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A spokesman for Czech military intelligence has said that no special measures will be taken in response to acquisition of new missiles by Iran. According to reports the Middle Eastern nation has acquired a purchase of BM-25 missiles with a capability of striking Eastern or Central Europe - including the Czech Republic. The missiles were purchased from North Korea and are said to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads. They feature a significant increase in range from earlier rockets owned by Iran. The spokesman for Czech military intelligence has said that the latest developments in Iran did not mean that the Czech Republic was under any kind of threat. He also said that under current Czech-Iranian relations there was no reason for any conflict.

The Foreign Ministry has condemned the arrest of Belarussian opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich as well as three other opposition representatives sentenced to fifteen days in prison by the regime of strong-armed dictator Alexander Lukashenko. The men were jailed for participating in an unauthorised demonstration. The Czech ministry has demanded the immediate release of the representatives of the democratic opposition and other political prisoners serving their sentences across Belarus. The European Union also denounced Mr Milinkevich's arrest on Thursday.

Speaking at an economic forum in Teplice on Friday Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek rejected the idea of the Social Democrats governing with the Communist Party following elections in June. Mr Paroubek rejected the idea on the basis of economic considerations, saying that - regardless of moral issues - any government following the Communists election programme would lead the country away from prosperity. At the same time, Mr Paroubek suggested that a government led by the right-of-centre Civic Democrats could be even more damaging. With elections less than two months away Czech politicians are gearing up for what some observers are saying could be a difficult election race. The latest surveys continue to show the opposition Civic Democrats ahead of Mr Paroubek's party. The Social Democrats' numbers have improved slightly, while support for the Green Party - recently surging in the polls - has declined somewhat, a new poll released by the Factum Agency has suggested.

The poll suggests that if elections were held today the only possible majority coalitions in the 200-member lower house would be that of the Civic Democrats together with the Christian Democrats and the Green Party (with an estimated 106 seats) or a grand coalition put together by the Social Democrats and the Civic Democrats (an estimated 121 seats).

The arrest of the head of the carmaker Hyundai in South Korea has raised questions over the future of a major investment deal in the Czech Republic. Earlier, before the arrestm, Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek had said that he would be prepared to go to South Korea to seal an agreement with Hyundai on its first European car plant in the Czech Republic but the escalating corruption scandal in South Korea could have unforeseen consequences, with Hyundai's boss remanded in custody.If the Czech prime minister or the minister for trade and industry do fly to Seoul to finalise an agreement on the billion dollar Czech car plant, they will now presumably deal with Kim Tong-Chin. He will be taking over Hyundai in the interim. The Czech government has not received offiicial word from Hyundai yet.

The Czech prime minister and others have been intent on quelling fears that the corruption scandal could cause the cancellation of the Czech project. The launch ceremony for the Czech plant at Nosovice, in the east of the country, was originally scheduled for May 17th. A top Hyundai executive has suggested that the investment in the Czech Republic could be postponed indefinitely. The Czech plant - expected to provide 3,000 direct and 10,000 indirect jobs - was due to start production in 2008.

Greece has announced that as of May 1st on Monday it will officially open its labour market to eight new EU countries which joined in 2004, among them the Czech Republic. The news was released on Friday by the Czech Foreign Ministry. A spokesman said the ministry considered the free movement of labour one of four basic European Union rights. He saidthe ministry welcomed Greece's decision.

Czech cross country skier Katerina Neumannova, Olympic gold medal winner in the 30 kilometres free event and reigning world champion for the 10 kilometres free, said Thursday she will continue to compete for one more season, which would definitely be her last. Neumannova also revealed that she would split with her long time trainer, Stanislav Fruhauf. The skier's Olympic trophy tally also includes five other silver and bronze medals won in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 games. She also took part in the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics and the Summer Olympics in 1996 in the cross country cycling event.

Talks with Canadian authorities on lifting the visa requirement for Czech citizens are reportedly making headway. Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek told reporters on Thursday that he had high hopes the matter would be resolved ahead of the summer holiday season. The Czech Republic has been pressing for years to get the unilateral visa requirement lifted and on a working visit to Canada this week the Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda warned his counterpart that unless the matter was resolved soon the Czech Republic would take reciprocal measures. The Canadian Foreign Minister Peter Mackay is to visit the Czech Republic in June and the matter of visas is expected to top the agenda of the talks.

The police have cleared the leader of the opposition Civic Democratic Party Mirek Topolanek of suspicion of shady finances. A police spokesperson said an investigation into how Mr. Topolanek had acquired his Prague flat had revealed no irregularities. The investigation was conducted on the grounds of an anonymous letter which claimed that the flat had been paid for by the power company CEZ.

The Czech fixed-line telephone operator Cesky Telecom, 69.4-percent owned by the Spanish phone giant Telefonica, said Thursday its general meeting had approved a merger with the mobile business Eurotel and the renaming of the combined company as Telefonica 02 Czech Republic. The new company is expected to take shape during the middle of the year with the expected benefits being felt from 2007.

France will partially open its labour market to citizens from the new EU member countries as of May 1st. The French ambassador to the Czech Republic Joel de Zorzi said on Thursday that people in selected professions would get work permits automatically as of this date. The opening concerns people with manual professions, mainly craftsmen. At present citizens from the new EU member states can work freely only in Britain, Ireland and Sweden. Spain, Portugal and Finland are also considering a partial liberalization.