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Czech President Vaclav Klaus has said he will appoint a new government led by Civic Democrat Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek on Tuesday, seven months after inconclusive national elections. Mr Topolanek has formed a three-party coalition with the centrist Christian Democrats, the Green Party and his own right-of-centre Civic Democrats but the grouping has only 100 votes in the 200-seat lower house. Prime Minister Topolanek said earlier he would offer his resignation if the coalition fails to win a confidence vote, which must be called within 30 days of the government being appointed. Mr Topolanek's first - minority Civic Democrat - government lost a confidence vote in October.

President Klaus earlier expressed objections to the three-party coalition because, he said, it would have to rely on Social Democrat or Communist Party deserters to win a confidence vote. He also opposed the Green Party's nomination of long-time exiled senator Karel Schwarzenberg as foreign minister, fearing that his close links to neighbouring Austria would prevent him from championing Czech interests. Mr Topolanek has also come under fire from within his own party ranks for allocating more than half the cabinet posts to junior coalition partners.

Prime Minister and Civic Democrat chairman Mirek Topolanek has said his party should hold an extraordinary congress if his second government does not win confidence in the lower house. Mr Topolanek also said he was prepared to ask the lower house for a confidence vote before the 30-day deadline set by the constitution.

Around a hundred Czech soldiers have returned from a six-month KFOR mission in Kosovo. The rest of the Czech contingent will follow later. The task of the Czech troops was to ensure security, aid the local and international police, search for illegal weapons and prevent ethnic conflicts in the region.

Monday's edition of Mlada fronta Dnes writes that the Czechoslovak Hussite Church has been rocked by a sex scandal. According to the paper, its Prague bishop allegedly demanded sexual favours from a 27-year-old man whom the cleric had been helping to return to normal life after serving a prison sentence. The daily writes that part of the clergy and church members are demanding the 55-year old priest to resign. The Czechoslovak Hussite Church is a reformed Christian church which separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1920.