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Following a modernization of its cancer treatment center, Ostrava University Hospital’s Oncology Clinic now boasts a very unique tool in cancer therapy –the cyber knife. Its purchase cost the university some 200 million Czech crowns, yet it currently cannot be used on Czech patients. The reason? The sum that Czech health insurance companies have offered to pay towards the treatment is much lower than what the hospital is asking for to cover its expenses, and both sides are still negotiating. Dr. David Feltl, the head of the oncology clinic, speaks

The funeral has taken place of Milan Paumer, who died on July 22 at the age of 79. He was a member of the controversial Mašín group, who dramatically shot their way across the Iron Curtain in the 1950s. Though many people consider the group killers, a number of senior Czech politicians attended Wednesday’s ceremony, and the prime minister no less made a strong defence of their actions.

The boom in transport construction is over, at least for the near future: that is the message new Transport Minister Vít Bárta sent on Tuesday after meeting with representatives of construction companies. Mr Bárta, like fellow ministers, is under pressure to introduce major cost-cutting measures in line with the government’s plan to slash the planned deficit in 2011 by more than 58 billion crowns. As a result, the Transport Ministry reportedly wants to freeze up to around 50 construction projects, including the completion of part of the D3 highway

The incoming Czech government has declared the fight against corruption as one of its top priorities. One of the hotspots has long been the Czech Defence Ministry whose contracts with foreign arms producers have to go through mediating firms. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Petr Nečas vowed to change the practice and make the ministry’s arms deals more transparent.

The new government is preparing a minor revolution in an area of life that deeply affects every one of the country’s 10 million citizens, and even its foreign residents too: their so-called birth number. The clever 10-digit number is a person’s life in a nutshell, but the problem is, it can also be abused.

After four years when entrance was free, visitors now have to pay admission fees again at St Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle. The castle’s operators say charging should make the magnificent cathedral more peaceful. But not everyone has to pay. If you come to pray – and you look the part – you can still enter for free.

A new study released by the Czech Institute of Health Information and Statistics has suggested that when it comes to male obesity in the Czech Republic the situation has grown worse. In 2002, some 56 percent of Czech men were overweight but by 2008 that number had increased to 63. By comparison the number of women with weight problems over the same period has remained largely unchanged, at 43 percent.

As part of a series of meetings with the new cabinet, the Czech president, Václav Klaus, received Environment Minister Pavel Drobil at Prague Castle on Tuesday. But they discussed economic matters just as much as green issues. Under the previous elected government, the ministry was under the control of the Green Party and was seen as something of a bastion of environmental activism. That’s something the conservative Mr Drobil plans to change.

By now, many Czechs will have at least once heard or seen 28-year-old Jakub Vágner – top sports fisherman, indomitable adventurer and world-record holder for huge catches everywhere. Recently Vágner launched a new series called Fish Warrior for the prestigious National Geographic and last Saturday he scored another major coup: appearing on the famous Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

The Czech Military Intelligence service is having to answer for one of the worst blunders in its history – unintentionally revealing the names of some of its employees, including undercover agents active on foreign missions. The story, broken on Monday by the daily Mladá fronta Dnes, has exploded like a bombshell on the Czech political scene with the institution coming under fire from every conceivable side.