Aktualne.cz CzechNews brings you a taste of this week's issue of its partner publication, English-language investigative weekly Czech Insider.
The new issue will be available here at 4 PM (CET).
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President buys 18 sniper rifles for his Castle Guard
Revealed - President Milos Zeman's subordinates prepared a CZK 7 million (EUR 270,000) purchase of 18 sniper rifles for the Castle Guard, a unit that falls under the president's Military Office.
"The Castle Guard will play with sniper rifles, while the military's combat units or special police squads are having hard times obtaining funds to carry out much more important and dangerous tasks," complained a source from the Czech arms sector... (read more here).
New finance minister "miraculously" repays multi-million debt
Behind the scenes - Jan Fischer's unsuccessful candidacy in the January presidential election left him with a campaign debt of CZK 5 million (EUR 190,000).
He was struggling with this debt for the entire first half of 2013, until he was considered as finance minister in the technocratic government of PM Jiri Rusnok this month. At that moment, millions in donations suddenly started to pour in. In exactly six days, Fischer got rid of his entire campaign debt... (read more here).
Czech coal tycoon's dilemma
Analysis - Shares of New World Resources (NWR), a coal holding owned by billionaire Zdenek Bakala, have plunged recently.
In May, NWR announced it would sell one of its main subsidiaries, the OKK coking plant. At the beginning of July, NWR said that the Paskov coal mine and possibly the currently disused Debiensko mine in Poland were also for sale.
But there will not be many bidders, so the sale will not generate any staggering revenues, experts say... (read more here).
... AND MUCH MORE!
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Czech Insider is an English-language weekly edition of Deník Insider ("Insider Daily"), a Czech subscription-only daily newspaper prepared by the creators of Aktualne.cz that provides original investigative insight into the top tiers of Czech politics and business.
Every Monday at 4 PM (CET), Czech Insider publishes the English translation of the most important stories from the previous week. You can get your one month or one year subscription here.
