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Czech authorities Friday officially buried recently found remains of original German residents in Destne, east Bohemia.

Social Democrat (ČSSD) acting leader Bohuslav Sobotka is for the idea that new party chairman should be elected in a direct vote, not by delegates at the party congress, Sobotka told public broadcaster Czech Television Saturday.

There is a "high contrast" between the Czech Republic and the neighbouring Slovakia in the approach to narcotics, British weekly The Economist writes in its latest issue.

Former Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek would like to occupy a leading post in an organisation "with a larger than European scope of work," and he is negotiating with diplomats and politicians about it, he said in an interview for Friday's issue of the daily Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD).

Fugitive businessman Radovan Krejčíř, who faces multiple charges in the Czech Republic, is afraid of murder if he were extradited from South Africa in which he resides now, Krejčíř told the server Independent Online Saturday.

The Prague Municipal Court Sunday stopped criminal proceedings of a former civilian employee of the Czech Defence Ministry and a woman for alleged leak of NATO documents, the commercial television station Nova said Sunday.

Czech soldiers will join the demonstration of police and firemen against the planned austerity measures, including wage cuts, on September 21, head of police trade unions Milan Štěpánek told ČTK Friday.

The French expulsion of Roma has no racist connotations, Prime Minister Petr Nečas told Czech Radio Saturday, adding that statements by Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg were rash. "French President Nicolas Sarkozy's expelling Romani citizens goes against the spirit and rules of the EU. To put it mildly, when inspecting the case, one cannot resist the suspicion that racist opinions plays a role, too," Schwarzenberg told the paper Lidové noviny on Saturday.

Fugitive Czech businessman Radovan Krejčíř can be neither arrested in South Africa nor deported and extradited to another country until the final decision on his request for political asylum is made, the High Court in Johannesburg ruled on Friday, Právo reported yesterday.

An international team headed by Czech astronomer Petr Pravec has proved that asteroids (minor planets) are not very compact as they can splinter and the splinters can move around their own orbit, the Czech Academy of Sciences (AV) has told ČTK.

Former Environment Minister Libor Ambrožek has been unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the CZK 10 million he used for a new luxurious house in Kyjov, south Moravia, daily Hospodářské noviny reported yesterday.

The allegedly illegal contaminated waste from the Czech NeOmA company shipped to Brazil contained plastics from "the green list" of waste approved for export, according to documentation the Czech Environment Ministry has received.

The capital's debt fell by 16.5% to CZK 26.8 billion between 2006 and 2009, which corresponds to around CZK 21,451 per capita, according to data of the City Council and the Czech Statistical Office.

The government, in an effort to regulate foreign workforce's stay, wants to partly transfer the payments for jobless foreigners to the agencies that "imported" them to the country, a measure that will probably backfire on foreign workers, daily Hospodářské noviny reports.

Czech coal mining decreased in H1, brown-coal production falling by 6.3% on the year to 21.35 million tonnes and black-coal production down by 0.5% to 5.56 million tonnes, while briquette and coke production increased, the Industry Ministry has said.

The state-run rail operator Czech Railways made CZK 21m profit in H1, an improvement of CZK 78m yr/yr, thanks to savings and higher sales, the firm said Thursday.

Atlantik finanční trhy, the fourth largest securities dealer on the Prague Stock Exchange (BCPP), made a CZK 32m pre-tax profit in the first half of this year, down 24% year-on-year, the company told ČTK Thursday.

Czech civil servants will see their base pay drop by 10% as of next year under the proposal worked out by the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry of Jaromír Drábek (TOP 09).

Russian chief of staff Nikolai Makarov today met Czech Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra and focused on military reforms and modernisation in both countries.

The Defense Ministry will cancel 350 vacant jobs for soldiers and sack 700 civilian employees by the end of the year, daily E15 reported yesterday about the planned cuts in the military budget.