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Czech cathode tubes maker Multidisplay will sack about 570 staff because of a switch to LCD production, the daily Mlada fronta Dnes said in a regional supplement on Saturday. Almost 1,000 Multidisplay staff are now at home on 70 percent of their wages due to a shutdown at the company. Michal Langos, head of the employment office in Prerov, northern Moravia said the dismissals would have no major impact on unemployment in the region. "Unemployment in our region has fallen below 9 percent and demand for workforce is high," he said. CTP Invest, which bought Multidisplay for EUR40 million in February, expects most of the sacked staff to find jobs in the local industrial park.

The three parties in the ruling coalition - the Civic Democrats, Christian Democrats and the Greens - are hammering out an agreement on proposed changes to the government's reform package. The package aims to reduce the deficit in public finances to below three percent of GDP and remains highly controversial despite the fact that it has already passed through its first reading in the lower house. The opposition Social Democrats and Communists are firmly opposed to it and given the ruling coalition's slim majority in the lower house, it is essential for the three governing parties to iron out their differences on the proposal. The Civic Democrats are pushing to further lower income tax, while the Christian Democrats and the Greens are not happy with proposed changes in the health sector. Parliament is to open debate on the proposed reforms next Tuesday.

At 18 Filip Pytel is the youngest Czech to have swum across the channel La Manche separating the French and English coasts, the daily Pravo reports. He set his own personal record last Thursday swimming from England to France in 11 hours and 3 minutes. Last year 31-year old Czech swimmer Yvetta Hlavacova became the fastest woman to swim across the channel, covering the 36-kilometer distance in just 7 hours and 25 minutes. Hlavacova's time is very impressive since it is the fourth best achievement in swimming history ever. She was very close to beating the absolute (male) record of 7 hours and 3 minutes.

Cabinet minister Cyril Svoboda, who heads the government's legislative council, has proposed that all Catholics in the country should send one percent of their monthly income to the Czech Catholic Church which would help it to become independent from the state. The minister outlined the proposal in an interview for Saturday's edition of Mlada Fronta Dnes. It comes in reaction to drawn-out disputes about the restitution of church property that was confiscated by the Communists after 1948. Several church-restitution bills have been debated in Parliament since the early 1990's but none was approved. The restitution of church property and the role of the Church in the Czech Republic remains a sensitive issue.