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Jiri Paroubek, chairman of the Social Democrats, held a press conference on Monday morning to clarify interpretations based on his appearance on Sunday's TV talk show program hosted by Vaclav Moravec. Mr. Paroubek says that he did not offer the Civic Democrats a grand coalition arrangement during the TV debate, as was widely reported by the media. Mr. Paroubek said that he views the possibility of a grand coalition as one of four possible options for resolving the government vacuum in place since the June elections resulted in a political deadlock. The other options listed by the Mr. Paroubek include a coalition government composed of the Social Democrats, the Christian Democrats and the Greens, which would need to rely on support from the Communist Party in order to count on at least 101 seats in the lower house; and a caretaker government; or a Social Democratic minority government. In Sunday's TV debate, Mr. Paroubek said that he would not have a role to play in the case of a grand coalition between the Civic Democrats and the Social Democrats.

The Civic Democrats have dismissed the possibility of a grand coalition with the Social Democrats. Mirek Topolanek, the Civic Democratic leader and his deputies met with President Vaclav Klaus at Prague Castle Monday afternoon; Mr. Klaus told the press that he is also opposed to a grand coalition.

Sunday's edition of the TV political talk show, Otazky Vaclava Moravce, which airs on CT1 registered more than three-quarters of a million viewers. This past weekend Vaclav Moravec's guests were Civic Democratic Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, and the chairman of the Social Democrats, Jiri Paroubek. The high viewer interest generated by the ongoing instability on the Czech political scene resulted in Vaclav Moravec's show of October 15 being the most-watched program in this autumn's television line-up thus far.

The Czech Republic's best-known beer producer, Pilsner Urquell, has announced that it will raise prices as of November. The west Bohemian-based brewery, located in the city of Plzen, made the announcement citing rising costs of barley, energy, and packaging materials. A half-liter of Pilsner will go up in price by 1.40 Czech crowns; the current cost is 16.50 Kc.

Petr Cech, the goalkeeper for London's Chelsea, could stay away from the football field for as long as six months. The 24-year Czech goalie suffered a head injury during Saturday's play in the Premier League, and had to undergo surgery for a depressed fracture of the skull in a London hospital. Petr Cech was caught by a challenge from Reading midfielder Stephen Hunt in the first minute of play and was carried off. Coach Jose Mourinho said he thought Cech was lucky to be alive after being caught in the head by Hunt's knee, branding the Reading man's challenge "a disgrace". Petr Cech is now recovering in hospital and experts say that an early return to the field would leave Cech risking "repetitive injury syndrome," and would also leave him vulnerable to the risk of internal bleeding if he suffered an injury before recovering fully from Saturday's accident.