Last Year

The media reported that proton beams had been circulated in the giant particle accelerator in Switzerland for the first time, marking the launch of Europe's Big Bang project. The Czech crown jewels were put on display at Prague Castle. Six clinics in the country began testing a hopeful new cancer drug developed by Czech scientists. The United States cancelled visa requirements for Czechs. Carl Ludwig Hapsburg, the son of the last Austro-Hungarian emperor, was buried in Vienna. The collapse of the fourth largest investment bank in the USA - Lehman Brothers - triggered a financial and economic crisis of global proportions. The Czech Republic took over the presidency of the European Union two days early. Delegates from both chambers of parliament decided to keep Professor Václav Klaus in the presidential seat for five more years. The Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) won the regional elections by a landslide and, thanks to its offer to co-govern some regional councils, the Communists returned to power in the Czech Republic for the first time since 1989. „Sometimes I am seized by the feeling that all we did might have been in vain. All of a sudden, it's as if part of the population is pining for a firm Eastern embrace,“ said the first president of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel, commenting on post-election developments just after being ranked among the world's 100 most-influential intellectuals by Foreign Policy magazine. Scientists discovered that electrical stimulation deep inside the brain can revive the memories of people suffering from senility or Alzheimer's disease. Parliament's lower house, the Chamber of Deputies (Poslanecká sněmovna), adopted a new penal code. The body of Czech travelling guru Jiří Svoboda was found in the woods of the Šumava mountains; having undertaken manifold trips around the world, the seasoned traveler ultimately froze to death on the way from Nové údolí to Nava Jiyada farm in Bavaria. „Its blast into our galaxy 20 [million] to 40 million years from now will bring about an explosion that will form millions of new stars,“ reported news websites, citing astronomers' reactions to the discovery that a giant hydrogen cloud is heading to the Milky Way. In Kněževes u Prahy, an archeological exploration uncovered a waste pit with human bones that have lain here for 5,000 years as the mysterious remains of the ash-field people. The first public gay and lesbian parade in the country, the Queer Parade, was held in Brno. In Prague, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg and his American counterpart Condoleezza Rice signed an agreement on the construction of a US radar base in the Brdy hills, and Russian President Dimitri Medvedev reacted instantly, threatening some unidentified form of „retaliation.“ US Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned EU members in London to beef up their defense capabilities right away, in this age of uncertainty and fear borne of Russia's unpredictable intentions. „Our goal is to avoid a situation in which we'd be left with just two possibilities -confrontation or resignation,“ Gates declared.

A memorial service for Zdeňek Urbánek was held in Prague. European demographers changed the dividing line between young and old from 38 to 48 years of age. Eight thousand young salmon were released into the Kamenice river in the Děčín Region. Barack Obama won the US presidential election and Czech officials joined in the congratulations from around the world. Eleven world-renowned writers signed a petition condemning the „defamatory campaign“ that they say was launched by Respekt magazine's publication of a police document from 1950 indicating that the then unknown student Milan Kundera had informed against a person fighting the Communist dictatorship, who was then sentenced to 14 years in prison. Javelin thrower Barbora Špotáková was named Czech athlete of the year. Aimed at protecting the world's plants for the future on an Arctic island far from the threats of climate change, war and other catastrophes, the „doomsday vault“ - also known as the global seed vault - on Norway's Svalbard island was officially opened at a ceremony attended by European Commission officials. The government recognized Kosovo. „Yes, the case is closed. The act happened, the perpetrator is unknown,“ the new director of the Útvaru pro odhalování organizovaného zločinu („Office for Detection of Organized Crime“), Robert Šlachta, told Hospodářské noviny, confirming that the police had shelved the case of murdered mafia boss František Mrázek, who, in light of his contacts to top politicians, had become a symbol of the melding of organized crime and state administration. His Holiness the Dalai Lama lectured in Prague on the best path to happiness. Three thousand and eighty-six years passed since a total solar eclipse marked the hero Odysseus's return to his native Ithaca after winning the Trojan War.