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The Czech Republic and Slovakia have had the most stable high economic growth among all the countries in the OECD in recent years, according to a study on the organisation's website. The Czech economy is growing by more than four percent a year, while in Slovakia it is five percent.

The Petrin Observation Tower was the most visited sight in Prague last month, according to figures released by the Prague Information Service. Almost 50,000 climbed the city's "little Eiffel Tower" last month. The second most popular sight was the Old Town Hall, which was visited by 37,000 tourists.

The police in Croatia have called for Czech tourists in the country to be better informed about the dangers of holidaying by the Adriatic Sea; 14 Czechs have died in Croatia so far this summer, including a 16-year-old boy who was killed when his rubber boat was struck by lightning on Sunday. Croatia is the most popular foreign holiday destination for Czechs, with an estimated 800,000 due to visit the country this year.

Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek has held meetings with the two men in the running to replace the late Pavel Dostal as culture minister. Mr Paroubek said both actor Viteslav Jandak and Vladimir Darjanin, head of the Czech pavilion at Expo 2005, were qualified for the job in different ways. Mr Jandak's name emerged after many in the Czech arts world questioned the suitability of Mr Darjanin.

Ukraine has lifted visa regulations for Czech citizens. The move is unilateral and will enable Czechs to travel to Ukraine without a visa for a period of three months. The lifting of visa restrictions is permanent, following a temporary agreement which was due to expire on September 1st.

A Czech teenager was killed by a thunderbolt while holidaying in Croatia. The 16 year old was out alone in a rubber boat some 200 metres off the coast of Zadar when a bad storm hit. Croatia is a popular holiday destination for Czechs, but the local authorities say they are worried about the fact that Czechs tend to take unnecessary risks in the sea. Ten Czechs have been killed in Croatia since the start of the holiday season.

Amidst heated debate over the future of techno festivals, the Defence Minister Karel Kuehnl has suggested they could take place on military ground. This would rule out the problem of trespassing on private property, which happened at this year's festival, and also the problem of noise pollution. Mr. Kuehnl told the daily Pravo that a deal on using military ground could be negotiated in the future. Since the incident, there have been suggestions that Parliament should pass a law which would stipulate conditions under which such huge open air festivals could take place, among others giving local inhabitants a say in whether they should be allowed to take place in the close vicinity.

Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek on Monday met with two hot candidates for the post of culture minister. They are actor Viteslav Jandak and the general commissioner of the Czech Republic to the World Expo 2005 in Japan Vladimir Darjanin. The prime minister's office said he would take another week or so to make up his mind who would be the best man for the job. The post was left vacant following the death of the late culture minister Pavel Dostal in July.

Unemployment in the Czech Republic rose to 8.8 percent in July from 8.6 percent a month earlier, according to official figures released on Monday.

The lowest unemployment is in Prague - 2.6 percent, while the hardest hit region is around the town of Most in the north of the country -where unemployment has currently reached 22 percent.

President Klaus has once again called on the government to explain the police break up of an open air techno party at the end of July. In a meeting with the Interior Minister Frantisek Bublan on Monday, Mr. Klaus said he was still waiting for a satisfactory explanation as to why the police had used force to break up the CzechTek music festival late last month. The president considers the police intervention "a gross mistake", the interior minister insists it was justified although he says that some individual officers may have broken regulations. Over a hundred people were injured on both sides after riot police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse an estimated 5,000 participants at the CzechTek festival, which took place in a meadow in west Bohemia. Investigations have been launched by both the police themselves and the Ombudsman's office.