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President Vaclav Klaus will stay in hospital until Sunday or the beginning of next week, and after that he should have a rest for a few days, the head of the General Teaching Hospital Martin Holcat said on Thursday. Mr Klaus, who is 62, was taken to hospital with tonsillitis on Monday evening. Though the tonsillitis symptoms receded he decided to remain in hospital because of joint pain and exhaustion from an extensive work schedule. Mr Klaus's schedule for the nearest future including the appointment of new judges to the Constitutional Court has been cancelled.

A small Katana sports plane with a single pilot violated the no-fly zone around the Temelin nuclear power plant on Wednesday while flying en route from the town of Most to Hosin. The incident sparked the immediate take-off of an L-39 fighter jet from a nearby army base, however, the jet did not have to intervene. The sports plane pilot had steered his craft out of the no-fly zone by that time. The Aviation Bureau is looking into the causes behind the incident.

The Czech government expects to decide when to join the Euro in the autumn of this year, after hearing a Central Bank recommendation on what steps to take in the run-up to membership in the currency zone. The timing of euro entry is important for the Czech Republic's budget and monetary policies and for investors who have bet billions on rising asset prices and falling interest rates ahead of the country's adoption of the single currency. Out of all central European candidate countries for EU membership, the Czech Republic has been most hesitant on setting a definite date. Hungary and Slovakia target 2008, while Poland hopes to adopt the euro by the beginning of 2009 at the latest. Czech Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, has said 2010 was a realistic date, adding that a decision would be based on a joint proposal prepared by the Czech Central Bank and the ministries of Finance and Industry and Trade. The Czech Central Bank (CNB) has recommended the Czech Republic stay out of the EU's exchange rate mechanism for some time after EU entry next May, warning of the risks involved in linking the freely floating crown too closely to the euro.

All victims of Nazism who were slave or forced labourers on Austrian territory during WWII have until the end of the year, instead of September 27, to ask to be compensated, the Austrian embassy in Prague said on Monday. In total, the Austrian government expects to pay out some 15.6 billion Czech crowns to all former slave labourers. Out of this sum, 1.3 billion Czech crowns have been reserved for Czech victims. Any amount of the reserved money that will not be paid out will be used for various health and social projects, allowing Czech former forced or slave labourers to undergo important medical treatment in Austria, for example.