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Slovan Liberec won the Czech football title after a 0:0 tie against runners up Viktoria Plzeň in the final round of the top division. Defending champions Plzeň needed a win to clinch the title but failed to convert several good opportunities, and finished third in the league table, three points behind the champions. Sparta Prague beat České Budějovice 3:0 in the final round and finished second. Two Prague teams, Bohemians 1905 and Viktoria Žižkov, are relegated to the second top division.

Civic Democrat MEP Evžen Tošenovský on Saturday won his party’s presidential primaries in central Moravia. Mr Tošenovský received 295 votes while his rival, deputy speaker of the Senate Přemysl Sobotka got 294 votes. Last week, Mr Sobotka secured the nomination in eastern Bohemia. The Civic Democrat primaries, which will next week continue in the Vysočina and south Bohemia, will conclude in early July.

The formerly coalition Public Affairs part will in June elect new leaders. The party on Saturday held its first conference since suffering a split and leaving the coalition last month; the conference voted to cut short the mandate of the leadership and elect new one on June 23. Party chair Radek John did not say whether he would again run for the post.

Pope Benedict XVI has issued a decree approving the beautification of 14 Franciscan monks who were murdered in Prague in the 17th century, the Prague Archbishopric said on its website on Saturday. The monks should be included in the list of the beautified on October 13, 2012, in the St Vitus Cathedral. The monks were murdered in February 1611 at the Church of Our Lady of the Snow in Prague over their efforts to bring the largely protestant Prague inhabitants back to the Catholic faith.

Around 30 people, who were evacuated from the Prague Marina apartment complex on Saturday morning, were able to return to their homes. The building had to be evacuated again due to cracking walls after tenants in the luxurious new complex, located in the Holešovice neighbourhood in Prague 7, called the emergency services; the fire brigade then evacuated the complete building. The incident took place less than two weeks after some 30 people had to leave their apartments after one of the structural supports bent and the building threatened to collapse.

Some repeated misdemeanors will constitute a criminal offence, according to draft legislation now under review by the Justice Ministry, the news agency ČTK reported on Saturday. If approved, the legislation will established a central register of offences which will only include those whose repetition will constitute a crime, such as petty theft, embezzlement and penal damages; if anyone commits these offences three times in less than two years, they might be sentenced to up to two years in prison.

Around 300 people protested against municipal regulation of opening hours for pubs, bars and other venues in Boskovice, southern Moravia, on Saturday. The protesters staged a march through the town at 3 AM on Saturday; they damaged several traffic signs and broke a shop window. The police detained three people. The new regulation, which came into force this week, requires bars to close at 2 AM to prevent public disorders. Some bars however received exceptions and are allowed to remain open until 4AM.

The Czech knife maker Mikov on Saturday opened a museum in Mikulášovice, in northern Bohemia, dedicated to the 218-year-long tradition of knife-making in the area. The museum features hundreds of historic knives made by the Mikov factory along with other tools such as scissors, hole-makers and aluminium cutlery, including the fish-shaped penknife that has become the symbol of the factory. The firm’s director said it had taken five years of work to get all the materials and exhibits together.

In the final round of the Czech top football division, Slovan Liberec play Viktoria Plzeň for the title. Liberec, in first place with 65 points host defending champions Plzeň, in second place, with 62 points. If Plzeň win, they will win the title due to a higher number of points won. Sparta Prague, which spent most of the season at the top of the table, lost any hope of winning the tile on Wednesday when they tied 1:1 against Dukla Prague, and are now ranked third with 61 points.

Czech tennis player Tomáš Berdych beat Argentine’s Jual Del Potro 7:6, 7:6 in the semifinals of the Madrid Open on Saturday and reached the event’s final. The 26-year old Czech will play the winner of the other semifinal game in which the Swiss Roger Federer faces Janko Tipsarevič of Serbia.