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Civic Democratic chairman Mirek Topolanek and Social Democratic chairman Jiri Paroubek met on Wednesday morning at the official residence of the prime minister. The two men—Mr. Topolanek as prime minister designate and Mr. Paroubek, the outgoing prime minister—are in the midst of intense negotiations over the formation of a new government. The Wednesday morning meeting came as a surprise, after Tuesday's scuffles over where a meeting between the two men would take place, and who was to be present. The Civic Democrats are currently trying to secure support for a minority government from the Social Democratic Party. Both Mr. Topolanek and Mr. Paroubek have now expressed confidence in a possible solution to the political deadlock, saying that it could be a matter of only a few more days.

One of the Czech Republic's largest banks, Komercni banka, has confirmed that money disappeared from the accounts of ten clients using the on-line banking service, My Bank, or Mojebanka. A bank spokesperson said that Komercni banka's security system was not over-ridden, but that the thieves accessed information on personal computers, thus gaining access to accounts. Komercni banka has already covered the losses of its clients and a criminal investigation into the matter is underway. It is unclear how much money was stolen, or who the perpetrators are. Meanwhile, Komercni banka is introducing new safety measures for its on-line banking clients, combining the traditional computer access password with a code sent to the client's mobile phone.

A moderator at Czech TV, David Bork, has been fired from his position as host of the program "Udalosti" because of his handling of an interview with outgoing Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek. The decision was made by Czech TV director Zdenek Samal, who says that Mr. Bork did not manage to hold his own in the televised discussion which aired on August 16. According to Mr. Samal, the moderator was ill-prepared for the discussion, and he also crossed the line by interrupting Mr. Paroubek several times. The decision is said to have been made independently; Mr. Paroubek made no complaints about the interview. David Bork remains employed at Czech TV, as a member of the economics department where he worked previously.

A planned round of talks on a new government was called off on Tuesday after the two strongest parties on the Czech political scene failed to reach agreement on who should attend. Prime minister designate Mirek Topolanek and the outgoing prime minister Jiri Paroubek are trying to reach agreement on the conditions under which Mr. Paroubek's Social Democrats would be prepared to tolerate a minority Civic Democrat government. The conditions discussed include the set-up of the future government, its policy programme and its term in office. The Social Democrat leader, whose position was bolstered by the even division of forces between the left and right parties in the lower house, stalked out of Monday's talks saying there would be no further negotiations with the Civic Democrats but later changed his mind after what he described a s a conciliatory gesture from the winning party. The prime minister designate Mirek Topolanek said the negotiations with the Social Democrats should not last longer than a fortnight - with or without a deal.