News

A 21-year-old man burned himself to death in the north Moravian town of Frydek-Mistek on Friday evening. The man, said to have been a drug addict, doused himself in flammable liquid and set it alight. He died before doctors managed to reach the scene. It was the 17th case of suicide, or attempted suicide, by burning in the Czech Republic since the beginning of March.

The pilot of an ultra-light plane died in a crash near the north-west Bohemian town of Louny on Friday. The man's daughter had been a passenger in the plane and escaped with light injuries. The cause of the crash is now being investigated.

The leader of Britain's opposition Conservatives has unveiled his party's vision of Europe during a visit to Prague. Conservative leader Ian Duncan Smith signed a declaration in the Czech capital on Thursday calling for the strengthening of national democracies to resist the formation of what he called a European superstate. Mr Duncan Smith, speaking to reporters after meeting President Vaclav Klaus, said his party supported European integration, but opposed unification and excessive bureaucracy. The declaration was also signed by the party Mr Klaus led until last year - the opposition Civic Democrats. The Czech Republic will be one of 10 new countries to join the EU next year.

The Czech government has approved a series of proposed tax amendments within its budget reform plan. This includes a gradual corporate tax reduction from the present 31 percent to 24 percent in 2006. The medium-term reform plan aims to cut the public finance deficit to four percent of GDP by 2006 and envisages sweeping changes in the pension and social systems, tax adjustments and a reduction of 30,000 posts in state administration. The government has stuck firmly to its outlined goals, in spite of widespread trade union protests, and the proposed reform is to be presented to Parliament later this month.