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The police have halted the prosecution of the Aktiv Change money exchange company's executives who were accused of money-laundering several billion of crowns two years ago, the daily Právo reported yesterday.

The new center-right government has discovered a number of very disadvantageous deals the ministries concluded in the past years that cost tax-payers much money, daily Mladá fronta Dnes and weekly Týden reported yesterday.

Conflicts on the political scene continue, even though the rivalry between the Civic Democrats and the Social Democrats has been overshadowed by clashes between the senior ruling ODS and its junior partner TOP 09, Bohumil Doležal yesterday wrote in Lidové noviny.

The 30-day state of emergency that Governor Stanislav Eichler declared in the Liberec Region due to August floods ended at midnight on Friday.

Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek Friday dismissed Prime Minister Petr Nečas' statement that corruption at the Defence Ministry had emerged in the mid-1990s under Kalousek as the deputy defence minister.

The number of Czech troops within the ISAF mission in Afghanistan will be increased, while that in Kosovo should soon be lowered to 90 members, Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra told journalists after meeting with President Václav Klaus on Friday.

President Vaálav Klaus backs Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra's effort to restore order at the ministry, Vondra said Friday after meeting with Klaus.

The autumn local and Senate elections will reveal the voters' will to implement reforms and a responsible budget policy, Prime Minister Petr Nečas told journalists Friday.

Labour and Social Affairs Minister Jaromír Drábek's proposal to reduce civil servants's pay will deepen the economic crisis and bring the public health care system to a collapse, Czech Doctors' Chamber said Friday.

Czech biochemist Jiří Friml, 37, who will receive the prestigious German Koerber Prize next week, has told ČTK that he will be awarded mainly for having found that the hormone auxin functions as a universal starter of various development processes in plants.

Supreme State Attorney Renata Vesecká and her Austrian counterpart Walter Geyer will sign an agreement on a Czech-Austrian team that will investigate alleged corruption in the purchase of Austrian-made Pandur APCs.

A flower carpet made of thousands of Belgian begonias was created on Friday in Prague's Old Town Square to commemorate Belgium's EU Council presidency between July and December.

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg will today meet his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner during his trip to France that began Sunday, shortly after Schwarzenberg criticised France's deportation of Roma to Romania.

The Slovak Defence Ministry planned neither the purchase of mortars nor any other joint purchase of military equipment with the Czech Republic, Richard Suemeghy, the ministry's spokesman, told ČTK Friday.

Hundreds of former Czech and Slovak political prisoners commemorated their dead and executed friends at the place of pilgrimage at Svatý Hostýn on Saturday.

The police have started to look into the case of a multimillion-crown arms order at the Ministry of Defence, Supreme State Attorney Renata Vesecká yesterday said on Prima television.

Interior Minister Radek John yesterday said that he expects another outflow of police officers who had received high bonuses in the past years.

Human Rights Commissioner Michael Kocáb yesterday said he will leave his post it as soon as he finds someone to hand over his agenda to.

Justice Minister Jiří Pospíšil (Civic Democrats, ODS) will announce within a fortnight the date of proposed dismissal of Supreme State Attorney Renata Vesecká, Novinky.cz reported yesterday. Pospíšil said so in reaction to a call by Interior Minister Radek John, Public Affairs chairman, that Vesecká be dismissed by October local and Senate elections.

An original historical coach once used by first Czechoslovak President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, pulled by three pairs of Old Kladruby white horses, a unique Czech breed, appeared within the Prague Castle guard's regular parade on Wednesday, applauded by hundreds of viewers.