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.

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 - An academic institute dedicated to a legendary 16th- Century Jewish scholar Rabbi Judah Loew, also known as the Maharal of Prague, was opening in Prague Thursday.

The Maharal Institute plans to educate future rabbis, introducing them to Talmud, Jewish law, ethics and mysticism as well as to Loew's writings, said institute collaborator Tomas Jelinek.

Rabbi Loew's work has influenced generations of Jewish scholars but he has been best known for a legend according to which he had created the Golem, a man-like being with magic powers.

Prague - Croatia could conclude its accession talks with the European Union by the end of 2009 and join the 27-member bloc by the end of the decade, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Ollie Rehn said Thursday.

"The next year of 2009 is bound to be ... the year of Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership (as Croatia could be) concluding the negotiations by the end of next year," he told reporters in Prague after meeting Czech officials.