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Prime Minister and acting chairman of the Social Democrats Stanislav Gross will most likely be elected party leader at the next congress in March. The Social Democrats, the main ruling coalition party, held conferences in the country's thirteen districts, this weekend, to discuss their party's future and assess who will most likely be in the leadership. Mr Gross won the support of his colleagues in ten districts, while his competitor Transport Minister Zdenek Skromach only won the support of the Social Democrats in the Moravian town Zlin.

On Saturday, Mr Gross warned the Social Democrats had adopted an image of a divided and 'extinct' party that has nothing to offer its supporters. He called onto his colleagues to put aside their differences and unite to prove the party is active, has goals, and strives to achieve them.

A concert in Poland on Monday will honour four Czech musicians, who suffered at the Auschwitz death camp and died at the hands of the Nazis in the 1940s. Three days before the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the Judaica Centre will host the concert that features works by Pavel Haas, Gideon Klein, Viktor Ullmann and Hans Krasa, the latter known for his children's opera - Brundibar - first performed by children at the Terezin concentration camp as they were being prepared for transportation to Auschwitz, Belsen and Treblinka.

The Social Democrats held conferences in six regions on Saturday ahead of their party congress in March, at which a new leadership will be elected. Prime Minister and acting party chairman Stanislav Gross opened the conference in Prague, while his competitor in the run for party leadership Transport Minister Zdenek Skromach attended the conferences in the Moravian cities Zlin and Brno.

Mr Gross warned the Social Democrats, the main ruling coalition party, had adopted an image of a divided and 'extinct' party that has nothing to offer its supporters. He called onto his colleagues to put aside their differences and unite to prove the party is active, has goals, and strives to achieve them.

A Cuban refugee couple living in the Czech Republic were reunited with their two children in Prague on Saturday, 18 months after being separated. Liuver Saborit and his wife Mayda Arguelles came to the Czech Republic in the summer of 2003 and were granted political asylum in December. Their nine-year-old son and two-year-old daughter were not allowed to leave Cuba and remained in the care of their grandparents.

The couple say they were forced to leave after being threatened with prison following a large wave of repression against dissidents. Since then, they have staged a numer of protests in Prague to pressure the Cuban government into releasing their children.