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Trade unions at the Czech national carrier Czech Airlines have cancelled plans to go on strike next Thursday over lay-offs and salary cuts. The decision came after the firm's management promised on Friday to “limit the impact” of the restructuring. Earlier this week, the troubled firm announced salary cuts and massive layoffs; some 170 of the airline’s 400 cabin crew members are set to lose their jobs under the plan. However, the agreement will not affect the basic features of the plan, Václav Řehoř, the head of Czech Airlines’ mother company, Czech Aeroholding, said.

Five-year-old British cancer patient Ashya King received a final dose of proton beam therapy on Friday, concluding his six-week long treatment at Prague’s Proton Therapy Centre, doctors at the facility said, adding that the boy has coped well with the treatment and is now able to eat and sit by himself and move his hands. The patient is now set to return to Spain for rehabilitation. The physicians are optimistic about the boy’s prognosis but said they would only be able to say whether the treatment has been successful in several moths’ time.

Ashya King’s story received international attention after his parents took him from a UK hospital in August without his doctors‘ consent. They took him to Spain where they were arrested before being allowed to come to Prague for the special treatment.

The lower house of the Czech Parliament has postponed a vote on controversial child care legislation. The bill would require all nurseries, kindergartens and informal babysitting groups to comply with strict hygiene rules which critics say would threaten their existence. It would also most likely lead to the closure of some 120 outdoor nurseries known as forest kindergartens. The bill, approved by MPs last month, returned to the lower house after a presidential veto and a new vote on the legislation was on Friday. But the coalition Christian Democrats said MPs should first determine whether the bill should be amended.

Some 65 percent of Czechs consider Russia a threat for their country’s future, according to a poll by the STEM agency released on Friday. Last November, a similar poll found that 36 percent of Czechs considered Russia a threat. A majority of Czechs, 80 percent, also consider the crisis in Ukraine to threaten peace in Europe. However, 72 percent of those who took part in the survey said they did not believe that EU sanctions against Russia would help bring the conflict in Ukraine to an end.

Ex-president Václav Klaus is to head the planned National Council for Education which is to be established in 2015, Education Minister Marcel Chládek told journalists on Friday. The 15-member council is expected to issue recommendations and draft a long-term strategy which would improve the quality of education across the country. Vaclav Klaus has in the past expressed serious reservations regarding the national curriculum, the quality of education provided at Czech schools and the manner in which the performance of different learning institutions is evaluated.

The Czech Republic will step-up its efforts to fight all forms of addictions including drinking and smoking, National Anti-Drugs Coordination Centre head Jiří Vobořil told journalists on Thursday. Mr. Vobořil said that in the past the accent was on fighting drug additions with drinking, smoking and gambling getting significantly less attention. The authorities are particularly concerned about the number of young people who drink and smoke regularly ranking the country among the worst in Europe.

The Senate has approved the government’s foreign military missions plan for 2015 and 2016. According to the proposal Czech troops should continue to serve in international missions in Afghanistan, Mali and the Balkans. The lower house should vote on the bill next Wednesday. A decision on whether Czech soldiers should serve in the United Nations mission in the Golan Heights has been shelved for the time being.

Petra Kvitová beat world number two Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-2 in a 75 minute game at the WTA Finals in Singapore on Thursday, keeping alive her hopes of advancing in the tournament. Sharapova started well winning the opening two games, but Kvitová proved to be in top form and quickly turned the match around winning 11 of the next 12 games. Kvitová said she was feeling burnt out during her first-round loss to Agnieszka Radwanska, so decided not to practice ahead of Thursday’s game and spent the time relaxing instead. On Friday Kvitová will play against Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacka.

The national air carrier ČSA which earlier announced plans to lay-off a third of its staff started handing out notices on Thursday. The company is planning to let go 77 pilots and close to 200 flight attendants. Flight attendants’ trade unions are threatening strike action.

The ANO party, along with the Social Democrats and the three-way coalition of the Greens, the Christian Democrats and Mayors and Independents, who are holding talks on forming a coalition in Prague, have reached agreement on a division of seats in the City Council. The winning ANO, which will fill the post of mayor, is expected to hold the city’s finances, security, health and housing. The Social Democrats should get transport, social policy and European funds while the three-way grouping should take the environment, culture and infrastructure. ANO’s Adriana Krnáčová is expected to fill the post of mayor. The agreement on the division of posts has yet to be sealed by the parties’ leaderships.