Prague  - Czech President Vaclav Klaus urged Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek to disavow a controversial artwork marking country's EU presidency in Brussels, which sparked a diplomatic row with Bulgaria and irritated Slovakia.

In a January 14 letter published Monday on the website of the Czech weekly business magazine Euro, Klaus called on Topolanek to join him in an apology to Bulgarian leaders.

Prague - The Czech Republic government agreed Monday to reduce its planned troop numbers in Afghanistan for 2009 in a bid to cement parliamentary support for country's military deployments abroad, officials said.

The parliament's lower house spiked an earlier cabinet proposal on this year's military deployments on December 19. The rejection has threatened troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and Kosovo by March.

Cairo - Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg arrived to Cairo Saturday for talks with Egyptian officials over possible a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Schwarzenberg, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said the EU fully backed efforts for an immediate ceasefire in the strip.

Following his meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minster Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Schwarzenberg said discussions tackled "post ceasefire plans which includes rebuilding Gaza."

Prague - The European Union family faced a serious split on Friday as the bloc's justice m

Prague - European Union justice ministers were split on Friday over the question of EU rules for divorces between international couples, with 10 states pushing for closer cooperation despite the opposition of the EU executive, the European Commission.

"At this moment, we do have enough countries" to launch a system of international cooperation on divorce issues, Czech Justice Minister Jiri Pospisil, who headed the informal meeting of EU counterparts in Prague, told journalists.

Prague - Former Czech president Vaclav Havel's condition has improved slightly but remained serious, doctors said Thursday, three days after he was admitted to a Prague hospital with throat inflammation.

Doctors said that antibiotics helped to suppress inflammation in Havel's throat after a minor operation on Monday, in which surgeons removed a septic cavity.

The 72-year-old was sleeping well and reading newspapers in hospital, the doctors said. Havel would, however, remain in intensive care as he needed to wear a respiratory mask to aid his breathing, him with breathing, the hospital unit's head Martina Pelechovska.