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Czech police say they have arrested two men and a woman accused of smuggling cocaine and the party drug ecstasy from the Netherlands to the Czech Republic. The suspects are believed to be part of a four-member gang, whose leader has been detained by German customs officers. The Czech police hope to have him extradited to the Czech Republic. A police spokesperson said on Wednesday, most of the drugs were sold at nightclubs in the South Moravian towns of Znojmo and Mikulov, owned by one of the arrested men, an Austrian national. The gang was broken up under a six-month operation code-named Abiba, organised by the National Drug Centre.

Also following government talks on Tuesday: chairman of the Freedom Union's deputies club Karel Kunhl and the leader of the Christian Democrats Miroslav Kalousek stated they believed that a recent government agreement on raising regulated rent was indeed valid, with Mr Kalousek saying he thought the agreement reached would be a "viable compromise" for most Social Democrat MPs. That, however, has not been reflected by the Social Democrats so far: last week several Social Democrats, including Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, cast doubt on the agreement reached in January, and on Tuesday Social Democrat negotiators continued to insist a rise in rents should grow more slowly than previously proposed. In January Finance Minister Sobotka and Minister for Local Development Pavel Nemec approved a plan that would see regulated-rents go up three times by 2006, each time at a rate of 10 percent. However, due to an expected rise in the VAT on the water rate, Mr Sobotka hinted at the weekend the rise in regulated rent might come down several percentage points.

Elected officials in the region of southern Bohemia have expressed their opposition to a plan to complete third and fourth reactor blocs at the Czech Republic's controversial Temelin nuclear power plant. In a resolution drafted on Tuesday officials also expressed their opposition to the creation of a deep-storage nuclear waste facility in the region. The resolution serves as a "recommendation" to the government. District commissioner Jan Zahradnik indicated on Tuesday it would now be up to the government on how it "weighed" the resolution.

President Vaclav Klaus has become the country's most popular politician, winning 69% of confidence votes, according to a poll conducted by the CVVM polling agency. The President's popularity ratings have soared during his first year in office, going from 35% in January of last year to the present 69%. Interior minister Stanislav Gross has placed second on the popularity ladder with a 60% confidence rating, and the country's Ombudsman Otakar Motejl has placed third with 54 %.