>>> The Czech Republic enjoyed possibly the warmest Easter in the past 10 years. Temperature records were broken on Friday and Saturday. Fourteen people, including four motorbike drivers, died during Easter holidays (from Friday till Monday) on Czech roads, six more than last year. Sixty-six percent of Czechs associate Easter with spring cleaning according to a March poll in Lidové noviny conducted by Median agency. About 55% of Prague citizens and only 52% of Moravians paint eggs regularly on Easter.
>>> Central Bohemia Governor David Rath published the name and phone number of a Prague City Court judge who banned the region from covering the CZK 30 medical fees last week. In retaliation, some media and the political party Liberálové.cz published Rath’s mobile phone number. “As a South Bohemian I suffer together with the citizens of the Central Bohemia region, because there’s nothing left for them to do than to come to terms with the idea that they have elected an arrogant psychopath for a governor,” said the outgoing Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek on Friday. To circumvent the court ruling pharmacies in regional hospitals in Central Bohemia will start issuing CZK 30 discount vouchers to customers, central Bohemia councillors agreed on Wednesday.
>>> The new Prime Minister Jan Fischer on Thursday received a complete list of names with candidates for ministerial posts as suggested by ČSSD, the Greens and ODS. “Lawyers are dealing with it, so I would leave it to the horse, it has a bigger head,” said ČSSD candidate for the post of interior minister, Martin Pecina, to Wednesday’s Lidové noviny question whether he would want guarantees that he could reassume his position as head of anti-monopoly office after the early elections in October.
>>> High temperatures exceeding 20 degrees Celsius have already awakened snakes this year, although they are supposed to creep out of their holes only on 24 April (St George’s Day), according to an old weather proverb, MF Dnes reported on Wednesday. Spring came too fast – “Bees will not be able to pollinate all plants; apricot and cherry trees will probably be affected the most,” said Pavel Levý from the Czech Beekeepers Union commenting on the small number of bees that are able to pollinate at this time of year. The Vietnamese minority living in ČR has taken control over indoor hemp growing – 70 out of 79 indoor farms discovered last year were operated by Vietnamese.
>>> The Czech economy was fully in recession in February, Lidové noviny reported on Wednesday quoting analysts who called the month Black February of 2009, as it may have been the climax of the economic crisis. Industrial production in the Czech Republic in February fell 23.4% from a year ago, marking the fifth consecutive monthly decline. Construction was down 14.3% and retail sales dropped 7.9% year-on-year. According to Tuesday’s updated forecast by the International Monetary Fund, Czech gross domestic product will contract by 1.3% this year. Every tenth car dealer is considering closing down their business, according to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers for Thursday’s Hospodářské noviny.
>>> Jiří Paroubek is the one responsible for the current political crisis according to 44% of respondents polled in a survey by Median agency for Tuesday’s Lidové noviny. Nevertheless, ČSSD remains ahead of ODS by at least 8% in voter preferences, according to the latest CVVM and STEM polls. KDU-ČSL chairman Jiří Čunek told Czech Radio Tuesday he would not run for his party in early parliamentary elections later this year.
>>> In reaction to the cabinet proposal of CZK 30,000 car-scrapping bonus, the Czech Association of Patients is requesting a “scrapping” bonus of CZK 2,500 for people who take care of their health and Czech furniture makers request a subsidy of CZK 15,000 for those who “scrap” their old furniture and buy new one. The anti-monopoly office has started an investigation into ČEZ’s programme launched on Wednesday that will provide a CZK 1,000 subsidy to customers who buy new low-energy white goods, including fridges, freezers and washing machines.
>>> Coca-cola has announced it will increase its production in the Czech Republic. The fast-food chain Burger King will open its second Czech restaurant in Prague’s Letňany shopping mall. Škoda cars made from late May 2009 will no longer come with spare tires but only puncture-repair kits; the aim is to reduce car weight and emissions. Luxury hotels are voluntarily deleting their stars, so that they do not lose clients among pharmaceutical companies, who have stopped holding congresses in five-star hotels for ethical reasons, Mladá fronta Dnes reported on Saturday.
