News

Former foreign minister Jan Kavan is ending his term as president of the United Nations General Assembly. The Czech presidency of the body comes to an end at midnight on Monday. Mr Kavan will address the UN on Monday to hand over the presidency to the island of Saint Lucia. Mr Kavan's contract with the Czech Foreign Ministry ends on September 18th. He remains an MP for the ruling Social Democrats, and has expressed interest in standing for the European Parliament.

Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla has said the government is willing to make minor changes to the planned public finance reforms, but will not weaken them. His comments came one day after around 15,000 trade union members demonstrated in the centre of Prague against the planned reforms. Mr Spidla was speaking to reporters after a meeting on Sunday between the leaders of the three coalition parties in the centre-left cabinet. Mr Spidla has said repeatedly that he will not be blackmailed by the trade unions. However in an apparent softening of tone, he said the government would listen to proposals put forward by "its social partners" before submitting the final draft to parliament.

A bus driver has been killed and 12 people seriously injured in a crash near the town of Svitavy. The accident happened at around 11.30 on Saturday night after a bus carrying 45 passengers collided with a railway viaduct. The driver was killed instantly, 24 passengers were taken to hospital, 12 of them with serious injuries. The remaining passengers - believed to be pensioners returning from a day trip - escaped with minor cuts and bruises. Police have launched an investigation to establish the cause of the crash. There have been a number of serious road accidents involving buses in recent years, the worst of which left seventeen passengers dead.

As the main opposition Civic Democrats continue preparations for a vote of confidence over the reforms, a rebel MP from the ruling coalition has said he believes the government will fall before the end of the year. Quoted in a newspaper interview, Social Democrat MP Josef Hojdar said he had still not decided whether or not to vote against the government in the confidence vote. The centre-left coalition has a majority of just one seat in the lower house, and Mr Hojdar's vote could be crucial to the government's survival. Mr Hojdar recently resigned from the Social Democrats' deputies' group, although he remains a member of the party.