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Just days after the Czech Republic's police chief was caught speeding, other senior officials are also in hot water for breaking the rules of the road. A senior traffic officer in north Moravia is under investigation for causing an accident while drunk, while the minister of the interior, no less, has also been accused of breaking the speed limit.

"If we do not make a bold reform proposal, there will be wine producers in Europe who will suffer a painful death," said European Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel recently, in an attempt to rally support for a reform plan she has produced. Experts agree that decreasing wine consumption, intense competition from countries like Australia, Chile, and South Africa, and the threat of imports exceeding exports are all hitting the European wine sector hard. Many have called for change, but it seems producers are finding it hard to agree on

After three days and four nights, fire fighters say they have managed to put out a forest fire in the Ceske Svycarsko (or Bohemian Switzerland) national park in the north of the country. The biggest such disaster there for three decades, the blaze has destroyed some 20 hectares of forestland. Some twenty fire units remain at the site as it is still smouldering and a thick layer of glowing ash threatens to set other trees on fire.

The current hot and dry weather is causing many problems - from increased fire hazard to crops withering in the fields. Those who can use the opportunity to cool down in the country's numerous lakes. But the quality of the water there can also be gravely affected by the heat-wave, which increases the growth of micro-organisms known as cyanobacteria. They produce poisons which can be dangerous for people and therefore a number of lakes have been closed to visitors.

At the start of June Czechs went to the polls in parliamentary elections but today - a full fifty days later - it seems they are still not near to having a new government. The Chamber of Deputies is evenly split: a would-be coalition of the Civic Democrats, the Christian Democrats and the Greens has 100 seats - exactly the same number as the left of the house, the Social Democrats and the Communists. On Monday President Vaclav Klaus, who founded the Civic Democrats, gave his first long interview on the political crisis, in Mlada fronta Dnes. To

This past Sunday, Ludvik Vaculik celebrated his 80th birthday. One of the Czech Republic's most well-known and respected writers, Ludvik Vaculik has been part of the Czech literary scene since the 1950s. He has written several novels, literally hundreds of essays, not to mention some of the most important political texts of twentieth century Czechoslovak history.

The new transport law is also tougher when it comes to punishments for drunk drivers. Although officially, alcohol behind the wheel was not allowed before either, police often found their hands tied when it came to enforcing the law. Czechs are known to be a nation of beer-lovers and with the tough new law in place they seem to be turning towards alcohol-free varieties of beer. In July, several Czech breweries have reported increased orders.

There's been a noticeable improvement in driving standards in the three weeks since the introduction of a controversial points system, with most drivers showing far more respect for the rules of the road, most noticeably the speed limit. Unfortunately the head of the Czech police force, Vladislav Husak, is not among them. Mr Husak has surrendered his driving licence after being caught by a newspaper doing 190 km an hour on a motorway.

This week marks the 20th anniversary of one of the most dramatic escapes from communist Czechoslovakia, when two men crossed the border into Austria on home-made chairs hanging from electrical power lines.

Many parts of Europe have been hit by a heat wave and the Czech Republic is no exception, with record temperatures recorded in different parts of the country this week. How are people coping with the extreme heat? Praguers who can get away from their jobs are fleeing to the countryside. But tourists and those who must work in the scorching city are not so lucky.