Copyright (c) 2010 Radio Prague (Cesky Rozhlas 7 - Radio Praha)
News Monday, March 1st, 2010
By: Christian Falvey
* A court has ruled that the Czech Republic's oldest prisoner, Ludmila
Brozova-Polednova, should be released based on amnesties given in
previous years.
* The head of the Czech Olympic Committee has praised Czech athletes
for their performance at the 21st Winter Olympic Games.
* The internationally acclaimed art historian Anna Farova has died at
the age of 81.
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Lidovky.cz: court rules amnesties apply to Brozova-Polednova
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The District Court of Hradec Kralove has ruled that amnesties given in
previous years apply to the Czech Republic's oldest prisoner, Dr.
Ludmila Brozova-Polednova. The court made the decision last week in a
closed hearing and it was reported by the website Lidovky.cz on Monday.
According to the website, the court's spokesman said that, due to
previous presidential and governmental amnesties, Dr. Brozova-Polednova
must be absolved of six years of her sentence, which equals the term to
which she was sentenced. The verdict is not yet effective; the state
prosecutor in Hradec Kralove has filed an appeal and the case will be
dealt with by the Supreme Court in Prague.
The 88-year-old former communist prosecutor was imprisoned in 2009 for
the judicial murder of Milada Horakova, a politician executed by the
communist regime in 1950 after a show trial. Her attorney says the case
is also being reviewed by the European Court for Human Rights in
Strasbourg.
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Czech Olympic Committee chairman praises Czech athletes
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The head of the Czech Olympic Committee, Milan Jirasek, has praised
Czech athletes for their performance at the 21st Winter Olympic Games.
Overall, the Czechs won two gold and four bronze medals in Vancouver:
the most successful was speed skater Martina Sablikova, who clinched
gold in the 3,000 and 5,000 metre races, while cross-country skier
Lukas Bauer got bronze in the Men's 15 kilometre freestyle and men's
4x10 kilometre relay. Sarka Zahrobska won her bronze medal - her first
at the Olympics - in difficult conditions in the women's slalom.
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Bauer disappoints with 12th place in 50 km classic
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In other Olympic news, Bauer finished in 12th place, almost 14 seconds
off the leader and well outside the medals in the Men's 50 kilometre
Classic on Sunday at the Winter Olympic Games. During the race, the
Czech skier was involved in a crash with other competitors; in the
final five kilometres he attempted to move ahead but was unable to gain
any ground on his closest rivals. The race was won by Norway's Petter
Northug. The 21st Olympic Games wrapped up in Vancouver, Canada on
Sunday night; the next Winter Games are to take place in Sochi, Russia,
in four years' time.
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Acclaimed art historian Anna Farova dies at 81
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The internationally acclaimed art historian Anna Farova has died. The
daily Mlada fronta Dnes was the first to report on Monday that Ms
Farova had passed away at the weekend after a difficult illness; she
was 81 years old. Anna Farova is considered a pioneer in studying
photography as a fine art, devoting more than 50 years of her life to
the field. From 1970 she headed the Museum of Decorative Arts until she
was forced out by the communist regime for signing the human rights
petition Charter 77. In the 1980s she published widely in the West and
her publications were credited with bringing Czech photography to
international attention, popularising renowned photographers such as
Josef Sudek and Frantisek Drtikol. Her work won her a number of
important honours from the Czech Republic to the United States,
including an Order of Arts and Letters in France and a Medal of Merit
awarded by Vaclav Havel in 2002.
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Klaus will veto bill to raise maternal benefits
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The Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, has said he will veto the
reinstatement of full maternity benefits, recently passed by the
Chamber of Deputies. Speaking at a press conference for the launch of
his new book, Mr Klaus repeated on Monday that he will not sign any
bill that would increase the state budget deficit. Left-wing parties
helped by the Greens managed to push the benefits through Parliament
last week in the face of opposition from the government as well as the
centre-right parties. Maternal benefits were reduced in 2009 as part of
the government's austerity package, and the lower-house move to
reinstate them will still have to go through the Senate, where the
centre-right parties hold a small majority, before reaching Mr Klaus'
desk.
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US helicopter manufacturer buys Czech company Aviation Service
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The US helicopter manufacturer Bell Helicopter Textron has purchased
the Czech company Aviation Service. The price of the deal was not
released. Aviation Service specialises in aircraft repairs and
supplying aviation systems for civil and military customers and has
annual sales of roughly 14 million dollars. Bell Helicopter's director,
John Garrison, said that the primary aim of the purchase was to acquire
a foundation for the company's further growth in to building new
airplanes. Textron is a military defence contractor which deals with
manufacturing airplanes and products, and is best known for their
Cessna brand.
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Low-level flood warnings expand across the country
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Meteorologists have issued low-level flood warnings on 26 rivers around
the Czech Republic, as melting snow caused by the high temperatures of
recent days continues to raise water levels. The Trebuvka in Moravia is
now under a 2nd degree (mid-level) warning. Elsewhere 1st degree alerts
are in place in other parts of the country, including the Elbe River in
northern Bohemia. This winter saw snowfall within norms, specialists
have said, but a higher concentration in cities like the Czech capital,
where snow only began disappearing with the coming of milder conditions
in recent days.
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Nearly 50% rise in counterfeit currency in 2009
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The Czech National Bank reported on Monday that 6,853 counterfeit and
altered banknotes and coins were uncovered in 2009, nearly 50% more
than in the previous year. Czech currency comprised more than half of
that number, with the 1,000-crown note being the most frequently
counterfeited. The total value of the forgeries uncovered in 2009
amounted to roughly five million crowns as opposed to 2.3 million the
year before. The vast majority of the banknotes were printed on ink jet
printers. Nonetheless, the bank pointed out that Czech currency is
comparatively very safe, with one forgery per 97,500 found in 2009
compared to one per 14,000 in the EU.
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Percent of foreigners born in the Czech Republic tripled since mid '90s
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The percentage of children born to foreigners in the Czech Republic has
tripled since the mid-1990s. According to a report by the Czech
Statistical Office, the percent of foreigners born in the Czech
Republic was 2.23 in 2008 compared with 0.69 in 1995. The overall
number of foreigners has also climbed, with their constituting 4.2% of
the population in 2009 as opposed to just slightly more than 2% in
1997. The rate of foreigners in the Czech Republic remains below the
average for the European Union as a whole, where foreigners comprise
almost 6% of the population. The highest rate is in Luxembourg, where
40% of the population are foreigners.
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Railway accidents claim 39 lives in first two months of 2010
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The Railway Inspectorate says that 39 people have died in accidents
involving trains since the beginning of the year. The number marks an
increase of one third compared with the same period last year. The
Czech Press Agency says that a meeting of experts and officials at the
beginning of February ended with no clear reasons for the increase in
fatalities. 28 people over the last two months succumbed to injuries
after being hit by trains, another 11 died in the 67 accidents that
occurred on railroad crossings. According to the inspectorate, only a
fraction of the accidents can be put down to a fault of the trains,
with the vast majority of accidents carelessness on the part of
pedestrians or drivers.
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Weather
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Conditions over the coming days are expected to be mostly cloudy with
daytime highs of around 7o Celsius.
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Articles posted on www.radio.cz today
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Current Affairs
Sablikova's success reopens debate on building of special speed skating
arena
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The historic success of Martina Sablikova at the Winter Olympics has
revived a debate on whether a dedicated speed skating arena should be
built in the Czech Republic. The mayor of the town where Sablikova
lives says a backer may soon be found for such a hall, which the state
would have to maintain. But some say that would waste public money on
an extremely marginal sport.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/125520
Current Affairs
President Klaus' new book looks back at eventful year 2009
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The year 2009 was an eventful time for President Vaclav Klaus. He
chaired several EU summits during the country's presidency of the bloc,
and he was the last man standing against the EU's Lisbon treaty. On
Monday, Vaclav Klaus launched a new book entitled Year Seven,
reflecting his views of the events of that year.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/125519
Current Affairs
Czech Doctors' Chamber issues guidelines on treatment of terminally ill
patients
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Deciding when to stop treating terminally ill patients is an extremely
sensitive issue and until now, doctors have had to make this decision
alone and justify it to the patient's relatives. Now the Czech Doctors'
Chamber has issued a set of guidelines which should help them decide
when further treatment is futile. However the move has evoked
criticism, with critics pointing out that such guidelines can be abused.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/125518
One on One
Chinese prison camp victim and human rights activist Harry Wu
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In this week's One on One I talk to Chinese Human rights activist Harry
Wu. He survived 19 years in Chinese prison camps. Released during a
thaw in 1979, he was later invited to the United States where he became
a citizen. There he has devoted himself to uncovering details of the
Chinese labour camp system, risking a fresh term in the camps when he
went back to China in 1995. On the sidelines of a conference in Prague
about communist crimes, I asked him what he had been able to find out
about the Chinese camp system.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/125426
Sports News
Sports News 3.1.2010
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In Sports News this Monday: the 2010 Winter Olympics are the most
successful ever for the Czech Republic with two gold and four bronze
medals; Sarka Zahrobska is the last Czech to reach the podium following
a third-place finish in the women's slalom; after two bronze medals
(including one in the men's cross-country relay) skier Lukas Bauer
finishes way off the pace in the 50 kilometre classic; and Jablonec
extend their lead as the Czech football season resumes.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/125498
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