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.

Prague  - Czech lawmakers Tuesday overrode a presidential veto of a law that puts the country's chemical industry under tougher European Union rules.

The legislation passed 133-12, with 101 votes needed in the 200- seat lower house of parliament to strike the veto down.

The bill, originally passed by parliament in July, implements an EU directive that requires manufacturers and importers to register chemicals with the new Helsinki-based European Chemicals Agency.

The new EU agency's tasks are to collect information and run a public database on chemicals as well as to evaluate, authorize and restrict use of substances so they pose no hazard to humans and the environment.

Prague  - Japan and the Czech Republic Tuesday signed a memorandum that paves the way for Japan to buy surplus greenhouse gas emission credits, the Czech Environment Ministry said.

Japan has so far failed to fulfil its obligation under the so- called Kyoto Protocol to cut by 2012 emissions of gases believed to cause global warming by 6 per cent from the
1990 levels.

Prague- The Czech government Monday approved a 2009 draft budget with a spending gap of 1.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), well below the
3-per-cent limit required for adopting euro, Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek said.

The Czech Republic is in no rush to switch to Europe's common currency as Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek wants to fix country's public finances first.

Topolanek's centre-right government abandoned a 2010 euro adoption target, while Slovakia will enter the 15-member eurozone in January and Poland hopes to join in
2011.