Copyright (c) 2008 Radio Prague (Cesky Rozhlas 7 - Radio Praha)
News Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
By: Ian Willoughby
* After a sharp fall on the Prague Stock Exchange on Tuesday morning,
prices at the close of trading were not far below those on Monday
evening.
* The cabinet is considering financial compensation for people who were
not allowed to study at university following the communist takeover of
1948.
* The Czech foreign minister says a project to renovate the Bohemian
National Hall in New York has on the whole been a success.
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Share prices seesaw but remain almost exactly at Monday levels
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Shares on the Prague Stock Exchange seesawed on Tuesday. In the first
trading since US lawmakers rejected a proposed financial rescue deal,
share prices on the main PX index tumbled by 6 percent on Tuesday
morning. However, the decline in share values was later reversed, and
prices at the close of trading were just 0.07 percent below those on
Monday evening.
The Czech National Bank reiterated on Tuesday that the Czech economy
was relatively isolated from the ongoing financial crisis, saying there
was no reason for disquiet.
Banks in the Czech Republic have started limiting the repayment period
for loans to one another to a week, the newspaper Hospodarske noviny
reported. However, Czech banks have enough cash to finance themselves,
by contrast with those in a number of other countries. One analyst told
Hospodarske noviny the worst banks in the Czech Republic could expect
was a slow-down in profits.
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Cabinet to discuss compensation for those barred from studying after
communist takeover
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The cabinet is to discuss financial compensation for people who were
not allowed to study at university following the communist takeover of
Czechoslovakia in 1948. The amount they could receive will be discussed
by ministers on Wednesday, the head of the government's legislative
council, Cyril Svoboda, told reporters. Mr Svoboda said only those who
were barred from third level education in the years 1948 to 1953 (or
possibly 1956) would be eligible for compensation. He said those
would-be students met the cruellest fates, as they were sent to prison
or into forced labour; in later years the communist state did not mete
out such harsh treatment, he said. Mr Svoboda said the proposal could
affect hundreds of now elderly people. Over 10,000 students and
academics were thrown out of Czechoslovakia's universities within a
year of the communist takeover.
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Schwarzenberg: Bohemian National Hall project success on whole
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The Czech foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, says a project to
renovate the Bohemian National Hall in New York has on the whole been a
success. Speaking in the city a month ahead of the building's official
opening, Mr Schwarzenberg said, however, that the work could have been
done more quickly and more cheaply. The Czech state took control of the
building on the Upper East Side in 2001 and since then has invested
several hundred million crowns in its complete renovation. The Czech
Centre, the Czech general consulate and other Czech bodies will make
their homes in the Bohemian National Hall once it opens in mid-October.
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Havel honoured for role in unification of Germany and Europe
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Former Czech president Vaclav Havel has received a German award for his
part in the unification of Germany and Europe. Mr Havel was presented
with the Point-Alpha Prize at the German Embassy in Prague on Tuesday.
It is named after a Cold War era US military observation post on the
border between East and West Germany. Mr Havel led the Velvet
Revolution in Czechoslovakia and became president of the country in
1990.
On Tuesday, Prague's Germany Embassy also marked the 19th anniversary
of the first wave of East Germans fleeing to the west through the
embassy in 1989.
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Czech Republic to donate over USD 8.5 million to Georgia
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The Czech Republic is planning to donate at least CZK 150 million (over
USD 8.5 million) to Georgia, Deputy Foreign Minister Tomas Pojar said
at a seminar on the situation in the country on Tuesday. The actual sum
to be donated will be made clear at a donors' conference in Brussels in
October, Mr Pojar said. The Czech Republic has been critical of Russia
regarding the recent conflict in the Caucuses, and was one of the
initiators of the conference to raise aid for Georgia.
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Czech government against EU plan for free fruit and vegetables in
schools
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The Czech government is opposed to an EU plan to give free fruit and
vegetables to schoolchildren, the minister of agriculture, Petr
Gandalovic, said on Tuesday. However, if the European Commission
succeeds in having the project (which is aimed at fighting child
obesity) accepted, the Czech Republic will take part, Mr Gandalovic
said. Individual countries would have to pay for the fruit and
vegetables given out in their school system. Two weeks ago the Czech
Senate said a campaign to promote healthy eating would be a better
approach than actually handing out fruit and veg.
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Wind power to increase seven-fold next year
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There should be a seven-fold increase in the amount of electricity
produced by wind power stations in the Czech Republic next year,
Stanislav Travnicek of the country's energy regulation office said at a
conference on Tuesday. When output increases from the current 100
gigawatts a year to 700 gigawatts a year in 2009, wind power will
account for almost one percent of the electricity produced in the Czech
Republic
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Coughing heard in one of four new recordings of national anthem
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One of four new recordings of the Czech national anthem made on the
initiative of the Czech prime minister, Mirek Topolanek, includes the
sound of somebody coughing, Lidove noviny reported. The newspaper said
it appeared sound engineers had not noticed the coughing during the
version of the anthem performed by opera singer Adam Plachetka. The
mistake was noticed by a listener who downloaded the music from the
internet.
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Weather
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It should be quite cloudy with some rain over the next few days.
Temperatures are expected to reach up to 17 degrees Celsius.
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Articles posted on www.radio.cz today
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Current Affairs
Former president Havel receives Point Alpha Award
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The former Czech president Vaclav Havel has just been awarded the
German Point Alpha Prize for his contribution to German, and European,
unification. Tuesday's ceremony did not take place at the usual venue -
the former border between East and West Germany - but at the German
Embassy in Prague. The embassy itself has also been marking an
important chapter in its own history.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/108799
Current Affairs
Agreement paving the way for first Czechoslovak state to go on display
in Prague
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In less than one month, the Czech Republic will mark an historic
anniversary: 90 years since the founding of Czechoslovakia. To
commemorate this day, the Czech Senate has put the original of the
Pittsburgh Agreement, a document that created the basis for the new
state, on display. On Monday, the US ambassadors to the Czech Republic
and Slovakia presented the document to the head of the Czech Senate,
Premysl Sobotka. Ruth Frankova has the details.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/108798
Current Affairs
Major glass producer axes two of its plants to stay afloat
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A long tradition of Bohemian glass making almost came to an end on
Monday when Bohemia Crystalex Trading, the Czech Republic's largest
producer of glass, was left little choice but to consider closing down
all of its four plants due to severe financial difficulties. But late
Monday evening, the company struck a deal with its creditors, buying
time to seek investors who could save the glassworks from going under.
The deal has come at a price: two of its facilities will still close
down.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/108797
Talking Point
The long shadow of the Munich Agreement
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I'm standing in the exhibition hall of the Czech Senate and in front of
me is an official copy of the Munich Agreement, the notorious 1938
document that ceded the Sudeten territories in Czechoslovakia to Nazi
Germany. It is a four page document that is written in German, with a
series of numbered points on it. At the bottom of the document are the
clearly visible signatures of Adolf Hitler, Neville Chamberlain and
Benito Mussolini and French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier. But this
act of appeasement didn't work and ended up leading to the Second World
War and that it the subject of this week's Talking Point.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/108781
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