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Flights in and out of Czech airports resumed at noon on Monday. The resumption of services comes three days after flights were cancelled after a cloud of volcanic ash started to spread across the country. A spokesman for the national air traffic service operator said the renewal of flights would be a temporary 48-hour measure ahead of a final decision. Czech airspace above 7,450 metres was already reopened for long distance flights at midnight on Sunday. Emergency service helicopter flights were also authorised from 11 am local time. The resumption of Czech flights comes as air traffic across Europe hesitantly gets back to normal after disruption caused by a cloud of ash from an Icelandic volcano.

Minister of Finance Eduard Janota warned on Monday that he would not draw up a budget for 2011 if the public deficit exceeded 4.8 percent of Gross Domestic Product. Mr. Janota has long been in charge of framing the country’s budget, now as minister and previously as deputy minister. The warning puts a major question over his continuation in the post if radical cost cutting or tax increases are not proceeded with. The public deficit climbed to 5.93 percent last year and is due to drop to 5.3 percent in 2010. The current caretaker government is due to step down after elections to the lower house at the end of May. But it could be forced to carry on if a new government is difficult to put together. The budget starts being drawn up in the summer.

One of the Czech Republic’s main literary prizes, Magnesia Litera 2010, has been awarded to novelist Petra Soukupová. She was selected for the award and 200,000 crown first prize for her work ‘To Disappear.’ The collection of three long stories focus on family relationships. The first two stories are told from the perspective of children with the narrator in the third an adult looking back on childhood. The jury’s decision is the first time that a prose work has gained the main prize for several years.

The Czech government on Monday decided that former minister of minorities and human rights, Michael Kocáb, would be made its commissioner for human rights. Mr Kocáb resigned from the ministry at the end of March under pressure from the small Green Party which was angered that it was not consulted about the appointment of a new environment minister. Prime Minister Jan Fischer, who has taken over the ministerial portfolio for minorities and human rights himself, said the appointment was aimed at ensuring some continuity. Mr. Kocáb replaces Jan Litomiský who was in the post since September 2006.