Last week 52/08

The Peace Light of Bethlehem arrived in the Czech Republic. The price of petroleum dropped to the lowest price it has been in the last seven years. During an inspection trip across Afghanistan, a delegation of Czech politicians survived a Taliban missile attack on the Czech army base in Kandahar. „Great, we didn't have to learn,“ school children from the Švehlová street primary school in Prague told journalists after an arson attack in the geography teachers' office forced firefighters to evacuate the entire building. In an effort to curb production of cars nobody wants, Škoda Auto moved to a four-day work week. The police reported that thieves have started stealing airbags instead of stealing car radios. Newspapers carried the news that Germany's recession could be deeper and longer than expected. In an attempt to economize, ČSA Czech Airlines stopped serving free meals and beverages on board its airplanes. The Finance Ministry legalized online betting. Woody Allen played a concert in Prague. „A lot of people didn't get it. It incensed a lot of people. It made a lot of people sad,“ wrote a sports reporter for Mladá fronta Dnes, commenting on golf player Jessika Kordová's announcement that she wants to stop playing for the Czech Republic because she feels more American than Czech. After months of staggering strengthening, the Czech currency fell back to its usual weak rate of 26.42 crowns to the euro. Supermarkets announced pre-Christmas sales. In Berlin, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg received the Großes Verdienstkreuz („Great Cross of Merit“) medal. Montenegro submitted an application to join the European Union. Warm weather combined with a dearth of snow complicated preparation of the ski trail for the new year's Tour de Ski in Nové Město nad Moravě. Despite protests from local authorities, the constitutional court ruled that the forest near the village of Ždárek must be returned to the heirs of the Walderode noble family. The Czech post office, Česká pošta, lost 100 million crowns in highly risky Russian transactions, and its management announced decreased profits. „Of course it will be in very good hands. I wish the Czech presidency lots of luck,“ replied French President and recent six-month European Union President Nicolas Sarkozy when asked by European journalists whether the EU would be in good hands during the upcoming Czech presidency. Brno's Kometa ice hockey team fell flat on the ice in Poruba, losing 2–0. Denmark opened up its labor market to Czechs. The authorities have decided to use a unique computer program created by Masaryk University (Masarykova univerzita) developers to identify plagiarists by looking into past diploma work, even digging deep into the past, and revoking the university degrees of those guilty of plagiarism. Shopping fever rocked the nation.

„Traditions are disappearing. Giving money is becoming a trend,“ psychologist Jeroným Klimeš confirmed to the press that envelopes with bank notes are increasingly replacing gifts under Czech Christmas trees. Czech scientists discovered a gene linked with infertility. The media discovered that Pavel Bém, Prague's mayor, who recently failed in his bid to become chairman of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), had secretly headed off to Antarctica for a holiday. Scientific observation showed that zoos shorten elephants' life spans. The Health Ministry protested against the Justice Ministry's plan to make physicians and healers equally liable for the healthcare services they provide. Surprisingly, Lucie Bílá and Karel Gott won this year's Český slavík („Czech Nightingale“) awards. „Family members, mistresses and journalists who pick up their obligatory copies, and skedaddle over to the next event sporting a better stocked buffet,“ songwriter Vladimír Merta said to Hospodářské noviny, describing those who came to the release party for a book about the former folk-singer association Šafrán. After straying from a marked footpath, a Czech tourist fell into a chasm and died in Slovakia's Veľká Fatra (Greater Fatra) mountains. Seznam.cz expanded its customers' e-mail accounts to an unlimited size. The Czech branch of the Lunar Embassy announced that the number of Czechs who have purchased one-acre parcels on the Moon had climbed to 13,000. Some passers-by just happened to find the body of a strangled Ukrainian woman in a ditch by a road in Prague. A court ruled that only one orchestra named after František Kmoch is allowed to perform in Kolín. „I don't know. It's a breed that works in there for me, a real bourgeois dog,“ replied young dramatist Petr Kolečko when asked by Lidové noviny, „Why is one of the characters in the play Láska vole ("Love, Idiot“) a white poodle?" „Black souls“ - manual laborers and students paid to attend the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) congress - got drunk at the event.