Friday News Briefing

NEWS

CIA America's top spy, CIA director David Petraeus, made a secretive visit to Prague in the past week according to the daily Právo. The intelligence chief flew out of the Czech Republic June 4 on a military plane, and reports from Bulgaria say he then went to Sofia where he met with the president and prime minister. U.S. authorities are yet to reveal why Petraeus made the secretive stopover to Prague, a city he last visited in 2009.  

RATH More than half of the population firmly believes David Rath is guilty despite his testimony in Parliament this week, a new Sanep poll has found. 20.4 percent of respondents thought it was likely the former Central Bohemian governor was guilty, while just 4.6 percent firmly believed he was innocent. While the disgraced MP awaits prosecution, he has the legal right to access a TV and radio in prison, the daily Právo reported June 8.  

MASTERPLAN Prague City Council has torn up work on the city's new zoning plan, and instead launched preparations for a new "metropolitan plan." The move paves the way for Deputy Mayor Tomáš Hudeček (TOP 09) to start a city blueprint that includes crucial changes to zoning and aims to curb corruption and make the system simpler. But former Deputy Mayor Karel Březina (ČSSD) warned Prague would become a "guinea pig" of new zoning planning, reported the Czech News Agency (ČTK) June 8.  

BUSINESS  

VAT DISPUTE Czech Coal has canceled a coal contract with EP Holding's Opatovice power plant in south Moravia due to a dispute over value-added tax (VAT) payments of more than 20 million Kč, daily Právo reported. Czech Coal representatives said they are willing to continue delivery of enough coal to the plant to ensure adequate heat and hot water production, but not electricity. EP Holding representatives say it is a lie that the company owes money and that the contract cancellation is an attempt to manipulate a higher price for coal.  

WAGES The average monthly wage rose 3.6 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2012 to 24,126 Kč, but real wages fell 0.1 percent, daily Hospodářské noviny (HN) reported. Real wages rose in 10 sectors of the economy, with health care and farming taking the lead. Wages fell in nine categories, with energy and real estate faring the worst. The average salary for a general manager is now 142,213 Kč.  

UNCLAIMED ACCOUNTS Česká spořitelna bank says it plans to use unclaimed money in anonymous accounts to create a research and development fund to help students and professional researchers in the natural sciences. By law, unclaimed accounts revert to banks at the end of this year, but Česká spořitelna says it will give the anonymous depositors until 2015 to come forward. There is currently 2.39 billion Kč in these accounts.  

WEATHER    

Prague, Czech Republic; rain; High: 21 C, Low: 12 C  

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