Monday News Briefing

Odds at the country's largest betting companies indicate Milos Zeman is now viewed as the more probable winner of the Jan. 25-26 presidential runoff. Fortuna, Sazka and Tipsport have the same odds on Zeman today, offering 1.8/1 for those betting on his victory. The odds on Schwarzenberg's victory are 1.9/1.

 A middle-aged man set himself ablaze Jan. 20 in Wenceslas Square, near the spot of student Jan Palach's act of self-immolation in 1969. The man told the police he did not want to commit suicide, but only to recall Palach. He said he poured gasoline on his jacket and set it on fire. Police said the man suffered lights burns on his hands and was tranferred to the hospital. Palach lit himself afire on January 16, 1969 to protest against the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia and the public's passive reaction to it. 

In an effective endorsement of leftist presidential candidate Milos Zeman, the leadership of the umbrella trade union organization CMKOS said Zeman's rival Karel Schwarzenberg was an "unacceptable" candidate for trade unionists. Supporting Schwarzenberg, who is currently deputy prime minister, would negate all of CMKOS' efforts to protest against the government's reforms and austerity cuts, CMKOS head Jaroslav Zavadil said.  

News Desk can be reached at
news@praguepost.com