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His Holiness the Dalai Lama arrived in Prague on Saturday ahead of this year’s Forum 2000. The Tibetan spiritual leader last visited two years ago, shortly before the death of former president Václav Havel, with whom he was close friends. On Saturday afternoon the Dalai Lama is scheduled to speak at one of the city’s arenas on the subjects of kindness and mutual respect. Forum 2000, bringing together more than 100 world leaders, now in its 17th year, officially begins on Sunday. Along with the Dalai Lama, notable guests this year include the Burmese winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Aung San Suu Kyi and former president of South Africa, also a holder of the Nobel Peace Prize, Frederik de Klerk.

The controversial political “lobbyist” Miroslav Šlouf who was to head the Citizens’ Rights Party - Zemanites’ Prague ballot in October’s general elections has been scratched off the party’s candidates’ list. Mr. Šlouf himself admitted that he had been replaced as Prague leader following a stormy meeting of the party leadership on Thursday night. He said he would consult lawyers about the move. In a press briefing on its election candidates on Friday, the party stated that outgoing Transport Minister Zdeněk Žák will be Prague election leader.

A one-time chief political advisor to President Miloš Zeman, Miroslav Šlouf did not want to comment but, according to the Czech News Agency, called the party leadership “fools”. Mr Šlouf remains a highly controversial figure – a former communist believed to have enormous influence and connections to the underworld who has been linked to many political scandals and shady deals. Although he is credited with Mr. Zeman’s election victory, the president has publicly distanced himself from his former advisor.

Descendants of Jan Antonín Baťa -founder of the successful shoe-making empire - have asked Slovakia for millions of euros in compensation for property confiscated under the Beneš Decrees in 1947. The move comes following Baťa’s rehabilitation by Slovakia's courts and a decision to scrap the validity of the 1947 verdict which found him guilty of collaboration with Nazi Germany. The Czechoslovak shoe manufacturer set up four industrial centres in Slovakia and invested in hotels, spa resorts, and real estate. Baťa’s descendants have staked a similar claim in the Czech Republic where they are demanding 56 million crowns in compensation for confiscated property.

The labour ministry has exhausted four-fifths of its budget for people or families in emergencies or crisis this year: 7.5 billion crowns in the first seven months – 1.7 billion more than the same period in 2012. More individuals and families have signed for social benefits or welfare, and unemployment did not improve, the Labour Office’s report notes. This year, more funds went to the unemployed and the handicapped.