News

Another request for Rath’s release to be considered Monday

District court in Prague will hear another request for release on Monday from the jailed former governor of Central Bohemia David Rath. The court will decide whether the defendant can be released from jail pending trial in exchange for bail payment and written affidavits, and will set the amount of bail. Mr. Rath’s girlfriend, father and mother of one of his children offered to pay half a million Czech crowns each for his release. Written guarantees were offered by 30 people, including Norbert Badal, personal secretary to cardinal Dominik Duka. Mr. Rath, who was arrested in May on corruption charges, spent three month under stricter regime confinement, to avoid possible influencing of witnesses. Currently, the former governor remains in jail with more lenient visitation and communication rules, because of fears of flight or continuation of illegal activities expressed by the prosecution.

CNB board member warns of worse prognosis for GDP

The Czech National Bank (CNB) will possibly lower its outlook for economic development this year, said a member of the bank’s governing board Lubomír Lízal on a Czech Television talkshow on Sunday. CNB’s August forecast estimated a 0.9 % fall of GDP in 2012. But Mr. Lizal said economic performance this year is actually worse than the CNB expected, and the forecast may have to be revised to reflect that. At the same time the CNB expects an economic revitalisation to begin at the end of the year and is predicting 0.8% expansion of the Czech economy in 2013.

Romani victims of the holocaust commemorated at Moravian camp

On Sunday, a ceremony commemorating the Romani victims of Nazi persecution during World War II took place in the town of Hodonín u Kunštátu in central Moravia. The ceremony was held on an anniversary of the largest transports of Roman to Auschwitz. Around 1400 Moravian Roma were interned at the so-called “Gypsy camp” in Hodonín in the years 1942-43. Three hundred of them died at the camp, while the others were sent to the death camps in Auschwitz. A memorial will be erected in Hodonín u Kunštátu most likely in August 1916 in commemoration of Romani victims. After the war, the Hodonín camp was used to intern Germans who could not be deported from Czechoslovakia, in accordance with the Beneš decrees, because of health problems or old age. And later briefly served as a Communist forced labour camp for political prisoners.

Pavel Kohout receives prize for supporting Austro-Czech relations

The first prize from the Waldviertel Academy in Austria was awarded to the Czech writer and former dissident Pavel Kohout for his long-time contributions to improving Austro-Czech relations. The 84-year-old novelist, playwright and poet was expelled from the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1969 and became one of the main initiators and signatories of the dissident document Charter 77. In 1979 he was not allowed to return to Czechoslovakia after a visit to Austria, where he remains to this day.

Kvitová ends in Cincinnati semi-final

Czech tennis player Petra Kvitová lost to the seventh seed Angelique Kerber from Germany in the Cincinnati Open semi-final. This year’s Wimbeldon semi-finalist Kerber beat fifth seed Kvitová 1:6, 6:2, 4:6 in one hour and 53 minute long match. Kvitová lost to Kerber in May of this year in Rome.

E-books grow in popularity in the Czech Republic

This year saw a considerable rise in the sale of electronic books and e-book readers in the Czech Republic. According to the internet server Huereka.cz, the number of e-books sold in July 2012 saw a year-on-year increase of 43%. E-books now make up one percent of all books sold in the Czech Republic, compared to 0.03% last year. The most popular genres of books downloaded in electronic form in Czech are fantasy and detective fiction. The increasing popularity of e-book readers in the country is partly due to their quickly decreasing prices. The average price for an e-book reader fell by a third from last year, to 3,049 Czech crowns, while for an e-book it is 169 crowns, according to Huereka.cz.

Weather

Sunday will be sunny with highs of 31 to 35 degrees Celsius, between 24 and 28 degrees in the mountains.