By: Ian Willoughby
* Czech and US negotiators have begun another round of talks on
defining the conditions under which US soldiers will be deployed at a
planned radar base in central Bohemia.
* The government has rejected the idea of paying compensation to
Czechoslovaks who lost their property in Subcarpathian Ruthenia after
the war.
* Growth of the Czech economy should slow to 4.2 percent this year,
according to a report by the IMF.
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Czech and US negotiators launch talks on status of US soldiers at radar
base
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Czech and American negotiators have begun another round of talks on a
treaty defining conditions under which US soldiers will be deployed at
a planned US radar base in central Bohemia. Issues to be resolved
before the signing of a status of forces agreement include the legal
status of US personnel at the base, income tax payment and the
insurance of US vehicles. Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said
there was at least one issue on which the Czech Republic would not back
down. However, he said he believed a deal would be reached within the
next two weeks, allowing the status of forces agreement to be signed in
May at the same time as the already published main agreement on the
building of the radar. The Czech Parliament still has to vote on the
matter.
Russia, which has expressed strong reservations about the planned radar
base and a linked missile base in Poland, wants to hold talks with
Prague, Warsaw and Washington on allowing its experts to inspect the
sites, ITAR-TASS reported. Both the Czech Republic and Poland are
opposed to allowing Russian military personnel on their soil.
Meanwhile, the Czech Defence Ministry has refused the Communist Party
permission to hold an anti-radar demonstration at the proposed site of
the US base on the Brdy military grounds in central Bohemia. The radar
would be part of a US global missile defence shield.
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Government rejects compensation for Subcarpathian Ruthenia expellees
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The Czech government has rejected the idea of paying compensation to
Czechoslovak citizens who lost their property in Subcarpathian Ruthenia
after the war. They were forced to leave the region when it was ceded
to the Soviet Union in 1945. Both the finance and interior ministers
opposed the compensation plan put forward by a cross-party group in the
Chamber of Deputies, where the matter will now be debated.
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IMF: Czech growth to slow to 4.2 percent
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Growth of the Czech economy should slow to 4.2 percent this year,
according to a twice annual report released by the International
Monetary Fund. That would be a marked slowdown after 2007, when gross
domestic product increased by 6.5 percent. Czech analyst David Marek
said he regarded the IMF outlook as pessimistic, given that the Czech
economy entered 2008 in very good condition.
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Doctor's fees for asylum seekers unethical, says ombudsman
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The ombudsman says asylum seekers should not have to pay charges when
they visit a doctor. Otakar Motejl said asylum applicants did not have
the money to pay the fees, which were introduced at the start of this
year. Mr Motejl said it was unethical for the state to ask them to pay.
The Interior Ministry failed in a bid to introduce an exemption for
asylum seekers, while the Health Ministry has called for another system
of helping refugees pay for health care. Around 2,000 people apply for
asylum in the Czech Republic every year.
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Peruvian police arrest Czech man over cocaine
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Police in Peru have charged a 68-year-old Czech citizen with attempting
to smuggle 3.8 kilogrammes of cocaine to the Spanish city of Valencia.
The Czech, who is alleged to have hidden the drugs in his suitcase, was
arrested at Lima airport. He told Peruvian police he had been given USD
3,000 to carry the suitcase to Valencia, but said he had no idea what
was in it. A year ago a 19-year-old Czech was arrested in possession of
3.3 kilogrammes at Lima airport.
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New Havel play set for London stage in September
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Vaclav Havel's new play Leaving is to be performed at London's Orange
Tree Theatre in September, Lidove noviny reported. The play is
currently in rehearsal in Prague ahead of its world, Czech-language
premiere on May 22. The London premiere will mark the beginning of a
season of plays by Mr Havel which will run until December. Vaclav Havel
was a noted playwright and dissident before becoming president of
Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution. Leaving is his first new
play in two decades.
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Weather
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It should remain warm over the next few days, with temperatures of up
to 18 degrees Celsius. We can expect sunny spells and rain in places.
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Articles posted on www.radio.cz today
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Current Affairs
First Czech five star hotel wins EU ecological award
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The first five star hotel in the Czech Republic has been awarded the
prestigious EU-Eco Label award for environmental friendliness. The
Hotel Chateau Mcely near Nymburk in the central Bohemian countryside
may be luxuriously equipped and charge up to 44 000Kc (2,700 US
dollars) a night for it's most exclusive suite, but it is certainly not
lavish at the expense of the environment. Every care has been taken to
ensure that while guests are pampered and indulged, they are treated in
a way which is ecologically responsible as well as. This has meant that
the hotel, located in a restored and reconstructed Czech chateau, is
now proudly able to show the EU flower mark alongside its five stars.
Jamie Brindley spoke to the owner and manger of the project, Jim
Cusumano, about how the hotel has gone about setting its environmental
standards so high.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/102825
Current Affairs
Poll: Majority of Czechs oppose ban on physical punishment
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Last month the Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Dzamila
Stehlikova proposed legislation which would ban the spanking or
smacking of children on the grounds that in some cases such treatment
can border on child abuse. The introduction of such legislation would
see the Czech Republic join other EU countries, including neighbouring
Germany. But so far, a majority of ordinary Czechs have said they are
against such a move.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/102824
Current Affairs
National park protection divides ministry, municipalities
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What is more important: protecting nature or protecting municipal
property? This question is at the heart of a dispute between the
Ministry of Environment and municipalities bordering on the Sumava
National Park. Environment Minister Martin Bursik this week confirmed
his decision to keep the most valuable parts of the Sumava National
Park untouched, declining an appeal filed by 15 local municipalities
for him to allow trees to be cut down and other measures. They argue
that leaving the forest untouched may cause an epidemic of bark-beetle.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/102823
Current Affairs
Czech Republic hails success of international drug-bust operation
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Czech customs officials have concluded an ongoing international
operation designed to bust drugs networks smuggling cocaine to Europe.
They have hailed the action as a success, with 31 people arrested for
serious drug-related offenses. The police now view the Czech Republic
as not only a transit country, but increasingly also as a final
destination for many of the world's illegal narcotics.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/102822
Czechs in History
Czech Egyptology - from humble beginnings to international renown
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Czech Egyptologists have an impressive international reputation, so
much so that a new exhibition opened in Cairo this week charting the
work Czechs have been doing in the field over the past five decades.
The opening, which has received plenty of coverage here in the Czech
press, was even attended by President Vaclav Klaus. Away from the
pyramids and back in Prague, I paid a visit to the Czech Institute of
Egyptology to meet research fellow Hana Navratilova. She told me about
the history of Czech Egyptology and its main proponents:
