News

The European Commission is going to extend until 2010 an exemption under which construction work in the Czech Republic is in the lower, five-percent value added tax bracket, the Czech Press Agency reported. The exemption had been due to come to an end in January, and there were fears of a subsequent rise in house prices. The EC is due to officially announce the news next week.

The deputy mayor of the Brno suburb of Kralovo Pole Rene Pelan has on his own initiative removed a hammer and sickle symbol from a memorial to Soviet soldiers, TV Prima reported. Brno City Hall and the Defence Ministry had earlier this year decided to replace the communist symbols, which had been taken down in the early 1990s, during renovation of the 1946 monument. However, councillors in Kralovo Pole were opposed to the return of the hammer and sickle. Mr Pelan's removal of the symbols prompted clashes between supporters and opponents of his action at an unveiling ceremony on Wednesday. Police are investigating whether the local official broke the law by taking them down.

The Czech Museum of Music has acquired a valuable Edison cylinder phonograph. The rare 19th century phonograph, which plays two- and four-minute recordings, was given to the museum by a bank, a spokesperson said. It will go on show on Monday.

Bad weather and difficult terrain are hampering the search for 22 people, including three Czechs, who were traveling on a plane that is believed to have crashed in southern Cambodia on Monday. The Russian-made plane disappeared from radar screens while traveling over a mountain area just 30 miles from its destination. More than 1,000 rescue workers have been scouring the dense forests in the region with only vague eyewitness accounts to guide them. The local authorities say they have little hope of finding anyone alive.

The Czech Foreign Ministry on Tuesday confirmed that three Czechs - two men and a woman, aged 19 to 21- boarded the plane, but has not released any further information about their identity.