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A growing number of visitors to Prague are using the Segways two-wheelers to get around the city’s historic centre. But their increased presence in pedestrian areas has long been annoying local inhabitants concerned about risks of accidents on the busy sidewalks. Local authorities in central Prague have been calling for legislation that would push Segways onto the roads. However, the Czech Transport Ministry is instead considering officially classifying Segways as pedestrians. I discussed the issue with the ministry’s spokesman Tomáš Neřold.

Czech government parties have decided to add another instrument to the toolbox for curbing the country’s overall debt, a so-call debt brake. But the proposal is already coming under fire for not being ambitious enough and the required support from opposition parties is still in question.

Around one thousand municipalities already offer so-called ‘brown bins’ for the recycling of organic waste so that is material which is biodegradable doesn’t end up needlessly in landfills. But many still lag behind, particularly bigger towns or cities. The Environment Ministry is preparing legislation (to be discussed in Parliament this week) which would require organic recycling to be implemented across the board.

Pro-Russian rebels operating in the far east of Ukraine have announced the capture of dozens of foreign mercenaries fighting on behalf of the government, including several Czechs and Poles. While Czech authorities insist they have no knowledge such claims, a former top Czech military intelligence official says the idea should not be dismissed so easily. DJ reports:

The Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Jiři Dienstbier is pushing for an amendment to the law which would give non-EU foreigners with long-term residence in the Czech Republic the right to vote, first on the local level and later also in general elections. The minister argues that once the authorities have granted a person long-term residence they should also grant them the right to co-decide about who runs the city or country that has become their second home.

The separatist stand in Eastern Ukraine is said by some observers to have been fermented and fuelled by the overwhelming domination of news and views being broadcast from across the border in Russia. Czech foreign ministry officials are now examining an idea to create a television station broadcasting a very different programme of news and views.

The Czech Finance Ministry on Thursday unveiled the results of in-depth audits conducted at six ministries. The findings indicate that millions of crowns in public funds could be saved with better planning, centralized purchasing and better use of the ministries’ own resources.

The head of the smallest party in government, the Christian Democrats, has criticised Social Democrat Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka for saying the Czech Republic would not be calling for more NATO troops in Europe. The premier made the comment following US President Barack Obama’s pledge in Warsaw to put an extra one billion US dollars into defence in Eastern Europe.

Czech President Miloš Zeman is just one of a number of foreign leaders who have gathered in Warsaw on Wednesday to mark the 25th anniversary of Poland’s first partially free elections, a milestone on the road to democracy in the then Eastern Bloc. But what did that historic vote mean for the opposition in Czechoslovakia at the time? That’s a question I put to journalist and former dissident Jan Macháček.

Prague’s multi-purpose Opencard scheme which was to provide users with an efficient means of paying for public transport, parking, and serve as a library card has been dogged by problems from the outset. Now it threatens to turn into a nightmare for over one million users. The card’s days are numbered and Prague City Hall has failed to secure continued licencing until a new system is up and running.