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A bill to introduce special punishment for the owners of dogs that attack people has been rejected by the lower house. Under the bill, owners could face up to ten years in prison if their dog killed somebody. There have been several cases of dogs killing and causing serious injury in the Czech Republic in recent years.

The Czech Republic's biggest football club, Sparta Prague, have sacked manager Frantisek Straka, after Sparta did very poorly in European club competition the Champions League. Straka is being replaced by Jaroslav Hrebik, who led the club in the 2001-2002 season but was dismissed before the end of the season.

Representatives of a number of human rights organizations working in the Czech Republic have said that the country continues to export arms to countries with bad human rights record. As examples they stated Columbia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Georgia. The deputy Foreign Minister Jan Winkler said that the possibility of potential misuse of arms is always considered before granting an export licence to a company. According to Mr Winkler intelligence services are involved in the screening of both the export companies and the buyers.

The majority of Czech members of the European Parliament voted in favour of the European Union opening accession talks with Turkey on Wednesday. But 'no' votes were cast on Wednesday by five of the 24 Czech MEPs, among them Vladimir Zelezny, whose Eurosceptic group came out strongly against Turkey joining, and called for referendums on the issue in all EU states. EU leaders are expected to give the green light to accession negotiations with Turkey later this week.

The European Commission is investigating whether a Czech steelmaker received financial support from the Czech state in contravention of European Union regulations. If the Commission finds that the rules have been broken Trinecke zelezarny may be ordered to return the money.

The 2005 budget has been approved. All 101 coalition MPs were present for Wednesday's vote, ensuring it was passed by the 200-seat lower house. The budget envisages a deficit of over 80 billion Czech crowns (2,700 million euros). It now has to be signed by the president. The Civic Democrats criticized the budget, saying it would not foster growth and meant the country was living in ever more debt.

The Czech Republic has once again been fined by the European Court of Human Rights over the slowness of its courts, Hospodarske noviny reported on Wednesday. The Becvar family took the state to the Strasbourg court after a case they took in a property dispute lasted for almost six years. The Czech Republic has now lost over 35 such cases, and won only one, said the daily.

Premysl Sobotka of the opposition Civic Democrats has, as expected, been elected chairman of the Czech Senate. Mr Sobotka, who took 55 of the 80 votes cast on Wednesday, will replace Petr Pithart of the Christian Democrats. Premysl Sobotka is a doctor by profession and has been a member of the Senate since 1996.

The English Football Association is investigating comments made by the Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech, after he appeared to criticize the referee of a game between his club Chelsea and Arsenal. But Chelsea say the player's statements, which appeared in Czech newspapers, were exaggerated and badly translated.

Nine Slovak citizens died in two separate traffic accidents in the Czech Republic on Monday. Six people died and five were injured when a bus from Slovakia crashed on the country's main motorway linking Prague to the Slovak capital Bratislava in the early hours of Monday. The victims include a seven-month-old girl, her 24-year-old mother and a 23-year-old pregnant woman. Another three Slovaks died in a traffic accident involving two cars in North Moravia. Monday was one of the most tragic days on Czech roads this year, with road accidents claiming 14 victims, the highest death toll in 2004.