News

I Served the King of England, the new film by Czech director Jiri Menzel, is to receive a glitzy red-carpet premiere in Prague on Wednesday evening. The movie, based on the novel of the same name by Bohumil Hrabal, goes on general release in the Czech Republic on Thursday.

President Klaus has named a new government made up of the Civic Democrats, the Christian Democrats and the Green Party. The three-party coalition, which failed a vote of confidence in October, has to undergo another such vote within thirty days. However, it is a vote short of a majority and would need the support of at least one rebel left-wing deputy to remain in power.

Prime Minster Mirek Topolanek, under pressure from within his own Civic Democrats, has staked his political future on the confidence vote: if it fails he says he will step down as party chairman.

The Czech Republic has been without a stable government since elections in June ended in stalemate.

The Czech brewer Budvar has struck an historic trade alliance with Anheuser-Busch, makers of Budweiser. The American giant has agreed to distribute Budejovicky Budvar's rival beer in the US. However, the Czech beer will remain under the Czechvar name in America, due to an ongoing trademark dispute. Both firms have also vowed to continue their fight over the Budweiser brand name elsewhere in the world.

Descendants of the Tugendhat family have officially petitioned the Brno city authorities and the Culture Ministry for the return of the Tugendhat Villa. It dates from 1928 and is the only example of modern Czech architecture on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Tugendhat family, who were Jewish, left in 1938. The villa was taken over by the Gestapo and confiscated by the Czechoslovak state in 1945.