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MPs extend British military training mission in Czech Republic

The lower house of the Czech Parliament on Friday extended the term of a British military training mission in the Czech Republic until 2015. The motion was supported by MPs from all parties in the house but the communists. Communist deputy Václav Exner told reporters his party opposed the presence of any foreign troops on Czech territory.

The British military training and advisory mission, consisting of around 30 experts, has organized courses for military staff from various NATO countries and members of NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme at a Czech army base in Vyškov, in southern Moravia, since 2000. The British mission also assists in the training of Czech army officers.

Kidnapped humanitarian aid worker in Haiti released

A Czech humanitarian aid worker in Haiti and her Belgian colleague have been released after being kidnapped last week. The aid organisation Doctors without Borders for which both women work has declined to provide further details on the situation, including whether any ransom was paid, but has said that both are in good condition. The women, one of whom is a nurse, were apparently abducted last Friday in a suburb of the capital Port-au-Prince in the first kidnapping of aid workers since the earthquake of January 12. Doctors without Borders currently has six Czech and Slovak workers in Haiti dealing with health, water and sanitation issues. Czech aid organisations operating in the country have repeatedly emphasised that the situation there is secure and that they are for the most part provided military protection only when distributing aid.

Ministry pushes for compulsory pre-school education

The Czech Education Ministry is pushing for compulsory pre-school education, Deputy Education Minister Jindřich Kitzberger told Czech Radio on Friday. Some 7 percent of Czech children miss out on the last year of pre-school education, many of them Romanies who come from a socially-challenged environment. The ministry believes an extra year of compulsory pre-school education could remove barriers Romany children often face when entering elementary schools. The ministry had earlier carried out a survey among teachers and parents, and says they welcomed the idea.

Quality of air in northern Moravia worsens

The quality of air in northern Moravia has again worsened, the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute said on Friday. Most measuring stations in the region registered values twice exceeding emission standards of dust. The regional authorities have asked the biggest polluters in the area, including the steel producer Arcelor Mittal, to say how they are going to limit emissions. The lower house of Parliament also called on the Czech government on Friday to come up with concrete measures to improve the situation.

Foreign Minister Jan Kohout will not run in May’s general elections

The Czech foreign minister, Jan Kohout, is not going to run in the general elections scheduled for May. Mr Kohout, who was expected to top the Social Democrat ballot in the Plzeň region, was rejected by the party’s regional organization, against the wishes of the party leadership. The news comes a day after the Social Democrats announced that Interior Minister Martin Pecina will head their ballot in Prague. The move provoked an outcry from the right-wing Civic Democrats, who said this breached an earlier agreement between the two parties about the support for the caretaker government. Prime Minister Jan Fischer reacted by saying that he would not prevent any member of his government to run in the elections; Mr Fischer said however he would make sure his ministers would keep campaigning out of their agenda.

Passer-by finds newborn baby in snow

A passer-by found a newborn baby lying in a heap of snow in the central Bohemian town of Příbram on Friday, the police said. The girl, who was born with the last 24 hours, was taken to hospital; doctors said her condition was stable, and she will survive. She was born healthy; she weighs 2.8 kg and measures 28 cm. The police are looking for her mother who will face charges of wilful abandonment.

Prague to be sanctioned as single voting district for local elections

Czechs MPs supported a motion on Friday to legally sanction the Czech capital of Prague as a single voting district in local elections. The bill will now go to parliamentary committees for further debate. If approved by the lower house of Parliament, the new law would thwart plans by the right-of-centre Civic Democrats who want to divide the capital into several voting districts to eliminate smaller political groups. During the last local elections in 2006, Prague was a single voting district while in the previous elections four years earlier, the capital was divided into five constituencies.

Oldest Czech dies at 107

The oldest citizen of the Czech Republic has died at the age of 107, the daily Právo reported on Friday. Mr Josef Flandera, who was born in a Czech community in Ukraine, came to then Czechoslovakia with the exile Czechoslovak army, and settled in northern Moravia after WWII. Mr Flandera, who would have turned 108 in June, died on Saturday shortly after being released from hospital. The oldest Czech is now Julie Vašíčková from the south Moravian village of Prušánky, who was born in 1903, 15 years before the foundation of Czechoslovakia.

Czech households’ debt increases eight times since 2000

The debts of Czech households with banks have increased eight times since the year 2000, and now amount to more than 973 billion crowns, or over 52 billion US dollars, according to figures released by the Czech Statistical Office on Friday. Analysts believe that the situation is not dramatic as around 70 percent of the debts are mortgages. However, the fastest growing types of loans are those used to pay for mobile phones, education and health care. The relative rate of Czech household indebtedness is at about 53 percent of eurozone levels.

Fair Play Club awards for 2009 presented

Czech orienteer Michal Smola received the main award of the Czech Fair Play Club for 2009 on Friday. Smola, a member of the Czech national orienteering team, helped save the life of a French competitor who suffered serious injury at a World Championship race in Hungary last year. The Czech Fair Play Club also awarded rower Václav Chalupa and hockey player Josef Černý for their sense of fair play demonstrated throughout their sporting careers.

Head of hockey’s disciplinary committee resigns over criticism

The head of the Czech ice hockey association’s disciplinary committee, Stanislav Šulc, stepped down on Friday. Mr Šulc resigned over criticism concerning the committee’s decision to punish a top league player who purposefully injured his opponent in Tuesday’s play off game between Liberec and České Budějovice. The committee banned Liberec’s Stanislav Bartovič for one game but other extraliga teams as well as many fans thought the penalty was too light.

Speed skater Martina Sáblíková wins fourth World Cup in a row

Czech double Olympic champion Martina Sáblíková won her fourth consecutive World Cup in long distance speed skating after triumphing in the cup’s final 3,000 metre event in Heerenveen, Netherlands on Friday. The 22-year-old Sáblíková was 20 points ahead of Germany’s Stephanie Beckert, who could still secure overall victory. But the Czech beat her by 1.32 seconds in the final run to clinch the title.

Weather

The next few days should be cloudy with rain in lower altitudes, while mountain areas might see up to 50 cm of fresh snow. Highest day temperatures should range between -1 and +5 degrees Celsius.