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The International Monetary Fund said late Wednesday it had signed an agreement with the Czech Republic to borrow up to 1.03 billion euros (1.4 billion dollars) to boost its lending capacity. The Group of 20 developed and developing countries committed in April 2009 to triple the IMF's resources so the Washington-based institution would be better positioned to help struggling member nations amid the global economic crisis. To date, 17 IMF members, including 11 EU countries, have signed agreements with the Fund to increase its financing capacity, either through direct loans or bond purchases.

Former communist prosecutor Ludmila Brožová-Polednová who is serving a six year prison sentence for her participation in the notorious 1950s show trials can count on an early release in March of next year. The Prague High Court on Thursday upheld an earlier ruling by the Hradec Králové regional court according to which Brožová-Polednová’s six year sentence will be reduced to three years on the grounds of two presidential amnesties from 1953 and 1990. Brožová-Polednová has already served a year of her sentence and according to Czech law she can request an early release on the grounds of old age in another years’ time. She is the only person jailed for taking part in the 1950s show trials and at 87 is the country’s oldest prisoner.

As well as signing a new arms reduction treaty with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, US President Barack Obama is likely also to hold bilateral talks with European leaders on a planned visit to Prague next week, the Czech News Agency reported. The American and Russian presidents are expected to sign a new version of a treaty reducing their nuclear arsenals in the city on Thursday. US State Department official Philip Crowley said he expected that both Mr Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would also hold a series of bilateral discussions with European and central European officials in Prague, adding that a list of who would take part was currently being drawn up. President Obama returns to the Czech capital almost exactly a year after making a key speech on nuclear weapons in front of large crowds at Prague Castle.

Police president Oldřich Martinů said on Wednesday that investigations of possible corruption into the Pandur public tender awarded by the Czech Ministry of Defence so far have not produced any evidence supporting the corruption allegations. A special team of investigators has evaluated all available documents and information and a total of seven witnesses have been questioned. Although the investigation has not confirmed corruption allegations so far, it will continue. In February, the Czech daily Mladá fronta Dnes suggested that members of the Ministry of Defence, which in 2008 had signed a 14.4 billion crown contract with the Austrian company Steyr to buy armoured personnel carriers, had earmarked two to three percent of the tender as kickbacks for the two strongest political parties. The report caused a scandal and some politicians called for far-reaching reforms that would create greater transparency of public tenders.