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09/21/2007
Government representative for missile defense Tomas Klvana has said that the government's campaign on a proposed US radar base in the Czech Republic will be called "Against Missiles", a provocative motto aimed at capturing viewers' attention. According to Mr Klvana, the campaign will look at arguments on both sides of the issue. Czechs will reportedly be able to access information through the internet, DVDs, printed materials, and even face-to-face meetings. The campaign will be put together by a PR agency. The government - which is negotiating with US representatives on the stationing of the radar base - has tentatively backed the idea but the issue will only be decided early in 2008. Surveys have shown that around two-thirds of Czechs remain opposed; the opposition are also against.
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09/21/2007
In related news, two groups of protestors - one led by the Communist Party opposed to a US radar base in the Czech Republic, the other, in favour of the plan, exchanged cat calls on Friday in an organised protest in Misov near Pilsen, close to the proposed radar site. The protest was organised by the Communists but provoked opponents to come out and express their views. Police were on hand to prevent any incidents. Communist representatives and their supporters, wore yellow shirts reading "No to bases", while opponents in favour of the US plan waved their own signs and even US flags.
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09/21/2007
Czech doctors were not able to reach agreement on Friday with health insurance companies on payments for their services in 2008; it will now be up to the Health Ministry to make a decision within sixty days. Ladislav Friedrich, vice-president of the Union of Health Insurance Companies, revealed the information to the Czech news agency. The proposed increase in per capita payments, which each general practitioner receives for a registered patient, was opposed by out-patient specialists. The sum was in fact rejected by all physicians who want more money than what health insurers offer them, Mr Friedrich said.
The majority of Czech GPs closed their surgeries in protest against the proposed payments next year on Wednesday. The doctors say the level of money they receive is almost untenable, as they cannot upgrade their surgeries' equipment or improve patients' comfort. GPs now get 36 crowns monthly per capita, but they want 55 crowns. The General Health Insurance Company (VZP) offered them 42 crowns.
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09/21/2007
The government will discuss a pension rise next week which would raise monthly pensions by 346 crowns. Currently monthly pensions in the Czech Republic average at 8,722 crowns (the equivalent of around 445 US dollars), a little less than half of the average monthly working wage. The proposal to raise monthly pensions is being put forward by the Minister for Labour and Social Affairs Petr Necas. The opposition has criticised the rise as being too low, saying the amount will not be sufficient for pensioners, especially in light of fiscal reforms to be introduced in January.
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09/21/2007
According to reports, a new play by former president Vaclav Havel, called The Leaving, will have its world premiere at Prague's Vinohrady theatre. The play is to be directed by David Radok, while Mr Havel's wife Dagmar, an actress by profession, will appear in the lead role, which Mr Havel wrote specifically for her. The agency behind the play, which has signed a contract with Vinohrady theatre, will now pursue the Czech-born US-based actor Jan Triska for another of the leads. The play is expected to premiere in May or June of 2008. The Vinohrady theatre picked up Mr Havel's play after negotiations with Prague's National Theatre met with failure earlier this month.
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09/21/2007
World No.1 Roger Federer has claimed the first point for the Swiss in Davis Cup action in Prague on Friday after downing Czech Radek Stepanek in four sets. Federer won 6:3, 6:2 in the first two sets, was edged 6:7 in the third, but clinched the last 7:6.
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09/20/2007
The American ambassador to the Czech Republic, Richard Graber, spoke out against corruption and lack of transparency within the Czech political system at a conference held at the Czech Senate on Wednesday. According to Mr. Graber, reports from Transparency International and other such organizations indicated that corruption was still present in both Czech business and political spheres. The ambassador put this down to the fact that democracy in the Czech Republic was, he said, still very young. And he did see the situation as improving. Among other measures being taken, Mr. Graber commended the Czech government's new anti-corruption telephone line, which Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek launched on Tuesday.
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09/20/2007
According to statistics released by the Czech Statistical Office on Thursday, the population of the Czech Republic grew by 38,800 in the first 6 months of this year. This brings the population of the Czech Republic ever closer to the 10.5 million mark. Births were up, year-on-year by 3,700, with a total of 56 thousand children being born in the first 6 months of this year. And the population was also bolstered by an upturn in the amount of foreigners settling in the country. From January to the end of June, some 34,300 foreign nationals moved to the Czech Republic, which is almost double the number of arrivals for the first half of 2006. Two fifths of the new-arrivals were of Ukrainian nationality, with a large number of Slovaks and Vietnamese also making up the numbers.
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09/20/2007
Czech police are investigating some of the firms involved in the building of the Czech nuclear power station Temelin in the early 1990s, the Aktualne.cz news website wrote on Thursday. Police suspect that the state could have paid as much as 100 million CZK (5 million USD) for work firms claimed to have done, and that was in fact fictitious. The anti-corruption police unit has confirmed that it is in the process of investigating, but has refused to reveal any details.
The alarm was raised by German detectives investigating a Westphalian firm on charges of money laundering. Their investigations led them to find millions of crowns deposited in this firm's accounts by Czech companies that had been involved in the construction of Temelin.
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09/20/2007
The price of electricity for homes in the Czech Republic is set to go up by 10%, as of January 2008. For firms, this rise in price could be as high as 15%. These figures are the predictions of analysts, based on Czech energy giant CEZ's new price-list, which came out on Thursday. Experts say that the rise in price reflects both the increased distribution costs for electricity, and the new 'green tax' which was approved in August, as part of the public finance reforms package, and now awaits only the president's signature. This year, the price of electricity for domestic consumption rose by nearly 8%.
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