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Leaders of the three-party ruling coalition are holding emergency talks in an attempt to diffuse a row that threatens to split the center-left cabinet. The two month old coalition government is up against its first serious crisis following Parliament's rejection of proposed flood-related tax hikes last Friday. The proposed tax-reform fell through when Freedom Union deputy Hana Marvanova broke ranks with the coalition to honor an election pledge not to raise taxes. The embarrassing one-vote defeat has underlined the fragility of the present ruling coalition and led to emergency talks on a Cabinet reshuffle. Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla has called on the three Freedom Union ministers to resign and hinted that he may decide to form a minority government with the Christian Democrats that would rely on tacit support from the Communist Party. President Havel, who is due to leave on an official visit to the United States on Tuesday, is meeting the three party leaders on Monday evening in a last minute effort to help resolve the crisis.

Two former high ranking communist party officials are on trial for their part in the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia. Milous Jakes, former general secretary of the Czechoslovak communist party and Jozef Lenart, former communist prime minister, face charges of treason for attempting to legalize the Soviet led invasion through the formation of a "workers' government" which would have replaced the existing government. The proposal was rejected by the former Czechoslovak president Ludvik Svoboda . Both officials, now in their 80s, plead innocent of the charges leveled against them. Mr. Lenart said in his defense that he had been informed about the plan to form a workers' government by Soviet embassy officials and had merely relayed the proposal to then President Svoboda. The court case has generated enormous media interest.

Two Czech soldiers serving with the KFOR operation have been killed in an accident involving an armoured personnel carrier in Kosovo. Three other Czech soldiers were injured in Saturday afternoon's crash and were taken to hospital in Pristina. The Czech general staff refused to release further details about the accident, which is now being investigated.

The Prime Minister and leader of the Social Democrats, Vladimir Spidla, is attempting to form a two-party minority coalition government with the Christian Democrats, after a coalition of the two parties and the right of centre Freedom Union collapsed on Friday. Freedom Union MP Hana Marvanova brought about the crisis, when she voted against a government tax bill aimed at raising money to cover the costs of the recent floods. The bill was defeated by one vote. Mr Spidla said that the three-party coalition could only continue if Mrs Marvanova gave up her seat in the Chamber of Deputies, which she refused to do. On Saturday the prime minister said he would probably announce ministers to replace the three outgoing Freedom Union members of the cabinet on Monday.

The three party coalition had been formed after elections in June and had a majority of one in the lower house. The Christian Democrats have said they would prefer to reach an agreement with the Freedom Union, under which the latter party would support a minority Social Democrat-Christian Democrat government. Meanwhile, Communist Party deputy chairman Miloslav Ransdorf said his party would support such a government on condition that it placed an emphasis on social policy and economic growth.