The winter storm Kyrill, which took nearly 50 lives across Europe, reulted in claims of up to 485 million Kč ($22.5 million), the Czech News Agency reported Jan. 23. Česká pojišťovna announced that it received some 3,000 claims following the storm. Kyrill had winds that reached 212 kilometers (130 miles) per hour and caused the most damage in the history of state-owned forester Lesy ČR.

FILM

Czech cinema attendance grew last year after a heavy slump in 2005, the Czech News Agency reported Jan. 19. More than 11.5 million tickets were sold in 2006, up 2 million from the year before. Sales rose from 854 million Kč to more than 1 billion Kč. Some 1.2 million people went to the cinema in August.

MANAGERS

Czech managers make significantly less than their European Union counterparts, the daily Mladá fronta Dnes reported Jan. 21, citing a survey by German consulting company Kienbaum. The survey showed that a manager of a multinational company in the Czech Republic makes some 2.3 million Kč per year, while a German manager earns 7.2 million Kč. Still, the real wage of Czechs with the highest incomes has grown four times faster than those with the lowest income since 1989.

WATERPARK

Austrian company UBM Bohemia plans to build a 1 billion Kč recreation park at the Lipno dam in South Bohemia, the company announced Jan. 18. The park will be modeled after a village, containing hundreds of houses and a port for yachts and could serve 2,000 people. The Hruštice civic association is opposed to the project and claims it will seriously deteriorate the environment and the quality of the water in the dam.

FUNDS

The Czech Republic gained 6.9 billion Kč more from the EU budget in 2006 than it paid into it, the Finance Ministry announced Jan. 22. The figure includes 5.7 billion Kč in budget compensation, which countries that joined in 2004 will no longer receive. The country's net revenue reached 16.2 billion Kč.

COUNTERFEIT

The Czech Retail Inspection seized counterfeit goods worth an estimated 743 million Kč at open-air markets and shops last year, up from 733 million Kč a year earlier, the office announced Jan. 17. About 83 percent of the forged products were CDs and DVDs, a record amount. Half the CDs in the Czech Republic are counterfeit, analysts say.

HOSTING