CZECH TELEGRAPH

Euro? Not Before 2015...

15. 3. 2010

Czech Finance Minister Eduard Janota said the earliest date for the adoption of the euro by the country is 2015. Before it lowers the public finances' deficit to less than 3 percent of the country's GDP, Czech Republic cannot even start the process for being accepted in the eurozone. In 2009 the budget deficit went to 6.6 percent of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product), but the Finance Ministry estimates a drop to 5.3 percent. The overall deficit of Czech public finances for 2010 is estimated to be about 160 billion Czech crowns.

Transport Union Leader Insists on Gay Conspiracy

Union leader Jaromír Dušek caused a lot of controversy last week, after claiming there is a clique of homosexuals in the transport sector, including the Minister of Transport and the director of the Czech Railways. Criticized by most political and union leaders, Dušek has nonetheless not recoiled from his theories. He now cites former systems specialist Jindřich Berounský, who is in Court fighting against his dismissal, which he believes happened because he is heterosexual. In an interview to today's issue of newsweekly Tyden, Dušek pointed to this case as evidence of his claims.

Homosexuals Want to Adopt

The Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Michael Kocáb has received a petition from a LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) NGO from Brno, called STUD, asking for his support on the issue of adoption rights for gay and lesbian couples. More than 2 thousand people signed the petition. Homosexual couples can lived under a "registered partnership" since 2006.

Communist Youth Union is Back

The Communist Youth Union was banned by the Czech Interior Ministry in 2006, but a Court cancelled the ban this January, so this Saturday they held a re-constituent convention. The had been banned, among other things, because they defended the end of private property rights using revolutionary means.

Institute for Disabled Children Accused of Abuse

Twenty-two people from the Kociánka Social Care Institute for Disabled Children, in Brno, have accused the care organization of a series of abuses, that range from beating up a child suffering an epileptic fit to limiting visiting hours and obsolete methods used by the staff.

90 Czech Romani Gypsies granted asylum in Canada

Canada has dealt with about 900 requests of asylum by Czech citizens of Roma origin. 734 of them were either withdrawn by the applicants or not renewed. Last year Canada reintroduced visas for Czechs in reaction to the constant influx of Gypsies to their country, claiming racial and social discrimination from white Czechs.

Cambodian King in Prague

Norodom Sihamoni, king of Cambodia, who came to live in Prague as a nine-year-old to study ballet between 1962 and 1975, speaks fluent Czech. He will meet Czech President Václav Klaus, then receive an honorary degree at Prague's Academy of Performing Arts.

Prince Charles to Czeck Czech Republic's Greenest Community

From March 20 to 23 Prince Charles and his wife Camila will in the Czech Republic, where the heir to the British throne will go to Hostetin, the country's greenest community, which uses alternative energy and environmentally friendly technologies. The Prince of Wales has visited the Czech lands twice while it was still part of the former Czechoslovakia and twice since the 1993 peaceful separation with Slovakia.

Vytisknout

Obsah vydání | Úterý 16.3. 2010