Copyright (c) 2008 Radio Prague (Cesky Rozhlas 7 - Radio Praha)
News Thursday, April 30th, 2009
By: Chris Johnstone
* Health officials are investigating 21 suspected cases of swine flu in
the Czech Republic.
* The Czech EU presidency has chaired a meeting of health ministers
over measures to counter the flu threat.
* Germany and Austria's plans to maintain labour market barriers have
been denounced by the EU presidency.
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Officials investigate 21 suspected cases of swine flu
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Health officials are still investigating 21 cases of suspected swine
flu in the Czech Republic after excluding three suspected cases, the
Ministry of Health announced on Thursday. The country's chief health
inspector Michael Vit told Czech Television on Thursday that another
four Czech tourists returning from Mexico had been isolated after
suffering high temperatures. Mr Vit said the country is well prepared
to deal with swine flu but added that he was pressing for increased
stocks of the antivirus and that regional plans for dealing with a
pandemic should be scrutinised.
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Czechs chair EU health ministers meeting over flu threat
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In related news, Czech health minister Daniela Filipiova chaired a
special meeting of EU health ministers to discuss the swine flu threat
on Thursday. The Luxembourg meeting was due to take stock of the threat
so far, steps taken by individual countries and what joint measures
should be adopted at an EU level. One of its main conclusions was not
to back a French call for a ban on flights to Mexico. The Czech
presidency of the EU has said it is convinced that coordinated EU steps
against swine flu are required. So far, the deadly virus has spread to
several EU states, including Czech neighbours Austria and Germany. The
World Health Organisation late Wednesday raised its assessment of the
risk of a pandemic from four to five, the penultimate level.
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Austrian and German labour barriers attacked
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The Czech EU presidency has attacked plans by Germany and Austria not
to open up their labour markets to citizens from new member states from
Central and Eastern Europe as unjustified. The two countries have said
they want to continue existing barriers which require would be workers
from eight countries including the Czech Republic to apply for work
permits until 2011. In a statement, the presidency pointed out that all
available data show that workers from these countries pose no threat to
the stability of the two countries labour markets, do not push down
local wages or endanger social cohesion. The plans by the two
countries, the last to retain work barriers after Belgium and Denmark
announced they would lift theirs, should be studied by the European
Commission.
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Czechs prepare to roll out film production incentives: press
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The Czech Republic is preparing to offer tax incentives for the first
time to domestic and foreign film companies according to the online
pages of the business daily E15. A proposed new film law would allow
companies to write off up to 20 percent of their spending in the
country, it says. The move is needed to stop the drift of film
production business and companies to the 11 EU countries already
offering such incentives. One major local company film production
mulling a move to Hungary is Stillking Films, the paper said.
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Industrial production drops by 17.5 percent in March
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Czech industrial production fell by 17.5 in March compared with the
same month a year earlier according to preliminary figures released by
the Czech Statistical Office. Adjusted to take into account the two
extra working days in March, the production fall is estimated at 20.9
percent. Production fell by 23.4 percent in February. The value of new
orders of the books of companies fell by 16.7 percent in March compared
with a year earlier.
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CSA pilots accept pay cuts for job guarantees
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Pilots at state run airline CSA have agreed to take a pay cut of around
6.0 percent. The cut was demanded by management because of the crisis
in the airline sector due to the economic downturn. The main pilots'
union says the pay cut is linked to guarantees over the number of pilot
jobs. Airline management have sacked 28 mechanics after they refused to
accept pay cuts. CSA is set to be privatised this year with Air
France-KLM and the partnership of Czech consortium Unimex and charter
group Travel Service in the running to take control.
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Finance Ministry outlines 2010 budget proposal
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The Czech Finance Ministry proposed on Thursday a 2010 budget which
counts on a budget deficit of 150 billion crowns or 7.52 billion
dollars. That represents 4.6 percent of Gross Domestic Product,
slightly higher than the ministry's most recent forecast and well
beyond the 3.0 percent ceiling for adoption of the euro. The budget
proposal counts on economic growth of 0.8 percent next year but warns
that tight budget discipline must be respected to keep within the
limit. This includes no increase in public sector wages and no
concession to demands from regional and local government for extra cash.
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Czech caretaker government hits cultural obstacle
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The creation of the Czech caretaker government has hit a last minute
hitch with a dispute over whose nominee should fill the post of
Minister of Culture. The post was originally earmarked for the
Christian Democrats but with the party not nominating candidates for
the government of experts a battle has erupted over who should fill the
post. From the outgoing centre-right coalition, the Civic Democrats and
Greens have put forward candidates as has the left wing Social
Democrats. Prime Minister designate, Jan Fischer, Thursday rejected a
call from the Greens that he convene a meeting of party leaders to
thrash out the issue. Meanwhile, Mr Fischer's target to name his
ministerial line-up by the end of the week appears in peril.
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Czech ice hockey team loses to Finns
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In ice hockey, the Czech team lost 3:4 in the world championship game
against Finland on Wednesday night. After taking a 3:1 lead, the under
strength Czechs were made to pay for the high number of fouls committed
during the game. It is the first defeat by the team in the
championships so far. The result left the Czechs second in group D and
facing a Thursday quarterfinal tie against the strong Canadians.
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Weather
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It will be mostly cloudy skies with the chance of showers today and
Friday. Daytime temperatures should peak at around 23 degrees Celsius.
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Articles posted on www.radio.cz today
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From the Archives
The Red Elvis in Havana
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When I first moved to Prague nearly two decades ago, Czech friends were
often amazed that I had never heard of the American singer, Dean Reed.
Dubbed the "Red Elvis", Reed was a household name throughout the
Eastern Bloc.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/115865
Czechs Today
Radim Jancura - founder and head of Student Agency, the Czech
Republic's most popular transport company
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If you happen to have travelled between Prague and Brno on the D1
motorway in recent years, you might have wondered why those large
yellow buses running between the two cities have Student Agency written
on them. If you thought that Czech students travel more frequently than
in other countries, you were wrong. Student Agency, now a multi-billion
business, is the Czech Republic's most popular transport company. In
this edition of Czechs Today, we talk to Radim Jancura, its founder and
sole owner.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/115855
Current Affairs
Wilson monument to be restored to Prague 70 years after being torn down
by Nazis
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For just under 15 years, from 1928 until 1941, a monument to the
American president Woodrow Wilson stood in front of Prague's main
railway station. It was a mark of gratitude to the man who played a
crucial role in the country's independence - it's hard to imagine the
creation of an independent Czechoslovakia in 1918 without Wilson and
his commitment to self-determination. In 1941, Wilson's statue was torn
down by the Nazis after Germany declared war on America. Now, almost 70
years later, a group called the American Friends of the Czech Republic
is spearheading a campaign to restore it. Earlier Radio Prague spoke to
the group's founder Robert Doubek from his home in Washington.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/115845
Current Affairs
Government moves to stamp out homophobia in schools
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Research conducted by the Czech charity People in Need two years ago
suggested that nearly three-quarters of school-age boys in this country
had a 'negative attitude' towards homosexuality. A recently published
European study indicates that that situation is not improving, and that
homophobia is still a widespread problem in Czech schools. In light of
the findings, the Czech government is producing a teachers' manual to
tackle the problem. Earlier, I spoke to Lucie Otahalova who is behind
the project. I asked her first about the scale of the problem faced:
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/115844
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