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04/07/2010
The Ministry of Trade and Industry has put forward a proposal aimed at cutting prices of high-speed internet connections in the Czech Republic. As part of an initiative to bring the internet to more households, the ministry is seeking to lower the value added tax rate on high speed connections from the current 20 percent to 15 percent over the next five years. The proposal, which was announced on Wednesday, would need to be approved by the Ministry of Finance. Opponents of the measure say it would increase the state budget deficit. Roughly half of all Czech households have web connections.
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04/07/2010
The daily Hospodářskě noviny reported on Wednesday that the Czech state-owned energy company ČEZ ordered a new boiler for about seven billion crowns as part of modernization measures for its controversial power plant in Prunéřov. A spokesman for ČEZ said on Wednesday that the company had not placed a final order on a boiler but was merely comparing options. Currently, an Environmental Impact Assessment of the modernization plans by the Ministry of the Environment is pending final approval. A decision is expected in a few days. In March, the environment minister stepped down after Prime Minister Jan Fischer instructed him to reach a final decision on the matter.
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04/07/2010
The head of the Civic Democrats’ senators group Tomáš Julínek said on Tuesday that the Czech Senate will discuss the controversy surrounding the new director of the Institute for Totalitarian Studies Jiří Pernes at its next session in April. Mr. Julínek said he feared that the institute would stray from its mission under Mr. Pernes. So far, over thousand people have signed a petition for the institute to start a new selection procedure for the director’s position. The Senate appoints all members of the institute’s board.
Earlier this year, information that Mr. Pernes took evening classes at a Marxist-Leninist institute of higher learning, evoked a storm of controversy surrounding his appointment to the post
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04/07/2010
The Ministry of Culture has launched a project that is seeking to revitalize Jewish culture in the Czech Republic. Over the next three years, 280 million crowns will be invested in the repair of 15 Jewish monuments across the country. The project, which was presented on Wednesday, also aims at opening new Jewish cultural centers. The ministry cited increasing coordination between different Jewish cultural institutions across the country and presenting the Czech Republic’s Jewish heritage as the main goal of the project.
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04/07/2010
The ice hockey player Robert Reichel announced on Wednesday that he was going to end his career as a player. Next season, the 38-year-old triple world champion will train the Litvínov hockey team together with the team’s current trainer. Mr. Reichel said that while the decision did not come easy for him, he was looking forward to this new chapter of his career. The forward helped the Czech national hockey team win gold at the Winter Olympic Games in Nagano in 1998.
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04/07/2010
The zoo in the north Bohemian town of Ustí nad Labem has seen the birth of an unusually tall baby giraffe. The newborn, which was presented to the public on Wednesday, measured 203 centimeters at birth, which is roughly 40 centimeters above the average height for babies of the species. The zoo has been breeding giraffes since 1983 and has not seen the birth of such a tall specimen before.
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04/06/2010
US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev will sign a treaty reducing their countries’ nuclear arsenals at Prague Castle at noon on Thursday, the Czech News Agency reported. Other details of the summit have also been revealed. After the signing at the castle’s Spanish Hall, the two leaders will be the guests of Czech President Václav Klaus at a ceremonial lunch. On Thursday evening Mr Obama will attend a dinner at the residence of the US ambassador to Prague with 11 heads of state and government from the central and eastern European region. Before he leaves Prague on Friday morning, the US president is also expected to hold talks with Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer and President Klaus.
The new pact builds on the 1991 START treaty and restricts both the US and Russia to about 30 percent fewer nuclear warheads than they currently possess. Thursday’s signing comes almost exactly a year after President Obama outlined his policies on nuclear weapons in a speech in front of thousands of people at Prague Castle.
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04/06/2010
Czech police say guarding the summit and surrounding meetings will be the most extensive operation carried out by the force in many years. Police chief Oldrich Martinů said it would be bigger than previous comparable events, including NATO and World Bank-IMF conferences in Prague and the Czech Republic’s presidency of the European Union last year. Around 5,000 police officers will be deployed in the Czech capital, with costs expected to reach up to CZK 50 million (over USD 2.5 million).
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04/06/2010
The number of road deaths in the Czech Republic over the Easter weekend was significantly lower than in previous years. Four people died in accidents between Saturday and Monday, several times fewer than most years in the last decade. The worst year was 2003, when 25 people died on Czech roads over Easter. Around 1,000 traffic police were deployed around the country at the weekend.
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04/06/2010
The OECD says the Czech Republic’s public finance deficit is unlikely to fall below the 3 percent cut-off required for adoption of the single European currency before the year 2013. Speaking on Tuesday, the general secretary of the OECD, Angel Gurria, said the main challenge facing the next Czech government would be to stabilise the country’s public finances and limit its indebtedness. He said the date on which the Czech Republic could adopt the euro would mainly depend on fulfilling those criteria. In 2009 the Czech public finance deficit rose to 5.93 percent of GDP; it is expected to fall back to 4.8 percent this year. The country does not have a target date for Euro adoption.
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