POLAND

The recently appointed Archbishop of Warsaw was right to resign Jan. 7 after admitting that he had served as a secret informant to Poland's communist regime, the Vatican said. Monsignor Stanislaw Wielgus, 67, confessed to allegations of spying and resigned less than an hour before his inaugural Mass was to begin. Wielgus had said he was innocent until a police file documenting his connections with the secret police became public.

SLOVENIA

Bitterness over price increases created by Slovenia's Jan. 1 adoption of the euro is on the rise, the Slovene Consumers' Association told the UK Telegraph newspaper Jan. 8. The association has been receiving about 175 complaints per day, association President Breda Kutin said. Costs are expected to rise further in June when a price freeze imposed on major retailers ends.

SLOVAKIA

The planned Tesco takeover of four Carrefour stores in Slovakia has stalled, the Slovak Anti-Monopoly Office said Jan. 5. The takeover would boost Tesco's market position and leave it without any real competitors, the office said in a statement. Tesco, the United Kingdom's largest retail company, took over 11 Carrefour stores in the Czech Republic after winning European Commission approval in Dec. 2005.

UK

The Tower of London has hired its first female Beefeater since the prestigious guard corps was formed 522 years ago, officials said Jan. 3. Beefeaters, known for their distinctive red uniforms and tall black hats, have patrolled the tower since 1485. Moira Cameron, 38, will begin serving in September, when one of the 35 current Beefeaters retires.

SCANDAL

A sexual controversy has shaken up the Czechoslovak Hussite Church, following allegations that Prague Bishop Karel Bican demanded sex from a man he met through a prison chaplain in 2003. Bican helped the 27-year-old man, Lukáš Borecký, get back on his feet after he was released from prison and asked for sexual favors in return. The church has asked Bican to resign.

ACCUSED

A woman who stands accused of accepting bribes from senior citizens seeking placement in retirement homes could face up to eight years in jail, according to a Jan. 9 report in Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD). Zdena Pekermanová collected some 500,000 Kč ($24,000) from 128 people. In return she promised to pass on the bribes to top managers at retirement homes.

HEPATITIS

As many as 10,000 drug addicts could have contracted hepatitis without knowing it and pose a threat to their partners and families, according to a Jan. 8 MfD report. Part of the problem is that anti-drug centers have not been offering hepatitis test to drug addicts for more than a year because the test distributor doesn't have the necessary license to operate in the Czech Republic.

MURDERS

The number of murders and attempted murders in the Czech Republic rose from 184 in 2005 to 234 in 2006, according to police. The two most written about cases last year were the murder of businessman František Mrázek and the hospital killings by nurse Petr Zelenka.

PREFERENCES

Of all foreigners Czechs prefer Slovaks, Poles and Germans, according to a CVVM opinion poll released Jan. 8. Ethnically, they like people from Balkan countries and Roma the least of all, with 76.1 percent of respondents saying they don't like Roma. Most people — 58.9 percent — believe that foreigners should adapt themselves to the local culture.