Vienna  - Austria overtook Germany as a beer-drinking nation in 2008 and is now second only to the Czech Republic, the Austrian brewery association revealed on Monday.

Austrians downed 8.6 million hectolitres of beer in 2008, or 109.3 litres per person. Germany fell behind as its consumption per head dropped slightly to 108 litres, while the Czechs are expected to have comfortably defended their top position.

Every Czech drank 159 litres of beer in 2007, according to the latest available figures.

While 2 per cent more of the beverage flowed from Austrian taps in 2008, volumes in traditional beer-drinking countries like Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands fell, the brewery association said.

Liberec, Czech Republic  - Lukas Bauer is finally enjoying the world championships in his native Czech Republic after being almost overwhelmed by national pressure in the run-up.

"Now I am enjoying the world championships, before it was only stress," he told a news conference on the championship rest day Monday.

Bauer won the overall World Cup title last year which led to huge medal hopes and pressure. He delivered a 15-kilometres silver on Friday but had to be content with 25th place in Sunday's pursuit.

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.