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Czech rabbi Tomas Kucera was among the three rabbis ordained in Germany on Thursday in the first such ceremony in the country since the mass murder of Jews in the Holocaust six decades ago. The three, a German, a Czech and a South African, were ordained in the new synagogue in Dresden as 25 Jewish leaders from all over the world watched. The newly ordained rabbis said they planned to serve congregations in Munich in southern Germany, in Oldenburg in the northwest of the country and in Cape Town in South Africa.

The government of Mirek Topolanek has recommended to the lower house to pass a Senate-proposed bill that would simplify the path to early elections. The proposed constitutional amendment is supposed to enable the President to dissolve the lower house of parliament after the cabinet has resigned and the lower house has approved its dissolution. The Civic Democrat minority government wants to lead the country to early elections next year in order to solve the political stalemate produced by the June general elections. The Constitution now offers four methods to reach early elections but all of them require lengthy procedures.

The European Commission expressed regret on Wednesday for a postponement in the opening of its internal borders to new member states, saying it will seek to minimise the delay. The EU had originally planned to allow the ten states which joined the bloc two years ago into its border-free "Schengen" area in October 2007. But technical and legal problems in building a new central police database look set to delay the expansion of the borderless area for at least a year, which prompted harsh criticism from the newcomers led by the Czech Republic. A spokesman said the European Commission is aware of the frustration of the citizens of new member states. He responded to a statement from the Czech Foreign Ministry, which said the delay meant Czech citizens could not take full advantage of free movement, one of the EU's fundamental freedoms.

The government has recommended to the lower house to discuss and pass an amendment to the law on road traffic submitted earlier by a group of Civic Democrat MPs. A new law on road traffic that came into force in July introduced a penalty point system for drivers. The Civic Democrats say it is too strict and encourages corruption and harassment. In their draft amendment, the Civic Democrat deputies proposed to increase the maximum point level for suspending a driving licence from the current 12 to 18 points. The chamber might debate the amendment at one of its autumn sessions.