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While the government's decision was welcomed by Sudeten German organisations on Wednesday, it was criticised by President Vaclav Klaus who said the cabinet's step was an erroneous, unnecessary and empty gesture which may harm the Czech Republic. Mr Klaus said that the sensitive historic chapter had been resolved and closed by the Czech-German Declaration, agreed on by the Czech and German governments in 1997. President Klaus also complained that the government and the Foreign Ministry had not consulted him on the statement.

Prince Hamid bin Abdul Sani, a member of Qatar's royal family, who was sentenced to two and a half years in prison by a Czech court for sexual abuse of underage girls, was extradited to Qatar and remanded in custody upon arrival on Tuesday night. The Czech Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Abdul Sani could be extradited to face criminal prosecution in Qatar. The court ruling, which is believed to have set an important precedent, complied with an earlier request by Justice Minister Pavel Nemec for Mr Sani to be tried in his homeland. The office of the Qatari supreme state attorney had guaranteed that criminal proceedings would start immediately after Mr Sani's return to Qatar.

Acclaimed Czech director Milos Forman is to direct a film about Spanish grand master Francisco de Goya starring Javier Bardem and Natalie Portman, focusing on one of Spain's most bloody chapters, the Inquisition, the Reuters agency wrote on Wednesday. Called "Goya's Ghosts" the film tells the story of the last years of the Spanish Inquisition, when the Catholic Church tortured and executed suspected Jews, as told by the painter, played by Stellan Skarsgard. The film is Forman's first directing project since 1999's "Man on the Moon" and filming is due to start in September.

Czech politicians are trying to reach consensus on a framework for pension reform. The Labour and Social Affairs Minister Zdenek Skromach said there was now agreement across the political spectrum on the need to gradually raise the retirement age for both men and women. However many key issues remain highly controversial. The Social Democrats are in favour of introducing individual pension accounts. Their coalition partners the Christian Democrats propose that people send part of their obligatory pension payments to pension funds, the opposition Civic Democrats are in favour of a low state pension supplemented by private savings while the Communists are in favour of maintaining the pay-as-you-go system.