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In response to directives from the European Commission, the lower house of Parliament has passed new legislation regarding the employment and residence of foreigners in the Czech Republic. Foreigners will be required to have sufficient health insurance and their residency permits will have to have biometric information, such as fingerprints. Also, foreigners facing deportation will be able to request an asylum hearing. To find out more about the new bill and what it will mean for foreigners in the Czech Republic, Radio Prague spoke to Lucie Sládková

Czech lawmakers have taken a big step to put a lid on the country’s solar power boom. The lower house has voted through a package of taxes hitting solar companies and power producers to curb electricity price rises next year.

In addition to garnets, the Czech Republic can offer the world one other semi-precious stone found almost exclusively on its territory – a bottle-green gemstone going by the name of moldavite. There are currently four moldavite mines operating in the Czech Republic but rich deposits of the gem in southern Bohemia have now attracted hordes of moldavite hunters out to make a quick fortune.

More than a thousand Czech Roman Catholics are currently converging on the Vatican to give thanks for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the Czech Republic one year ago. The visit is all the more significant to the Czech Church just now, days after the pontiff cited the Czech Republic specifically when speaking of what he called the “tragic” spread of atheism. Hana Frančáková of the Pilgrimage Centre of the Bishopric of Hradec Králové was at the Vatican today. On the phone from there, she told me what the roughly 1,300 faithful will be doing on their

The Czech Republic has been accused by a number of non-governmental human rights watchdogs and education groups of taking no steps to stop discrimination against Romany children in schools, in spite of a landmark European decision that discrimination was built into the country’s education system. They say promises to take action have gone unfulfilled and they are now threatening to bring the country to book again.

Czech trades unions have called a one-day strike next month in protest against a government plan to cut the salaries of public sector employees. Over half a million people are expected to take part in the strike, the biggest such protest since the fall of communism. For its part, the Czech government has reiterated a pledge not to back down.

The Czech Republic wants to save money on road construction, and China is looking to break through to European construction markets. It seems an ideal match to Transport Minister Vít Bárta, whose ministry is the one hardest hit by budget cuts amid numerous ongoing projects. But Czech construction companies are, needless to say, not enthusiastic. Christian Falvey has more.

Central European heads of state have just finished two days of bilateral and collective talks in the West Bohemian spa town of Karlovy Vary. Discussions of the Visegrad regional grouping seem to have been pretty focused thanks in part to the fact that two of the four countries will be setting the European Union’s agenda next year.

An unusual history project is running in Czech schools throughout November, organised by the NGO People in Need. For the next few weeks, around 700 secondary schools across the country will be showing documentary films about the nation’s communist past, as well as inviting former political prisoners to come and talk to children about their experiences of being persecuted by the state.

Three weeks after local elections, talks about forming governments in many Czech towns and cities are still underway. However, in some of the country’s largest cities, including Prague, grand coalitions of the traditional main right- and left-wing parties appear most likely to emerge. This comes despite many voters’ evident desire for change.