Newspapers reported that a strong earthquake had killed hundreds of people in eastern Tibet and that the birthplace of His Holiness the Dalai Lama was in shambles. Steady rain raised river levels. In their 270th Prague derby, Sparta beat Slavia 1:0.
“It is sad when a party fails to settle their differences with their leader and has to execute him like certain primitive African tribes did,” remarked Mirek Topolánek to the Právo daily, commenting on his departure from the post of Civic Democratic Party (ODS) chairman. Dial Telecom put its web site volny.cz on sale. Pavel Bém and Ivan Langer maintained their presence on the ODS candidate list for the upcoming elections. Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Marie, who died in a plane crash near Smolensk, Russia, were laid to rest at Wawel Royal Castle in Krakow; the Czech Republic announced a day of mourning on the day of the funeral. Richard von Weizsäcker celebrated his 90th birthday. The media reported that the British commission investigating the “climategate” scandal had found that the research scientists collecting data for the UN on mankind’s role in climate change had not, in fact, committed fraud, which they were accused of four months ago by a group of global warming deniers who had hacked the e-mail accounts of climatologists from the University of East Anglia.
“The deniers, however, accomplished their goal: while the revelation of the e-mails dominated the headlines, the conclusions of the investigation are presented with much less fanfare – and so the campaign against the climatologists succeeded in swaying public opinion, casting doubt on reports about global warming and humans’ role in it, a position that primarily benefits large firms, which are largely to blame for air pollution,” Hospodářské noviny wrote of the commission’s conclusions. A Czech skier died in an avalanche in a remote mountainous region of northwestern Canada’s Yukon Province. Domestic wine production increased to 840 thousand hectoliters. Czech MPs approved a law allowing local governments to clamp down on gambling in their communities. The Social Democratic Party’s (ČSSD) leadership called on party member and Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Miloslav Vlček to explain why he helped push through a government grant of 25 million crowns for the construction of “public venues” in Harrachov four years ago, which nevertheless turned out to be a privately-owned luxury hotel built by Vlček’s friend and adviser Petr Vrtal; the finance ministry has already gotten involved in the case and announced it would “push hard to recover” the misused funds, along with a big fine.
“There were a thousand reporters interested in accreditation, and only three hundred will fit in the Spanish Hall – so they had to be narrowed down, and fringe magazines like Respekt or Žena a móda just don’t make the cut for these kinds of events,” replied the Chancellor of the Office of the President Peter Hájek on Czech TV to a question from the audience, “Why wasn’t the weekly Respekt accredited for an important event as the signing of the disarmament treaty by presidents Obama and Medvedev?” Revenues from non-essential goods declined the most over the past five years. The public expressed astonishment that Roma Realia, a Roma cultural organization, had asked government agencies to have schools remove a passage from Josef Lada’s popular fairy tale Purrkin the Talking Cat wherein the poor cat falls into the hands of evil people who kidnapped him, robbed him and endangered his life during his journey around the world whom the author introduces to readers as follows: “Dear children, those people were Gypsies.”
“Our country really does not need the Senate, but abolishing it would jeopardize our results in the senate elections,” said Communist Party chairman Vojtěch Filip during a campaign meeting in Třebíč in response to an attendee who asked, “Mr. Filip, I mean, comrade – I can’t keep track anymore – why don’t you abolish the Senate?” Erich von Däniken gave lectures about extraterrestrials during his speaking tour of the Czech Republic. The Chamber of Deputies raised maternity leave pay, which had been reduced by budget cuts. A record number of children were born on one day at the Šumperk Hospital – ten instead of the usual three. Miloň Novotný§s photos were exhibited in Prague’s Old Town Hall. The media reported that Malcolm McLaren had died in Switzerland. Nightingales arrived. “Everything is starting now that the bushes have filled out and the flowers and leaves have begun to grow. They need twilight,” zoologist Pavel Kverek commented on the return of the migratory grandmasters of song. Dagmar Pecková sung at the Prague Municipal House.
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Translated by: Martha J. Sullivan
