Dublin - Czech President Vaclav Klaus was due to meet Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen on an official state visit to Ireland Monday.

Klaus and Cowen would discuss the Czech Republic's upcoming presidency of the European Union, the global financial crisis and the Lisbon Treaty, a statement from Cowen's office in Dublin said.

The Czech Republic assumes the EU presidency on January 1. Prague has been a vocal opponent of the Lisbon Treaty aimed at streamlining the 27-member bloc's decision-making process, which Ireland rejected in a popular vote in June.

Klaus was due to meet Irish President Mary McAleese Monday morning and visit tourist sites in Dublin and the south-western city of Cork on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Prague/Vienna  - Contracts were signed Friday for the takeover of 92.4 per cent of the Prague stock exchange by the Vienna bourse, Vienna Bourse AG announced.

The bourses were mum on the price paid for the takeover, but Czech media estimated the value of the Prague exchange at between 200 and 400 million euros (257-514 million dollars).

"The Prague bourse is an important partner for us and strengthens the already existing Budapest-Ljubljana-Vienna bourse axis," said Michael Buhl, the chairman of Vienna Bourse AG.

Prague - The Czech central bank Thursday slashed its key interest rate by 75 points in seeking to fight a slowdown in one of eastern Europe's leading economies.

The cut to 2.75 per cent from 3.5 per cent was deeper than analysts had expected and left Czech Republic with the lowest rates in the 27-nation European Union.

The Czech National Bank's decision came hours before the European Central Bank cut the lead rate by 50 points to 3.25 per cent for nations using the euro.

Prague - South Korean car

Prague - A senior US defence official said Friday that plans for placing a US missile defence system in Europe would not slow down even if Czech lawmakers postpone their final decision on the project until after a new US president takes office.

"This threat is going to continue to emerge. That is going to cause the next president, whoever that may be, to have to address that," said US Missile Defence Agency's head, General Henry Obering.

Prague - The Czech Republic's seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate stood at 4.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2008, the lowest in 12 years, government data showed Friday.

The July-September rate, based on EU-wide International Labour Organization (ILO) methodology, was down 0.8 percentage points year- on-year, the Czech Statistical Office said. But the fall would not hold.

"The trend came to an end. We saw by the end of the third quarter that the decrease will not continue," said Dalibor Holy, office's head of labour statistics.