Last week 28/09

Volcanic ash spewed forth during the eruption of the Sarychev Peak volcano on the Kuril Islands obfuscated the sky over the Czech Republic. Flash floods in southern Bohemia drove hundreds of people living along the turbulent Blanice river from their homes. Ice Age returned to cinemas. Ten thousand candles burning on Wenceslas Square on the 59th anniversary of the execution of Milada Horáková reminded passers-by of the victims of the Communist regime.
"Although Stockholm failed to adopt the euro despite its commitments, its subtle Euroscepticism cannot be compared to the Europhobia and amateurism displayed by the Czech government, whose six-month tenure ended with a massive sigh of relief in European capitals," commented the French daily Libération, on the fact that the Czech Republic had passed on the European Union Presidency's scepter to Sweden; another French newspaper, Le Figaro, criticized the Czechs on the same occasion for "organizational incompetence," exhibited in the fact that there were waves on the Vltava river during the symbolic handover of a keg of beer from a Czech ferry boat to a Swedish one. The government rejected a proposal by ODS parliamentary deputies to postpone state school-leaving exams for two years. The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival began. The Česká vědecká společnost pro mykologii (Czech Scientific Society for Mycology) alerted citizens that there would be a "veritable mushroom explosion" in Czech forests because of the impending heat wave. The police forcibly cleared Prague's last remaining squat, Villa Milada.
"I am at home at the Holiday Inn, the Marriott, the Sheraton," replied Czech-born, German-passport-holding, United States-resident golfer Alex Čejka to a journalist's question: "You’ve got ‚Czech‘ written on your clubs, so do you feel at home in the Czech Republic?" Curtis Jones was buried in Prague. In line with a European Commission directive, the price of a text message written to the Czech Republic from abroad dropped from 10 to 3.5 crowns. A study published annually by Freedom House, an international NGO advocating freedom and democracy, concluded that the state of Czech democracy has deteriorated since last year. Mass was held in Olomouc's St. Wenceslas Cathedral (Dóm svatého Václava) for the victims of this year's devastating floods. Radio Wave – a radio station for young listeners, whom programming director Richard Medek calls "the future of this nation" – began test-broadcasting on VHF in five Czech university towns. Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) Chairman Jiří Paroubek said that the chairman of the rival Civic Democrats (ODS), Mirek Topolánek, had no room to criticize the Social Democrats for cooperating with the Communists because "his grandfather was also a Communist."
"I think that with such family roots, Mr. Topolánek has no right to be doing political vetting and moralizing," Paroubek said upon returning from Moscow, where he announced that, should his party be victorious in the fall elections, Vladimir Putin will be the first statesman he invites to the Czech Republic. Near the Červený kláštor (Red Monastery) in Slovakia, 12 Czech pensioners rafting on the Dunajec river tumbled into the cold water; one member of the adrenalin-filled excursion drowned. The media reported that Germany's constitutional court had ratified the Treaty of Lisbon. The city of Brno presented the stage for the Pope's autumn visit. The Canadian government warned the Czech authorities that it would introduce visa requirements for Czechs unless they stop the exodus of Czech Roma seeking asylum in Canada due to discrimination, violence and racism at home. "This is truly an innovative approach," wrote Lidové noviny, commenting on a report about Swiss scientists who split open 26 pigeons' heads and inserted small GPS and EEG devices into their brains in an effort to discover how they go about orienting themselves when returning to their dovecotes; thanks to the experiment, the scientific team made a surprising discovery that was then published in Current Biology: The "bird brain shows increased activity when crossing known landmarks." Trust in trade unions dwindled. Ombudsman Otakar Motejl crashed his car into a pillar in the center of Brno. In a crackdown on agencies importing cheap foreign labor to the Czech Republic, the authorities revoked dozens of licenses. Ten Czechs have now contracted swine flu.
"This is a matter of imitation: If you are in a society where everyone is talking about how they've traded in their old lady for a new young lady, you are going to do it too, and you're not going to feel bound by something," replied sociologist Jiřina Šiklová when asked by Pátek magazine why the trend of older men leaving their wives and taking up with younger women prevails among the political elite both at home and abroad. Analysts announced that the Czech economy has seen the worst of the financial crisis. Relative humidity climbed to 95 percent. The Brooklyn trio The Yeah Yeah Yeahs played at the Roxy in Prague.