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Meanwhile, the largest party in the governing coalition, the Social Democrats, have not yet decided whether to take action against party MP Josef Hojdar, who refused to vote with the government on financial reforms, or in a Civic Democrat sponsored vote of no confidence. The Social Democrats' central executive committee met on Saturday but did not vote on a proposal by MP Jozef Kubinyi that Mr Hojdar either return to the party's deputies group, which he left in July, or consider giving up his mandate.

A group of British scientists have concluded from a study of Czech beer drinkers that it is "unlikely" that beer intake is associated with a big beer belly. The University of London research team, which took a random sample of over a thousand men and over a thousand women in the Czech Republic, found that beer drinking was not related to body mass index in men and was only slightly related to body mass index in women.

Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla has succeeded in passing a package of eleven bills aimed at reducing the Czech Republic's record budget deficit and preparing the country for the adoption of the euro currency in 2010. On Friday the Chamber of Deputies voted to increase consumer tax, raise the pension age, reduce illness benefits and lower state support for building savings. Mr Spidla, who had staked his future on the reforms being pushed through, said he was optimistic next year's budget would also be approved. The bills must now be passed by the Senate and signed by President Vaclav Klaus.

The Czech defence minister, Miroslav Kostelka, and the United States ambassador to Prague, Craig Stapleton, have visited the Czech military field hospital in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. During Saturday's visit both men thanked the soldiers for their work. The Czech parliament has to decide by the end of the year whether to extend the field hospital's mandate.