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The strongest opposition party in Parliament, the centre right Civic Democrats have declared their intention to try to bring down the three-party coalition government and trigger early elections. The public announcement made by the party's leader Miroslav Topolanek, comes in the wake of a fresh blow for the governing coalition: one of its deputies broke ranks on Tuesday, seriously endangering the government's razor thin majority in the Lower House.

What could also happen is that instead of being let go, police officers will be assigned to work in different regions, depending on the required number of officers in the region. It may for instance happen that provincial overstaffed forces will have to send part of their staff to Prague, where many posts are still available.

Former Czech president Vaclav Havel has travelled to the United States to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. President George W. Bush. Mr Havel is the first Czech ever to receive the medal, which is the highest civilian award in the United States, and recognizes exceptional meritorious service.

As the Lower House prepared to debate the government's fiscal reform package on Tuesday, a deputy for the ruling Social Democratic Party let off a bombshell. He announced that he was leaving his party's deputies group and might not support the crucial reform package all the way. For a government with a razor thin majority in the Lower House this news could mean the end of the road.

Regardless of the final outcome July will be remembered as a month in which the government once again put its political future on the line. After a turbulent year that saw the fragile coalition weather discord over a proposed tax hike, and further disunity during presidential elections, the government has now rested its future on the passing of its public finance reforms, a process that begins today expected to culminate in September. This time: have coalition members agreed to agree? Or will the government fail from within, eventually facing embarrassing

The Cabinet on Monday approved a humanitarian-evacuations plan for seriously sick Iraqi children. Although the motto of the day is "save wherever possible" the government voted unanimously in favour of a plan which would allow doctors working in the Czech field hospital in Basra, southern Iraq, to select some of the most seriously ill children for specialized long-term care in the Czech Republic.

The cabinet at its Monday meeting rejected an anti-abortion bill put forward by a group of Christian Democrat and Civic Democrat deputies. Under the bill, abortions would be a criminal offence and doctors could face up to five years in prison for performing them. The authors of the bill say they expected it to be rebuffed by the government, but in their words, they wanted to stir up a debate on the issue in Czech society.

The President's decision to veto an amendment to the law which would have raised value added tax on some goods and services to 22 percent has met with mixed reactions: applause from Czech entrepreneurs and anger from the governing coalition for whom this is another hurdle on the road to pressing budget reforms.

Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla met with representatives of Cuban dissidents in Florida during his official week-long visit to the United States. His meeting with the Cubans, who were political prisoners under Fidel Castro, is a continuation of official Czech support for human rights in Cuba and Cuban political exiles.

The government is facing the second personal change in less than two months. Defence Minister Tvrdik resigned in June over cuts in defence spending, and Justice Minister Pavel Rychetsky is exchanging his ministerial seat for a judge's robe. Pavel Rychetsky's nomination for the post of a Constitutional Court judge has been approved by the Senate and Mr Rychetsky plans to hand in his resignation on Monday. Before leaving office, the outgoing Justice Minister presented his proposal of a comprehensive reform of the Czech justice system.