Top Czech News - Prague Daily Monitor

Sixty-three people applied for asylum or supplementary international protection which is almost identical with asylum in terms of rights and duties in the Czech Republic in July, the lowest figure for the month since 1990, the Interior Ministry told CTK Tuesday.

The unique Art Nouveau villa of Czech artist František Bílek near Prague Castle will reopen to the public after a complete reconstruction 24 September.

Fresh statistical figures show that most Czechs neglect health prevention, as only 5.5% of them, four times less than desirable, visit their general practitioner for a preventive check-up.

Czech leftist activists plan a demonstration outside the Government Office on Wednesday against Prime Minister Petr Nečas's decision to appoint Civic Institute head Roman Joch his human rights adviser, organisers from the ProALt and Students Against Racism groups told ČTK.

The Foreign Ministry cannot imagine the embassies in Iraq and Pakistan not being guarded by police, it said Tuesday reacting to the police's reluctance to stay in the two countries and pay the costs from its budget.

The number of visitors to the Czech pavilion at the Expo 2010 world exhibition in Shanghai is beyond expectations and the organisers reportedly expect it to cross six million, the record set at Expo 1958 in Brussels.

Czech anti-atom organisations will receive a five-million crown subsidy from Upper Austria for the fight against nuclear power plants this year, according to Pavel Vlček from the Civic Initiative for Environment Protection.

Pope Benedict XVI will donate EUR 25,000 from his own sources in aid of those who were afflicted by the recent flash floods in northern Bohemia, Litoměřice Bishopric spokeswoman Jana Michálková told ČTK Tuesday.

Twenty percent of the budget of Czech universities is to depend on their quality as of 2012 or 2013, the daily Hospodářské noviny (HN) writes Monday, citing Education Minister Josef Dobeš.

Petr Fejk, head of the Czech Centre in New York, has so far failed to push through his vision of how the centre is to operate, he admitted for Monday's issue of the daily Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD).

Prime Minister Petr Nečas Monday dismissed the speculations that the new state secretary for EU would be the same post as the minister for European affairs that his government of the ODS, TOP 09 and Public Affairs (VV) abolished.

Czech doctors' trade unions welcome Health Minister Leoš Heger's (TOP 09) will to seek ways of dealing with hospital doctors' pay demands, Martin Engel, chairman of the Doctors' Trade Union-Association of Czech Doctors (LOK-SČL), told ČTK Monday after a meeting with him.

Czech police Monday found the probable remains of 15 Germans allegedly killed by Czech locals shortly after the end of World War Two in May 1945 near Dobronín in southern Moravia, detective Michal Láska told journalists. Detectives have been checking the case since autumn 2009 over suspected murder. "Naturally, our goal is the identification of the victims," Laska said. DNA samples will be taken from the remains.

Czech archaeologists were surprised at uncovering an unharmed hen's egg at the burial site of Hradiště, a 9th-century Great Moravia settlement, chief researcher Bohuslav Klíma told ČTK.

Under the management of newly appointed head of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (ÚSTR), former Catholic priest Daniel Herman, the institute might resume the "opening of the past" to people, the weekly Respekt writes Monday.

Interior Minister Radek John said Monday he will not slim down the police corps by dismissals, but by transferring foreigner police and police presidium members to posts vacated by natural job-switching.

A total of 25 Czechs from a group of some 120 have been evacuated from the flood-hit Ladakh, north India, since Friday and another 15 would like to fly home on Sunday, Czech Ambassador to India Miloslav Stasek told CTK Saturday.

The Czech Republic has become an interesting market for smugglers of rare plants and animals and the demand for them has been constantly rising in the country, said Zuzana Hrubá of the General Customs Directorate.

A new post of state secretary for European affairs will be probably established in the Czech coalition cabinet and the senior ruling Civic Democrats (ODS) are to fill it, the daily Právo writes Saturday.

The Czech Transport Ministry will halt work on 12 road infrastructure projects whose construction is already under way and suspend preparations of further three projects owing to lack of money, the ministry said Friday.