Last week 37/2006

In this week's news summary, anti-Americanism, digital TV troubles, ČSA's paper-ticket surcharge, and dog bowls in Ústí city hall. School started. Czech fashion designers headed for festivals in Paris and New York. Summer weather returned for a spell. On grounds of „incomprehensibility and great dissent,“ the Prague Municipal Court annulled six already allocated digital television broadcasting licenses and ordered the Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting to re-draft them, doing it better this time. In clear nighttime skies, the International Space Station could be seen orbiting the Earth.

„In this country, there is a very mindless and conceited anti-Americanism coming from those for whom the Cold War hasn't ended,“ pronounced outgoing Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda (Christian Democratic Party) after his departing chief, former Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek (Social Democratic Party), declared his party would oppose the plan to build in the Czech Republic a US base to combat missile attacks against the West from countries such as Iran or North Korea.

Mirek Topolánek's Cabinet held its first session. With its sixth rally in a row, the Prague Stock Exchange's PX index managed to climb to 1,468 points and balance out the slump it experienced at the end of last year. The European Union launched a war against tax havens. The price of gasoline fell. The Ústí region's transportation company declared then cancelled a token two-day strike.

The Banking Association expressed extreme frustration over the president's endorsement of a banking law under which parliamentarians awarded retroactive compensation - up to four times higher than the norm - to clients of banks that went under in the past; billionaire Petr Kellner's company, for example, will receive 1.75 billion crowns from the state for ill-planned business deals.

At a gathering of students in Neveklov, President Václav Klaus said he would like to see fewer higher education institutions in the Czech Republic. Distillers raised the price of hard alcohol. Ústí nad Labem's city council had bowls of water installed in city hall buildings for waiting dogs. Madonna appeared at Prague's Sazka Arena and Cardinal Miloslav Vlk and the Brethren Church called it a denigration of Christians.

„It's the best result we could achieve in the given situation,“ declared the government investment-support organization CzechInvest's director, Tomáš Hruda, after it was decided that the ailing pride of Zeman's government - the Hranice-based television manufacturer LG Philips - would return to the state at least one-third of the „start-up“ support the Zeman Cabinet provided it with, along with tax holidays, from taxpayers' money.

RM-Systém changed ownership. Czech Airlines decided to introduce an exceptional 20-dollar fee for all passengers who aren't satisfied with an electronic ticket and require a paper ticket too. The Museum of Art in Olomouc exhibited works by Natália Maslik-Schmidt.

In a survey conducted by GfK, 57 percent of Czech respondents expressed the opinion that corruption in the Czech Republic is an evident and common phenomenon which it is pointless to try to combat; Czech society thereby ranked itself among the most skeptical nations, just behind Romania and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Catholics took dominion over St. Vitus Cathedral. The Anti-Monopoly Office permitted the takeover of Tatra Kopřivnice by Alan Ronald Adams' Blue River company.

A new study by the Ministry of Social Affairs revealed that the number of Czech citizens of Roma origin forced by Czech city halls to live in ghettos on the outskirts of cities is constantly increasing. The foreign trade balance fell into deficit. At the Ministry for Regional Development's recommendation, South Bohemia's regional authorities excluded environmental activists from participating in the approval procedure of the Temelín nuclear power plant.

Statisticians announced that fewer Czechs died on holiday this year compared to last year. „I've just performed the acme of the art of animal training - I put my head in a lion's mouth and left it there for almost 23.82 seconds, and I have more plans: I'd like to cross-breed a tiger and a lion and then try training them,“ Jo-Joo Circus director Jaromír Joo divulged to the Lidové noviny daily. České Budějovice's hockey team found a new sponsor and renamed itself HC Mountfield.

The trial of Judge Jaromír Berk began in Tábor, where he faces charges of „criminal conspiracy with organized crime“ for looting businesses in cahoots with people from academic circles and public service by means of rigged bankruptcy proceedings. A mushroom hunter from Zlín died after he found, picked, and ate a death cap. The management of Škoda Auto announced it would continue to sponsor the Tour de France despite the current doping scandals. Scientists discovered that runner spiders can make a special „parachute“ from their webs which allows them to travel hundreds of kilometers, sometimes even across the ocean, on gentle, Indian summer breezes.