Friday News Briefing

Local Briefs

Checks of 155 autopsies in the Moravia-Silesia region have not revealed any further cases of methanol poisoning, said Igor Dvořáček, head of the Forensic Medicine Institute in Ostrava. Eighteen people have already died after drinking liquor tainted with methanol (methyl alcohol) that appeared in the country and 10 of the victims are from Moravia-Silesia. A thorough examination of the autopsies of people who died in the past four months was performed because an elderly woman from Havířov, north Moravia, died of methanol poisoning May 13.

Subsidies to the value of 1 billion euro awarded by The European Commission will be cut as a sanction for numerous cases of fund mismanagement and abuse. According to Aktualne.cz Daily, the sanction will be imposed on four operational programs: The "Transport," "Environment," "Entrepreneurship" and "Innovation."

The renewal of public trust in politics is the priority of Czech presidential candidate Jan Fischer, he said today, adding that a strong economy, the rule of law, decency, the defense of national interests and care for human rights were also among his priorities. Fischer, a former caretaker prime minister (2009-10), has unveiled his agenda and said he wanted to seek the implementation of politicians' property returns, limitation of lawmakers' immunity and the reduction of some presidential powers.

The Czech company ERA Pardubice has started the stage of tests and final works on the Passive Coherent Location demonstrator that will be used in anti-aircraft defense, daily Pravo wrote. After the Tamara and Vera radar equipment, Czechs have constructed a unique radar, according to Pravo. ERA Pardubice is one of the companies that have followed up the tradition of Tesla Pardubice, the manufacturer of the legendary Tamara passive radar. 

Consumption of petrol in the Czech Republic dropped by almost 4 percent year on year to 839,000 tons in the first half of this year due to record-high prices, according to data of the Czech Association of Petroleum Industry and Trade. Diesel oil consumption stagnated at 1.96 million tons in the January-June time period. Petrol consumption has been decreasing every year since 2005. Last year, around 1.8 million tons of petrol were consumed. In the full year 2012, some estimates predict that petrol consumption could drop by up to one-tenth compared with 2011, mainly because of growing prices. 

Up to one quarter of Czechs have never used the Internet, according to a poll published by the European Commission. Among 29 surveyed countries, the Czech Republic ranked 14th, finishing even worse than neighboring Slovakia. IHNED.cz wrote that IT experts blame government mismanagement and the sluggishness of telecommunications operator companies. 63% of Czechs and 72% of Slovaks use the Internet at least once a week.

Regional Briefs 

More than half of Poles who have tasted life abroad want to take their kids with them out of Poland as soon as they can, according to a survey conducted by labor agency Otto Work Force, Warsaw Business Journal reported. Polish families usually emigrate to Germany, the United Kingdom and Norway. They argue it is easier for them to find a well-paid job in those countries, and very often they can count on good social assistance, which they say gives their families a sense of security. 

Around 1,605 Romanian doctors headed abroad in 2012 so far in search of more money and better careers, said the Colegiul Medicilor, a professional organization for doctors. The Nine O'Clock news site reported this represents around 4 percent of the number of doctors in Romania. The main reason for emigration for these professionals is the low salaries and poor work conditions.  Around 2,000 doctors sought to leave last year, while this exodus numbered some 1,500 in 2010.

With just six weeks before Ukrainians vote in a parliamentary election that could change the course of their nation's future, a think tank revealed that less than half of citizens have a clear grasp of new election rules. Only 48 percent of Ukrainians said they know that the Oct. 28 contest involves election of half of the 450-seat parliament through contests in single-mandate districts. The poll, conducted by Bekeshkina's nongovernmental organization and the Razumkov Center, showed that 23 percent of respondents know little or nothing about single-mandate contests, The Kyiv Post reports.