News

Five of the twenty-seven members of the Czech anti-chemical unit currently deployed in Kuwait who had asked their superiors to return home early have decided to stay. According to the head of their contingent, Dusan Lupuljev, the soldiers were unhappy with the way the Czech media has been reporting on the unit, labelling those members who requested to return home as cowards. For five months, the Czech anti-chemical and nuclear warfare unit has been part of the US-led 'Enduring Freedom' operation and some soldiers have been complaining about the psychological pressure connected with their mission.

Members of the senior coalition Social Democrats have nominated former leader Milos Zeman to stand in Friday's presidential election. Mr Zeman, a former prime minister, is likely to face two opponents in Friday's vote, the second attempt to elect a successor to President Vaclav Havel. The opposition Civic Democrats have nominated Vaclav Klaus, also a former prime minister, while the two junior coalition parties - the Christian Democrats and the Freedom Union - have nominated Senator Jaroslava Moserova. Observers say with the ruling coalition again fielding two different candidates, Friday's vote is unlikely to produce a successor.

Police say the body of a man discovered along the banks of the River Vltava on Monday was not a victim of last summer's flood disaster. An autopsy proved the man died in December, during a second wave of flooding that hit parts of Bohemia before Christmas. The death toll from the summer's floods stands at 17.

A leaking turbine pipe forced technicians to shut down part of the controversial Temelin nuclear power plant on Monday morning. The shutdown of the first reactor came just two days after the second reactor, crippled by a leak-related shutdown earlier this month, was restarted and connected to the national power grid. Since October 2000, the twin-reactor plant, about 60 kilometres north of the Czech-Austrian border, has suffered numerous technical problems. Opponents to Temelin in neighbouring Austria and Germany have pressed the Czech government to shut down the plant because it combines Soviet-era design and western operating technology, but the Czech energy company CEZ insists the plant is safe and hopes to have both units operating fully by spring.