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People who have been affected by last week's gale-force wind are entitled to financial assistance from the state. They can receive a one-off contribution of up to 46,890 crowns (around 2,200 USD). Labour and Social Affairs Minister Petr Necas has said his office is ready to provide the money from its budget. It is not yet known how many people would be entitled to the financial aid.

The Czech energy giant CEZ says it has mended all failures caused by the gale which hit the country at the end of last week. Around a million customers experienced cuts in power supplies due to the gale. CEZ says high winds are still causing damage to electric wires, most recently in the Krkonose mountains and in Central Bohemia.

Doctors in Poland are to decide in the coming hours whether to wake Czech ski jumper Jan Mazoch from an artificially induced coma after he crashed during a World Cup event in southern Poland. The 21-year old Mazoch was knocked unconscious when he lost control in the air and landed awkwardly, banging his head on the ground, in the second round of competition on Saturday. Doctors put him into an artificial coma to limit the damage to his brain.

The EU needs a new, simpler, and more comprehensible constitution document that will allow the union to work effectively even after further expansion, Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek says. Speaking in the same Czech TV interview, Mr Topolanek said the Czech Republic would not ratify the European Constitution agreement in its current form. The ratification process of the document was halted after France and the Netherlands rejected it. However, Germany hopes to revive the document during its EU presidency and the issue is expected to be one of the main points of discussion during German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to Prague on Friday.