Czech carmaker Skoda has announced the launch of a limited edition of its Rapid Prestige model in the Indian market.

The limited edition of edition variant of the Rapid, called Rapid Prestige will only be available in the diesel version in the country. The company is offering a host of new features like parking sensors, wind visors, textile floor mats and navigation system in the new special edition variant.

Prague, Feb 19 : Czech striker Milan Baros returns to the Czech First League Banik Ostrava after leaving Galatasaray Istanbul.

Baros, who has agreed on a one-year contract until the summer of 2014 with Banik, last week discussed with Istanbul to terminate his contract earlier and he was finally free Monday. He will play for Banik against Ceske Budejovice Saturday, reports Xinhua.

Prague  - Thousands marched Tuesday through the streets of Prague to mark two decades since the totalitarian communist regime collapsed in the country.

They were reenacting a peaceful student protest that was crushed by riot police on November 17, 1989.

The crackdown kicked off Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution, a bloodless coup in the country that was then an island of hardline communism in Central Europe, despite the Berlin Wall's collapse a week earlier.

Prague - Stefan Fuele, the Czech minister for European affairs, is the Czech Republic's candidate for a post at the European Commission, Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer said Tuesday.

A seasoned diplomat, Fuele, 47, was the Czech Republic's ambassador before he assumed his post in Fischer's caretaker cabinet.

His nomination is a result of a last-minute agreement between the two major Czech political parties, Mirek Topolanek's centre-right Civic Democrats and Jiri Paroubek's rival Social Democrats.

Prague - Former Czech football international Vladimir Smicer announced that he was ending his active career, reports said Tuesday.

Smicer, 36, a Slavia Prague veteran midfielder, said after a Monday game with Viktoria Plzen that a painful knee injury does not allow him to play as well as he wished to, Slavia's website said.

"My head and heart still want to (keep playing), but unfortunately my body is against it," the website cited him as saying after the Monday draw.

Prague  - The Czech Republic's unemployment rate fell a notch, to 8.5 per cent, in October, down from 8.6 per cent the previous month, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs said Monday.

The slight decline, however, does not signal an end to the economic crisis, analysts said.

The decrease in the number of job seekers registered with state labour authorities, a figure on which the ministry's unemployment rate is based, was seasonal, they said.

Berlin - German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle welcomed Monday's Czech court ruling which paved the way for the last remaining country to ratify the Lisbon Treaty.

"This is a good day for Europe," Westerwelle said, during his inaugural visits to Luxembourg and Belgium after taking up office last week.

"Europe needs the Lisbon deal, in order to finally gain new capacity to act," the foreign minister said, adding that it was time to leave behind internal discussions over EU reform.

Brussels - There is no reason to hold up ratification of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, the head of the EU's executive Jose Manuel Barroso, said Tuesday - following the Czech constitutional court verdict clearing the treaty.

"I'm extremely pleased that the Czech Constitutional Court has cleared the way for the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty (...) I believe that no further unnecessary delays should prevent the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty," Barroso said in a statement.

Vratislavice nad Nisou, Czech Republic - Twenty years after his predecessor Vaclav Havel opened his country to the world and set it on a path to the European Union, Czech President Vaclav Klaus is closing the door and awakening nationalist ghosts.

The president's latest condition for his much-awaited signature on the EU's key reform treaty is but the most recent instalment in a brand of nationalist politics that brings him significant public support.

Prague - Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer said Wednesday that President Vaclav Klaus verbally pledged to sign the European Union's reform treaty if the country's top court clears it and his latest condition is met.

"I have this guarantee. I have this assurance from the president from our yesterday's evening meeting," Fischer told reporters. "I do not have a reason to distrust it. I think that (there is no need) to draw a notary agreement between the premier and the president."

Prague  - The Czech Republic's Constitutional Court on Tuesday opened a hearing on a challenge to the European Union's reform Lisbon Treaty in a case widely expected to clear the way for the EU's grand reform aimed at boosting its global clout.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus, a treaty opponent whose signature is the last one needed before the pact becomes valid, is not allowed to ratify it before the court rules in the case.

It remains unclear whether the court will issue a verdict on the same day or adjourn the proceedings. Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer has said that he does not expect the court to rule Tuesday given procedural steps that lie ahead.

Prague  - Former Czech president Vaclav Havel, an icon of Europe's anti-Communist resistance, slammed his successor and long- standing rival, President Vaclav Klaus, over his latest move to block ratification of the European Union's reform treaty.

"I do not want to get into psychology and analyze what leads him to his behaviour," he told reporters at a rare press conference in Prague. "I just state that I find it very irresponsible and dangerous."

Prague  - Negotiators for the Czech government and president have been working out the wording of the opt-out demanded by the president as a condition for his signature under the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, Prime Minister Jan Fischer said Thursday.

Presenting a last-minute hurdle after the Irish "Yes" vote on the pact, Czech President Vaclav Klaus has refused to sign the treaty unless his country gets an exemption from the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which he views as a threat to Czech citizens' property rights.

The EU is likely to deal with Klaus' demand at its regular October 29-30 summit in Brussels.

Prague  - Swedish Minister for European Affairs Cecilia Malmstroem, whose country chairs the European Union until December 31, was is Prague Thursday to map out prospects for the EU's reform treaty ratification.

The so-called Lisbon Treaty, which is aimed at boosting EU's global role through streamlining the decision-making in the enlarged bloc, requires approval by all 27 members to come to force.

Prague  - Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer said his Brussels meeting with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has been postponed until Tuesday.

An aircraft problem Wednesday forced Fischer to stay in Prague and communicate by video link with European Union officials about Czech ratification of the bloc's reform Lisbon Treaty.

On Tuesday, Barroso and Fischer are set to debate bilateral issues, including what portfolio the Czech Republic could get in the next European Commission, the premier said.  dpa

Brussels  - Top European Union officials were set to put the pressure on the Czech Republic to sign the bloc's stalled Lisbon Treaty on Wednesday, as they prepared to meet Czech premier Jan Fischer in Brussels.

Eurosceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus has not yet signed the treaty, which is meant to streamline the EU, even though both houses of the Czech parliament have approved it.

Amman  - Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout on Tuesday held talks with senior Jordanian officials on ongoing efforts to ensure a resumption of peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel.

Kohout, who doubles as deputy premier, met separately with Prime Minister Nader Dahabi, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh and Speaker of the Upper House of parliament Zeid al-Refai.

Prague  - Prague is a dream destination for many tourists. The Charles Bridge, the castle and its old town district attract millions of tourists.

In the first half of this year, in fact, nearly 5 million people visited Prague, spending at least one night there, the tourism bureau in Prague said. But that's about 11 per cent less than the same period in 2008.

The economic crisis and the city's reputation as a tourist trap are damaging the Czech capital's image. But even so, a visit is worthwhile now for tourists who refuse to be misled.

Prague  - The Czech parliament's upper house on Monday passed an austerity package aimed at narrowing the Czech Republic's budget gap in 2010.

The package - already approved by the lower house in what was seen as an endorsement of Prime Minister Jan Fischer's caretaker government - allowed the cabinet to draft a belt-tightening budget for next year that takes account of the effects of the global economic crisis.

Prague  - Firefighters on Sunday recovered the bodies of four workers who were killed when a building collapsed in the Czech capital two days earlier, officials said.

Police had knowledge of those who worked at the site in Prague but would not release nationalities of the victims until experts identify their remains, spokeswoman Iva Knolova said.

Sources told the German Press Agency dpa that the workers were likely from other countries in Eastern European.

The workers were on the ground floor of the uninhabited building that was being renovated when four of its ceilings caved in on them on Friday.