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November 22nd, 2008
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June 18th, 2008 | Current Issue

Lock down
The country's first detention facility for psychologically disturbed criminals set to open in Brno

Sarkozy addresses Lisbon Treaty
Czechs respond with 'wait and see' approach to French leader's plans

Bill calls for all dogs to be leashed
Fines for littering and noise could also be set to increase

A minute with Jan Švejnar
The economist discusses the EU presidency, euro adoption and what's next for his work

The Pittsburgh Agreement at 90
In Pennsylvania in 1918, Masaryk and others wrote Czechoslovakia into existence

Canada sees an influx of Roma immigrants
Local officials decline to generalize Roma experience

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BRIEFS


UK U.S. President George W. Bush was met by hundreds of anti-war protesters upon arrival in London on his last official visit to Europe, the BBC reported June 16. During talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, he discussed the situation in the Middle East, rising food and oil prices and asked for a slower withdrawal of UK forces from Iraq.

ITALY The Italian government has announced that up to 2,500 soldiers, some of whom have served in Afghanistan and Kosovo, would be made available for a trial period of six months to bolster the police presence in difficult urban areas, the International Herald Tribune (IHT) reported June 15. Officials say their decision to use soldiers to patrol cities will not “militarize” the streets.
SPAIN Spanish police broke up a major Russian mafia gang, arresting 20 people accused of laundering proceeds from crimes that include contract killings and arms and drug trafficking, the Associated Press reported June 13. More than 300 officers took part in the nationwide raids that were the final step of a two-year international effort aided by police from Germany, the United States, Switzerland and Russia.
KOSOVO Serbia has defied the entry into force of a new Kosovo constitution by setting up a new parliament for minority Serbs, the BBC reported June 15. Kosovo’s new constitution hands power to the ethnic Albanian majority. It comes four months after Kosovo’s declaration of independence, backed by the West but opposed by Russia. Kosovo’s minority Serbs say the new constitution will not apply to them.
NATO U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates joined NATO defense ministers in an effort to push forward a design for missile defenses that will protect all alliance nations from a potential Iranian ballistic missile attack, The New York Times (NYT) reported June 13. He also said that NATO countries are not supplying enough soldiers to Afghanistan and that troop shortages have been plaguing the mission for a year and a half.
MACEDONIA Macedonia held a partial rerun of parliamentary elections under tight security, trying to avoid the violence of the original vote that threatens to delay the country’s bid for membership in the European Union, the IHT reported June 15. Special police forces, some in full riot gear, secured the rerun of voting in dozens of ethnic Albanian areas where the June 1 election was marred by fraud, intimidation and gunfights.
GERMANY The president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, warned against the dangers of a new oil shock to Europe, the NYT reported June 14. So far, rising oil prices have hit Europe less than the United States, but Trichet said that a 1970s-style oil shock is on the way. An inflationary spiral of wages and prices at the time of economical slowdown could lead to another decade-long recession.
BOSNIA Bosnia-Herzegovina is taking its first step toward joining the EU, 13 years after its civil war ended, the BBC reported June 16. Ministers are to sign a Stabilisation and Association Agreement, although it may be a decade before Bosnia qualifies. The internationally appointed High Representative Miroslav Lajčák said the country needs the goal of EU membership to counter ethnic tensions.
DENMARK Danish police have arrested a couple of Sudanese origin suspected of taking their two young daughters to Sudan to be circumcised, the BBC reported June 13. Danish social services alerted the police after a regular medical checkup revealed the girls’ conditions. If convicted, the couple could face up to six years in prison for mutilation.

GREENS In an effort to calm the mounting tensions within her party, Kateřina Jacques resigned June 16 as head of the Green Party’s six-member caucus in Parliament. However, two disgruntled Green deputies, Olga Zubová and Věra Jakoubková, said the move still may not prevent them from leaving the group, the daily Právo reported.

ČUNEK Prague detectives accused a key witness in the corruption case against Deputy Prime Minister Jiří Čunek of giving false testimony, the Czech News Agency (ČTK) reported June 16. The witness, Čunek’s former secretary Marcela Urbanová, triggered the prosecution by accusing him of accepting a bribe, but Čunek was cleared of these charges earlier this year.
TERRORISM Speaking at the Euro-Mediterranean partnership conference in Prague, European Union Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Giles de Kerchove urged nations June 16 not to violate human rights when fighting against terrorism, ČTK reported. The statement comes one year after a Council of Europe report that revealed secret CIA detention facilities were in operation in both Poland and Romania.
TASER In a June 16 operation, Czech criminal police used a Taser for the first time, ČTK reported. Detectives used the controversial electroshock device while arresting a 38-year-old who they believed could have been armed, in a Žižkov tenant house.

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