Last week 35/2006

A gigantic collision in a faraway galaxy cluster gave astronomers the first direct evidence of invisible matter. Football player Vlastimil Petržel returned to Olomouc from Russia. “They don’t know how to esteem women, they see them only as homemakers, not as equal partners. And they don’t know how to live – they’re constantly full of tension, stressed out, always worrying their heads about everything,” replied swimmer Yvetta Hlaváčová to Mladá fronta DNES’s question, “What bothers you about Czech men?”

Reports on the conclusion of a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel along with favorable data on the US inflation rate caused growth on world stock markets; besides these positive factors, the domestic market was influenced by the stabilized political situation following the appointment of Mirek Topolánek as chairman of the future government, the exchange company RM-Systém reported on its web site. Christian Democrat Miroslav Kalousek reach an agreement with the Social Democrats (ČSSD) to set up a minority government with the support of the communists, but then backed down from the agreement due to his party’s disapproval. Thousands of people visited the Czech modern art exhibit at the Czech Center on rue de Bonaparte in the middle of Paris. “After entering through the monumental blow-up heart from Petr Nikl’s studio, students of Prague French classes welcome inquisitive visitors, vividly inducting them to play with the curious art objects and grippingly telling them about Czech art and life in the Czech Republic,” said the center’s spokesperson, Klára Notaro, describing the atmosphere. The price of passports went up. Pluto ceased to be a planet. A widespread test of ninth-graders revealed that children from the Liberec Region know the most and students from the Ústi Region know the least. Pilot and WWII hero František Fajtl celebrated his 94th birthday. First deputy to the finance minister, Eduard Janota, warned the public on TV that, due to the Czech Republic’s huge, almost one-hundred-billion budget deficit, they were not likely to be paying with euros as soon as expected. August 1968 was commemorated at the Czech public radio building in Prague. Thousands of citizens signed a new online (www.prozakladnu.cz) petition in favor of establishing an American anti-missile base in the Czech Republic. “It wouldn’t be appropriate,” said the spokesperson of the Humanist Movement, which is organizing a demonstration against the American base with the Communist Youth Union, explaining why his organization did not permit Jaromír Štětin to enter one of their meetings and tell the protesters that those who compare the Nazi and Soviet occupations of our country with locating the American missile base here are falsifying historical facts. The gates to the agricultural trade fair Earth Breadgiver opened for the 33rd time in České Budějovice. The heads of the Civic Democratic Party and ČSSD agreed at another in a series of post-election meetings that they would change the elections law through their representatives in parliament; for now, it is unclear how. After crashing into a detached semi container, a young motorcyclist died in Prague. The Forman brothers’ boat, Tajemství (Mystery), set off on its annual voyage. Statisticians discovered that Czechs spent 1.5 trillion crowns on consumer goods in the first half of this year, thereby surpassed their current spending record, which was made last year. Hilar Hahn plaid the violin with the Czech Philharmony in the Dvořak Hall at Rudolfinum. The police arrested police officers who had planned to rob a gas station in the Tachov region. Czech Television news director Zdeněk Šámal removed a public affairs talk show host who had dared to interrupt too long-winded Premier Jiří Paroubek. “For show hosts, it is necessary to consider when to interrupt a guest who is the principal focus in the studio – and it is also very necessary to address guests in a manner befitting their offices,” said Šámal, explaining the boot. At a forum in Alpbach, Austria, Czech President Václav Klaus proclaimed that the greatest danger in today’s world is “underestimating Europeismus – a movement that kills the state as an exclusive and irreplaceable foundation of political democracy.” The defense ministry announced that in light of the extensive ten-million-crown cuts in the military budget, the army would lack the 200 million crowns it needs to pay for Czech soldiers’ serving in international forces overseeing the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah terrorists. After losing a trademark dispute, Bel Sýry Česko began producing Smetanito instead of Apetitto. Three windmills were erected on the crest of Neklid near Boží Dar.