Copyright (c) 2010 Radio Prague (Cesky Rozhlas 7 - Radio Praha)
News Friday, August 27th, 2010
By: Jan Velinger
* Prime Minister Petr Necas has said he would be willing to accept a
new flood tax proposed by the finance minister but only for the period
of one year.
* The transport minister has made clear he wants a flight route between
Prague and Brno maintained.
* The Hydrometeorological Institute has issued flood alerts for the
north Bohemian regions of Liberec and Usti nad Labem.
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PM willing to agree on flood relief tax but only for year
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Prime Minister Petr Necas has said he would be willing to accept a new
flood tax proposed by the finance minister but only for one year. He
made the statement in an interview for the financial daily Hospodarske
noviny on Friday, stressing that he was not willing to raise taxes for
a longer period. Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek raised the issue
following recent flash floods which devastated parts of northern
Bohemia. Under his plan, members of the workforce would contribute to a
flood relief fund in the form of a 100 crown-a-month cut in their
income tax break. The proposal has been a point of contention between
the finance minister and the prime minister in the media since.
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Transport minister wants Prague-Brno flight route maintained
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Transport Minister Vit Barta has made clear he will address Czech
Airlines and Prague and Brno's airports for help to try and keep open a
flight route between the Czech and Moravian capitals, in all likelihood
providing favourable conditions for negotiating with another airline.
According to sources, under its restructuring programme CSA is
scrapping flight routes operating at a loss, including Prague-Brno; on
Thursday Transport Minister Barta met with CSA president Miroslav
Dvorak but categorically ruled out state funding for the route, given
planned austerity measures. The minister said he had commissioned
historic data as well as actual numbers and costs on the Prague-Brno
route.
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Regions of Liberec and Usti nad Labem on flood alert
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The Hydrometeorological Institute has issued flood alerts for the
regions of Liberec and Usti nad Labem in north Bohemia, saying rising
water on local rivers could reach level one or two activity by Friday
evening. Level 3 indicates danger or extreme danger due to flooding.
Both regions are far from recovering from devastating flash floods just
three weeks ago which caused billions of crowns in damage and claimed
several lives. In connection with the latest developments, officials
have warned canoeists and rafters to stay off of rivers for the next
several days. The flood alerts in the regions of Liberec and Usti nad
Labem will be complemented by level one warnings on rivers in other
parts of the country, including western, central and eastern Bohemia,
on Friday evening.
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Police reinforcing traffic patrols
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The Czech Police are reinforcing patrols on Friday in anticipation of
heavy traffic on the last weekend of the summer holidays. They have
planned some 110 road checks during which they will be focusing on
drinking and driving and speeding. Officers will also check the
technical state of vehicles. The start of the summer holidays in the
Czech Republic brought the highest number of road deaths in months; 21
people died in traffic accidents over the first holiday weekend.
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Former prime minister Topolanek interested in energy-related post
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The former prime minister Mirek Topolanek has told the newspaper Mlada
fronta Dnes that he is negotiating with politicians and diplomats about
a post in an international organisation with a scope broader than just
Europe. The former PM did not reveal specifics but made clear the job
he was seeking was related to energy policy. He stressed that he
thought his chances for the post were not high - only around 30
percent. Mr Topolanek led the Civic Democrats until earlier this year;
he stepped down following a scandal over controversial statements he
made in an interview for a gay magazine.
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Sobotka calls on party members not to air arguments in media
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The leadership of the opposition Social Democratic Party has called on
its members and functionaries to focus more on the upcoming communal
and Senate elections and not to air personal disputes in the media. The
request on Friday was made by the party's acting leader Bohuslav
Sobotka. Earlier this week two prominent Social Democrats - South
Moravia's regional governor Michal Hasek and Central Bohemian governor
David Rath - traded barbs. Mr Hasek accused Rath of creating discord in
the party, labelling him the Kraken - a sea monster from Greek
mythology. Mr Rath, in turn, called Hasek's choice of words "vulgar".
The Social Democrats are trying to take a different tack in the
upcoming elections after winning only a Pyrrhic victory in the national
election earlier this year.
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Pyrotechnic specialists secure dangerous chemical at institute
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Police called on personnel to evacuate from the Institute of Organic
Chemistry and Biochemistry in Prague's Dejvice on Friday, so that
specialists could secure a dangerous chemical on site. A bottle of
crystallized peroxide, which had been stored for some time on the
premises, was accidently uncovered during a practice drill by fire
fighters. Pyrotechnic specialists were then called in and used a
remote-controlled robot to contain the highly-volatile chemical. A
search using a sniffer dog was also conducted to ensure other areas of
the building are safe.
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Online auction website blocks seller's account
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The Czech online auction website Aukro has said it has blocked the
account of a seller suspected of having ripped off clients for around
half a million crowns (the equivalent of around 26,000 US dollars) by
not delivering promised goods. These reportedly included handbags,
watches and perfumes. Clients, the auction website says, are
compensated for damages of up to 20,000 crowns; in this case the forty
people or so who dealt with the questionable seller will be fully
refunded; Aukro has not ruled out that additional cases may still
emerge. The site, which has 1.8 million registered users in the Czech
Republic, is also communicating with the police over the matter.
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Football: Sparta Prague in group F in Europa League
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Sparta Prague will face Tomase Necid and his team CSKA Moscow, along
with Italian side Palermo and Switzerland's Lausanne in Group F of the
Europa League. The draw took place in Monaco on Friday. The first match
by Sparta will be on September 16 against Palermo. The last group game
will be against Lausanne.
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Football: Eleven Czechs on teams through to next round of Champions
League
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Czech fans will be able to look forward to a number of clashes between
Czech players in the next round of football's Champions League, as
decided in the team draw in Monaco on Thursday. Seven of 11 players on
team rosters will be competing in Group F, which includes a match-up
between FC Chelsea (who have goalkeeper Petr Cech) and Slovakia's
Zilina, which dispatched of Sparta Prague in the previous round. Tomas
Rosicky of Arsenal will face his countryman Tomas Hubschmann of Donetsk
in Group H. AC Milan's Marek Jankulowski can look forward to matches in
the so-called 'group of death' which features Ajax Amsterdam, Real
Madrid, and Auxerre, along with the Italian club.
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Weather
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Overcast, mostly cloudy conditions are expected into the weekend with a
chance of showers and occasional thunderstorms. Daytime temperatures
should reach highs between 11 and 17 degrees Celsius.
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Articles posted on www.radio.cz today
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Current Affairs
National Technical Museum has third director in a week
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The National Technical Museum in Prague has a new director - in fact,
it has its third new director in the space of a week. Oldrich Rambousek
resigned from his post on Thursday, only seven days after he was given
the position by the Ministry of Culture. Now the office has been filled
by a new temporary director to oversee the running of the multi-billion
crown institution and an audit looking into missing money and exhibits.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/131145
Current Affairs
Environment Ministry gets rid of former NGO activists
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In just a few months, the Czech Environment Ministry has gotten rid of
a number of officials who had in the past worked for environmental
NGOs. The new minister, Civic Democrat Pavel Drobil, who was initially
honed for the post of industry and trade minister, said he wanted to
steer the ministry away from ideology. But environmental activists are
concerned about the consequences of the swipe.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/131135
Current Affairs
Abuse of MPs expenses still plaguing Czech politics
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Abuse of MPs expenses is an ongoing problem on the Czech political
scene -and occasionally politicians pay a high price for the
malpractice. On Thursday, former environment minister Libor Ambrozek
admitted he had for years abused the expenses he received as an MP,
using them to help finance his new family home. Mr. Ambrozek, who was
running for the post vice-governor of the South Moravian region, fully
admitted his guilt and withdrew his candidacy. Last year, the acting
head of the Social Democrats Bohuslav Sobotka was embroiled in a
similar scandal. Earlier Radio Prague spoke to political analyst Jiri
Pehe about what's behind the frequent abuse of MPs expenses.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/131134
Business News
Business News 8.27.2010
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In the week's Business News: the only way is up for interest rates;
ministry retreats from promise to ease burden of health and insurance
payments; revolutionary media concept comes a cropper; coal and coke
giant turns around fortunes; and hole in finances threatens tunnel
builder.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/131126
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