News

Police chief Vladislav Husak has been caught speeding for the second time this year, prompting calls for his resignation. Although it is actually Mr. Husak's personal driver who has repeatedly violated traffic regulations it is the police chief who is being held responsible. When it happened the first time round in July, shortly after a strict new road law went into effect, the police chief promised to suspend his own driver's license for three months and said he would donate ten thousand crowns to charity to make up for it. On this occasion, when his driver failed to stop at a railway crossing, whizzing through at 180 km per hour, Mr. Husak claimed to have been fast asleep at the time. The interior minister has been unavailable for comment but a number of senior politicians have said Mr. Husak should be fired.

Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek will meet with president Vaclav Klaus on Thursday afternoon to provide the president with a list of ministers for his proposed government. Together the prime minister's Civic Democrats, the Christian Democrats and the Greens have 100 seats in the 200-member lower house, meaning that the agreed coalition will need to find additional support to win a majority in a confidence vote. Mr Topolanek indicated earlier the vote would be held in January. The Civic Democrats have stated repeatedly that they will be hoping to rely on support from what they call "constructive" MPs from within the ranks of the Social Democrats.

A preliminary investigation by the Swedish military has concluded that the Czech pilot of a Czech-leased Gripen fighter jet was probably not at fault in an incident in mid-October in Sweden, in which another plane was almost shot down. The fighter jet mistakenly fired not at a mid-air target but at its tow aircraft, manned by a three-member crew. Luckily, no one was hurt. According to the preliminary investigation by Swedish authorities the accident was not the Czech pilot's fault but the result of a combination of errors in preparation for the test. The Swedes will continue their enquiry into the case in order to prevent such an accident from happening again.

Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech has begun recruiting future employees for its car plant in eastern Moravia. Construction on the automobile plant is to begin next year and the facility itself is expected to be operational by 2009. Over the next two years just under 3,000 people are expected to be hired. At a press conference on Wednesday the company's director Jaromir Radkovsky said that the plant would hire mostly from areas in Moravia and Silesia. But, he stressed that people returning to the region with experience from elsewhere would be welcomed. The plant is cooperating with the local employment bureau as well as a number of recruitment firms. The management has suggested salaries and benefits at the new plant will be comparable to those offered by other car manufacturers in the Czech Republic.