Monday News Briefing

NEWS

Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas has formally asked President Milos Zeman to appoint Vlastimil Picek, current first deputy defence minister, to the post of defence minister, Nečas said in a press release, adding Picek completely fulfils his idea of an unaffiliated expert with all preconditions to occupy the post of defence minister. "The past three months also proved that he was able to fully represent the sector at home and abroad," Nečas wrote. Picek, a former chief of staff, is to be appointed on Tuesday afternoon, according to Czech News Agency (ČTK) sources. Nečas has been temporarily heading the ministry since December 2012 when Deputy PM Karolína Peake was dismissed from the post of defence minister after just eight days in office.

Indonesia has extradited Czech national Tomáš Toman, who was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison for beating a young man to death in 2008 at a Prague nightclub, even though there is no extradition treaty between the two countries, police spokeswoman Markéta Johnová told journalists today. Toman is the first such Czech case and the fourth convict sent by Indonesia back to Europe upon request, Johnová added. In 2009, Toman was convicted of having assaulted a man one year before. The man later died of the injuries he sustained in the attack. However, instead of serving the sentence, Toman escaped, first to Australia and then to Indonesia. He is currently being held in a detention center in Prague. 

New Pope Francis is to decide on the canonisation of two Czech saints, nun Marie Restituta (1894-1943), executed by the Nazis, and Hroznata (?-1217) who founded two monasteries in the Czech Lands and died in captivity, daily Lidové noviny (LN) reported on Monday. Maria Restituta came from Brno, south Moravia, but she livied and worked as a nurse in Vienna. The Gestapo arrested her and transported her to prison directly from an operating theatre where she was helping patients. She was charged with spreading anti-Nazi material, condemned to death and decapitated in 1943. LN writes that former Pope Benedict XVI mentioned Marie Restituta as a martyr during his visit to Brno three years ago. However, his successor, Pope Francis, may modify the canonisation procedure and require further background documents and research in her case

BUSINESS

UniCredit Bank, which ranks among the country's largest domestic banks, raised net profit by 176 percent to 3.16 billion Kč last year, the bank has told ČTK. The significant increase in profit is partly distorted by the fact that the bank wrote off Greek bonds in 2011. Other Czech banks have already publicized their 2012 business results. Česká spořitelna raised net profit by over a fifth to 16.6 billion Kč. The net profits of Komerční banka rose by roughly a half to 14.2 billion Kč, while ČSOB raised net profit by 37 percent to 15.3 billion Kč. UniCredit Bank's total assets added 10.5 percent to 318.9 billion Kč last year. Client deposits were over 9 percent higher at 195.1 billion Kč and client loans grew by 1.6 percent to 184.7 billion Kč.

The Internet and television are the main sources of information for most Czechs, with over 42 percent of people using the web and 40 percent using the television as the main source of news, a survey conducted by agency Medea Research has shown. Newspapers, magazines and the radio are the main source of news for only less than one-tenth of the respondents, according to the survey. The share of people using TV as the main source of information grew compared with 2012, while the share of people for whom newspapers and magazines are the main information source dropped. One-fifth of the respondents said they can imagine their life without any media whatsoever. 

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