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Czech Republic Interior Minister Vit Rakusan says that the country has taken in over a half a million Czech refugees without overburdening or crashing our health and education systems. 100,000 have jobs in the labor market using admission mechanisms for this purpose and 50,000 children are in Czech schools. This puts the country at the forefront in taking in Ukraine refugees and integrating them in relation to its population.

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Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State under president Clinton, describes her meetings with Havel. She describes him as a principled man more concerned with a moral sense of the universe, and affirmation of human values and liberty. She quotes from Havel's writings to show his extraordinary sense of the values of liberty, democracy and ethics. At the same time Havel was able to put this into action, says Albright, as he helped manage the transition to democracy, preserved unity in the Czech Republic, and guided the Czech Republic into NATO and the European Union. Albright is a U.S. citizen of Czech origin and was actively in touch with Czech leaders during the transition to democracy.

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Relations between Eastern European countries including the Czech Republic and China are going through serious rethinking after the war in Ukraine.

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The Czech Republic brings an amateur baseball team of firemen and teachers to Tokyo World Baseball games and wins 8-5 over China.

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Other than president Milos Zeman and the UN people still call the Czech Republic, the Czech Republic. The alternative Czechia is not liked by Mr. Babis, the prime minister, and is not the chosen word in the U.S. and Europe. The old name was Czechosolvakia. In 1990 Solvakia became an independent nation, with the other country being the Czech Republic with the capital Prague.

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Global update on the pandemic April 7, 2020. The U.S. has 368,000 confirmed infections, and over 10,000 deaths, as of April 6, based on John Hopkins University data.

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe issued an order for a month long state of emergency covering Tokyo, Osaka and five other prefectures.

Philippine president Duterte extended the quarantine for Luzon island to April 30.

The lockdown was placed on Wuhan, China, epicenter of the pandemic on January 23. On March 25 about 2 months later some travel restrictions were lifted. On April 6 trains were allowed to leave for several cities in China. 

Countries in Europe that stepped in early with restrictions such as Denmark and Czech Republic moved to ease them a bit. Czech Republic and Austria will require people to wear masks outside.

 

 

 

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Hospitals in Europe are filling up quickly in the second wave of coronavirus. Coronavirus patients had to be transferred by helicopter to Germany from the Netherlands because of overburdened Dutch intensive care units. National Guard troops were flown in from the U.S. to the Czech Republic to help. In France as cases approach cumulative 1 million about 2000 patients are admitted to hospital for coronavirus every day on October 29. At some point French hospitals could be overwhelmed this winter, and doctors having to choose which patients to save, says president Macron. In the Czech Republic a collapse of the health system is expected by mid-November says the prime minister. No one expected this to be this severe, he says.  About 40,000 patients are hospitalized for coronavirus in the U.S. During the last week the case are increasing by over 40% in the U.S. and increase in hospitalizations are expected. Recovery rate is improving from the first wave. At NYU Langone hospital system in New York with 5000 coronavirus patients hospitalized recovery rate is improving from 25% in March to 7% in October. Better handling of cases and knowledge gained by doctors is a big part of this. ...

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Austria, Greece, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Israel, are smaller countries that have formed a group that is meeting every 2 weeks with videoconferences to coordinate strategy for tourism and reopening their economies.

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The European automobile market staged a recovery in 2014 with sales up 5.7% to 12.6 million, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. The big gains were made by the lower cost brands such as Renault's Dacia made in Romania, and VW's Skoda made in the Czech Republic. Dacia sales increased in 2014 by 24% to 359,141 and Skoda's sales increased by 14% to 554,479. A Dacia Sandero without air conditioning, power locks or radio is priced at 7,990 euros in France compared to a better equiped Skoda Fabia at 12,640 euros and a VW Golf at 17,388, a big price difference for budget car buyers. The major brands continue to dominate with the Golf model continuing as the best selling model in Europe. GM and Ford with the Opel Corsa and Ford Fiesta also increased market share. VW's market share is 12.7%, Skoda's 4.4%.

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Under VW ownership and management, after 16 years of cooperation and $14 billion in investment, Skoda based in the Czech Republic has become a solid competitor. In 2007 Skoda plans to sell 630,000 cars worldwide and its aiming at sales of 1 million cars by 2010. In 2006 sales increased by about 10% in the European market which has been stagnant and beat Toyota as one of the fastest growing brands. Its a leader in quality surveys in Europe, and was tied with Honda for second place in quality in Britain, according to JD Power ansd Associates. Skoda has huge potential in developing country markets as a quality car at lower prices- prices lower than VW cars. VW bought 30% of Skoda in 1991 and by 2000 gained ownership of the whole company. Skoda has also done well in the design of its cars, the Roomster, the Octavia wagon, and the midsize sedan Superb have all received acclaim for their design. VW is considering making a low cost Skoda car to match Renault's Logan which sells for $7000 as a base model....

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Following the visit of German chancellor Scholz to London and the missile attack on Kramatorsk train station evacuation point near Donbas, the Guardian has this to say about the new dilemmas facing western leaders. It says there are differences between Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany, Britain about which weapons to send to Ukraine. As the war take on a new phase in the east near Donbas region and south near Crimea, The Guardian says US and European leaders are faced with new decisions on weapons support for Ukraine and ways to end the war through some form of negotiated settlement.

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Changes in Eastern Europe, first with the departure of Sebastian Kurz after a second scandal. The Greens party in the coalition insisted that he resign. In the Czech Republic the government of prime minister Andrej Babis was voted out of office. A liberal-conservative three party coalition won 28% of the vote, and the Pirates and Mayors party won 16% of the vote. The two alliances won 108 seats in the 200 member lower house. Babis headed a minority government of ANO party, Social Democrats and supported by Communist party,(ANO is yes in Czech language), with many scandals, and opposed EU's climate change policies, says DW.com. 

With the changes in Austria this offers new opportunities for a closer European Union as Eastern Europe changes.

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What is the Pirates party in European Union countries? It started as a party of tech savy young people about 15 years ago who were fed up with the mainstream parties. For the first time Pirates and Mayors party in Czech Republic will form a coalition government in 2021. Ivan Bartos head of the Pirates party says the party is "a new wind, no oligarch or big sponsors and completely transparent." It is in a way a party like the Greens, away from established parties, with younger people who are tech savy and want openness in society. In the Czech election the party was able in alliance with other centrist parties to defeat a scandal ridden minority government of billionaire Babis that opposed EU climate change policies.

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Ruchir Sharma, chief global strategist at Morgan Stanley, says Poland has achieved a remarkable transformation over 25 years with steady growth of 4% year after year. The bright spot is manufacturing. For emerging nations the average percentage of GDP from manufacturing exports is 22%. Poland is at 33 percent of GDP for manufacturing exports. Countries dependent on commodity exports such as Argentina, Brazil, Russia, lack this steady growth from a manufacturing base and are less likely to cross the line of $15,000 of GDP per person that qualifies for it to be called an "advanced economy" for the IMF. South Korea, the Czech Republic and Poland are some of the countries that have benefited from manufacturing exports. Poland's wages are one third of that in Germany and its currency is cheap, giving it an advantage as an export hub for German companies. Germany is the main destination for exports and the German automobile industry uses the Czech Republic and Poland as export hubs. Poland's and Czech Republic's geographical location near Germany with a highly educated population makes it attractive for German companies. Poland has gone from $2300 per capita GDP to about $13,000 in 25 years according to the IMF, and is likely to be the next country to make it to advanced economy status by 2020, says Sharma. It is important not to run up debt, to manage finances carefully, and to maintain steady growth not growth in spurts interrupted by declines, and have a manufacturing base, says Sharma.  ...

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The countries of Central and Eastern Europe are building closer relations with Taiwan. Central European and Eastern European countries trade less with China and see close relations with the US as essential for their security. This includes Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania, Czech Republic. Taiwan is increasing investments in Eastern Europe after investments by China failed to materialize in the last decade. Taiwan foreign minister is now on a visit to Slovakia and the Czech republic. For many Eastern Europeans the dominance of China brings back memories of the dominance of Soviet Union and the Cold War.  Taiwan says it is looking to deepen ties in the industrial, scientific and green energy fields with the region. Eastern Europe's perception of China has changed in the last three years as shared values of rule of law, democracy, and human rights with the rest of the world and the US are seen as important for the region.  Western Europe with France and Germany is also gradually moving away from its close dependence on trade with China. The French Senate is leading an effort to build closer ties with India by hosting Ambition India 2021 starting on October 29. Germany under Scholz of SPD and Baerbock of the Greens is moving away from the Merkel CDU era of close dependence on China in trade. ...

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The difficult task facing Wang Yi, former foreign minister of China, of maintaining relations with the European Union in the middle of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on which China has not supported the EU. Some changes have taken place in the EU in 2022 that affect EU relations with China. Italy and Czech Republic have new governments that are critical of China. The Ukraine war after one year is taking its toll on EU relations with China, as trade between Russia and China is expected to grow to $200 billion in 2023 from $140 billion in 2021.

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Federico Chiesa scored by improvising in a brilliant way for Italy to help Italy win 2-1 in overtime against Austria. His father scored at Anfield in Euro 96 against the Czech Republic. The other goal was scored by Matteo Pessina with an assist from Andrea Belotti. Italy continued to "hang in there, and have self-belief" as they faced difficulty throughout the second half. Both goals were scored in the first overtime of fifteen minutes, with both sides scoreless in the first 90 minutes. Chiesa's goal was similar to Gosen's for Germany, one in which younger players stepped up their game.

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The Logan lower cost model produced by Renault's Romanian affiliate Automobile Dacia SA is setting a pattern that is being looked at as a model for the future throughout Renault. It is combining the advantages of Japanese manufacturing methods with their attention to detail and good practices evident at Nissan, Renault's partner company, with the cost conscious methods evident in operations in a Renault joint venture with Mahindra and Mahindra of India. Dacia Automobile was a Soviet era plant, and Renault has modernized it but keeps a more labor intensive attitude with good basics operation here, in contrast to the trend to automate everything and use robots extensively that became popular at other plants in Europe, U.S., and Japan. As Renault managers in France and its overseas operations look at both the expanding markets for lower cost cars and the profitability of the Dacia plant in Romania, it is becoming a model to be imitated. Other plants built earlier now look overautomated and costly for manufacturing cars in a cost conscious pricing sensitive competitive market that automakers face. Logan is contributing to Renault's bottom line, and may help it in reaching the 6% in operating margins that is a new goal for Renault for 2009. Dacia Automobile S.A. initally owned 55% by Renault is now 99% owned by Renault. It has sales of 2 billion euros ,in 2007 with revenue increase of 30% over 2006. The profit was 100 million euros in 2007. It employs 14,000 workers and Renault's investment has reached 1 billion euros upto this point. The plant turns out 60 cars per hour. Compare this with a similiar investment by VW in a Soviet era Skoda automobile plant in the Czech Republic, where VW started with an inital investment in part ownership and ended up in full ownership of Skoda with large investments in modernizing Skoda, and the success in selling Skoda cars known for their good quality. The Skoda is expected to sell at the million dollar sales level in 2010 and is the fastest growing brand in Europe. It ties with Honda in quality surveys. ...

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Highlights from Euro 2021 round of 16 soccer from DW.com. 

Germany barely made it with a late goal from Leon Goretzka to make it 2-2 after Hungary led 2-1 till the final minutes of the game. Hungary gave France and Portugal a tough time in their matches. Italy showed excellent defensive skills and was one of the most improved teams says DW.com. Jorginho of Italy competes with Cristiano Ronaldo for most valuable player in Euro 2021. Ronaldo scored the most goals in Euro 2021.

The best goal scored was from Patrik Schick of Czech Republic with his goal from over the halfway line against Scotland using excellent technique.

The best performance for "hanging in there and self-belief" goes to Robin Gosens of Germany who scored one goal and two assists in the all important 4-2 win against Portugal.