News

Communists not to support new coalition government in confidence vote

The leadership of the opposition Communist Party has decided to recommend to the party's deputies not to support the government of Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek of the Social Democrats in the upcoming vote of confidence. Mr Paroubek is expected to ask the lower house for confidence in his cabinet in two weeks time. A number of Social Democrat MPs have not yet confirmed whether they will give confidence to the current governing coalition which relies on a one-vote majority in the lower house.

Sixth Czech tsunami victim identified in Thailand

DNA tests have confirmed the identity of another Czech national who was killed by the tsunami wave in Thailand at the end of last year. The woman is the sixth confirmed Czech victim of the disaster; five people were killed in Thailand, one in Sri Lanka. Two Czechs still remain unaccounted for. They went missing in the Thai island of Phi Phi are also believed to have died.

One dead, two injured in two aircraft crashes

A young man died on Saturday afternoon when his glider crashed near the eastern town of Sumperk. Two people were injured in a separate accident on Saturday morning when their small passenger plane crashed near the town of Beroun in Central Bohemia. Both were 41-year-old men, one of them suffered a broken leg, the other sustained a number of serious injuries. Police are investigating the causes of both accidents.

Central European countries launch joint film initiative

Culture ministers from five central European countries signed a joint initiative on Friday aimed at boosting cooperation between the region's film industries. The ministers, from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, are supporting a film industry initiative to help bring the region's films to a wider audience abroad. A spokeswoman for the Slovak Culture Ministry said that films from Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic will be presented together at the Cannes film festival this year for the second time.

Czech star Elias to miss Worlds after bout of hepatitis

Czech star forward Patrik Elias won't be competing at the World Ice Hockey Championships after contracting a serious case of hepatitis while playing in Russia. Elias, 29, will miss the rest of the Russian season and is out of the Worlds after losing 14 kilograms and spending a month in hospital. The Czech Republic open their World Championship campaign against Switzerland in Austria on Sunday. The Czechs won three consecutive titles (1999-2001) but finished a disappointing fifth last year.

Weather

The rest of the weekend should be bright and sunny with daytime temperatures reaching highs of 28 degrees Celsius.