INTERVENTION

Three Romany associations have appealed to the Pope to intervene in a dispute in east Moravia in which hundreds of Roma, or Gypsies, were evicted from their flats in the town of Vsetín and moved to homes up to 70 kilometers (43.4 miles) away. The letter also condemned Vsetín Mayor Jiří Čunek's recent description of the evictions as "cleaning an ulcer."

ABUSE

Police have charged a German convicted pedophile with having sex with children from poor Czech families, according to Právo Nov. 3. Heinz Winfried Mueller, 62, is part owner of a castle in Otín, west Bohemia, where he has organized various cultural festivals, police said. Mueller was convicted of sexually abusing children in the 1990s and again in 2000. He is the third German suspected of child abuse in the Czech Republic since July.

CORRUPT

Corruption is on the decline, but the country still ranks as one of the shadiest in the European Union, according to a study released by watchdog Transparency International Nov. 6. In the ranking of 163 countries, listed from least to most corrupt, the Czech Republic tied with Kuwait at No. 46 on the list, one place up from last year. Finland, Iceland and New Zealand tied for first place as the world's least corrupt countries.

EVACUATED

Sparta Praha hockey fans caused an evacuation at the Hlavní nádraží metro station Nov. 3 after they tossed a metal rod under a train, causing it to short-circuit, a transport spokesperson told media. The accident produced smoke on the platform, and the station was evacuated. Train service resumed after 20 minutes.

NUCLEAR

"Radical steps" will be taken next year to remedy fuel woes at the Temelín nuclear facility in south Bohemia, Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Tomáš Hüner told Mladá fronta Dnes Nov. 3. The two nuclear units at the plant will be shut down three times next year, whatever the financial cost, in order to perform maintenance, he said. One of the plant's units has been shut down since September.

PROTEST

Greenpeace activists boarded up the Environmental Ministry entrance Nov. 6 to protest the ministry's recent proposal to increase emission limits. "This ministry has clearly decided to stop protecting the environment and to start guarding the polluters," the environmentalists said. To get to work, ministry employees had to use a side entrance.

UNEMPLOYMENT

Czech unemployment fell to 7.1 percent in the third quarter of this year, dropping 0.8 percent since the summer, according to International Labor Organization statistics released Nov. 6. The number of people with jobs is the highest since 1999, jumping to 4.84 million, which is up by 42,100 from last year.