Plane problems leads to spat between ministries

A technical problem with a government plane that left the foreign minister, Cyril Svoboda, grounded in Mauritania for 27 hours has led to a row between the Foreign and Defence Ministries, Mlada fronta Dnes reported on Saturday. Mr Svoboda said his ministry resented the failure of the Defence Ministry to deal adequately with the situation. Meanwhile, Defence Minister Karel Kuhnl said he would push for the modernisation of the government's fleet of planes to be brought forward.