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Some 23,000 union members from several countries descended on Prague on Saturday to protest against steps taken by the former Czech government to tackle the economic crisis. Parallel events took place in Madrid, Brussels and Berlin. The unions have warned that more protests will follow, if governments, including the Czech Republic’s, fail to listen.

The interim Czech government is pushing ahead with a tender for the biggest environmental clean-up operation in the country’s history – removing environmental damage inflicted during decades of communist rule. The tender is worth 115 billion crowns and cabinet officials say it is an effective way of dealing with a burden the state had promised to remove. But experts as well as anti-corruption organizations are concerned that the state could end up paying much more than necessary.

Czech animator Jan Balej’s knack for pulling off unsuspected blockbusters has made him one of the most prominent figures in the animation industry in the Czech Republic. Now the winner of two Czech Lions and numerous foreign awards is turning his attention to Hans Christian Andersen, and has received a record subsidy to promote his effort.

Three generations of Czechs have been raised on the adventures of Bobík, Myšpulín, Fifinka and Pinďa – the stars of the comic Čtyřlístek. This Friday, the now-cult comic celebrates its 40th birthday. I met the man behind one of the most swapped items in Czech playgrounds of yore:

The Czech National Bank has just issued a statement saying its banknotes may not be used for advertising purposes. That may seem obvious, so why spell it out? Well, because one Czech company is currently offering on its website “a unique way of promoting your company: ads on banknotes”. It’s a Czech invention, say Vedici, who are based in Pelhřimov, in the centre of the country.

Czech President Václav Klaus on Wednesday announced that he had no ambitions to chair a high-profile summit of EU leaders in June, proposing that the task should go to the country’s newly appointed interim Prime Minister Jan Fischer. The statement ended weeks of speculation that the Eurosceptic Czech head of state would use the gathering as a platform for his anti-reformist views.

Three weeks before Czechs go to the polls to vote in elections to the European Parliament, campaigning is in full swing. While the two strongest parties are engaged in destructive mudslinging, the campaign also features a new note – the Lisbon treaty.

The Czech Catholic Church has filed a complaint with the country’s Constitutional Court over a 2007 verdict by the Supreme Court according to which the state is the rightful owner of Prague’s famous St. Vitus Cathedral. The move is the latest round in a protracted legal battle between the Church and state over the famous Prague landmark.

Shock figures on the Czech jobs front in April have focused attention on how bad unemployment will become before it gets better. Most analysts are predicting worse to come. One major question is what will happen when temporary measures to cushion the blow - such as European scrap allowances – disappear.

Just over a month after the sacking of Petr Rada, František Straka has been appointed manager of the Czech international soccer squad. Straka has a reputation as an inspirational figure, though he has achieved little at club level. What’s more, his appointment is not definitive: he could be gone in a couple of months.