Czech & Brno News Summary

Car maker Škoda Auto raised operating profit by 40.6% year-on-year to around CZK 5.9 billion in the first half of 2010, the company said yesterday.

Energetický a průmyslový holding (EPH) netted CZK 522 million on CZK 7.22 billion sales in 2009, revenues from sales of electricity, gas and heat at nearly CZK 4 billion, Lidovky.cz reported yesterday.

The police inspection has reopened an investigation into the case of convict Jiří Kajínek, who is serving life sentence for a double murder from 1993, Právo reported yesterday.

Prague is hosting the five-day European Mensas Annual Gathering 2010 on 28 July - 1 August attended by 400 members from 28 countries of four continents.

Two men, Jaroslav Šejvl and David Stejskal, have established the first gravediggers' professional guild in the Czech Republic and they plan to open a school for gravediggers to restore the past credit of this profession, Reflex reports.

Justice Minister Jiří Pospíšil plans to dismiss Prison Service Head Luděk Kula, Pospíšil told reporters yesterday.

The Environment Ministry will earmark CZK 4 billion from EU subsidies for the improvement of air quality in the Moravian-Silesian region, Environment Minister Pavel Drobil said in Ostrava yesterday.

Lawyers of the Prague City Council argue that Moravský Krumlov City Council was not entitled to ban the relocation of the Slav Epic to Prague.

The UNESCO European Heritage Committee said ongoing construction works in Prague are not threatening its historical monuments, Czech Radio reported yesterday.

The tender for house-arrest bracelets set up by Former Justice Minister Daniela Kovářová will be cancelled as the rules were changed to the detriment of the state, Justice Minister Jiří Pospíšil said yesterday.

According to Education Minister Josef Dobeš, the state should find money for the construction of a Romani Holocaust Information and Education Centre at the location of a former internment camp for Roma in Hodonín u Kunštátu.

The extradition of Czech businessman Tomáš Pitr, sentenced to five years in prison for tax fraud in 2006, from Switzerland may last a year, Swiss Justice Ministry Spokesman Folco Galli told ČTK yesterday.

Education Minister Josef Dobeš (Public Affairs, VV) yesterday said he would not lower teachers' pay and therefore his ministry will save maximally CZK 1.5 billion by end-2010, a mere half of what it is supposed to save according to an austerity plan the government approved on Wednesday.

The Comenius Pedagogical Museum in Prague opened an exhibition of portraits of de Geers, a Dutch noble family that supported world-known Czech philosopher and school reformer Jan Amos Komenský in the 17th century.

A Russian agent, who was linked to Czech military senior officers, worked as a psychologist at the Prison Service headquarters until last September, Mladá fronta Dnes reported yesterday.

The Czech Constitutional Court has halted the proceedings on the complaint by the Metropolitan Chapter that represented the Catholic Church in the protracted dispute over the ownership of St Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle.

The election campaign of the Public Affairs cost some CZK 87 million though the junior government party said it was CZK 10 million, Aktualne.ct reported yesterday.

Housing will be one of key topics of the Communist Party's campaign ahead of the autumn local elections, KSČM shadow local development minister František Beneš told reporters yesterday.

Hundreds of families living in the Czech Republic will finally be eligible for welfare payments from Slovakia, Labour and Social Affairs Ministry Spokeswoman Viktorie Plivová has told ČTK.