Last week 11/2007

In this week's Czech news summary, leaks at the Temelín nuclear plant, Topolánek flip-flops on Europe, and Klaus meets Bush Sr. Czech physicists Ladislav Rob and Dalibor Nedbal received the EU Descartes Prize for partly solving the mystery of dark matter.

Despite protests by China, the Tibetan flag flew over the Environment Ministry. The Constitutional Court confirmed the legality of an Ústí nad Labem city ordinance prohibiting people from offering sexual services on the street.

The Green Party wants to meet with the Social Democrats, about a joint presidential candidate, in order to make sure isn't Václav Klaus re-elected. Jiří Paroubek publicly supported domestic meat over imported meat, tasting high quality ham and sausage on camera.

„It can't work this way. I'm very annoyed,“ remarked Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, referring to the fact that nobody informed him of the accident at the Temelín nuclear power plant during his visit to Prague. Shortly after that, radioactive cooling water leaked from the power plant again.

Rostislav Roztočil's trial began. The European Commission proposed limiting TV advertising to just 12 minutes per hour, and to allow commercials to be aired only once every half hour during films, children's shows, and news programs.

The relatives of 20 victims of a bus accident that happened near Nažidla four years ago came to the scene of the accident to pay tribute to them. Cardinal Vlk refused to return St. Vitus's Cathedral to the state despite a court verdict. A dredger driver ran into a 100-kilogram aircraft bomb in Olomouc. The One World film festival ended.

„Judging from how everyone discusses it, hatred towards the Russian nation has obviously become instilled in the citizenry,“ state prosecutor Jindra Janáčková barked at reporters after the court threw out her case against two Georgians who had demonstrated in front of the Russian Embassy against Moscow's foreign policy and, according to her, thereby broke the law.

A passionate debate erupted over whether the future National Library building looks like a UFO or a sea monster, which was followed by the traditional debate over whether the tender for the design, which was won by Jan Kaplický, was fair. Kris Kristofferson sang for Czechs.

According to findings by STEM, almost half of all Czechs do not believe in God. Members of the Christian Democratic Party still believe their chairman Jiří Čunek did nothing wrong and should remain in his post. Václav Klaus met with George Bush, Sr. in the United States. Thanks to the warm winter this year, electricity consumption fell by nine percent compared to last winter.

The Senate approved major limitations on legislators' immunity, and a verdict by the Chamber of Deputies is awaited. Přibyslav town hall lodged an official protest against the Universum Encyclopedia because it listed Prague, not Přibyslav, as the birthplace of Czech publisher Jan Otto. „We are not denying partial mistakes, but we fundamentally disagree that there were alarming shortcomings,“ declared the Education Ministry in response to a Supreme Audit Office declaration that 22 billion crowns in the ministry's accounting records from the last 10 years do not add up.

One-hundred-thousand tickets have been sold for the musical Angelika, which has not even premiered yet. Law enforcement officers and firemen announced they would form a new, more radical trade union. The best Czech film of last year was Jiří Menzel's Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále (I Served the King of England). The Czech economy maintained its trend of record growth in the last year.

The Health Ministry dismissed the directors of three hospitals – Fakultní Thomayerova nemocnice, Fakultní nemocnice Královské Vinohrady, and Fakultní nemocnice Olomouc. Soňa Čechová, the publisher of the Czech-Slovak magazine Most, passed away.

„We definitely won't block anything,“ Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek remarked with regard to the European Union constitution after meeting with the head of the European Commission. „I didn't say I would not block the outcome,“ Topolánek said a day later, after meeting with British Conservative Party head David Cameron, with whom he agreed to form a new grouping in the European Parliament. „Cameron had a huge speech in Europe about how he would lead the fight against climate change. And who is his ally? The Civic Democratic Party in the Czech Republic, whose founder said that global warming is a myth,“ said British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Most regional dailies wrote about the growing popularity of felling trees in communities and cities. According to CVVM, 30 percent of all Czechs would like to see the Chamber of Deputies disbanded and the political parties dissolved, and another 18 percent do not know if they would be for or against it. Jan and Zdeňek Svěrák's latest film, Vratné lahve (Empties), hit cinemas.