Prague - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that a new Palestinian government should include the Islamist movement Hamas and respect existing peace commitments.

"We wish that Hamas be represented within (a government) of national unity and that this government takes a unified stance towards accomplishing peace," he told reporters after meeting his Czech counterpart Vaclav Klaus during a visit to Prague.

Brussels - The foreign ministers of France and the Czech Republic said Monday they would be holding regular talks following extensive media reports suggesting strong disagreements between the former and current presidencies of the European Union.

"We were sometimes very surprised to discover in the press that we were in a bad mood, Karel (Schwarzenberg) and I. This is not true at all," said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.

Prague  - The Czech Republic's budget gap is likely to exceed 4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009, a Finance Ministry official said Sunday.

"I do not believe that the deficit of public finances would ... be lower than 4 per cent," Deputy Finance Minister Eduard Janota said in a television debate.

Such a deficit would mar prospects for a speedy adoption of the euro, as the European Union requires candidates to keep their fiscal gaps under 3 per cent of GDP.

Liberec, Czech Republic  - Austria has always been associated with having first-class ski-jumpers, and now this also shows in the record books.

Thomas Morgenstern gave Austria a first overall World Cup title in a dozen years in 2008, Wolfgang Loitzl won the nation's first Four Hills title in nine years in January and on Saturday also ended an 18-year drought for an individual world title.

Loitzl won on the normal hill from compatriot Gregor Schlierenzauer and it would have even been a sweep had not double Olympic champion Thomas Morgenstern failed to stand his second jump.

Liberec, Czech Republic - Justyna Kowalczyk became the first Polish woman to win a cross-country skiing world title and Wolfgang Loitzl ended a long ski-jumping title drought for Austria at the Nordic world championships on Saturday.

Kowalczyk, 26, passed long-time leader Kristin Stoermer Steira of Norway on the final turn to win the 15-kilometres pursuit race.

Loitzl, 29, then proved his big event qualities this year, when he added the normal hill world title to the Four Hills crown in January. He won from compatriot Gregor Schlierenzauer as Austria got its first individual ski-jump world title since Heinz Kuttin's success in 1991.

Liberec, Czech Republic - Wolfgang Loitzl was there again when it mattered on Saturday, winning the ski-jumping normal hill world title from Gregor Schlierenzauer in an Austrian one-two finish.

Loitzl, 29, soared 103.5 metres and 99m for a winning total of 282 points. The world title came six weeks after he won the prestigious Four Hills Tour.

The World Cup leader Schlierenzauer took second place with 275 points after jumps of 102m and 99m. Reigning large hill world champion Simon Ammann of Switzerland completed the podium in third place with 102m and 99.5m for 274.5 points.