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The Czech Republic and Haiti will re-establish diplomatic relations after more than half a century. The two countries first established diplomatic relations in the 1940s but they were broken off after the communist take-over in Czechoslovakia in 1948. Relations warmed up again after the fall of communism in 1989. The Czech Republic plans to open an honorary consulate in Haiti in the near future.

Around 200 people gathered outside the government headquarters building on Wednesday afternoon demanding that the Prime Minister Stanislav Gross step down. The protesters said that the Prime Minister did not give sufficient explanation of the origin of the money he used to pay for his luxury flat in Prague, nor did he explain his wife's business activities and the activities of special police teams he founded in recent years as Interior Minister.

The protest took place amid an ongoing government crisis. The coalition parties are due to meet later on Wednesday to discuss the current situation. The chairman of the Christian Democrats Miroslav Kalousek has called on Stanislav Gross to step down over his flat-financing scandal. However, Mr Gross has told the Christian Democrats to either back down or leave the cabinet.

The lower house has passed a bill on renewable sources of energy despite protests from the opposition Civic Democratic Party. Under the bill small power stations would be guaranteed fixed state purchasing prices of electricity for fifteen years. The government says the bill had been expected by private investors who will help the Czech Republic meet the European Union's demand to produce eight percent of all power from renewable sources by 2010. Currently, only two percent of energy produced in the Czech Republic comes from renewable sources. The Civic Democrats argue that nuclear and coal power are much cheaper and the involvement of alternative sources would deform the market. The bill has yet to be passed by the Senate and signed by the president.

The Czech mobile operator Oskar Mobil said on Wednesday it had been awarded the country's third 3G (third generation) licence. The Czech Telecommunications Office declared a tender for the country's third 3G licence using UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system) technology in mid-January but said it would give preference to Oskar, offering it the licence for two billion crowns (88 million dollars). Oskar Mobil, the smallest and newest mobile operator on the Czech market with 17 percent market share, is the only one of the country's three mobile operators which did not hold a 3G licence to date. Third generation technology is designed to provide e-mail, high-speed internet surfing and live sound image broadcasting to compatible handsets.