The Brno Municipal Court has dismissed corruption charges against Ronald Adams, the former CEO of the truck maker Tatra Kopřivnice. Then deputy defence minister Martin Barták had claimed that Mr. Adams had promised him CZK 20 million in 2009 if he could deliver a deal under which Tatra would supply vehicles for the Czech Army. Mr. Adams had consistently denied the allegation. The state attorney can still appeal Tuesday’s verdict.
Mr. Barták, who became minister of defence after the alleged offer was made, is himself facing charges of soliciting a bribe from Tatra’s management.
A group lobbying for the equal representation of women in politics has warned that there could be fewer female MPs after elections at the end of the month. Forum 50% said on Tuesday that the number of female candidates on the tickets of the parties projected to enter Parliament is lower than the number fielded by the parties that got in three years ago. Only the Civic Democrats and the Greens have more women on their candidate lists this time around, the group said.
A maintenance man was killed when a petrol tank exploded at a filling station on the D8 motorway at Zdiby on the outskirts of Prague on Tuesday afternoon. The man was working on the tank when the accident occurred, a spokesperson for the police said. The motorway was closed in one direction following the explosion.
The Prague Public Transport Company has dropped a proposed plan to reintroduce turnstiles to the city’s underground rail system. The company’s freshly appointed director, Jaroslav Ďuriš, said it could not afford such a system at present. Turnstiles were removed from the city’s metro stations in the mid 1980s. The cash-strapped transport authority is currently looking at various ways to make savings, including pay freezes.
Three existing Czech mobile phone providers and two prospective newcomers have filed applications in a CZK 8.72 billion mobile-frequency auction aimed at boosting services and competition. According to the Czech Telecommunication Office, Telefonica Czech AS, T-Mobile Czech AS and Vodafone Czech Republic AS registered for the sale, as did Revolution Mobile AS, a former unit of Czech financial group PPF, and Tasciane AS. The auction was called to boost 4G high-speed data for mobile users and increase speeds through LTE, or Long Term Evolution, networks.
Google has started offering users in the Czech Republic its Google Play music download service. The service supports streaming music to desktop browsers, Android phones and tablets and any other device that can use the Adobe Flash platform. According to Google, there are hundreds of free songs in Google Play and millions available for purchase. Clients can also subscribe to Google Play Music All Access, a music streaming platform that is available for 149 crowns a month.
Up to 80 domestically produced documentary films should receive cinema releases in the next 12 months, according to a presentation by the Czech Film Centre and the Institute of Documentary Film. The latter’s website features an online catalogue of some 80 films in various stages of production that should come out by September 2014. Among the directors preparing new documentaries are established names such as Filip Remunda and Linda Jablonská.
An exhibition linked to the 100th anniversary of the birth of the inventor of the soft contact lens, Otto Wichterle, has got underway at the Academy of Sciences in Prague. The famous Czech chemist, who was born in Prostějov, South Moravia on 27 October 1913, produced the first contact lenses in the early 1960s on an apparatus made from a Merkur children’s building kit. The Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (CSAS) sold the patent to an American company and actual mass production of contacts began in the US. Wichterle himself became head of the CSAS after the Velvet Revolution.
Viktoria Plzeň will be without David Limberský for around six weeks after he sustained a thigh injury in a Czech league game at the weekend. The full back, who is 29, has been ever-present during Plzeň’s Champions League campaign this season and the club will be hoping he is fit for at least their final two group games. The West Bohemian team are currently in Moscow for a Champions League match against CSKA on Wednesday.
The women’s 400 metres hurdles world champion Zuzana Hejnová has been included on a shortlist of candidates for the IAAF Athlete of the Year Award. The Czech, who was undefeated in the 2013 season, is one of 10 names on a list that will be whittled down to three in a poll of people active in the athletics field. An expert panel will then choose the winner with the name announced at a gala event in mid November.
It should remain mainly sunny in the next few days, with low temperatures at night and afternoon highs of up to 14 degrees Celsius.
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