Tuesday News Briefing

NEWS  

AFGHANISTAN Defense Minister Alexandr Vondra wants to extend the stay of Czech soldiers in Afghanistan until 2014, although their current mandate expires at the end of 2012, Vondra told the Czech News Agency (ČTK) at the beginning of his visit to Washington, D.C. Jan. 24. Vondra, who will be meeting with his U.S. counterpart, Leon Panetta, said he would like to propose the 24-month extension to Parliament this spring. Currently, some 600 Czech troops are stationed in Afghanistan, following a reduction from 700 last year.  

UNIVERSITIES The Czech Conference of Deans (ČKR) voiced protest Jan. 24 against Education Minister Josef Dobeš's criticism of Charles University Dean Václav Hampl, ČTK reported. Following a demonstration last week by students and faculty against a package of controversial reforms proposed by the Education Ministry, Dobeš called on Hampl to explain why he was "inciting social unrest." Charles University is at odds with the ministry over plans to regulate university leadership and implement tuition fees.  

CORRUPTION The Interior Ministry has filed a series of legal complaints against a suspected manipulation of tenders, the daily Mladá fronta Dnes reported Jan. 24. The complaints are based on the findings of the Interior Ministry's internal audit and control section, which found inconsistencies amounting to tens of millions of crowns. In one case, the ministry paid a law firm 20 million Kč for services whose original projected costs were 6.5 million Kč.  

BUSINESS  

FUEL Prices at filling stations have continued to rise this week, with the price of gas up to 36 Kč per liter and diesel oil up to 36.69 Kč per liter, according to data from CCS, a company that tracks fuel prices. CCS analysts blamed high oil prices and a weak Czech crown against the U.S. dollar. Oil prices may further increase on the EU's decision to declare an oil embargo against Iran, ČTK reported.

REAL ESTATE The debt-ridden developer ECM Real Estate Investments sustained a 48 million euro loss in the third quarter of 2011, down from 62.3 million euros during the same period a year before, ČTK reported. The company, which has been insolvent since the spring of 2011 and is still awaiting a decision on the bankruptcy petition, saw aggregate assets decline 24 percent to 119 million euros in the first three quarters last year. The company's major projects are high-rise buildings in Prague's Pankrác district.

LAYOFFS More than 700 employees of steelmaker ArcelorMittal Ostrava (AMO) have applied for voluntary departure with severance payments, of which 630 will be accepted, AMO representatives told ČTK. AMO says it does not plan to close any plants, but has had to lay off workers as a result of the economic crisis, which hit the domestic steel industry especially hard in 2011. The employees will get severance payments in an amount dependent on the number of years they have worked for the company and will be equal to 11-24 monthly wages.

WEATHER

Prague, Czech Republic; snow; High: 2 C, Low: -1 C

News Desk can be reached at
news@praguepost.com