Czech & Brno News Summary

Acquiring an original Czech recipe

Up to 30% of health care provided for patients in the Czech Republic is unnecessary, which annually costs tens of billions of crowns, the daily Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD) writes Thursday, referring to data from the VZP public health insurance company.

The Czech UNICEF branch wants to point to the lack of clean water and sewerage mainly in poor Third World countries by "the longest queue for toilets" charity event, Rosa Simberska, one of the organisers, told CTK Thursday.

Czech car maker Škoda Auto saw its operating profit drop by EUR 362m yr/yr to EUR 203m in 2009 and sales fell by 11.7% to EUR 7.1bn, parent concern Volkswagen said in its annual report on the Internet Thursday.

The upper house committee for foreign affairs, defence and security Thursday clearly supported the reinforcement of the Czech military mission in Afghanistan, its deputy chairman Jaromír Štětina said.

The share of unpaid loans rose to 5.4% of the total volume of loans at end-Jan 2010, according to the latest data of the Czech National Bank (CNB).

The largest Czech firms, which made their 2009 economic results public, posted a fall in sales last year, with the exception of energy company ČEZ, which saw its sales rise.

The Czech ultra-right Autonomous Nationalists (AN) grouping has made a statement critical of the now scrapped Workers' Party (DS) and its successor, the Workers' Party of Social Justice (DSSS), which political analysts say might cause a rift in the ultra-right camp and weaken the DSSS.

The International Astronautical Congress (IAC) that is to focus on rising ocean levels, space research and the International Space Station (ISS) will be held in Prague in 200 days.

The Social Democrats' branch in Prague Thursday chose Martin Pecina, interior minister in the caretaker cabinet, as its leader in the May elections, a step the rival Civic Democrats previously warned against as violation of parties' agreement.

Erika Steinbach, chairwoman of the Federation of Expellees (BdV), wants a Czech representative, preferably president, to attend the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Charter of German Expellees on May 5, Steinbach told Czech Radio (CRo) Thursday.

Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) chairman Cyril Svoboda will be the party's election leader in the Hradec Kralové region instead of Prague, the KDU-CSL national committee decided Thursday. Jana Hybášková (European Democratic Party, EDS) who was KDU-CSL election leader in Hradec Kralové will run in Prague as number one.

The US has its own experiences with the existence of "ghettos," which also may be why "it is quite sensitive to the issue and highlights it in its assessment of the Czech Republic," Czech AI spokeswoman said Thursday in reaction to the US state of human rights report for 2009. In its assessment of the Czech Republic the report mentions discrimination against the Roma minority, corruption and also trade in people for labour or prostitution.

The national anti-drug squad (NPC) detained an organised group of three Czechs and a Dutch man, including a member of the Prague Castle Guard, in February on suspicion of producing and distributing marijuana and cocaine, NPC head Jakub Frydrych said Thursday.

Bavaria is not ready to change the road checks in its borderland about which Czech drivers complain as its Interior Ministry is satisfied with the results of the "screening search," Interior Ministry spokesman Holger Plank said Thursday.

Czech entrepreneurs Petr Kellner, Zdeněk Bakala and Andrej Babiš have made this year's list of the world's richest people released by US magazine Forbes. Kellner, co-owner of the PPF investment group, is reported to be the 89th wealthiest person with assets valued at USD 7.6bn.

Interior Minister Martin Pecina should resign if he joins the list of ČSSD candidates in the upcoming elections, ODS leader Mirek Topolánek said Thursday.

The Human Rights and Minorities Minister, Michael Kocáb, remains in the cabinet as PM Jan Fischer did not accept his resignation Kocáb offered over a love affair on Wednesday.

The Czech labour offices will halt the issuance of work permits to foreigners from the countries outside the European Union, the daily Lidové noviny (LN) reports Wednesday.

The core of the potential Social Democrat government, if the party wins the May elections, would include ČSSD head Jiří Paroubek as PM and another six people, while former presidential candidate Jan Švejnar may also be in the cabinet, Právo writes Wednesday.