Last week 18/2007

Scorching heat set in. Hydrometeorologists and firefighters warned the public that a dry spell was sweeping over the Czech Republic, bringing with it the risk of wide-ranging forest fires. After a half-year shutdown, decorative and drinking fountains began spurting in Czech towns again. Health Minister Tomáš Julínek refused to support an anti-smoking bill in Parliament. Lisa Gerrard, founder of the legendary band Dead Can Dance, sold out Prague’s Archa Theatre. Flying Rhino, an international aviation training exercise, began in Náměšt nad Oslavou with the landing of a group of British Tornado fighters. Czech businessman on the run Radovan Krejčíř was arrested in South Africa with a fake passport.

“We’re looking for a model of cooperation,” replied ČEZ chairman of the board Martin Roman when asked by the press if there was any truth to the rumors that the state-owned energy giant was secretly planning a 60-billion-crown power plant construction project with the former head of Motoinvest and the infamous bane of the Czech capital market, Pavel Tykač. Just nine percent of all authorized voters turned out for a by-election in Chomutov Region, where the Communist Party candidate won the race for a Senate seat. The translation of Romanian author Petr Cimpoes’ novel Simon Výtažník was named Magnesia Litera book of the year. Entrance examinations for secondary schools began. The Slovak police arrested Czech activists who came to help their Slovak colleagues in a blockade to prevent the felling of trees in the first zones of the Tatra National Park. A sixteen-year-old boy from Zimbabwe drowned in a swimming pool in Kladno.

“They are frequent, but not serious,” remarked ČEZ representatives regarding news that Temelín Nuclear Power Plant had experienced 166 breakdowns in its five years of its operation. Boris Yeltsin was buried in Moscow. Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg met with US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice in Washington. A CVVM poll showed that the number of Czechs opposed to having an American radar base located in the country has risen to 68 percent.

“Ambiguity with regard to who is behind the recipient of the proceeds, the Czech Brain foundation, brought uncertainty among the performers and partners,” declared the agency Czech production, explaining why Czech show business celebrities postponed a planned concert to honor composer Karel Svoboda, who committed suicide. The Indian company Infosys opened its new “long-distance help” center in Brno. Student Adam Kout (16) found a set of bronze axes and eight spirals made of gold wire with his metal detector in the woods near Mladá Boleslav and turned the whole treasure over to the state. A memorial to ten American aviators who perished near Bukovec u Domažlic in 1994 when their fighter bomber crashed was unveiled in the community. An unknown perpetrator spray-painted “Adolf Hitler” and “Jude Raus” on a memorial to World War II victims in Brno.

“We don’t want to support something we consider wrong – children need their own parents, not more stuffed animals,” said the spokesperson of the Tereza Maxová Foundation, explaining why the famous model and benefactress decided to stop donating money to children’s homes in the Czech Republic and to start supporting organizations helping families reestablish contact with children who were taken away from them instead; the fact that Czech authorities take more children away from their parents than any other country in Europe led Tereza Maxová to her decision. “Trucking King” Roman Šmidberský sold his empire to C.S. Cargo.

Brno City Hall decided to “suspend for now” its plan to establish a public home for the poor. Hyundai Motor Corp. chairman Chung Mong-koo commenced construction of his company’s new assembly hall in Nošovice. A Student Agency bus caught fire on the D 1 highway near Humpolec; the passengers managed to disembark in time and nobody was hurt. “We perceive that relations between the police and the underworld are tense. But Mr. Šrytr should weigh his words – that sounds like a threat,” remarked Unit for Fighting Organized Crime spokesperson Blanka Kosinová in response to a statement by Pavel Šrytr, former bodyguard of František Mrázek and two other murdered businessmen; in an interview for Mladá fronta DNES, Šrytr sent message to the police that they “would regret it” if they attempted to pin the killings of his former employers on him and arrested him. Astronomers discovered a planet similar to Earth some 20 light years away in the Libra constellation. Budvar achieved a record rise in export. The Young Gods played in Prague.