Prague- The Czech Republic's inflation rose slightly while unemployment remained steady in September, according to government data released Wednesday.

The inflation rate year-on-year rose a notch to 6.6 per cent in September, from 6.5 per cent recorded in August, mainly due to higher costs for education, vacations and tobacco products, the Czech Statistical Office said.

Prague - Czech author and former president Vaclav Havel was Tuesday awarded Germany's Point Alpha Prize for the Unity of Germany and Europe in Peace and Freedom.

Havel was honoured as a "representative of the great European revolution for liberty in the Soviet realm," said the former German foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher in the German embassy in Prague.

"He gave an example of courage, conviction, and self-sacrifice," said Genscher before 100 guests from the world's politics and society.

Prague  - The Czech military intelligence said Monday that foreign spies have shown "specific interest in information" about a missile defence radar base the United States plans to build in the ex-Soviet satellite.

The agency did not give any details in a public version of its 2007 annual report released Monday.

On Thursday, Czech civil counter-intelligence BIS said in its annual report that Russian spies have been stirring up public opinion against the US base. But the report did not give specifics.

The reports were released three weeks before regional and Senate elections.

Prague - Czech power company CEZ said Monday it has made a bid for a 76-per-cent stake in the Albanian power distributor OSSH.

Prague - A Czech court Friday sentenced a 26-year-old former Prague city policeman to 10 years in prison for murdering a 44-year-old US citizen, court spokesman Petr Kulawiak said.

Prague- Czech police Friday charged a 43-year-old former postal worker who allegedly stole some 39,000 letters at a postal hub in south-eastern Czech Republic, police said.

The man faces two years in prison for the theft of international mail at a post office in the south-eastern town of Breclav between 2001 and 2006.

He first stole mail out of interest in foreign stamps and later began opening letters and pilfering the cash inside, said police investigator Josef Brabec.

The suspect confessed when confronted with evidence, including an album with stolen stamps, Brabec said.