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The largest opposition party, the right-of-centre Civic Democrats, have said they expect the coalition government of Prime Minister Stanislav Gross to ask the lower house of parliament for confidence. Otherwise they said they will call a no-confidence vote in the government after the Easter national congress of the ruling Social Democratic Party at which Prime Minister Gross will seek election as party chairman. The Civic Democrats have been critical of the recent row within the governing coalition and suggested early elections as the only way out of it.

The government crisis had been caused by Prime Minister Gross's failure to provide a plausible explanation of how he financed a Prague apartment five years ago and how his wife funds her business. The controversies triggered a row between the two biggest coalition parties: the Christian Democrats called on the Social Democrat Prime Minister to step down and Prime Minister Gross in turn threatened to ask the President to sack the three Christian Democrat ministers. The Social Democrats now consider the government crisis to be over, after they gave the strong backing to Prime Minister Gross on Saturday and after he made a public apology for his statements in connection with the row.

Earlier on Saturday, the Prime Minister Stanislav Gross said he considered the government crisis, triggered by the controversies surrounding his family's private finances, to be over and called on his cabinet to get back to work. In a confidence vote on Saturday morning, his party gave Mr Gross the strong backing following weeks of crisis of confidence focusing on him personally. In three weeks' time Prime Minister Gross, who is the acting head of the Social Democrats, will seek election as party chairman at the Social Democrats' national congress.

"Horem padem" or "Up and Down" in English - has won the Czech Lion award for the best Czech film of 2004. The film, directed by Jan Hrebejk and produced by Ondrej Trojan, won a total of four prizes at Saturday's award ceremony in Prague; for best Czech film, best director, best script and best actress in a leading role.

The Prime Minister Stanislav Gross has officially apologised for giving rise to a political row by some of his ill-advised statements in connection with the controversy over the way he financed his apartment. In a live address to the nation in Czech Television's evening news programme on Saturday, Prime Minister Gross also announced his wife was going to terminate all her business activities in order to put an end to the current political crisis. The Prime Minister also pledged to put forward a bill shortly which would, as he said, clarify matters related to the private finances of politicians and state officials.

Mr Gross has been under fire for several weeks over questions as to where he got money to buy his apartment six years ago, and how his wife funds her business.