News of Radio Prague

Civic Democrats want rid of MP Petr Kott after he misses crucial votes

The opposition Civic Democrats have called on party member Petr Kott to give up his mandate in the Chamber of Deputies after he failed to take part in important votes on public finance reforms on Friday. Civic Democrat deputy chairman Petr Bendl said on Sunday that if Mr Kott did not quit he would be expelled from the party's group in the lower house. Mr Bendl refused to confirm rumours that Mr Kott had missed the votes because he was drunk.

Social Democrats take no action for now against rebel MP Hojdar

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.

People around the Czech Republic mark St Wenceslas' Day

People around the Czech Republic have been marking St Wenceslas' Day, which is a state holiday. Ceremonies were also held on Saturday, including a pilgrimage in Stara Boleslav, where St Wenceslas was killed on September 28, though it is unclear whether he died in the year 929 or 935.

Large fire in woods near Brno suburb

Some 30 hectares of woods are on fire near the Moravian capital, Brno. Winds have been driving the fire towards the Brno suburb of Bystrc and fire fighters have brought in a special plane to help fight the blaze. The cause of the fire has not yet been established.

British scientists study Czechs, find no link between beer, beer belly

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.

Czech tennis number one Novak loses in final of Shanghai Open

Czech tennis number one Jiri Novak has been beaten in the final of the Shanghai Open by Mark Philippoussis of Australia. Sunday's match lasted only 50 minutes and saw Mr Novak, the competition's top seed, beaten 6-2, 6-1.

Weather

Monday is expected to be cloudy with rain in places. The maximum temperature should be 17 degrees Celsius.