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The town of Vsetin in eastern Moravia is at the centre of what is becoming a nationwide debate over housing, local politics and race relations. Mayor Jiri Cunek's decision to move several hundred Romany rent-defaulters out of a dilapidated block of flats in the town centre and relocate them, often up to 70 km away, helped him win him a seat in the Senate, but is also causing uproar.

Almost two hundred members of the Czech community in Kazakhstan will now be able to return to their homeland. The government this week approved a programme which will involve the repatriation of 170 Kazakhstani Czechs. As part of a similar scheme, several hundred Czechs moved back from Kazakhstan in the 1990s. The Czechs first started settling in Kazakhstan in the mid-19th century. When the current repatriation programme concludes there will be no Czechs left in Kazakhstan.

Over 34,000 people have died on Czech roads since 1980. Despite numerous transport ministry and traffic police projects, the number of deaths and injuries is still over a thousand a year. But a points system that was introduced in July appears to be making a difference. A new report issued by the European Commission says that the number of deaths on Czech roads has decreased by a quarter in the last year. Dita Asiedu reports:

All Souls Day - the day of remembrance for friends and loved ones who have passed away - has great significance in the Czech Republic. For the past few days Czechs have been visiting cemeteries across the country - often traveling hundreds of kilometers - to lay flowers and light candles at the graves of their relatives and loved ones. Dusicky - or "Souls" - as it is called in Czech is an annual pilgrimage that has taken place since pagan times.

At 67 Karel Gott remains the country's biggest pop star. In a long and very successful career he has sold tens of millions of albums in the Czech Republic, Germany and elsewhere. Now, however, the singer has entered a whole new field - endorsing supermarket products.

Great Britain recently made the headlines when it announced that it will not extend its open door policy to workers from Romania and Bulgaria, when the two countries join the European Union in slightly under two months' time. Other states, such as Poland and Finland, will open their labour markets. Now the latter camp has been joined by the Czech Republic. But the labour minister says restrictions could be introduced later, if need be.

The Mexican holiday Day of the Dead brings together the world of spirits and the world of the living. Celebrants spend the days from October 31 to November 2 remembering their deceased ancestors and preparing offerings to present at cemeteries and shrines. The lives of the dead are celebrated with a big feast that includes traditional foods like sweet bread and candy skulls. For the second year in a row, this tradition has been celebrated here in Prague.

In the first 20 years of Czechoslovakia's existence, the new nation's most important neighbor was the huge country lying directly to the North and West, Germany. A fascinating account of political and cultural relations between the two nations during that period has just been published - the diaries of the Czech diplomat Camill Hoffmann.

The Czech Republic has around 30,000 registered bone marrow donors. But almost none of them can help a patient who has antigens, substances stimulating immune responses, which are uncommon in this part of the world. A new project launched by the Czech Bone Marrow Transplant Foundation now hopes to find donors among the country's Arab and Kurdish communities. At special gatherings, they are informed about bone marrow transplants and can register with an application form in Arabic.

It has been 150 days since general elections in June produced an inconclusive result and the country has been without a stable government ever since. For the first time since last weekend's Senate elections, President Vaclav Klaus has commented on the situation; he said it is no longer possible to prolong a state when the country is governed by a cabinet which does not have the backing of the lower house.