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Czech MPs have voted to dissolve the lower house, triggering early elections. Deputies from the Social Democrats, the Communist Party, TOP 09 and some smaller groupings raised their hands for the motion, which was carried by 140 votes, exceeding the necessary three-fifths majority in the 200-seat lower house.

Miloš Zeman and Karel Schwarzenberg have emerged as the strongest candidates from the first round of the Czech presidential election, and are heading to a runoff for the top post held in two weeks’ time. A former Social Democrat prime minister, Miloš Zeman picked up over 24 percent of the vote while Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg surprisingly came in close second.

Former Czech president Václav Havel died on Sunday morning at the age of 75, an assistant to Mr Havel told the news agency ČTK. The former dissident, playwright and politician passed away in his sleep at his beloved country house Hrádeček, in northern Bohemia, tended to by his wife Dagmar.

Well-known Czech Senator Jiří Dienstbier - Czechoslovakia’s first post-1989 foreign minister and former dissident and journalist – has died. Mr Dienstbier was 73 and had been hospitalised at Vinohrady hospital after suffering from a long illness.

President Václav Klaus has named the country’s new interim government to office. 16 new ministers were sworn in at Prague Castle shortly after four pm on Friday.