Last week 15/2006

The Gospel of Judas was presented to mankind for the first time ever in Washington. The government extended states of emergency in seven regions affected by spring floods. The cabinet ministers concurrently decided to establish a fund for building flood protection barriers in which it will initially deposit 15 billion crowns. Bird flu hopped from Hluboká in South Bohemia to Modřany in Prague. The Dutch art historian Ernst van de Wetering discovered a portrait of John Amos Comenius by Rembrandt in Florence’s Ufizzi Gallery. The Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting granted digital TV broadcasting licenses to six new stations and ordered them to launch operations within two years.

The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic bestowed upon the Trauma Team of Brno’s Casualty Hospital the Award for the Best Humanitarian Act of last year for helping earthquake victims in Pakistan. For the first time in history, authorities began prosecuting a Czech for downloading music and films from the Internet for free. “At all our monthly meetings Mr. Gates manages to hit upon something that had never occurred to us, and sometimes his visions are so advanced we aren’t even capable of grasping them,” Aleš Holeček (36), responsible for the appearance of Microsoft’s new software Windows Vista, told Hospodářské noviny, describing Bill Gates’ genius. Ivan Pinkava shined at Moscow’s Fotobienale. Meterologists warned the public that the flooding could last for two more weeks. At the U.N.’s headquarters in New York, Czech model Karolina Kurková accepted an award for helping developing countries. Heroic war pilot Jiří Hartman, the last commander of the 310th Czechoslovak wing of the RAF, passed away in Great Britain. The Finance Ministry – for the umpteenth time – refused to disburse to the European Democrats (ED) the eleven million crowns the party has been entitled to since 2002 for mandates it gained in the Prague municipal elections that year; the ministry justifies its decision by saying that during those elections ED had called itself an “alliance” and that by law contributions should only be paid to “parties and coalitions;” according to ED leader Jan Kasl, the ministry’s stance is an unjust attempt to harm a political competitor. Les Touffes Kretiennes played punk in Prague. “At first they were extremely reserved towards our wines, but this time many of them were actually looking forward to them,” said Stanislav Šida of Moravian Wine Bank, describing the attitude of French judges evaluating the quality of Moravian wines in Paris at Šida’s request for the third year in a row. The EU budget for 2007–2013, originally set at 860 billion euros, grew by four billion euros. Life showed that having just one drunk tank in Brno for all of South Moravia is not enough. Modern-day bard from North Bohemia Xavier Baumaxa sermonized in the Prague club Černý Petr. The anti-corruption organization Pink Panther published a report asserting that because the National Security Office committed a number of very serious errors under its former president Tomáš Kadlec it is impossible to rule out that former StB agents and officers vetted under his leadership were not given clearance permitting their holders access to top secret information of a military and alliance character. A STEM/MARK study showed that more than half the Czech populace is overweight. Czech President Václav Klaus vetoed a law that would have complicated the lives of ski lift owners. “The communist regime was illegal and reprehensible, and all those who expressed opposition, even those who employed excessive means to protect civil liberties and freedom, deserve great reverence,” said judge-rapporteur Jiří Nykodým, commenting on the Constitutional Court’s recommendation to lower instance courts to rehabilitate former Security Information Service (BIS) officer Vladimír Hunčín, who fought against communism in the 1970’s and 1980’s and whose attacks during that era are still viewed by the post-1989 justice system as a criminal offence. The European Commission launched a criminal investigation against the Czech Republic because state authorities improperly protect Czech power companies from foreign competition. Zdeňek Svěrák celebrated his seventieth birthday. International space agencies declared that the new satellite network for measuring rainfall would improve the quality of weather forecasting. Czech Telecom announced it would increase its monthly rate for fixed lines by twenty percent. National Theatre actor Miroslav Donutil recounted stories from his travels to guests at Zlatá Praha Restaurant in New York. “In my opinion, believing in Buddhism in the West is not advisable because changing one’s faith is not the same as changing one’s job: enthusiasm fades over time, and once it’s gone, what’s left? You remain homeless inside,” His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama relayed to all devotees of Buddhism west of Ladakh.