Last week 6/2006

Students received report cards. The national budget for January ended with a 3.5-billion-crown surplus. Feng-Jün Song and her new band Puo celebrated the advent of the Chinese year of the dog in Prague’s Archa Theatre. President Václav Klaus declared parliamentary elections for June 2–3. With the conclusion that “everything was proper,” the parliamentary investigation committee led by communist deputy Pavel Hojda closed its investigation of the disputed government privatization of the strategic chemical concern Unipetrol. Johnny Cash came to Czech cinemas. Lenka Dusilová set off on her Between Worlds tour. “In cooperation with dissidents, they deliberately committed hostile, anti-Cuban activities,” said Cuban chargé d’affaires Aymeé Hernandéz at the Interior Ministry in Prague, explaining why the political police in Cuba arrested and detained for several hours model Helena Houdová and psychologist Marian Kroftová for taking pictures in the poor neighborhoods of Havana.

The repaired Pendolino express train was returned – and made it to its destination on the first try – to the Prague-Ostrava railway line. The trial of thirty members of the “Berdych gang” – a group of high-ranking police and criminals that specialized in killings, burglary, kidnapping, and extortion – began at the Regional Court in Prague. Oskar changed its name to Vodafone. Bond, James Bond, arrived in Prague. “I’m not going to answer that, now leave me be and quit coming to me with your insipidities!” replied Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek when asked by Mladá fronta DNES why actor Jiří Krompol told jokes about thieving and lazy Romas on his pre-elections show, and he, the prime minister, did not reprimand him, but laughed instead. The Czech crown hit another record high against the euro (28.25:1). Several dozen people, including three Czech breeders, perished in Katovice, Poland when the roof of a sports hall collapsed while visitors were inspecting a carrier pigeon exhibition. In Prague 8 Italian carbineer Giovanni Natoli was stabbed to death by an unknown assailant for an unknown reason. Prague’s Ponrepo cinema screened the Czech premiere of the German film about Božena Němcová – The Stars Didn’t Come Out Those Nights (Durch diese Nacht sehe ich keinen einzigen Stern). Education Minister Petra Buzková called on Czech secondary professional schools to convert into scarce and in-demand grammar schools. Czech Post raised the rate for sending letters abroad. Former vice prime minister for the economy Martin Jahn started working for Škoda Auto. “I resolutely reject any speculation that the match was influenced,” declared Libor Zábranský, who manages the Brno hockey club Kometa, after his favored team surprisingly lost 2:4 against Třebič in a match for which renowned betting agencies refused to take bets due to rampantly circulating rumors. A court hearing to decide whether to extradite Viktor Kožený to the USA, where he faces up to life in prison for extensive fraud charges, began in the Bahamaian metropolis Nassau. A Prague court sentenced Zdeněk Munzar, former advisor to former Zeman cabinet minister Petr Lachnita, to six years in prison for misappropriation and fraud. The power giant ČEZ acquired two Polish power plants for ten billion crowns. In a strike to protest profit margin reductions, pharmacies closed their doors for three hours. A fire in a prefab apartment building killed four people in the Prague housing estate Opatov. “I reject any linking of ČSSD with the non-final judgment of businessman Pitr; the tabloid press (Respekt) has to choose: to me Pitr is either an ‘enemy of the state’ (which I have never explicitly said) or he is close to ČSSD. He can’t be both,” Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek wrote yesterday in his “press release” in reaction to Respekt’s analysis proving that while top ČSSD officials such as ex-minister of agriculture Jaroslav Palas accommodated Pitr’s group and allowed them to make a fortune from suspicious deals, other – more powerful – top officials such as Paroubek, sharply cast the businessman off after he overestimated his strength and, in attempt to grab another billion-crown chunk of assets, brought to light suspicions about bribery in the privatization of Unipetrol. Tomáš Řepka joined Sparta football’s preparations in Spain. Smog blanketed the Czech Republic. Above-ground water mains in Karvin froze. Meteorologists forecast that after a brief warmer spell over the weekend, freezing temperatures would return to a stable twenty-below zero celsius. The Chamber of Deputies banned scientists from cloning people in the Czech Republic.