Last week 29/2007

A specimen of Victoria amazonica, the world's largest water lily, bloomed at Brno's botanical garden. Harvesting began. The average age of the Czech population reached 40. Following a cool spell, tropical heat came, and the temperature hit 36 degrees Celsius. Interest in cars with retractable roofs grew. Children playing in a park in Ustí nad Labem's Severní Terasa neighborhood found a bag containing the severed head of a young woman who police are yet to identify. Danny DeVito received the Crystal Globe in Karlovy Vary for his lifelong contribution to film.

„Resign? I see no reason for that,“ declared Senate human rights commission member Liana Janáčková (independent) after a recording emerged of a meeting where, as mayor of Ostrava's Mariánské Hory district, she told local residents: „I'm a racist and I don't agree with our area being wall-to-wall gypsies, so they will be in the Bedřiška settlement – with a tall fence, electrified – I don't care. I'll shout that out to the whole world.“ „Draft me a confirmation that I can have a firearm – and then give me permission to shoot them and I'll do it… OK?,“ reportedly added Janáčková's deputy mayor, Jiří Jezerský, on the same recording.

Snoop Dogg rapped at Prague's Sazka Arena. Brad Pitt declined an official invitation to lunch with members of the Czech Senate's financial commission while shooting in Prague. The media reported that Palestinian radicals in Gaza had released abducted BBC reporter Alan Johnston after holding him for 114 days. The unemployment rate dropped radically. Soldiers and firefighters surrounded farms in Kosořín and Netřeby in the Ústí nad Orlicí district, where the bird flu virus had been detected in large-scale poultry breeding operations, and killed 71,000 hens in crowded halls using gas. „Filling all the halls with gas was a technically very challenging job,“ said regional public health officer Radek Axmann, describing the operation for the Právo daily.

The authorities warned the public of the probability of endless traffic jams on European roads to the Croatian or Italian seaside. President Václav Klaus visited Poland. The Arcus gallery in Peníkov near Český Rudolec announced that, besides Tom Cruise, Brüder Hans und Brüder Georg would play at the upcoming opening of Samuel Tlokan's photography exhibition.

Marianne Faithfull sang at the Colours of Ostrava festival. The city of Cheb offered to bury in its cemetery German soldiers who had fallen in World War II, whose remains are scattered around various warehouses across the Czech Republic. Pavel Nedvěd announced he would remain with Juventus next season. Arrested Czech entrepreneur Radovan Krejčíř was released from custody in South Africa.

„Intellect – I'm demanding with regard to that,“ replied Petra Kováčová, an interpreter, and the new partner of the chairman of the opposition Social Democrats, when asked by Mladá fronta Dnes, „What attracts you to Jiří Paroubek?“

„It is justified, we couldn't have expected anything else,“ pronounced Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek upon his return from Brussels, where EU representatives approved a resolution sharply criticizing the Czech Republic for its chaotic public finances, rising state deficit, and inability to adopt necessary reforms.

The Czech Republic's state deficit rose to 856 billion, or 84,000 crowns per capita, including the graveward bound and newborns. Czech trade unions warned that in upcoming months they would use the most radical means to stop any government attempt to implement reforms and cut the ballooning budget.

A bus owned by the Czech company Lakabus that was carrying Czech children and their dogs to Ostend, Belgium for the junior agility world championship was called „running scrap metal“ by German police. „Either the vehicle's condition suddenly deteriorated, or the operator obtained it underhandedly,“ replied Transport Ministry spokesperson Karel Hanzelka when asked by reporters how an old, rusty bus with 25 major defects including bad brakes that was labeled a „lethal bomb“ by German inspectors had obtained a certificate of excellent technical condition in the Czech Republic this year.

Sixty years passed since a UFO unsuccessfully attempted to land in Roswell, New Mexico. The Vatican declared Catholicism „the only true Christian Church.“ Charles University decided to go with the times and open a branch in the virtual internet world Second Life. New scientific measurements showed that planet Earth is 2.5 millimeters smaller than was previously thought.