Human rights minister Ji Dienstbier to run for party deputy chair

04-11-2014 15:59 | Daniela Lazarov

The minister for human rights and minorities, Ji Dienstbier, has announced his intention to run for the post of deputy chair of the Social Democratic Party. Mr. Dienstbier said he wanted to more actively contribute to the internal reform and revitalization of the party. The ruling Social Democrats are to elect a new party leadership in the spring. The party leader, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka is expected to run for the top post unchallenged.

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Several dozen people on Tuesday demonstrated in support of a Czech mother who had her two young sons taken away by the Norwegian authorities in 2011 on suspicion of sexual abuse. Although this was later disproven in court, the two children remain in foster care in Norway. The mother appealed to the European Court of Human Rights but failed to win them back. The Czech minister of labour and social affairs, Michaela Marksov says she has requested an explanation from her Norwegian counterpart. The case has also received attention and support from the head of the Our Children Fund and newly elected senator Zuzana Baudysov.

The Czech finance minister, Andrej Babi, is featured by Forbes Magazine as being the richest Slovak. His property is estimated at two billion euros. Billionaire Petr Kellner remains the richest Czech with assets estimated at 9.6 billion US dollars.

Police in Brno are looking for vandals who set on fire thirteen cars in the course of the night. According to a police spokesman no one was injured and it appears that the cars were chosen at random. Four of them burnt to the ground, nine were severely damaged.

The minister for human rights and minorities, Ji Dienstbier, has announced his intention to run for the post of deputy chair of the Social Democratic Party. Mr. Dienstbier said he wanted to more actively contribute to the internal reform and revitalization of the party. The ruling Social Democrats are to elect a new party leadership in the spring. The party leader, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka is expected to run for the top post unchallenged.

The forex interventions launched by the Czech National Bank last year, in order to weaken the crown, have brought a higher number of tourists to the Czech Republic. In the first two quarters of 2014 the number of tourists from neighbouring countries rose on average from 6 to 10 percent, with the highest number of visitors from Austria and Slovakia. However the interventions negatively affected the profit margins of travel agencies.

The European Commission has released its economic growth forecast for the Czech Republic which predicts a growth of 2.5 percent for 2014 and 2.7 percent for the next two years. The deficit in public financing is expected to stay well below the recommended 3 percent of GDP. In 2014 the Commission predicts a gap in spending of 1.4 percent of the GDP, 2.1 percent next year and 1.7 percent in 2016. The forecast is slightly more optimistic than the one released by the Czech Finance Ministry which recently reviewed its economic growth forecast for this year down from 2.7 to 2.4 percent of the GDP. Its growth forecast for the next two years is 2.5 percent.

Czech scientists say they have found a way to detect Alzheimer in its early stages. Researchers from Pragues Psychiatric Care Centre and Vinohrady hospital in Prague based their research on the heightened presence of certain anti-bodies in a given part of the brain which they believe signals the development of Alzheimers disease before other symptoms become apparent. Early treatment can significantly slow down the progression of the disease for which there is no cure. Approximately 140,000 people suffer from Alzheimers disease in the Czech Republic.

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Human rights minister Ji Dienstbier to run for party deputy chair