Prague  - More than a half of the Czech Republic's elementary and secondary schools Monday took part in a nationwide strike for higher salaries, the teachers' trade union said.

More than 130,000 teachers and school employees at nearly 6,000 schools joined the one-day strike to protest notoriously low wages, according to deputy head of school unions Marketa Vondrackova.

It was the second strike over long-term cash woes in the field for Education Minister Ondrej Liska. He was greeted to the job by protests on December 4, 2007, the very day he was appointed.

Teachers and other school employees complain that their already- low salaries have bought them less this year due to climbing prices.

Prague  - The Czech Republic's inflation rate remained steady year-on-year and unemployment rate fell in May, according to government data released Monday.

Vienna  - A 10-year-old Czech boy was killed and 10 other passengers injured when their tour bus crashed in south-eastern Austria in the early morning hours Saturday, officials said.

Prague  - The Czech government could collapse this autumn, months before it takes on the European Union's rotating presidency, Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek was quoted as saying on Saturday.

Prague- The Czech government agreed Tuesday to abolish health care fees for small children, seeking to soften the burden on patients introduced as part of a public finance reform in January.

Leaders of three coalition parties in the centre-right government of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek hammered out a comprise late Monday to gradually abolish medicare fees for children up to the age of six.

The coalition leaders also agreed to lower the cap on some of the fees and medicine co-payments for children up to 15 from 5,000 koruny (314 dollars) to 3,000 koruny.

The government introduced a 30-koruny payment for doctor's visits and prescriptions and 60 koruny for hospital stays in a bid to curb demand for care and medicines.

Prague - Czech Republic's average monthly real wage was up 2.8 per cent year-on-year in the