal in the northern areas of the Czech Republic where persistent rain put emergency crews on flood alert in the night hours. Likewise swollen rivers in Moravia and Silesia, are reported to have subsided. Although there was no serious flooding as a result of the adverse weather, two people may have lost their lives in the country’s swollen rivers. A raft with four crew members, who risked their lives on the river Lubina, overturned on Saturday and one person is still missing. The second incident was reported from south Bohemia where police on Sunday recovered the body of a woman from a river close to her home.

Czech Prime Minister: Terezín is a memento of the extremities of which civilized Europe is capable

Speaking at an annual memorial ceremony on the site of the former Terezín concentration camp in central Bohemia on Sunday, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said the Nazi concentration camp was a memento of the extremities of which the civilized world was capable under the influence of nationalism, racism and xenophobia. He warned against turning a blind eye to these tendencies in present-day Europe and said politicians must be wary of the conditions in which extremism flourishes. The ceremony at Terezín was traditionally attended by politicians, church dignitaries, war veterans and members of the public. Around 155,000 Jews were interned at Terezín during the war years; two-thirds of them did not survive the war.

TOP 09 and Civic Democrats to cooperate in Senate elections

The centre-right TOP 09 party and the Civic Democrats have agreed on close cooperation in the autumn elections to the Senate. While the parties will maintain separate ballots, they have established a strategy to bolster the chances of right-wing candidates in traditionally left-oriented regions by only fielding one candidate –either from the Civic Democrats or TOP 09 - in these electorates. The left-wing Social Democrats will be defending two dozen seats in the Senate elections and by this selective strategy the center-right parties are hoping to change the balance of power in the currently left-dominated Senate.

Police say drivers on drugs becoming serious problem

A growing number of traffic accidents on Czech roads is caused by drivers on drugs, police president Tomáš Tuhý said in a debate on Czech Television on Sunday. According to police statistics since 2010 50 people killed on Czech roads were victims of accidents involving drug abuse. The police president said traffic police had intensified check-ups in this respect, but were being hampered by a lack of funds. He said the aim was for every officer on the road to be equipped to detect drug abuse. In 2010 the police registered 527 cases of drivers on drugs, mainly on crystal methamphetamine; they registered the same number in the first quarter of this year. Last weekend an officer was killed by a driver on crystal methamphetamine.

Mortgage payments slicing off a third of people’s incomes

Mortgage payments on average slice off a third of people’s incomes in the Czech Republic, with Prague inhabitants paying up to three times as much as people in other parts of the country, according to data collected by Golem Finance and released by the Czech Statistics Office. Mortgages in Prague amount to three fifths of the borrower’s income, followed by mortgages in south Bohemia which slice off 32 percent on average. The cheapest mortgages are in the Ustí region north of Prague, which only amount to 12 percent of a borrower’s income on average.

Czech Radio marks 91 years of regular radio broadcasting

Czech Radio is marking 91 years since the start of regular radio broadcasting in the country. The country’s first radio operator Radiojurnal went on air on May 18th, 1923, broadcasting from a military tent in Prague’s Kbely district. At first the long-wave broadcasts lasted for just one hour a day and consisted of a brief lead-in and a concert. The country's broadcasting pioneers were journalist Miloš Čtrnáctý, businessman Eduard Svoboda, and Ladislav Šourek, director of Radioslavia – a company that distributed radio receivers. In December 1924 Radiojournal moved from the tent in Kbely to a building on today's Vinohradská Street in the centre of Prague. Czechoslovakia was the second European country after the UK to have regular radio broadcasting.

Rolls-Royce and Bentley get-together

About 300 fans of Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars attended the first Czech meeting of these luxury vehicles in a park in Dubec, Prague´s eastern neighbourhood on Saturday, the ctk news agency reported. Thirty-five Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars were on show, including veteran cars from the inter-war period, post-war as well as modern limousines. The event attracted participants from neighbouring Germany, Austria and Slovakia. According to statistics released by the Czech Automotive Industry Association 65 Rolls-Royces and over 300 Bentleys are currently registered in the Czech Republic.

17.5.2014 

Water levels returning to normal

A state of flood alert has been called off in all parts of the country as water levels in Moravia and Silesia returned to normal overnight. Gale-force winds and heavy rain over the past 48 hours put emergency crews on stand-by with fire crews in the eastern parts of the country reporting over 100 emergency calls since Thursday. No serious damage or loss of life has been reported.

MPs get bePROUD prize for supporting minority rights

A group of two dozen MPs from across the political spectrum received the 2013 bePROUD prize for supporting minority rights. The prize was awarded in recognition of their joint effort to push through legislation which would enable gay and lesbian couples to adopt their partner’s child. The draft legislation tabled shortly before the lower house was disbanded to open the way for early elections late last year failed to win approval. The 2013 anti-prize went to psychologist Jeroným Klimeš for “spreading stereotypes and homophobic statements about the gay and lesbian community”.

Czech Republic will try to access EU funds to subsidize eco-heating on broader scale

The Czech Republic will try to access EU funds to subsidize eco-friendly pellet stoves that will reduce pollution in areas where coal burning is the main form of heating, according to Environment Minister Richard Brabec. Minister Brabec said the ministry would strive to get the equivalent of nine billion crowns for this purpose between 2014 and 2020 which could finance around 150,000 eco-stoves. The money would be used predominantly in the most polluted eastern parts of the country where air-pollution is a massive problem. So far these subsidies have been funded from government funds to the tune of 220 million crowns.

Nation-wide clean-up of illegal dumping sites

Thousands of volunteers have been taking part in a nation-wide clean-up operation of illegal dumping sites. Due to an internet website volunteers have mapped over 3,000 of these illegal dumping sites and thousands of people responded to calls from local municipalities to assist in an annual clean-up operation. Over three hundred municipalities have signed up to the project.

Miner dies in cave-in

A forty-six-year-old miner died in a cave-in in the Centrum mine in the Most region. Severní Energetická, the company that operates the mine, confirmed the death on Saturday, extending condolences to the victim’s family and friends. The accident is being investigated and the company has refused to speculate about the possible cause of the cave-in. The respective mine has been in operation for 120 years and is currently being prepared for closure.

Three Czech mountaineers saved on Seewand in Austria

Three Czech mountain climbers who ignored bad weather warnings and attempted the Seewand Climb in the Austrian Alps were rescued in an extensive emergency operation in the early hours of Saturday, the APA news agency reported. The trio set out despite high wind and heavy rain and got into trouble half-way up the rock. Two dozen mountain service rescuers were involved in the operation. One of the mountaineers was transported to hospital with hypothermia.

Czechs lose to Denmark at IHWC

The Czech national hockey team lost to Denmark 4:3 at the Ice Hockey World Championships in Minsk on Saturday in a dramatic game. The Czech squad went ahead early on in the first quarter with Jakub Klepiš and Jaromír Jágr scoring in quick succession. The Danes responded with a fast, aggressive game scoring their first goal before the end of the first quarter. A third goal from Jakub Kyndl in the third quarter briefly gave the Czechs a two score lead but hopes of a secure victory were unexpectedly dashed by a dramatic second and third goal from Denmark just four minutes before the end of the game. The game was decided in a penalty shootout. The Czech squad was dogged by health problems with several players fighting off flu symptoms and Tomáš Hertl out of the game against Denmark for health reasons.

16.5.2014 

Czech Republic leases Swedish Gripens until 2027

Czech and Swedish defence ministry officials signed an addendum on Friday to an existing contract renewing the lease of 14 Gripen fighter jets to the Czech Republic until 2027, with an extra two-year option. The contract was signed at the air base in Čáslav, east of Prague. From 2015 to 2027 the Czech government will pay 21.4 billion crowns for the supersonic planes; the yearly lease is will one-third lower than it was until now. The Czech Defence Minister, Martin Stropnický, called the deal a fair one.

Defense minister: Ukraine crisis a threat to EU & NATO security

The current crisis in Ukraine represents a serious security risk for both the European Union and NATO, the Czech Defense Minister Martin Stopnický has said. Speaking at a meeting in Bratislava, he stressed it would be necessary to increase defense spending; he also made clear he strongly supported increased military cooperation by the Visegrad countries, backing a plan to form a joint combat unit of up to 4,000 soldiers by 2016. Earlier this week, the defense minister caused a major stir at home when he suggested NATO troops might be less than welcome on Czech soil, especially by those who still remembered the historic occupation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet troops. Mr Stropnický came under fire from the opposition as well as members of the government and was forced to backtrack. He put forward a declaration in the lower house emphasising the Czech Republic’s commitment to NATO and common defense.

Security council convened over Russian threat to natural gas deliveries

Czech prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka has called a meeting of the State Security Council on May 20. The meeting will focus on the Czech Republic’s ability to cover its natural gas needs and help out near neighbours Slovakia and Hungary if Russian gas supplies are halted. Fears that Russian supplies to central and western Europe could be cut in June if Ukraine does not pay its debts for past deliveries were raised at a security conference in Bratislava by Slovak prime minister Robert Fico. Fico cited a warning letter from Russian president Vladimir Putin. Russia has said the warning applies to gas exports to Ukraine and not the rest of Europe.

President: halt of gas supplies not a direct threat

In related news, a potential halt of supplies of natural gas from Russia via Ukraine does not pose a direct threat for the Czech Republic as there are other supply routes, President Miloš Zeman said at the end of his three-day visit to the Plzeň region on Friday. According to Zeman, the Czech Republic has full reserves as well as the possibility to use alternative routes of gas supplies, citing the Nord Stream, Gazela and Ingolstadt pipelines. The president also expressed the view that the Ukraine crisis would not last overly long.

Ivo Rittig reported as key figure in Civic Democrat scandals

Czech lobbyist and businessman Ivo Rittig has been identified as the main paymaster in the scandal surrounding former prime ministerial aide Jana Nagyová and attempts to sideline Civic Democrat (ODS) party rebels, the daily Mladá Fronta Dnes reported on Friday. The paper said the main players and events in the scandal which brought down the centre-right government of Petr Nečas in June 2013 have been outlined by the state prosecutor in the case. Rittig is described as being ready to pay millions of crowns to three ODS rebels ready to bring down the government in a rebellion over tax changes. Rittig was also paying Nagyová, according to the prosecution dossier. Nagyová’s alleged misuse of the state security system to spy on the prime minister’s wife sparked the government’s fall. She later married Nečas.

Police charge three from Czech Export Bank

Police have charged three people from the Czech Export Bank in connection with the financing of a construction project in Tunisia, Lidové noviny reported Friday, citing the High State Attorney’s Office in Prague. The bank provided 331 million crowns in financing to a Tunisian investor, M.F.M., to develop hundreds of new luxury apartments in Tunisia, to be built by the Czech firm PSJ. The project stalled as a result of technical problems as well as changes under the Arab Spring. After it halted financing, the Czech Export Bank discovered it had none of the usual guarantees or collateral. According to Lidové noviny, PSJ is to trying to salvage the project.

Poll: Social Democrats would come third in European elections

A new poll conducted by Herzmann and Data Collect suggests that if the elections to the European Parliament were held today, the Social Democrats, who head the current centre-left government, would finish third – behind fellow coalition partners ANO and centre-right opposition party TOP 09. Others who would see success include the Communists, newcomers Dawn, and the Civic Democrats. Herzmann and Data Collect conducted the poll between May 9 and 13, questioning more than 500 likely voters.

Strong winds, rain hit state-owned forests hard

Strong winds and heavy rainfall in the Czech Republic have caused extensive damage to forestland belonging to the state-owned forestry firm Lesy ČR, affecting an estimated 150,000 cubic metres of wood. The amount represents 2 percent of wood felled annually in state forests. Forests in the areas of Moravia-Silesia, Zlín and Olomouc were the hardest hit, Lesy ČR has revealed. The financial cost has not yet been tabulated.

Study suggests fewer meals could be beneficial for some patients

The Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKEM), based in Prague, has completed a study suggesting that fewer meals per day could benefit some diabetes sufferers, going against conventional wisdom regarding the disease. Under the study, the institute found that only two meals per day, compared to the six small servings recommended now, had positive results. Those tested had gotten diabetes after failing to lose weight and to foster better eating habits and a healthy lifestyle. In all, 54 patients, in two groups, took part in the study. A representative from the diabetes clinic told the Czech News Agency that the recommendation of six small servings remains unchanged; other studies will have to be undertaken to confirm or counter the IKEM findings.

Hockey: national squad to play twice at weekend

The Czech national hockey team, backstopped by goalie Alexander Salák, will face Denmark and Norway at the ice hockey worlds at the weekend. Both matches are crucial to clinching a spot in the quarterfinals. Questions remain about who will get the start in offence, as members of the team have been hit by stomach flu or have come down with colds. Tomáš Hertl, Jiří Hudler and Vladimír Sobotka are all doubtful for the next match. The Czech squad is currently third in Group A, behind Sweden and Canada.

15.5.2014 

Former prime minister’s advisor facing corruption charge over Austrian armoured car purchase: report

The Supreme State Attorney’s Office in Prague on Thursday said it had pressed charges in a corruption case involving the purchase of armoured transporters for the Czech army from the Austrian arms company Steyr. Public service broadcaster Czech Television reported that the man charged with corruption is former Czech prime minister Mirek Topolánek’s infamous right hand man, Marek Dalík. Dalík has been investigated by police on suspicion that he demanded a payment of 500 million crowns to make sure that the lucrative order for 107 vehicles was won by the Austrian firm. The deal was eventually signed in 2009. Dalík served as Topolánek’s advisor between 2006 and 2009. The maximum sentence for corruption in such a case would be 10 years.

Czech PM: Greater cooperation on defense needed among V4 countries

The Visegrad 4 (comprising the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia) should increase cooperation on defense, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said on Thursday at a V4 meeting in Bratislava. Mr Sobotka stressed that NATO was the pillar of security in eastern and central Europe; the alliance has gained new urgency and purpose following Russia’s military intervention in Crimea and the amassment of Russian troops on Ukraine’s border. Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he was in favour of a larger NATO presence – some 3,000 to 4,000 troops – on the alliance’s eastern border by 2016. Earlier this week, the Czech defence minister, Martin Stropnický, fumbled an interview with Reuters when he suggested a majority of Czechs would be unhappy with foreign troops on the ground, as they still remembered Soviet troops in the country after 1968. He later shifted his position, putting forward a declaration reaffirming the Czech Republic’s commitment to NATO. The declaration passed in the lower house on Wednesday.

Prague looking for power generation cover in case of black out

Prague city council leaders say they are weighing up the possibility of installing fast start-up electricity generation capacity to cover the possibility of a power black out in the capital. Prague mayor Tomáš Hudeček said the possibility of capacity to cover around a third of Prague’s electricity needs was being looked into following the results of February exercises which showed serious shortcomings in the city’s readiness. The mayor said he hoped that state funding might be forthcoming to cover the costs of such emergency power which might total up to a billion crowns.

Andrej Babiš StB agent libel cases reopens in Bratislava

The court case pitting ANO party leader and current Czech minister of finance Andrej Babiš and the Slovak Nation’s Memory Institute, which keeps the archives of the former Communist era secret police, continued in Bratislava on Thursday. Babiš launched the court proceedings in an attempt to clear his name after the institute said he was identified as having been signed up as a police agent under the cover name Bureš. During the previous court session in mid-April a former top StB police officer said Babiš had not been recruited in the 1980’s and a reported meeting never took place. The director of the Slovak institute told Czech Television on Thursday that references to Bureš featured on 12 separate occasions in the archives and it was inconceivable that the case had been fabricated.

Czech pupils score worse in school leaving exams

Czech school leavers performed worse in their written tests this year than last, according to results announced by the education ministry. Around 24 percent of the around 87,500 pupils taking the end of high school exams in maths failed. Failure rates for other subjects were much lower with foreign languages at 3.6 percent and Czech language at 2.7 percent with the overall failure rate at 11 percent. Last year the failure rate for maths was just over 20 percent with lower figures also for foreign languages and Czech as well. Minister of Education Marcel Chládek has pledged to improve the teaching of maths in schools and the training of maths teachers. He also wants to find some way of making maths compulsory as ever greater number of pupils are giving priority to other subjects at its expense.

New book titles increase in 2013 but sector still struggling with higher VAT rate

Almost 17,900 new book titles were published in the Czech Republic in 2013, an increase of around 600 on the previous year, the Czech News Agency reported on Thursday. The figures coincide with the opening of the Czech Republic’s flagship annual book fair, Book World, in Prague on Thursday. New titles peaked in the Czech Republic in 2011 with almost 19,000 being published. Since then the sector has been hit by the imposition of a higher rate of Value Added Tax rate on books and increased costs. The current centre-left coalition government has promised to put books back into a lower VAT band.

Halík collects Templeton Prize at London ceremony

The Czech Roman Catholic cleric Tomáš Halík has received the Templeton Prize in London. The presentation ceremony took place at the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields on the city’s Trafalgar Square on Wednesday evening. The Templeton Prize, which goes for “progress toward research or discoveries about spiritual realities”, comes with a monetary award of about USD 1.8 million; Monsignor Halík has said he will put the money into initiatives aimed at boosting dialogue between believers and atheists.

Zeman: If Gross has found Jesus, he should give away wealth

President Miloš Zeman says that if former prime minister Stanislav Gross has found religion, he should give away his fortune. Mr. Gross recently said that he had accepted Christ and apologised to those he had disappointed. Speaking in a radio interview on Wednesday, Mr. Zeman said if he had genuinely become religious he should pay heed to Jesus’s instruction to a rich young man to sell his property, give to the poor and follow him. The president said this was unlikely to happen. Mr. Gross was once Europe’s youngest prime minister but quit politics after questions arose over how he had financed his flat. He later became extremely wealthy through the sale of shares.

Tennis: Berdych to return for Davis Cup semi-final

The Czech men’s tennis team has gotten a boost with new that the country’s top player, Tomáš Berdych, will join the team in its semi-final against France in September. The player changed course after withdrawing earlier this year to focus on his singles career. The semi-final is to be played over three days at Roland Garros stadium in Paris. Berdych was part of the Davis Cup winning team last year and in 2012. In 2011, the Czechs beat Spain and last year, Serbia. Italy faces Switzerland in the other semi-final.

High winds and heavy rainfall expected in east of country

High winds and heavy rain are expected to batter northeast Moravia and Moravia and Silesia from Thursday afternoon until midday Saturday. The Czech weather office warns that up to 120 millimetres of rain could fall over the 48 hour period. The height of major rivers in the region such as the Bečva, Odra, and Morava could rise to the lowest flood alert levels with smaller streams sparking much higher level three alerts, the office said.