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The respected Czech science fiction author Josef Nesvadba has died at the age of 78. Mr Nesvadba's family made the announcement on Tuesday without disclosing further details. Josef Nesvadba's death comes as a blow to the Czech sci-fi literature scene which he so influenced in the 1960s and 1980s, continuing in the philosophical footsteps of Czech writers like Karel Capek and Jiri Weiss. His many works include "Einstein's Brain" and "Hell Benes" (2002) - his final book.

In 2003 Mr Nesvadba was a key guest at the annual Prague Writer's Festival, where he debated the nature of speculative fiction with colleague and fellow sci-fi writer Ondrej Neff.

President Vaclav Klaus accepted the resignation of Stanislav Gross as Prime Minister on Monday, ending weeks of political crisis. The Cabinet was also dissolved, as is required by the Constitution, when a prime minister resigns. Before tendering his official resignation, Mr Gross' party, the Social Democrats, and their coalition partners, the Christian Democrats and the Freedom Union, signed a deal for a new government. The incoming prime minister is Jiri Paroubek, a vice chairman of the Social Democratic party who was the Regional Development Minister in the previous government.

Stanislav Gross, a former interior minister, had led the government since last July; he remains Social Democrat party chairman. Calls for Mr Gross' resignation came after media coverage revealed that he had spent more to buy his Prague apartment than he could have afforded on a government salary. Mr Gross had offered several, contradictory explanations of how he had paid for the apartment. The controversial business dealings of his wife had also become a political issue.

Outgoing Prime Minister Stanislav Gross has said he will set all personal ambitions aside in order to help the Social Democratic Party prepare for national elections next year. On Sunday Mr Gross suggested the Social Democrats needed to come up with an attractive, perhaps new, list of candidates. The outgoing prime minister made the comments on a popular news talk show. During the broadcast Mr Gross rejected any suggestion he might step down as chairman of the Social Democrats, saying that he wanted his party to unite. In his words holding an extraordinary party congress now would be political "suicide".

Sunday saw the continuation of a two-day conference in Prague attended by communist representatives from 32 countries, including China. The conference, attended by Czech Communist Party leader Miroslav Grebenicek, has drawn criticism from several groups, including the Confederation for Political Prisoners. A handful of protestors also demonstrated outside the conference venue at the weekend.

In the Czech Republic the Communists have been largely frozen out of top political decision-making since 1989, although they finished third in the country's last elections.