Last week 48/08

U Myšáka, a legendary confectionary, re-opened its doors in the center of Prague. The price of oil dropped. The Czech police presidium received 680 new, blue-and-yellow cars from the state in a ceremony at the Masarykův okruh motor racing circuit in Brno. Three Czech soldiers were injured in Afghanistan when they ran over a homemade mine. The Czech government agreed on continuing healthcare reforms. The PragueOut.cz website organized a food festival, Velký den malých buchtiček se šodó (Big Day of Little Buns with Chaudeau), in selected Prague restaurants. „Following a busy program, Mr. President chose to relax instead,“ the office of the Czech president announced, explaining why Václav Klaus was the first Czech head of state who did not participate in nationwide celebrations on November 17th, the day on which the Communist regime collapsed and freedom arrived 19 years ago. Frost came after warm days. After winning the elections, the Social Democrats (ČSSD) let Bolsheviks come to power in the regions. „Sometimes I am overcome by the feeling of whether all we did wasn't pointless. All of a sudden it's as if part of the populace misses the firm embrace of the East,“ remarked the first president of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel, commenting on post-election developments in an interview for the Lidové noviny newspaper. The first Czechs flew to the USA without visas. A tasting of Svatomartinské („St. Martin“) wine was held in Hustopeče. The state health institute warned the public that the annual flu epidemic would hit even harder this year. In light of the total absence of snow, some ski resort owners in the Krkonoše mountains started the season with synthetically snow-covered ski runs. Because of growing aggressive tendencies in students, the Czech teachers association asked the Education Ministry to grant them the right to expel out-of-control pupils from class temporarily and to confiscate their mobile phones for good. Vodafone announced it would launch its third-generation (3G) network in January. A group of neo-Nazi radicals attempted to attack a Roma ghetto in Litvínov with the help of the town's white inhabitants, and the police blocked the extremists' attempt on the spot.

Brno Bishop Vojtěch Cikrle dedicated the bones of St. Vojtěch, known in English as St. Adalbert of Prague, to his parish in Bosonohy in a gilded casket. „The bishop has admiration for this saint: he never gave up, even when they murdered his family, when everything around him collapsed, when he was faced with suffering and pain,“ Martina Jandlová, spokesperson for the diocese, said of Cirkle's gift. Two hundred and fifty rabbis came to Prague for a three-day conference. ČSOB insurance adjusters determined that the third most frequent and most damaging disaster for Czech households, after fire and theft, is being struck by lightning. The first Czech woman to hold the post of regional commissioner is the new head of the Plzeň Region, Milada Emmerová. The Národní divadlo (National Theatre) commemorated the 125th anniversary of the fire that destroyed it in 1883. Archeologists found relics of a church from Great Moravia outside Břeclav. A number of films from the early days of cinematography that were previously inaccessible were made available for free on the European web site www.europafilmtreasures.eu. The media reported on a revolutionary scientific feat: a team of scientists from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine managed to surgically insert a glass peep-hole into a mouse through which researchers then observed how cancer spread through the mouse's body for 21 days; they had introduced into the lab mouse's body cancer cells marked with fluorescent green jellyfish protein in order to track the development. The number of debtors unable to pay off their consumer loans rose, and experts calculated that the number would surpass half a million this year for the first time. „If you want to know where we are now, watch the movie Jaws: We're in the moment when Roy Scheider first sees the shark, returns and, wide-eyed with fright, tells the captain: ‚You’re gonna need a bigger boat,‘“ wrote New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman in Hospodářské noviny, describing Western society's current position on the curve of the global financial crisis. Despite bad times ahead, data released by the Český statistický úřad (Czech Statistical Office) shows that Czechs spent six percent more this fall than they did in 2007 and – according to a GE Money Multiservis study - „they don't even plan to tighten the belt at Christmas.“ Mushrooms started growing. TV Nova reassured a disconcerted public that, despite reports indicating otherwise, it would air the fairy tale film Tři oříšky pro Popelku (Three Nuts for Cinderella) on Christmas Eve.