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Finance Minister 'convinced' Unipetrol privatisation was transparent; Czech Republic pushes back target date for Euro adoption to 2010; First ever Czech foreign trade surplus posted for month of July; American broadcasting group CME has bought Galaxie Sport from PPF; Cabinet's draft bankruptcy law would give creditors' greater power; Denmark's Lego Group to relocate Swiss factory to the Czech Republic

CalPERS investment fund says Czech Republic is No. 2 in emerging market; Bank of Tokyo- Mitsubishi to open Prague branch to meet Japanese demand; EMV launches $45m arbitration case against the Czech state over TV3 license transfer; UK says 230,000 east European workers have registered for work there since EU expansion; Israeli vegetarian food producer Tivall to build $30m Czech factory

Lower house of Parliament upholds ban on privatisation of regional hospitals; Forbes magazine survey: Czech Republic has the world's 17th highest tax rate; Rent deregulation bill makes it through first reading in Parliament; Four companies remain in $1 billion Czech Army tender; This year's agricultural production to be lowest in 15 years

More Czechs commuting long distances for work; EIU: Prague now ranks world's 55th most expensive city for expats; Over one-quarter of past decades' big investments located in Central Bohemia; Czech Republic too slow in spending EU structural funds; Foreign trade surplus of 38bn for first half of 2005; Czech crown reaches three-year high against the euro

Finance Ministry allows tax exemption for 'squeeze out' earnings; CSA gets anti-trust office green light to buy Travel Service; COI says over 40 percent of restaurants are overcharging patrons; CEZ more than doubled its net profit in first half of 2005; Wood & Company top dealer on Czech bourse in July; Dutch get 'Ahold' of Julius Meinl; Libuse Barkova, friend and business associate of former prime minister's wife, sentence for insurance fraud

Brewer of Pilsner Urquell to pay out $80m in dividends; Half-year results boost PSE trading to near record high; Bank consortium named in CSA purchase of 12 Airbuses; CSA takes over sponsorship of FK Slavia from Carrefour; CNB sees unchanged interest rates over next few quarters, increased inflation and growth; Electrical engineering sector now Czech Republic's biggest industry; June saw average mortgage rates drop to 3.75 percent

'Welfare-to-work' style move behind lowering of minimum subsistence level; mandatory receipts for 50-crown plus purchases to be rescinded; Justice Minister submits conflict-of-interest proposal; Senator Alexandr Novak charged taking a 43 million crown bribe; Aero Vodochody to expand its suburban Prague airport to attract budget airlines; Finance Minister proposes consolidation of financial market oversight within CNB.

Russia's Evraz Holding to pay $284m for control of Vitkovice Steel; CzechInvest announces new Japanese, French, and British investments; Aero Vodochody wins 'trial contract' with Airbus; Cabinet approves long-awaited bill on rent deregulation... will increase salaries of doctors, nurses, and civil servants

Some 25 companies announce intentions to opt for 'squeeze out' buy of minority shareholder stakes; Hotels, language schools exempted from 19pct VAT; MPs look to prevent supermarkets from 'dumping' sales items; Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka submits 2006 budget... acknowledges failure to meet 19 of the EU 'convergence' targets; CzechInvest mid-year report: 70 deals worth 25bn mediated by the agency

3.8bn bailout approved for health insurers; Cabinet approves public finance reform report and 22.5bn crown bond to pay the state's debt to the CNB; CNB governor notes shift to household consumption driving economy; PM says economy could reach 8pct growth rate by 2007; E&Y survey names Czech Republic 7th most attractive country for foreign investors; Transparency International says state overpaid by 32bn for contracts last year; Lawyers, notaries to report 'suspicious' deals to their chambers