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10/28/2006
Just over 600,000 of the 2.8 million eligible voters (20.7 percent) have cast their ballots in the second round of Senate elections. Six years ago, voter turnout stood at 21.56 percent.
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10/28/2006
Czechs marked the 88th anniversary of the foundation of an independent Czechoslovak state on Saturday. The national holiday continues to be celebrated in the Czech Republic although Czechoslovakia no longer exists. The country split into two separate states - the Czech Republic and Slovakia - on January 1st 1993. Neighbouring Slovakia no longer marks the event with a state holiday.
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10/28/2006
At the traditional October 28th ceremony at the national memorial on Prague's Vitkov Hill, a minute of silence was held to commemorate those who fell in battle and wreaths were laid at the memorial of Hussite warrior Jan Zizka. Besides hundreds of spectators, the event was attended by senior politicians like the president, prime minister, defence minister, and Senate chairman, as well as the Army's chief-of-staff, and members of the Czechoslovak Union of Freedom Fighters.
A separate ceremony was also held in Prague's National Museum on Saturday, organised annually by the Czechoslovak Union of Freedom Fighters and the Union of Czechoslovak Legions.
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10/28/2006
As has become tradition for every seated Czech head of state, President Vaclav Klaus marked October 28th with several events. At Lany, near Prague, Mr Klaus laid a wreath at the grave of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, the founder and first president of Czechoslovakia. The Czech President also received foreign diplomats.
At a ceremony at Prague Castle on Saturday evening, President Klaus will award state honours and medals of bravery to over twenty personalities. Though it has not been revealed who will receive the state distinctions, it is believed that they will include cross-country skier Katerina Neumannova, Chairwoman of the Confederation of Political Prisoners Nadezda Kavalirova, football legend Josef Masopust, and actress Iva Janzurova.
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10/28/2006
Some 500 soldiers who are joining the country's professional army pledged their allegiance at Prague Castle on Saturday. The soldiers, among them several dozen women, made their pledges in front of President Klaus, Defence Minister Jiri Sedivy, Chief-of-Staff General Pavel Stefka and members of their families. President Klaus also named five new generals and general Stefka named 19 new colonels.
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10/28/2006
Police arrested three members of the Vlastenecka Fronta, or Patriotic Front, for propagating Nazism during a gathering in Prague on Saturday. The extreme-right grouping marked the foundation of Czechoslovakia with their traditional march from Prague's Palacky Square, named after nineteenth century historian and politician Frantisek Palacky (often called the Father of the Czech Nation), to Vysehrad Castle.
Five members of the extreme-right Nationalist Party, including their leader Petra Edelmannova, have also been detained. In an attempt to attract people to a gathering at Prague's Wenceslas Square on Saturday, party members distributed flyers with caricatures of Muslim figures under the caption "Let's Burn Hatred".
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10/27/2006
Social Democratic MP Michal Pohanka, who on Wednesday announced his resignation from the ranks of the Social Democratic Party by email and went into hiding, returned to the lower house on Friday morning. Mr. Pohanka appeared in the lower house and met with Social Democratic leader Jiri Paroubek. According to Mr. Paroubek, the two men have cleared the air and Michal Pohanka will continue to vote in-line with Social Democrats on key issues of the party's program, even though he is no longer a party member.
Mr. Pohanka confirmed the position in an interview for the on-line server Aktualne.cz on Friday afternoon, but he specified that he and Mr. Paroubek did not discuss the issue of who the now-unaligned MP will support in a vote of confidence. Mr. Pohanka has not clarified is position on the issue for reporters either, saying only that he remains "an independent MP now." It is thus unclear whether the scales in the lower house will tip from the current 100 - 100 seat deadlock. Every vote now plays a decisive role in the 200 seat lower house which is equally divided between the right and left-wing parties. The Czech Republic has been without a stable government since elections in early June.
Meanwhile, the Social Democratic Party is no longer insisting that Michal Pohanka give up his seat in the lower house, which he won as a Social Democratic candidate in the June elections. After meeting with Mr. Paroubek at the lower house on Friday morning, Mr. Pohanka did not stay for the day's proceedings in the house, and a Social Democratic spokesperson cited "security reasons" for his quick departure under police escort.
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10/27/2006
Polls have opened for the second round of Senate elections in which citizens will decide who will occupy 27 seats in the upper house. Polls are open until 22:00 on Friday, and again between 8:00 and 14:00 on Saturday. The right-of-center Civic Democrats have the strongest showing after the first round of elections which took place last weekend; 26 Civic Democratic candidates made it through to the second round, and the party stands a chance of gaining a majority in the upper house. The Social Democrats are the second strongest party in the race. The second round of Senate elections could draw about 2.8 million people to the polls, though voter turn-out is expected to be lower, as it has traditionally been in previous Senate elections.
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10/27/2006
The first section of a long-awaited new motorway in the south Moravian region of Zlin has opened. The section of the planned R55 highway which is to eventually link the Moravian cities of Olomouc and Breclav is open to drivers as of Friday afternoon. The first stretch of highway to open, a ring bypassing the city of Otrokovice near Zlin, took five years to complete and cost over 1.4 billion crowns (nearly $63 million US). The R55 highway plan was put forth in 1993 and once completed, it is expected to be one of the busiest highways in the Czech Republic.
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10/27/2006
The Czech Ministry of Health has issued an advisory to citizens who bought a set of plastic kitchen utensils made in China. The five-piece set was sold in the Czech Republic on shelves of the discount retailer Plus, and has been found to release dangerous carcinogenic agents. The kitchen utensils have been ordered removed from store shelves, and customers who purchased the items are entitled to a full refund. Carcinogenic agents have been found to increase the chances of cancer.
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