Broadcasting indecent material could soon carry much heavier penalties for US media companies. The US Senate has approved a bill which will see the maximum penalty for showing unsuitable material rise tenfold to $325,000 (£173,000). A similar bill was passed by the House of Representatives in 2004, which set fines at $500,000 (£275,000). Differences between the two bills must be worked out before the new measures can be amalgamated into one law. "The companies who profit from using the public airwaves should face meaningful fines for broadcasting indecent material," said Republican senator Sam Brownback, who sponsored the new bill. The Senate approved a rise in fines in June 2004, but the proposals were later dropped from the legislation. The new bill does not change how unsuitable material is defined, or how fines should be assessed.

Record fines:  US broadcasters have been under pressure to clean up the airwaves since Janet Jackson's breast was exposed during a dance routine at the 2004 Super Bowl. Television network CBS was fined $550,000 (£315,000) for the "wardrobe malfunction". Currently, the maximum fine that can be imposed on an individual television station is $32,500 (£18,600) per breach. This can multiply, however, because each network has dozens of affiliated stations around the US. In March this year, the Federal Communications Commission proposed a record fine of $3.6m (£1.9m) for an episode of the missing persons drama Without A Trace. The penalty, split between 111 affiliates of CBS, was later reduced to $3.3m (£1.8m).

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Top Russian and US nuclear officials are to discuss changes to a deal regulating the recovery of uranium from dismantled Soviet nuclear weapons. The two countries signed agreements in 1993 and 1994 giving US firm Usec the exclusive right to sell uranium recovered from Russian warheads. The uranium has been converted into a type that can be used for civilian purposes. Russia now says it wants to be paid more for the uranium. Moreover, some Russian officials have controversially demanded the right to sell nuclear fuel directly to customers. The head of Russia's atomic energy agency, Sergei Kiriyenko, will hold talks with a number of top US nuclear officials on Monday. He says he wants the US to lift what Russia considers to be discriminatory restrictions on exports of Russian uranium products to US customers. The two countries have still not signed an inter-governmental treaty on cooperation in civilian nuclear technology. And Russia says this is hindering progress in modernising agreements signed shortly after the fall of Communism. In particular, Russian officials complain about the continuation of restrictions on deliveries of their nuclear products to the US. They are a lucrative export, reportedly valued at half a billion dollars a year.

Russian resentment : Under the existing programme - known as Megatons and Megawatts - Russia reprocesses highly-enriched uranium from nuclear weapons decommissioned under disarmament treaties into a form that can be used as fuel for US nuclear power stations. Nearly 11,000 Soviet-era nuclear warheads have been reprocessed this way. But Russia increasingly resents the obligation to sell the fuel through Usec - the United States Enrichment Corporation - which is the official agent of the American government. The Russian government says Usec's pricing policies are designed to protect its commercial interests, rather than Russia's potential earnings. Uranium prices have tripled over recent years, but this is not reflected in the price Usec pays for Russian imports. Russian officials have suggested Mr Kiriyenko will lobby the heads of US nuclear corporations to try to bolster Moscow's arguments in favour of scrapping Usec's intermediary role altogether.

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Czech Punch-up.

Czech Health Minister David Rath has been in a punch-up with his right-wing rival, Miroslav Macek, during a meeting of disgruntled dentists in Prague. Mr Macek, a presidential adviser and former deputy PM who is also a dentist, broke off an address to slap Mr Rath hard on the back of the head. Mr Rath responded by calling him a coward and the two men traded blows. This rare case of violence in Czech politics comes two weeks before highly anticipated parliamentary elections. The meeting of dentists, at which Mr Macek was moderator, took place at the start of a period of planned protest against Mr Rath's policies, dubbed "A Week of Healthcare Unrest".

The rate of value-added tax (VAT) in Germany looks set to rise to 19% from the beginning of 2007. The lower house of Germany's parliament approved the 3% hike - which would be its biggest tax increase since World War II. The move is expected to be ratified by the upper house next month. But economists have warned the increase will reduce consumer spending, hitting Germany's economy just as it has started to show signs of recovery. The plan was passed in the Bundestag by 396 votes to 146 and will now be referred to the upper house, or Bundesrat. Germany's top-selling daily news paper, Bild, had appealed to MP's with a front page headline: "Say no to the tax craziness".

Export reliance: It is estimated the VAT change will raise an extra 20bn euros ($25.4bn; £13.6bn) a year in taxes. Chancellor Angela Merkel's government wanted the change to help reduce the budget deficit to below the European Union limit of 3% of GDP. Another third of the revenue will be used to cut payroll taxes for employers - which the government hopes will allow more job creation to tackle the 11% unemployment level. After years of stagnation, consumer spending in Germany has been slowly picking up, with the country relying on exports to propel growth. German economists predict that economic growth will fall to 1.2% next year, from 1.8% in 2006. In the first quarter of 2006, GDP grew by only 0.4%, which was below expectations.