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A survey by the European Union's statistics office, Eurostat, suggests that Czechs spend more time at work than any other EU citizens. While the average EU citizen works for 37.9 hours a week, Czechs spend almost 43 hours at the workplace every week. According to Eurostat, the Dutch have the shortest working hours, with 31.4 hours a week.

The Interior Ministry and the International Organisation for Migration are to launch a joint campaign in May warning the clients of prostitutes that they could be supporting crime, Mlada fronta Dnes reported. Clients will also be encouraged to tip off the authorities if they believe a woman has been forced into prostitution.

The Czech foreign minister, Cyril Svoboda, says it is necessary to maintain continuous political pressure on Belarus to negotiate with the country's opposition. Mr Svoboda said Sunday's presidential elections in Belarus, which President Alexander Lukashenko is widely predicted to win, were not democratic.

The Czech prime minister, Jiri Paroubek, said he was not enthusiastic about Mr Lukashenko's expected victory, but said it was very much an internal matter for Belarus.

A Social Democrat politician has been kicked out of the party after being accused of corruption. The local branch of the party in Velke Mezirici expelled Josef Laznicka just over a week after he and six other people were arrested on charges of bribe giving and receiving. The head of the Velke Mezirici Social Democrats said the case could have harmed the party in general elections due to take place in June.

Mr Laznicka, who worked at the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure, is the second person to have lost his party membership over the affair: last week lobbyist Frantisek Vybiral was expelled by the Olomouc branch.