Prague - Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said Wednesday that his government's stimulus plan is to give the Czech economy a boost amounting to 4.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), or nearly 180 billion koruny (7.8 billion dollars).

The stimulus is to cost taxpayers some 73.5 billion koruny, or 1.9 per cent of GDP, and expand country's budget gap accordingly, Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek said.

The budget deficit is expected this year to exceed 3 per cent, a limit the European Union requires for adopting the euro.

Prague  - Czech parliament's lower house is set to resume debating the European Union's stalled reform pact, the Lisbon Treaty, at 6 pm (1700 GMT) on Tuesday and possibly vote on the pact, local reports said, citing lawmakers.

The Czech Republic is the last member state yet to vote on the accord, which passed parliaments in 25 countries but was rejected by Irish voters in a June 2008 referendum.

If adopted, the treaty would overhaul EU institutions with the aim to streamline decision-making in the enlarged 27-member bloc.

Prague  - Three years ago Katerina Neumannova surged to the front on the finish line for the Czech Republic's first-ever Olympic gold in Nordic skiing.

Now, her triumphs in sports management depend on how she glides through the Nordic World Championships that open in northern Czech town of Liberec on Wednesday.

Neumannova, who turned 36 on Sunday, was hailed the Czech Republic's latest sporting hero when she grabbed the historic gold in the 30km cross-country ski race at
2006 Turin Olympic.

Prague - At least 43 passengers were injured Monday, three of them seriously, when two trains had a head-on collision in the north-eastern Czech Republic, the CTK news agency reported, citing medical officials.

The railways said in a statement that one of the drivers was likely at fault as he ran a red light instead of waiting for a train arriving from the opposite direction.

The train was moving at 40 kilometres per hour when it crashed into the second train, which slammed on the brakes and managed to come to a halt.

Prague - The Czech Republic's centre-right government Monday approved a set of fiscal measures aimed at softening the economic slump's effects on the country's export-driven economy.

Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek told a news conference that the package and earlier pro-export measures adopted in late 2008 would cost taxpayers 1.9 per cent of gross domestic product, or some 70 billion koruny (3 billion dollars).

The premier said that the plan counts on a prediction that the country's economy would contract by 1 per cent.

Prague  - Czech President Vaclav Klaus Friday signed into law a bill that bans the media from publishing information from leaked police wiretaps, his office said.

The legislation was seen as a breach of media freedom.

The disputed penal code amendment, passed at a time when the Czech Republic chairs the European Union, allows courts to punish publication of information from leaked wiretaps by up to five years in prison.

Wiretap technology allows police to listen in on electronic communications in suspected criminal cases.