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.

Prague - Czech generics maker Zentiva said Monday it has agreed to a nearly 2-billion-dollar buyout bid by Sanofi-Aventis after the French pharmaceutical group raised its offer by 9.5 per cent.

Sanofi-Aventis, Zentiva's largest shareholder with a 24.9-per-cent stake, sweetened its initial bid by 100 koruny to 1,150 koruny per share (70 dollars), Zentiva said.

Zentiva said the offer represents a 26-per-cent premium over its share price on April 30, before the original bid, and recommended the buyout to other shareholders.

Prague - The Czech government Sunday condemned "the terrorist attack" on a five-star hotel in Islamabad which killed more than 50 people, including the Czech ambassador.

"The Czech Republic sharply condemns any type of terrorist activities," Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said in a statement.

Czech Ambassador to Pakistan, Ivo Zdarek, was identified as one of the victims of Saturday's suicide bombing that left at least 53 dead and many more injured, Pakistani and Czech officials confirmed.

The 47-year-old diplomat had stayed in the Marriott temporarily because his residence was undergoing refurbishment and a security upgrade, said Zuzana Opletalova, a spokeswoman for the Czech Foreign Ministry.

Islamabad, Sept 21 : Czechoslovakian ambassador in Islamabad Ivo Zdarek was among the 53 people killed in yesterday’s fidayeen attack on a hotel, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani confirmed today.

Gilani said that the envoy’s dead body had been identified.

Meanwhile, even as the death toll reached 53, rescue operation at the Marriott Hotel was going on since early morning. Rescue workers and the fire brigade officials had controlled the fire, but temperature inside the building was still very high due to which entering in the hotel was very difficult.

Islamabad - Pakistani rescue workers on Sunday retrieved the body of Czech Republic Ambassador Ivo Zdarek from the wreckage of the Marriott hotel that was attacked by a suicide bomber, officials s

Prague, London  - Czech Defence Minister Vlasta Parkanova and her US counterpart Robert Gates Friday have signed a deal on rules for stationing US troops at a planned missile defence base in the ex-communist country, the Czech Defence Ministry said.

The ministers inked the so-called Status of Forces Agreement on the sidelines of NATO's informal meeting in London. The accord complements a main diplomatic treaty signed in Prague on July 8.

Despite Moscow's fierce objections, Washington plans to place a tracking radar in a military zone south-west of Prague as well as 10 interceptor missiles in neighbouring Poland.