Copyright (c) 2010 Radio Prague (Cesky Rozhlas 7 - Radio Praha)
News Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
By: Christian Falvey
* Police in Switzerland have arrested fugitive Czech businessman Tomas
Pitr
* The daily Mlada fronta Dnes says it has uncovered the details of a
case of Russian espionage that may have resulted in the resignation of
three Czech generals.
* The government has unanimously approved a measure to freeze the
expenses of each of the ministries at 10.2 billion crowns.
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Fugitive businessman Tomas Pitr arrested in Switzerland
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Police in Switzerland have arrested fugitive Czech businessman Tomas
Pitr, the organised crime department of the Czech police has reported.
Mr Pitr has been on the run since 2007 when he failed to report to
prison after being convicted of tax offences. An international warrant
was issued and Czech detectives learned of his whereabouts on Monday;
Swiss police however were unable to definitively reveal his identity
until Wednesday afternoon. Earlier this year, the 39-year-old received
another six-year sentence in absentia for fraud and mismanagement of
property that caused damage exceeding 700 million crowns to a number of
state-controlled companies.
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Mf Dnes: Russian espionage case led to resignation of three Czech
generals
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The daily Mlada fronta Dnes says it has uncovered the details of a case
of Russian espionage that may have resulted in the resignation of three
Czech generals. Citing anonymous sources, the paper says that a
psychologist employed by the Czech prison service was in fact a Russian
agent, and used his acquaintance with a female major in the Czech Army
to acquire information about three army generals whose office she ran.
The paper based its investigation on this year's Military Intelligence
report, which states that Czech counter espionage had identified and
eliminated an infiltration of the army command by Russian military
intelligence the year before, as it attempted to gather sensitive
information. The paper notes that the three Czech generals in question
resigned within six months of the alleged agent leaving his own his
position, in September of last year, and surmises that a recent
break-in at the offices of the army General Staff may have been related.
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Government unanimously approves freeze on ministries' expenses
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The government has approved a measure to freeze the expenses of each of
the ministries at 10.2 billion crowns, Prime Minister Petr Necas told
reporters after the cabinet's meeting on Wednesday. Another 1.8 billion
will go towards the General Cash Administration, which manages state
debt. The measure, which was proposed by Finance Minister Miroslav
Kalousek, was passed unanimously in spite of earlier opposition from
the Public Affairs party, whose chairman said Tuesday that the measures
unfairly burdened the party's four ministries. That statement, which
was made publically, was met angrily by the prime minister, who said
all ministries were being asked to make cuts and any minister who
couldn't shoulder the burden had no place in government. The aim of the
measure is to maintain the public finances deficit at 5.3 percent of
GDP.
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Klaus: Prague doesn't need Slav Epic
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President Vaclav Klaus has weighed in on the debate over moving the
Alfonse Mucha's Slav Epic to Prague. The mayor of the town of Moravsky
Krumlov, which has hosted the Czech masterpiece for over 50 years, says
the president telephoned him unexpectedly on Wednesday to lend his
support to the towns effort to keep the cycle of paintings where they
are. Mayor Jaroslav Mokry said that the president had told him that
Prague has enough extraordinary artefacts and does not need the work.
Mayor Mokry said that the president's support was encouraging and
proves that the town's efforts to keep the cherished artwork have not
been in vain. A ban on moving the Slav Epic will remain in place until
uncertainties surrounding a 1913 contract granting it to the city of
Prague have been cleared up. Alfonse Mucha donated the 20-painting
collection to Prague on the condition that the authorities built a
dedicated home for his late masterpiece, a condition that remains
unfulfilled. On Sunday around 1,000 people demonstrated against it
being moved from Moravsky Krumlov, where it is the biggest tourist
attraction.
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Masin brothers will not attend Milan Paumer funeral
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The Masin brothers will not be attending the funeral of their partner
Milan Paumer, who participated in their violent escape from communist
Czechoslovakia in 1953. Ctirad Masin told the daily Mlada fronta Dnes
that neither he nor his brother would return to their homeland as long
as they risked a negative reception. Though honoured as heroes by the
Czech prime minister in 2008, the three anti-communist partisans are
still considered criminals by many, as they killed six people during
their flight to West Berlin. Neither the Czech president Vaclav Klaus
nor his predecessor Vaclav Havel will be attending the funeral. Prime
Minister Petr Necas however said that he would be in attendance if work
allowed, and called Milan Paumer a brave man and a symbol of the
communist resistance. Milan Paumer died last Thursday at the age of 79.
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Poll: 32% have positive perception of makeup of cabinet
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A new poll by the agency Focus suggests that a third of Czechs are
satisfied with the composition of the coalition government. According
to the poll, 32% of respondents have a positive perception of the
government's personnel makeup while 21% have a negative perception.
Respondents were also asked about their expectations of the new
government, to which a majority said they expect reductions of the
state debt and unemployment rates, as well as a less misuse of social
welfare. More than half of those asked said they believed the
government would be capable of pushing through important measures. The
new centre-right cabinet was appointed two weeks ago and consists of
six ministers from the Civic Democratic Party, five from TOP 09 and
four from the Public Affairs party.
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Municipal bus catches fire in Brno
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A municipal bus carrying 30 people caught fire on Tuesday in Brno;
everyone inside was able to flee the vehicle in time and no one was
injured. The driver apparently heard a loud noise from the back of the
articulated bus and flames and thick smoke began to spread quickly
before he stopped and helped evacuate the passengers, which included
one invalid. The fire completely destroyed the bus, which cost roughly
two million crowns. The South Moravian fire department said that the
fire had evidently been caused by a fuel leak.
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Second policewoman reported to have committed suicide
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The body of a woman who the police identified as one of their own
officers was found on Wednesday morning in the town of Ostrava. The
22-year-old woman had apparently shot herself in a wooded area and was
discovered by a passerby the next day. The report comes only one day
after the announcement that another female police officer had shot and
killed herself in her office at Prague police headquarters several
weeks before. The woman in the latter case had left a letter in which
she said she was being mobbed and humiliated by her superiors. Police
in north Moravia said there was nothing to indicate that the Ostrava
officer's suicide was related to her work.
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High number of new companies established in first half of 2010
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New companies established in the Czech Republic topped 12.600 in the
first half of the year, showing year-on-year growth of 10%. Nearly a
half of the new businesses were founded in Prague and more than 60%
trade in wholesaling, real estate, services or construction. The CEKIA
information agency which released the results told the Czech Press
Agency that 2010 could break records if the tempo continues for the
rest of the year. The vast majority of the new entities (95.4%) were
limited liability companies, while only 581 were joint-stock companies.
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Champions League: Sparta Prague edge Lech Poznan
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Football's Sparta Prague edged Lech Poznan 1:0 on Tuesday evening in
first-leg of their Champions League third-round qualifier. The win
gives them a slender advantage when they face their opponents in the
second-leg in Poland. Sparta's Erich Brabec scored the game's lone goal
with 12 minutes remaining after Libor Sionko set up a cross leading to
the strike. Ahead of the match, security was heightened to prevent any
clashes between Sparta fans and visiting Polish rowdies; there were
only a few minor incidents.
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Weather
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Conditions over the coming days are expected to be partly cloudy to
cloudy with scattered showers and daytime temperatures of around 20o
Celsius.
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Articles posted on www.radio.cz today
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Spotlight
Summer Czech language courses in Dobruska
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For many Czechs, the eastern Bohemian town of Dobruska evokes the Czech
National Revival, a time when the Czech language was on the verge of
extinction. A local merchant, immortalized in the novel F. L. Vek by
the Czech writer Alois Jirasek, worked tirelessly in and around
Dobruska to promote the Czech language and literature. Today, a
different kind of Czech revival is taking place in the town. For the
last 20 years, Prague's Charles University has been organizing summer
language courses for expats at this particular venue.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/130239
Current Affairs
Fashion Expert: Ministry of Environment's new dress code merely demands
reasonable business attire from employees
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Long-sleeved dress shirts and slacks for men, knee-length skirts and
long-sleeved blouses for women, no open-toe shoes or sandals: This is
the dress code that newly appointed Minister of the Environment Pavel
Drobil is asking employees of his ministry to abide by in the future.
In addition, shirts proclaiming affinity or membership of environmental
or political groups will also be taboo. Some current employees feel
that the dress code Mr Drobil is calling for goes too far. Rachel
Kanarowski, the Czech InStyle magazine's editor-in-chief, speaks about
what work attire should look like and whether the new dress code is
reasonable.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/130234
Current Affairs
Authorities okay moving Brno's main train station out of city centre
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The Moravian city of Brno might soon see its main train station move
out of city centre. Brno's central district recently issued a planning
permit for the controversial multi-billion project. But opponents of
the plan believe the process can still be stopped.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/130224
Current Affairs
Mystery surrounds alleged Russian infiltration of Czech army command
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A Czech newspaper has claimed three generals were forced to leave the
army in 2009 after the security services found their offices had been
infiltrated by a Russian spy. The daily Mlada Fronta Dnes claimed in a
front-page exclusive on Wednesday that a female major working for all
three men had been befriended by the spy, although her role in the
affair remains unclear.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/130223
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