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Former Czech president Václav Havel has told a Czech newspaper he does not believe Parliament will approve a law opening the way for direct presidential elections, despite a pledge by the current ruling coalition to push for changing the system. Mr Havel told Hospodářské noviny, in an interview conducted prior to his current hospitalisation, that he strongly favoured the head-of-state being elected by the people because it would give the president a different kind of legitimacy. However Mr Havel stressed he was sceptical about the possibility that a direct election would be introduced. In his view that would mean that Parliament would lose a significant privilege. Under the current system the Czech president is elected to a five-year term in a joint session by legislators from the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.

The former Czech president Václav Havel who was hospitalized with an acute respiratory inflammation on Tuesday is reported to be in stable condition. A hospital spokeswoman said on Thursday that Mr. Havel was responding well to treatment and would most likely remain hospitalized for several more days. Mr. Havel’s assistant said the ex-president had cancelled his programme for the next two weeks and was still hoping to be able to attend the premiere of his film debut, Leaving, scheduled for March 24. Mr. Havel, who was a heavy smoker for most of his life, has frequently suffered from bronchitis and underwent a lung operation in 1996.

The Czech government has outlined the country’s stance ahead of an upcoming extraordinary EU summit that will deal with the situation in Libya and other North African countries. President Václav Klaus, who will head the Czech delegation, will tell his counterparts from other EU countries in Brussels on Friday that Prague will only support measures approved by the UN Security Council. But critics say that the Czech Republic, and the West, is again doing too little, too late.

The condition of former Czech president Václav Havel was described as stable on Wednesday by a spokeswoman at the Prague hospital where he was taken a day earlier. Mr. Havel had been suffering with an acute respiratory inflammation since the start of the week. He has cancelled his programme for the next two weeks The former dissident and politician however hopes to attend the premiere of his film debut, Leaving, scheduled for March 24. The 74-year-old former president has frequently suffered from breathing problems and underwent a lung operation in 1996.

Former Czech president Václav Havel was taken to Prague’s military hospital on Tuesday with acute respiratory inflammation, his assistant said. A spokeswoman for the hospital Mr Havel’s condition is stable. Mr Havel came down on Monday with respiratory problems and cancelled his programme for the next two weeks. The former dissident and politician however hopes to attend the premiere of his film debut, Leaving, scheduled for March 24. Respiratory illness is a high-risk problem for the 74-year-old former president; he underwent a lung operation in 1996 to remove a malignant tumour and has since been hospitalised on numerous occasions.

Former President Václav Havel says that Western-led military intervention may be needed if civil war continues in Libya. In an interview for the daily Hospodářské noviny Mr Havel compared the situation to that of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, where he said the West waited for four years in the face of growing horrors before getting involved militarily. Muammar Gaddafi, he said, has proven to not be the eccentric fool the world had taken him for, but an insane criminal. Mr Havel said that such intervention could be handled in various ways, from aiding insurgents to a targeted attack on Gaddafi. President Klaus was quick to differ with his predecessor, saying that he no more agreed with such a view than he had with Mr Havel’s support for bombing Belgrade in 1999.

Mr Havel has cancelled his programme for the coming days due to a respiratory illness, but still plans to attend the premiere of his film “Leaving” on March 24. Respiratory illness is a high-risk problem for the 74-year-old former president; he underwent a lung operation in 1996 to remove a malignant tumour and has since been hospitalised on numerous occasions. “Leaving”, which is based on his play of the same name, is his directorial debut.

Friends, politicians and writers paid their respects to Czech writer Arnošt Lustig on Tuesday at Prague’s new Jewish cemetery. The 84-year-old writer died on Saturday after a long illness. Present at Tuesday’s ceremony were Culture Minister Jiří Besser and the former head of the Senate, Přemysl Sobotka. A wreath was sent by former president Václav Havel. Lustig was marked by his experiences in WWII when, as a Jew, he was sent to various Nazi concentration camps before being transported to the death camp of Auschwitz. He later wrote books to retell what he had seen as fiction because people refused to believe it as reality. A private ceremony at the cemetery for family was held on Monday.

Reacting to calls for change in the Arab world, former Czech president Vaclav Havel compared the mass protests to the movement that brought down communism in Eastern Europe. In an interview for the ctk news agency, Mr. Havel said the collapse of Arab regimes, long seen as stable, was as unexpected as the fall of their European communist counterparts in 1989. He said the Western world was now duty bound to find a new approach to the region.

Former Czech president Vaclav Havel has called on the international community to step up pressure on Burma with respect to continuing human rights violations in the country. At a conference on Burma in Prague, Mr. Havel said human rights are a universal value and respect for them should be demanded more strictly in the era of globalisation. He expressed disappointment with the fact that many countries still put economic and technological cooperation over human rights issues. Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said a concerted international effort was needed to get Burma to respect human rights and that the Czech Republic would push for a stronger statement from the EU.