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More paper work for church charities
More paper work for religious charities in the Czech Republic is the
outcome of a Constitutional Court ruling on Tuesday. The Court rejected a
complaint against a controversial 2005 amendment to the Act on Churches and
Religious Societies. As of now, every church-run charity in the Czech
Republic will have to register with the Culture Ministry.
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Neo-Nazis fail to march through Prague’s Jewish Quarter
A march through Prague’s Jewish Quarter planned by neo-Nazi groups –
which had been banned, then permitted and then banned again by the
authorities – did not happen in the end. Around three thousand people
gathered at several places in the former Jewish Town on Saturday to block
the march, and the police foiled any attempts of the far-right groups to
come near the area. The event ended in isolated clashes between far-right
and far-left radicals. More
Observer says hundreds of neo-Nazis could answer call to march
Saturday is the Sabbath, the day of rest for the Jewish people, but this
Saturday looks like being anything but quiet, as dozens, possibly hundreds
of far-right extremists from the Czech Republic and abroad are due to
descend on Prague's Josefov quarter. They're threatening to march through
the former ghetto on the 69th anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogrom
against Germany's Jews, running the gauntlet of City Hall bans and a
strong
police presence. More
Resistance growing to planned neo-Nazi march through Jewish Quarter
After a great deal of legal toing and froing, a march by neo-Nazis through
Prague's historic Jewish Quarter now looks set to go ahead on November 10,
the anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogrom of 1938. But there is some
resistance: the Prague Town Hall has renewed its efforts to block the
demonstration, the Jewish Community is organizing a counter-event, and the
Czech president no less has called for it to be stopped. More
New proposal could settle church property claims
After 17 years, property settlement between the Czech state and the
churches active in the country finally seems to be is sight. Culture
Minister Vaclav Jehlicka announced on Sunday that a governmental commission
in charge of property settlement issues arrived at an agreement with church
representatives, and that the first draft of the settlement bill is ready.
Although the situation is somewhat more complicated than that, Czech
churches and religious associations in the country do finally have good
chances of their property claims being settled.
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Czech neo-Nazis to march through Prague's Jewish quarter
It may sound hard to believe, but a Czech neo-Nazi group has acquired a
permit to hold a march through Prague's historic Jewish quarter. What's
really incredible is the date the far-right group's demonstration is set to
take place: the anniversary of the notorious Nazi pogrom known as
Kristallnacht. And to cap it all, the Prague Town Hall seems to have no
legal means of stopping the march.
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Jewish education in Czech Republic sees tenth anniversary
The start of the new school year saw a special anniversary on Monday: 10
years since the revival of Jewish education in Prague. The Gur Arye
(Lion's
Cub) Elementary School and Or Chadas (New Light) High School are the only
Jewish schools in the Czech Republic, and on Monday their anniversary was
celebrated by teachers, students and a number of notable guests, including
Senate deputy chairman Petr Pithart. Speaking at the school, he called ten
years "barely a second in Jewish history" but indicated the
fifty
that followed the Holocaust were "much more" since very
"being or not being" were at stake. More
Church funding proposal raises ire
Minister Cyril Svoboda, of the Christian Democrats, has come up with a
proposal which should improve the funding of the Catholic Church in the
Czech Republic. According to the proposal, each church-goer should pay one
percent of their monthly income for the benefit of the church. The
suggestion has provoked some negative reactions both from party colleagues
and from the Catholic clergy, as it seems to address deeper issues than
just the problem of tithes. More
Caritas development aid project in Zambia
The Catholic charity organization Caritas has development aid programmes in
many countries of the world. It expanded its activities to Zambia just a
year ago where it has been supporting orphans at the St. Charles Academy in
Solwezi. We spoke to the project's chief coordinator Jarmila Kabatova about
why Caritas picked this particular school and what the past year has been
like.
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Ostrava-born Israeli man thanked for life-long dedication to furthering mutual relations
Chanan Rozen, who is in his late 80s, was the oldest person honoured last
week at the Czech Foreign Ministry's annual Gratias Agit awards for
promoting the good name of the Czech Republic around the world. For sixty
years, Mr Rozen has been working to further relations between his native
Czechoslovakia and Israel, where he has lived almost all his life.
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