Prague - The Czech Republic's unemployment rate was down to 4.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2008, the lowest in more than 11 years, according to government data released Friday.

The April-June reading, which was based on EU-wide International Labour Organization (ILO) methodology, was down by 1.1 points year- on-year and well bellow the three-month eurozone average of slightly above 7.2 per cent, the Czech Statistical Office said.

The fast-growing Czech economy has been troubled by labour shortages following an influx in recent years of foreign investors, mostly car and electronics makers, to the ex-communist Central European state of 10 million.

Prague  - Former Czech president Vaclav Havel urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to enable full access to information at the Beijing Olympics, according to an open letter released Thursday by a Czech human rights group.

The letter says that Olympians must learn about China's human rights record as the Olympic Charter puts sports at the service of promoting "a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity".

The signatories of the letter, released by the Prague-based Olympic Watch, also include South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Member of European Parliament Baroness Emma Nicholson and Chinese democratic activist Wei Jingsheng.

Prague  - Czech President Vaclav Klaus Tuesday sealed a law that seeks to soften direct health care fees on patients which were introduced in January as part of the government's public finance reform, Klaus' office said.

The signed law abolishes charges for newborns, organ donors, nursing home residents and patients with court-ordered treatment.

Prague- A Czech court Monday allowed the handing over of an Irish child abuse suspect to Britain where he is wanted for allegedly having sex with two girls aged 12 and 13, the court said.

Patrick Burnell, 21, who was detained in mid-July in a Prague apartment where he had been hiding for two years, agreed with the extradition, said spokesman for the Prague Municipal Court Petr Kulawiak.

British authorities suspect Burnell of 16 child abuse offenses. He allegedly sexually abused the two underaged girls and produced and possessed child pornography between 2003 and 2006, Czech police said.

Prague - Polish and Czech leaders planned Friday to discuss the future of the European Union's reform treaty, which the Czech president declared dead after Irish voters rejected it.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski's visit to Prague has led to speculation that he will urge his Czech counterpart Vaclav Klaus to support the Lisbon Treaty, which neither country has ratified.

The two leaders were to discuss "developments in the European Union after rejection of the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland" over dinner Thursday, Klaus's office said.

Klaus is a longtime critic of the EU accord, designed to streamline decision-making in the expanded 27-nation bloc. He says it's too federalist and too much like a European constitution.

Prague  - Czech carmaker Skoda Auto AS, a division of Germany's Volkswagen AG, said Wednesday the company saw its profit and revenues decline year-on-year in the first half of 2008, as a consequence of the firming Czech koruna.

Skoda's net profit plunged by 9.4 per cent to 7.15 billion koruny (472 million dollars) in the first half year compared to the same period in 2007, while the revenues were down
1.6 per cent year-on-year to 111.7 billion koruny (7.4 billion dollars).