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If the Dutch company LG Philips Displays pulls out of the Czech Republic it should return investment incentives it received from the Czech state, says the head of CzechInvest, Tomas Hruda. The company's factory in south Moravia shut down on Friday as it filed for bankruptcy protection. It employs 1,300 people.

Drawings by children interned at Terezin ghetto in Bohemia during World War II have gone on show at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day. The pictures are normally housed in Prague's Jewish Museum.

Cuba's embassy in Prague is next week to explain to the Czech Foreign Ministry why two Czech women were detained on the island. Former Miss Czech Republic Helena Houdova and psychologist Mariana Kroftova were held for 11 hours earlier this week after taking photographs in a poor part of Havana.

They were released after signing a statement promising not to engage in counter-revolutionary activities. Ms Houdova, who runs a foundation for disadvantaged children in New York, said she had been looking for ways to help children in Cuba.

Information released by the European Commission on Thursday has shown the Czech Republic lagging behind in drawing money from European Union funds. According to European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Danuta Huebner, the country has used roughly 20 percent since joining the union in 2004, from resources available until the end of 2006. The EU allocated the Czech Republic 2.6 billion euros, the equivalent of 3 billion US dollars, for 2004 - 2006. Last year, the country drew only around 258 million US dollars' worth. Only one country - neighbouring Slovakia - drew less.

Commissioner Huebner has pointed out that most newcomers to the EU fall behind in drawing subsidies, but stressed the situation has gradually been improving.

The Czech Senate has rejected a bill passed in the Chamber of Deputies proposing three new commemorative dates for the Czech calendar. The bill had proposed April 7th be officially recognised as "scholarship day" or "day of letters" marking the founding date of Prague's Charles University in 1348. May 10th was to be recognised as "Family Day", and June 10th was to gain official status to remind Czechs of the massacre of civilians and destruction at Lidice by the Nazis in World War II. Members of the Senate on Thursday made clear there was no question over the importance of the dates, but rejected the necessity for the days to be specially recognised on the calendar.

The draw for qualification matches for the 2008 European football championship to take place in Switzerland and Austria, will take place on Friday in Montreux, Switzerland. The Czech Republic, currently 2nd in the world according to FIFA football rankings, has been put in the strongest group together with the Netherlands, meaning the Czechs will not have to face their somewhat "traditional" rivals in the qualifiers. Other teams in the prestigious first basket include England, France, Portugal, and defending European champions Greece.

The Senate has backed a bill on same-sex partnership approved by the Chamber of Deputies last month. On Thursday 45 of 65 senators present voted in favour of the bill, which will entitle gay couples to legal union, allowing access, for example, to a partner's medical information, or inheritance rights. Gay couples will also be able to raise children, although the bill does not allow them to adopt. Some opponents of the bill, notably the Christian Democrats who voted against, have criticised the legislation as "threatening" the standing of the traditional family. The bill must now be signed by the president to go into effect. If approved by the president, it will make the Czech Republic the 13th European country to recognise same-sex partnerships, as well as the first post-communist country to do so.

Three officials from the first division's FC Slovacko football club (formerly FC Synot), as well as seven referees have been found guilty of corruption. Fines handed down ranged between the equivalent of 2 - 12,000 US dollars. The biggest penalties were handed out to the former owner of the club, Ivo Valenta, as well as manager Jaroslav Hastik. Hastik and the seven referees have also been banned from undertaking any football-linked business activities for periods of up to five years. The match fixing scandal first broke in May 2004.

Police say a man was killed in an avalanche in the Beskydy Mountain range in northern Moravia on Wednesday. The 32-year old man was caught off-guard by the slide as he was skiing down Smrk hill in a no-ski zone. His companion, who reached the bottom of the slope minutes earlier, survived.

The Czech Senate has approved a resolution that condemns crimes of totalitarian communist regimes. The resolution was drafted and recommended by the Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe last month. It calls for "sympathy, understanding and recognition to the victims of crimes" by the international community in order to "pave the way to further reconciliation".