Русская версияKlaus blames Georgian conflict on Georgian government
Czech president Vaclav Klaus has said that the Georgian government is responsible for the country’s current conflict with Russia.
Mr Klaus criticized the Georgian government’s behaviour, as well the Western media’s reaction to the conflict, in a letter to the newspaper Mladá fronta Dnes on Monday. President Klaus said on Friday that he thought Russia had more justification than ever for its actions following Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia earlier this year. He called the attitude of Western leaders towards the crisis in Georgia ‘hypocritical’, given the way they had reacted to Kosovo. Mr Klaus’s views are at odds with those held by the Czech government on the Georgian situation. Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg has blamed the conflict in Georgia on Russia.
Fund managers sentenced to prison for fraud
Ten former managers of the Trend and Mercia investment funds have been sentenced by a Hradec Kralové court for illegally stripping the trusts’ assets. Miroslav Hálek, who is thought to have been behind the fraud, was sentenced to seven years in prison. Five other senior managers received lesser prison sentences, while four of those convicted were handed suspended sentences. The men were found guilty of embezzling more than 1.4 billion crowns (84.25 billion USD) from the two funds during the mid-nineties. One man was cleared of all charges.
Právo: Durr to become new deputy education minister
The vice-rector of Palacký University in Olomouc, Jakub Durr, is to become the new deputy education minister, Právo reported on Monday, citing former vice-minister DuÅ¡an Lužný. The paper writes that Mr Durr will be put in charge of drawing EU funds for the ministry, as well as preparing ministry employees for the Czech Republic’s EU presidency in 2009. The Education Ministry has yet to confirm the reports, but has said that it has rented a new building to house its European Union team in Prague’s KarlÃn district.
Czechs’ messages to their Warsaw-pact occupiers go on display in central Prague
An exhibition of banners and posters made by the citizens of Prague in response to the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968 has just been unveiled on Prague’s Wenceslas Square. Photos of home-made posters and grafitti messages were taken by Austrian reporter Franz Goess in August 1968, and to mark the 40th anniversary of the Soviet-led occupation, the images have gone on display at the heart of the Czech capital. On Monday, Mr Goess himself formally opened the exhibition. The photos will remain on display on Wenceslas Square until September 12, when they will travel to Vienna and then Paris.
Telefonica O2 to start selling iPhone in Czech Republic on Friday
Apple’s iPhone is set to launch on the Czech market this Friday, and will be priced at 11,995 crowns (720 USD) with a pay-as-you-go contract. The announcement was made by Telefonica O2 – who will be the first firm to sell the phone in this country – on its website on Monday. For those signing two-year contracts with the telecommunications firm, the phone will cost as little as one crown. Analysts say they expect sales of the iPhone in the Czech Republic to number more than 20,000 in the coming months.
Weather
It should be sunny over the next couple of days, with a few showers of rain on Wednesday. Temperatures are expected to range between 23 – 28 degrees Celsius.
(radio-Prague)
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