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.

Prague- Germany allowed its original of the so-called Munich Agreement, under which European powers gave Hitler parts of then-Czechoslovakia 70 years ago, to be shown in Prague for the first time, officials confirmed Thursday.

The document will be on display at Prague's National Museum between October 28 and March 15 as part of a sweeping exhibit commemorating 90 years of the Czech Republic's history of independence, museum historian Marek Junek said.

"The German original has never crossed the borders of Germany," Junek said.

The talks to bring the document to Prague began a year ago, he said.

Prague - The Czech central bank Thursday decided to keep borrowing costs on hold in line with market expectations, leaving the key two-week repo rate at 3.5 per cent, the bank said.

The rate is the lowest in the European Union. It is 75 basis points higher in the 15-member eurozone.

Analysts expect the central bank to slash interest rates by year end or in early 2009 to reflect an anticipated decrease in inflation and a slowing economy.

Czech energy firm CEZ and Electrabel, a unit of French-based GDF Suez, won contracts to build two coal-fired power plants in Romania, the government said Wednesday.

Each contract is worth up to 400 million euros (590 million dollars), Economy Minister Varujan Vosganian said.

The 400-megawatt units in eastern Romania will be built at two existing power plants in cooperation with state-owned utility Termoelectrica SA.

Electrabel was contracted to build a unit at Borzesti and CEZ was tapped for one at Galati, also the site of Romania's biggest steelworks.

Prague - Theft of copper cable at Prague's railway hub disrupted train traffic in the Czech capital for half a day on Tuesday, officials said.

Thieves stole 15 metres of a communication cable at the main train station, and were likely to sell it as scrap, said Pavel Halla, a spokesman for the Railway Infrastructure Administration.

The theft halted dozens of trains since the early hours as the thieves severed two cables crucial for traffic between several Prague stations, Halla said. Trains resumed running in mid-afternoon.