Free Republic

PRAGUE, Sept. 27 - The special police unit arrived in the darkness, carrying submachine guns and taking positions around an unmarked cargo truck parked beside a nuclear reactor. The doors to the reactor swung open and a forklift hurried three large steel casks onto the truck. Each container held several fuel rods of highly enriched uranium, potent enough for use in a nuclear bomb. As the city slept, the truck and its armed escorts slipped away from the reactor, at a Czech Technical University campus on the outskirts of the city, and passed through deserted streets, stopping at last...

Award for Pole Criticized THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Czech President Vaclav Klaus on Monday criticized the honors bestowed on the former Polish head of state Wojciech Jaruzelski during celebrations in Moscow to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Jaruzelski was among six former heads of state who received a medal of honor from President Vladimir Putin, CTK news agency reported. "Jaruzelski is - despite his merit in defeating Nazism - a different symbol for our citizens," Klaus said in a statement. "As Poland's Defense minister he was a symbol of...

Catholics pray for new pope in east Europe Bratislava, Slovakia, Apr. 24 (UPI) -- Roman Catholics across central and eastern Europe offered prayers Sunday for Pope Benedict XVI, as the new pontiff was inaugurated in Rome. Bells rang across Warsaw, Prague, Bratislava and Budapest while national television channels broadcast the inauguration ceremony live to millions of viewers. Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski was in Rome for the ceremony, as was Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda, Czech President Vaclav Klaus and Hungarian President Ferenc Madl.