News

Over 200 people came to the village of Javoricko in Moravia on Monday to commemorate the death of 38 men who were killed by the Nazis 58 years ago. Besides the victims' relatives, members of the Czech Union of Freedom Fighters, representatives of the local authorities, and politicians attended the ceremony. On May 5 1945, over 200 Nazi officers surrounded Javoricko, shot all 38 men who were between the ages of 15 and 76 years dead, and set the village on fire. Only a school, a chapel, and a farm house with a barn can be found on the site today.

Doctors and nurses from the 7th Czech field hospital are still working under poor conditions at a local clinic in the town of Basra. The Czech hospital still lacks equipment and material, despite having been scheduled to open on Tuesday. The hospital's transportation to Iraq was launched on April 17, when the first 39 health care employees left on board a Russian-made Ruslan plane. With the responsibility having been transferred to the United States, which uses its smaller Galaxy planes and follows a different flight schedule, the transport has been delayed. Up to date, only some 51 percent of the total hospital equipment, and three-quarters of just under 300 health personnel have reached Iraq. Once fully operational, the Czech field hospital will have two operating theatres and a capacity of 50 beds. Czech doctors and nurses currently treat dozens of people every day, mostly with burns, diarrhoea and neglected chronic diseases. Czech Defence Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik, who left for the Middle East on Monday to visit the Czech anti-chemical unit stationed at Camp Doha, Kuwait, will travel to Basra on Tuesday, to visit the Czech field hospital.

Deputy Prime Minister and chairman of the junior coalition partner, the Freedom Union Petr Mares said on Sunday that he would on principle approve of possible stationing of US army units in the Czech Republic. Speaking in a televised debate Mr Mares said he would not object to stationing allied units on Czech territory if it were in harmony with the Czech Republic's commitments as a NATO member and if it improved the country's defence ability. According to speculation, the United States is considering moving its troops from Germany eastwards. While the possibility of the deployment of US troops is accepted positively in Poland, Czech politicians' positions on the issue differ.

President Vaclav Klaus has adopted a reserved stance and pointed to a parallel with the presence of the Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia after it was occupied by the former Warsaw pact armies in 1968. Reacting to President Klaus's statement Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda said that American troops could be stationed in the Czech Republic.

For the first time, both units of the Temelin nuclear power plant started operating at full power on Saturday, two and a half years after the opening of the plant, which has been the object of protests and hunger strikes. Both the reactor's 1,000-megawatt units are to run at full power for a trial period before they are giving a passing grade and licenced for commercial electrical production. Although given a green light by international and Czech atomic power experts, the plant has been plagued by technical problems and delays since its first unit began operating in October 2000. The technical faults and Temelin's proximity to the Austrian and German borders have stirred years of protests in those countries. For nearly three years, Temelin protesters have blocked roads at the Czech-Austrian border, staged hunger strikes, threatening to block the Czech Republic's accession to the European Union in 2004.