Prague - The Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek on Friday publicly criticized French President Nicolas Sarkozy for comments made during a French TV interview about French cars being made in the Czech Republic.

In the interview broadcast on Thursday evening, Sarkozy said it was "irresponsible for cars for the French market to be produced in the Czech Republic."

Prague  - Ukraine and the European Union Thursday showed little enthusiasm for Russia's idea to form a consortium of Russia, Ukraine and EU partners that would overlook natural gas transit through Ukraine.

Speaking a day before an EU-Russia meeting in Moscow, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ogryzko and European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner said that it was too early to discuss such plans.

Prague - Former Czech president Vaclav Havel was released from a Prague hospital on Thursday, nearly three weeks after he was admitted with a throat inflammation.

"His condition has improved so that we can release him to home care," said Martina Pelichovska, a member of the medical team that treated the former president.

The 72-year-old playwright underwent a minor throat operation on January 12, but phlegm subsequently clogged his weakened right lung.

The resulting pneumonia threatened Havel's life and he remained in intensive care during the entire hospital stay, doctors said Thursday.

Prague - The European Union plans to increase its staff of legal and police advisers in Afghanistan in the coming months, announced EU officials after meeting with their Afghan counterparts in Prague Wednesday.

The current contingent of 180 advisers is expected to rise to 400 under the plan laid out by Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg after meeting with Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta.

Schwarzenberg was speaking in the name of the EU presidency, which is currently held by the Czech Republic through June.

Brussels/Prague - NATO and the European Union on Wednesday welcomed reports that Russia would no longer be deploying missiles next to Poland and Lithuania in response to a shift in US policy on a planned missile-defence shield in the heart of Europe.

"The Russian announcement to deploy Iskander (short-range) missiles was unwelcome. If this proposal has been withdrawn, this would be a good step," said NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero.

Prague - The Czech Republic's centre-right government Monday approved a budget rewrite for 2009 that reflects the expected slump of country's economy, an official said.

Under the revision, the budget deficit could nearly double to 73.3 billion koruny (3.4 billion dollars) this year if the economy slows down to around 1 per cent, an option that Czech Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek views as the most realistic.

"At this moment I consider the 1-per-cent version ... as closest to reality," Kalousek said at a news conference, adding that he hoped the growth would hover above zero.