Copyright (c) 2010 Radio Prague (Cesky Rozhlas 7 - Radio Praha)
News Monday, August 23rd, 2010
By: Christian Falvey
* The Ministry of the Interior has presented its plans for saving 8.3
billion crowns.
* Prime Minister Petr Necas is meeting with trade union representatives
on Monday to discuss controversial changes to the Labour Code.
* Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek has spoken out against the prime
minister's disapproval of a plan to finance flood relief from income
tax breaks.
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Interior ministry presents plans for saving 8.3 billion
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The Ministry of the Interior has presented its plans for saving 8.3
billion crowns. Speaking to reporters on Monday afternoon, Interior
Minister Radek John said that the priorities were to save on
operational expenditures and investments, and decreased pay for police
and firemen. However, costs would be cut he said from all areas of the
ministry. Other measures will include reducing police activity abroad,
cancelling plans for police and fire department buildings and
equipment, and revising all e-government projects. Mr John also said
that effective policemen should have more money in later years in spite
of planned cuts to state employees' salaries, saying that their bonuses
would be reinforced from the salaries of the 1,500 officers who leave
service each year. Nonetheless, the minister allowed that the next year
would be "painful" for police and fire department workers.
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Necas to meet with unions over public sector salaries
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Prime Minister Petr Necas met with trade union representatives on
Monday to discuss controversial changes to the Labour Code that would
see public sector salaries cut by 10% across-the-board. The PM for his
part told reports after the meeting that both sides would be looking
for solutions acceptable to them both, though he did not expect
complete accord. He also said that the proposal need not take effect as
early as January 1, as he gave precedence to thorough rather than
speedy negations. The Labour Ministry plan entails lower salaries for
state employees in favour of greater employee bonuses based on
individual performance. Unions say the plan is the strongest attack on
workers' rights in the last twenty years and have threatened to protest.
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Finance Minister scolds PM on flood relief funding turnaround
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Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek has spoken out against the prime
minister's disapproval of a plan to finance flood relief from income
tax breaks. Mr Kalousek said that the chairmen of the coalition parties
had agreed on his ministry's flood tax two weeks earlier, and said the
PM's about-face on the issue was absolutely inappropriate in a
coalition. Following floods in north Bohemia two weeks ago, Mr Kalousek
said all working Czechs would contribute to a flood relief fund in the
form of a CZK 100-a-month cut in income tax breaks, a move some critics
slammed as nothing less than a new tax. On Sunday, Prime Minister Necas
said he had a number of reservations regarding the flood tax, and
referenced a pre-election promise not to increase direct taxes.
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Delphi auto parts manufacturer to close Ceska Lipa plant
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The automotive parts manufacturer Delphi will be closing a cable
production plant in the north Bohemian town of Ceska Lipa due to low
sales. Lay-offs have been underway for some time already in the plant;
of the 3,400 jobs there in 2007 only 1,400 remain, with 300 positions
having been done away with since the start of the year. According to a
trade union representative, the company intends to move its production
to Romania and partly to Poland. Several hundred people demonstrated in
the plant's car park on Monday to protest what they say are
significantly low severance payments.
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Two manufacturers must recall thousands of litres of falsely labelled
wine
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The state body for foods inspection has forced two Czech wine producers
to recall hundreds of thousands of litres of wine after the companies
were unable to prove the origin of the grapes used. Inspectors found
that Ceske vinarske zavody and Vinium Velke Pavlovice had used over a
million kilos of grapes that were of unknown origin but used in
products labelled as domestic wine. The Czech Agriculture and Food
Inspection Authority said that it intends to thoroughly inspect other
wine producers for violations they say are damaging both to consumers
and honest domestic wine growers.
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Town order to register long-term visitors goes to court
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The Constitutional Court is reviewing municipal order made by the North
Bohemian town of Krupka, which requires non-locals to register their
presence. The Ministry of the Interior filed a complaint against the
ordinance, which requires all visitors over the age of 15 with
permanent residence elsewhere to report to town hall should they remain
in town for more than 30 days. The town hall says that such stays are a
disturbance of public order and a danger to security and property. In
its complaint, the ministry points to the constitutional right to
freedom of movement and says the town exceeded its authority in making
the ordinance.
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Two million affected by dirty air
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Data from the Czech Meteorological Institute and reported by the news
site Altualne.cz shows that 18% of the Czech population, or roughly 2
million people, was effected by polluted air in 2009. The institute's
data shows increased levels of air containing hazardous dust particles
compared with 2008, and expects the situation to be worse this year.
The worst levels were recorded in the area of the eastern city of
Ostrava.
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State prosecutor accuses Audit Office president of mismanagement
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The state prosecutor's office for Prague 7 has filed a lawsuit against
the president of the Supreme Audit Office, Frantisek Dohnal. The
prosecutor accuses Mr Dohnal of improper management, saying he availed
himself of upscale residences for state money. Mr Dohnal says that his
living expenses were within those allotted by the office, and his
attorney has said that the case is politically motivated. If found
guilty he would be removed from his position, a penalty he could also
receive from the president at the behest of the Parliament.
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Transport Ministry wants regions to limit local train connections
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The Ministry of Transport says it is asking regional governments to
cancel lesser used train connections in order to save on state
subsidies. The suggestion follows from the policy of the previous
transport minister, Gustav Slamecka, who noted that in a number of
places the state would save money paying for taxis for passengers
rather than trains. Regions pay roughly eight billion crowns a year to
Czech Railways for the operation of local lines, three billion of which
comes from the state. The ministry has given no indication of whether
it may decrease that subsidy next year, though the Transport Minister
Vit Barta has said that Czech Railways too should expect cuts.
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Physicist Jiri Niederle dies aged 71
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Physicist Jiri Niederle died on Sunday at the age of 71. The academy
professor was well known internationally for his work in elementary
particles, and played an important role in getting the Czech Republic
involved in international science programmes, such as within NATO and
UNESCO. As the government envoy to the European Organisation for
Nuclear Research, it was also through Dr Niederle that many Czech
scientists came to be involved with the LHC particle collider in Geneva.
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Weather
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Forecasters are expecting heavy storms on Monday night and warn of
flooding in low-lying areas in Bohemia and the highlands region. Rain
is forecast to continue through Tuesday with daytime highs in the mid
20s Celsius.
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Articles posted on www.radio.cz today
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Sports News
Sports News 8.23.2010
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In Sports News this week: Sweden's Peter Hanson wins golf's Czech Open;
the Czech Under-21 baseball team wins the European title;in football,
Sparta Prague lose to Zilina in the first leg of Champions League
qualifier and fall to Plzen in the top Czech division; and javelin
champion Barbora Spotakova finishes second in the Diamond League event
in Zurich but secures the series title.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/131006
Current Affairs
Gold fever strikes the Czech Republic as country hosts world panning
championships
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The idea of panning for gold and finding that life changing nugget has
surely appealed to everyone at one time or another. But the people with
probably the biggest chance of achieving that dream have just got
together in the Czech Republic for the World Gold Panning Championships
near the town of Zlate Hory on the Polish border.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/130996
Current Affairs
Many shops found to be selling fake Bohemian garnets
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Garnets, one of the world's most ancient gems, come in a dozen
varieties - but none is more precious than the fiery-red Pyrope variety
which has been mined in the mountains of Bohemia for over 600 years.
The Bohemian garnet, found in royal jewelry collections around the
world, is given to visiting statesmen and every year thousands of
tourists buy Bohemian garnet jewelry for someone special. Now Czech
trading standards inspectors have issued a warning that they may not be
getting the real thing.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/130990
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