Former President Václav Havel supports U.S. plans to build a radar base on Czech territory as part of its missile defense shield. In an article written for the Feb. 6 issue of daily Právo, Havel rejected the opposition’s call for a referendum on the subject. The United States asked the Czech government Jan. 19 to host the base in the Brdy military zone 70 kilometers (43 miles) southwest of Prague.

Czech police should hold off on a planned labor protest until all channels of negotiation have been exhausted, the president of the European police confederation said Feb. 5. Police fear a new labor law will lower their salaries and have been planning a protest for Feb. 15. The Czech police union has also spoken out against the protest.

A 22-year-old police officer has been fired and charged after he confessed to selling photos of the body of popular composer Karel Svoboda. Svoboda, 68, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Jan. 28. The tabloid Blesk bought the crime-scene photos for a reported 10,000 Kč ($460) but did not run them. Aleš Sobotka faces up to three years in prison if convicted.

Ownership of the contents of Brno’s Vila Tugendhat was transferred back to the family Jan. 30. Brno’s deputy mayor favors involving the original owner’s heirs in preserving the villa’s heritage. The Mies van der Rohe house, a UNESCO world heritage site, was seized from the Jewish Tugendhat family and used by the Gestapo in 1940.