COLLAPSE A section of an apartment building under reconstruction on Vodičkova street in New Town collapsed on the morning of July 17. There were no reported injuries, but the accident snarled traffic in the city center, sending several trams on significant detours to avoid the scene. At press time, crews were working to clean up the area.

CRASH Six people died and eight were injured when a bus crashed on the D8 highway north of Prague July 16. The bus was operated by the Ústecký Region Transport Company and was driving to Prague from Česká Kamenice, north Bohemia. Ambulance drivers responding to the scene sharply criticized the country's 112 emergency hotline, which took more than six minutes to notify them.

SLAP Health Minister David Rath, a Social Democrat, filed a lawsuit July 14 against former Civic Democratic (ODS) Deputy Chairman Miroslav Macek, who slapped him during a conference of dentists in May. Rath is seeking a formal apology and 1 million Kč ($44,000) in damages. The two men briefly scuffled after Macek's slap, which, he said, was in response to comments Rath had made about his wife.

RESIGN ČSSD Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek is ready to resign and give his position to ODS Chairman Mirek Topolánek, Paroubek said in a radio interview July 17. Paroubek told Frekvence 1 radio that the creation of a new government was not influenced by developments in the new Chamber of Deputies. The chamber will hold its fourth vote for chairman — its version of speaker of the House — July 21.

BABIES Doctors are reporting a baby boom this summer, which is overcrowding maternity wards and forcing mothers to leave as soon as they are able. Officials at Prague's Podolí Maternity Hospital say they have had to turn pregnant women away. The increase is due to the number of Czechs born during the 1970s baby boom who are now reaching the age when they want to start a family.

MAFIA The Czech Republic extradited Luigi Putrone to Italy, police announced July 14. Putrone, an alleged Sicilian mob boss, was arrested in Ústí nad Labem last August. Putrone is allegedly the head of the largest crime organization in Sicily, accused of murders, extortion and drug trafficking. He was tried in absentia and sentenced to life in prison in Italy in the 1990s.

RUSSIA The leaders of the Group of 8 at the summit in Russia adopted an energy policy July 16 focusing on bringing more oil to their markets. The resolution came one day after U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to agree on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization. Oil prices rose above $75 (1,679 Kč) per barrel.

FRANCE France, which has 17,000 citizens living in Lebanon, ferried its nationals to Cyprus as Israel bombed the capital of Beirut and the country's transportation routes July 14–17. European nations evacuated thousands of their citizens from Lebanon. Germany asked its 1,100 citizen residents to stay in Lebanon but to avoid unnecessary travel.

UK British police officers responsible for the fatal shooting of a Brazilian man believed to be a suicide bomber will not face criminal charges, prosecutors said July 17. The man, 27, was shot seven times in the head by London police on a subway train July 22, 2005. The shooting occurred a day after an attempted bombing of the city's transport system and two weeks after four suicide bombers killed themselves and 52 others.

FRANCE European Consortium Airbus unveiled a radically new airplane at the Farnborough International Airshow near London July 17. The A350XWB has an extra-wide body, which it hopes will provide a more passenger-friendly cabin. The plane aims to compete with the Boeing 787 and is hoped to help reverse the biggest decline in Airbus' history.

NETHERLANDS A Dutch court upheld the rights of a political party of pedophiles July 17 that wants to lower the age of sexual consent to 12. The judge said it was up to the voters to weigh the arguments of political parties. The party, which has three known members, would need around 60,000 votes to gain a seat in Dutch parliament.

UKRAINE Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's pro-Western party said July 16 it would be willing to join a coalition with its pro-Russian counterpart led by Viktor Yanukovich. Ukraine has been deadlocked since a parliamentary election in March when Yanukovich's party failed to win enough seats to form a government. Yushchenko became president after the 2004 Orange Revolution, which signaled a move to pro-Western ideology.

MOLDOVA A breakaway area of Moldova, Transnistria, announced its intention July 13 to hold a referendum later this summer on official independence from Moldova and possible union with Russia. Voters could also decide to reunify with Moldova, which lost the area after a bitter 1992 civil war. Russia has committed more than 1,000 peacekeepers to the region since that war.

VATICAN Joaquin Navarro-Valls, who served for more than 20 years as Pope John Paul II's chief spokesman, retired from the Vatican July 12. Navarro-Valls was known to be very close to the late pope, known to be media-savvy in his own right. The 69-year-old Spaniard will be replaced by Federico Lombardi, who now runs the Vatican's radio and television stations.