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Current AffairsHavel learning to play different tune as ex-president
For the first time since he stepped down as Czech President, Vaclav Havel
has appeared before journalists to comment on the political scene.
Speaking in front of a crowd of hand-picked journalists in a downtown café
in Prague on Tuesday, the former president talked about more than just
Czech events in the past year.
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Letter from PragueEuroarcade project thinly disguised battle between two Vaclavs
Running alongside the back of the Prague Castle complex is a long, rather
featureless street called Jeleni. Those of you who've visited the Castle
will probably know it - the 22 tram trundles along Jeleni street, past the
pleasant greenery of the Royal Gardens and the Belvedere summer house, and
on to a stop called "Prague Castle". But if you stay on the 22,
the tram takes you past a long, grey wall on your left, with bushes
hanging over the side of it. Believe it or not, this wall, and this
stretch of uninspiring road, could become the scene of a fierce political
battle between two arch rivals.
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Current AffairsKlaus ratified pension for ex-presidents
On Monday, president Vaclav Klaus signed a law ensuring that former Czech
presidents will receive 100,000 crowns per month from the state. Half of
the funds are to be used as pension and the other half to cover their
office expenses. The only former president concerned by this law is
Klaus's predecessor Vaclav Havel. Mr. Havel's office remains active in its
international quest for human rights and the former president himself
continues to make numerous public appearances - on January 5th of this
year he received the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Prize, which is India's highest
honour. But the cost to operate Mr. Havel's current office is 150,000
crowns per month, far exceeding the support to be given by the state. Kay
Grigar spoke with Mr. Havel's secretary Jakub Hladik regarding the passing
of the law.
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Press ReviewPress Review
Tony Blair's exoneration by the Hutton inquiry makes front pages on all the
Czech dailies today - "Blair triumphs" reads the headline in
Mlada Fronta Dnes. Also making headlines: proposals by the opposition
Civic Democrats for a "TV tax" to replace the existing licence
system, and news that the American company Monsanto has been given the
go-ahead to test a new type of genetically-modified corn in the Czech
Republic.
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WitnessJiri Vejvoda - learning to interpret Vaclav Havel's coughs
At the end of January it will be exactly a year since Vaclav Havel stepped
down after thirteen years as president, first of Czechoslovakia and then
the Czech Republic. One person who spent a lot of time with Havel during
his early days as president just after the fall of communism, is the
journalist Jiri Vejvoda, now Czech Radio's chief producer of arts
programmes. Here he remembers some of the insights he gained at the time.
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Press ReviewPress Review
There are a variety of stories on Wednesday's front pages, though both
PRAVO and MLADA FRONTA DNES lead with Vaclav Havel's early return from
Asia. The former president was due to spend three weeks there, but had to
abandon the trip after just three days due to breathing problems. Another
name in the news is Czech cross-country skier Katerina Neumannova: several
papers carry photos of Ms Neumannova, who on Tuesday won her second World
Cup race in a row, just six months after having a baby.
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Press ReviewPress Review
The papers have all come out with dramatic headlines today: Terror of
letter bombs in the EU, says Mlada Fronta Dnes, reporting on extensive
security measures now in force in all EU institutions. Lidove Noviny
reports on the outcome of a police investigation according to which the
former Czechoslovak foreign minister Jan Masaryk did not commit suicide in
1948 but was murdered by KGB agents. While Pravo has reserved much of its
front page for what it calls "a calamity" on Czech roads and
airports in the wake of heavy snow.
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Letter from PragueEnd-year reflections
Christmas is over and the end of the year is quickly approaching. This is a
time to recap, to reflect on the past year, to try to anticipate what the
coming year will bring and to make New Year's resolutions.
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Press ReviewPress Review
All today's front pages are dominated by reports on Thursday's blasts in
the Turkish city of Istanbul accompanied by photos of the scenes of
destruction. The papers also carry statements by the US President George
W. Bush and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair condemning the attacks.
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