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The Foreign Ministry has condemned the arrest of Belarussian opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich as well as three other opposition representatives sentenced to fifteen days in prison by the regime of strong-armed dictator Alexander Lukashenko. The men were jailed for participating in an unauthorised demonstration. The Czech ministry has demanded the immediate release of the representatives of the democratic opposition and other political prisoners serving their sentences across Belarus. The European Union also denounced Mr Milinkevich's arrest on Thursday.

Speaking at an economic forum in Teplice on Friday Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek rejected the idea of the Social Democrats governing with the Communist Party following elections in June. Mr Paroubek rejected the idea on the basis of economic considerations, saying that - regardless of moral issues - any government following the Communists election programme would lead the country away from prosperity. At the same time, Mr Paroubek suggested that a government led by the right-of-centre Civic Democrats could be even more damaging. With elections less than two months away Czech politicians are gearing up for what some observers are saying could be a difficult election race. The latest surveys continue to show the opposition Civic Democrats ahead of Mr Paroubek's party. The Social Democrats' numbers have improved slightly, while support for the Green Party - recently surging in the polls - has declined somewhat, a new poll released by the Factum Agency has suggested.

The poll suggests that if elections were held today the only possible majority coalitions in the 200-member lower house would be that of the Civic Democrats together with the Christian Democrats and the Green Party (with an estimated 106 seats) or a grand coalition put together by the Social Democrats and the Civic Democrats (an estimated 121 seats).

France will partially open its labour market to citizens from the new EU member countries as of May 1st. The French ambassador to the Czech Republic Joel de Zorzi said on Thursday that people in selected professions would get work permits automatically as of this date. The opening concerns people with manual professions, mainly craftsmen. At present citizens from the new EU member states can work freely only in Britain, Ireland and Sweden. Spain, Portugal and Finland are also considering a partial liberalization.

Petr Hostek has been appointed head of the National Security Office. Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek, who nominated him for the post, described him as a dedicated professional with an excellent reputation. Parliament's defence and security committee approved Hostek's nomination earlier this week. Hostek, 42, graduated from the military academy at Vyskov, was a professional soldier for several years and is now deputy director of the central Bohemian police force. He replaces Jan Mares who resigned as head of the National Security Office when it emerged that he had links with highly suspect individuals. The office itself has been harmed by a number of corruption scandals in recent months.