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Copyright (c) 2010 Radio Prague (Cesky Rozhlas 7 - Radio Praha)
News Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
By: Sarah Borufka
* The lower house has voted in favor of an amendment that would cancel
higher taxation of employee benefits and overturned a Senate veto.
* The transport union has apologized for homophobic remarks made by
trade unionist Jaromir Dusek at the weekend.
* A regional court has denied an appeal by a notorious communist-era
prosecutor to be freed on the grounds of amnesties.
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Government overturns Senate veto regarding taxation of employee benefits
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On Tuesday, the lower house of the Czech parliament overturned a veto
by the Senate regarding an amendment to the act on value added tax that
would cancel higher taxation of employee benefits. The final decision
is now up to President Vaclav Klaus, who already stated that he would
not sign the amendment. Should the change in law go through, it would
raise the state budget deficit by over 700 million Czech crowns. Last
week, transport union leaders threatened to go on a nation-wide strike
should the higher taxation of employee benefits not be cancelled. After
Prime Minister pushed through a decision in the unions' favor, the
Senate vetoed this decision.
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Transport union apologizes for its leader's homophobic remarks
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On Tuesday, the umbrella organization of transport unions apologized to
Gustav Slamecka, the Minister of Transport, for homophobic remarks made
by one of its leaders, Jaromir Dusek. In an open letter to the minister
the union said that Mr. Dusek's homophobic remarks damaged the image of
all members of the union and were offensive to all decent people. It
added that it hoped the incident would not damage relations between the
transport union and the ministry in the long run. On Monday, trade
unions publicly distanced themselves from Dusek's homophobic
statements. Dusek said in an interview for Saturday's Lidove Noviny
that the transport sector was run by a clique of homosexuals who had
people both in the cabinet and the office of the government.
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Well known communist-era prosecutor to remain in prison until final
appeal ruling
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A regional court on Tuesday denied an appeal by Ludmila
Brozova-Polednova, a communist-era prosecutor who is serving a six year
jail sentence for judicial murder, to be freed on the grounds of three
amnesties that apply to her case. Mrs. Brozova-Polednova can appeal the
regional court's decision at the Supreme Court in Prague, but will have
to remain in prison until the Supreme Court delivers a final ruling.
Her lawyer filed a request for her prison sentence to be cancelled last
week and says he has not yet been officially informed about the
negative decision.
Ludmila Brozova-Polednova, aged 88, is the first participant in the
communist era show trials that took place in the 1950s to be persecuted.
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Ministry of Defense to sell military airport and other properties
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The Czech Ministry of Defense is selling several properties that are no
longer in use, including a military airport in Central Bohemia, on sale
for 140 million Czech crowns. The Vsechov airport covers 407,000 square
meters of land and has a 2 kilometer landing strip. A large military
training ground and army barracks are also on offer. Following an
overhaul in the armed forces, the ministry is required by law to offer
properties it no longer uses to other state authorities at no charge
first, before it can advertise any such properties for sale.
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Czech Republic is the EU country with the highest number of illegal
methamphetamine laboratories
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The head of the anti-drug squad, Jakub Frydrych, said on Tuesday that
340 illegal methamphetamine laboratories were uncovered in the Czech
Republic last year. That is the highest number in any EU country, and
according to Frydrych, the actual number is likely much higher. The
anti-drug squad supports a change of law that would limit sale of
pseudo-ephedrine in pharmacies, a substance that is a crucial
ingredient in the production of methamphetamine. Neighboring countries
such as Germany and Poland already limit the sale of the substance.
Frydrych said that introducing strict limitations on the sale of the
prescription drug would send a signal to the Czech Republic's European
neighbors that the country is taking serious steps to cut down on
illegal methamphetamine production.
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Minister of European Affairs praises Czech ambassador to the EU
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Juraj Chmiel, the minister for European affairs, stated on Tuesday that
cooperation with the Czech ambassador to the EU, Milena Vicenova, was
very positive. He criticized the weekly Respekt for the manner in which
it reported on her possible dismissal on Monday. The minister's
statement comes shortly after Foreign Minister Jan Kohout dismissed
claims that the ambassador was to be fired for incompetence. Minister
Kohout, currently on a visit to Ethiopia, said that a change of guard
at ambassadorial posts was standard procedure and expressed regret that
the issue had been politicized in the press. He refused to disclose any
further details until his return. Ms. Vicenova's alleged dismissal was
confirmed indirectly by the two strongest parties on the Czech
political scene, the Civic and Social Democrats, who are at odds over
the plan. The centre right Civic Democrats, who nominated Ms Vicenova
to the post, even suggested her dismissal was an act of revenge by the
foreign minister who himself was dismissed from the same post by them a
few years ago.
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International police team targets human trafficking at Prague airport
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Police officers from Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and the Czech
Republic are currently performing increased controls at Prague's Ruzyne
airport in an effort to crack down on human trafficking. Since last
week, police have mainly been focusing on arrivals from third world
countries and looking for forged passports. Further details could not
be revealed, a police spokeswoman said on Tuesday. The controls are
part of an initiative of the European agency Frontex, an organization
seeking to increase cooperation between police officers in Europe.
Czech police officers participate in similar projects at airports
abroad.
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Czech Republic's infrastructure is below the EU average
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The Czech Republic's infrastructure lags behind the EU average,
according to an analysis published by the Ministry of Industry and
Trade. The analysis points to poor quality roads, energy and
telecommunication infrastructures as possible factors in slowing down
economic development in the Czech Republic. The country ranks 19th in
terms of quality of overall infrastructure and it placed 79th for
quality of roads and motorways. The percentage of the population that
uses broad-band internet is also below the EU average. The ministry has
recommended investments into new high-speed railway lines to improve
the country's transport capacity. As far as energy transmission is
concerned, the ministry stated that connections to German and Austrian
systems had to be improved.
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Czech prime minister enjoys unusually high regard among population,
survey suggests
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Almost 90 percent of Czechs rate the caretaker prime minister, Jan
Fischer, favorably, suggests a STEM agency survey published on Tuesday.
The authors of the survey said such a high approval rating was very
unusual. The prime minister has the most supporters amongst voters of
right of center parties, while he is least popular with Communist party
voters. Minister of Human Rights and Minorities Michael Kocab received
the most critical ratings. Overall, about 50 percent of the population
trusts the government, the best rating since 2002, when Vladimir
Spidla's cabinet received an approval rating of 55 percent.
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Czech parliament not to display Tibetan flag on anniversary of Chinese
occupation
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The Czech Parliament will not participate in the international
initiative "A Flag for Tibet" that is to take place Wednesday, which
marks the anniversary of the 1959 uprising against the Chinese
occupation of Tibet. Green party deputy Katerina Jacques tried to
garner support for the initiative, but only 74 deputies voted in favor
of it. The initiative calls on ministries and other government
buildings to display the Tibetan flag as a sign of support for the
nation's struggle for freedom. Last year, over 350 institutions in the
Czech Republic took part and displayed the flag.
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Weather
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The coming days are expected to be sunny, clear and cold, with daytime
temperatures of around -3 degrees.
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Articles posted on www.radio.cz today
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Current Affairs
Prague hosts machine translation marathon
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Prague's Charles University recently hosted an unusual marathon which
tested the capacity of various machine translating systems. The annual
event is part of the Euromatrix project, which aims to establish
machine translation systems for all European languages. The
participants had a week to translate some 12,000 sentences from various
newspapers and news sites. In the coming weeks their output will be
confronted with translations done by professional ,,human" translators.
Ruth Frankova spoke to Ondrej Bojar from the Institute of Formal and
Applied Linguistics, which is taking part in the Euromatrix project:
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/125787
Current Affairs
New Defence Ministry site provides information on Czech soldiers killed
abroad during world wars
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The fates of Czech soldiers who died abroad during the first and second
world wars are being mapped in a newly created War Graves Record. The
internet-based project documents more than 1,800 war graves around the
world where Czech soldiers are buried, along with information about how
and when they died.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/125786
Current Affairs
Environment Ministry seeks to stem disappearance of farmland under new
development
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Agricultural land is fast disappearing under concrete in the Czech
Republic and the pace is getting faster rather than slowing down. That
is one of the main reasons why the Ministry of Environment is making a
last minute bid to pass a new law that could put a brake on the
process. Chris Johnstone reports.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/125785
Current Affairs
Trade union leader ostracized for outrageous homophobic remarks
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Transport and services union leader Jaromir Dusek has evoked outrage on
the Czech political scene by launching a vicious and homophobic attack
on the management of Czech Railways. In an interview for Saturday's
Lidove Noviny, Mr. Dusek said Czech Railways was run by a clique of
incompetent gays who had links to homosexuals in the cabinet and the
Office of the Government. The controversial trade union leader has now
been barred from speaking for the umbrella trade unions organization
and is likely to face charges of slander.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/125784
Talking Point
The legacy of communism and the need to reunite European history
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Last month Prague hosted a major international conference on the crimes
committed by the communist regimes of Central and Eastern Europe.
Delegates from both sides of the former Iron Curtain discussed their
research into atrocities that in many cases had been swept under the
carpet for decades. To give a couple of examples: how many Europeans
today remember that up to 130,000 people were executed in the Yugoslav
republic of Slovenia in the aftermath World War II, or that in Romania
hundreds of opponents to the Stalinist regime were shot by the
Securitate and buried in unmarked mass graves between 1948 and 1952?
Raluca Grosescu from Romania's Institute for the Investigation of
Communist Crimes points out that her institute's work has involved a
great deal more than just sifting through archives:
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/125762
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