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Czech writer Pavel Kohout and his wife Jelena Masinova failed with their complaint against the Czech Republic over protracted court proceedings, presented to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, the daily Hospodarske noviny wrote on Monday. Mr Kohout and his wife complained about the length of court proceedings deciding on the copyright for a Czechoslovak film on which they participated in the 1960s. The Strasbourg court ruled that the proceedings, which lasted for seven years, were not groundlessly protracted. Until now, 61 complaints against the Czech Republic have been lodged with the Strasbourg court and the country won only four cases including this latest one.

A poll by the STEM agency suggests that if elections were held today in the Czech Republic, the opposition right-of-centre Civic Democrats would be the winners, with 32.8 percent of the vote. The ruling Social Democrats would come second with 21.1 percent, followed by the Communists with 13.5 percent. The next general elections in the Czech Republic are scheduled for mid-next year.

The Czech ambassador to NATO, Stefan Fule, is being investigated by the police's anti-corruption unit, Czech Radio's Radiozurnal reported. Mr Fule is suspected of breaking the law on state secrets and covering up two car accidents in Lithuania when he served there as Czech ambassador.

Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka says Czech sellers and distributors of petrol have been too slow to react to a fall in oil prices. For that reason the government has rejected a proposal to introduce a lower tax rate on petrol, the minister said on Prima TV on Sunday. The cost of a litre of petrol in the Czech Republic recently increased significantly following a rise in oil prices on world markets.

The Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, is due to meet the United States vice president, Dick Cheney, and the secretary of state, Condoleeza Rice, during a six-day working visit to the US which begins on Monday. Mr Klaus is also set to open an exhibition in New York dedicated to the 14th century Czech king and holy roman emperor Charles IV.

Police did not intervene during a concert by neo-Nazi rock bands in a pub near Strakonice, south Bohemia on Saturday night. Hundreds of police officers were on guard outside the concert, which was attended by around 500 skinheads and described by anti-Nazi activists as the biggest such gathering this year in the Czech Republic.

Fugitive businessman Radovan Krejcir says he is not planning to return from the Seychelles to face trial in the Czech Republic, but says he is willing to co-operate with the Czech courts. He told TV Nova he wanted to clear his name of charges of fraud and planning the murder of a customs officer. In another interview, for Czech Television, Mr Krejcir recounted how he had managed to escape from Czech police two months ago. His wife is also in the Seychelles, where they both have citizenship. She faces charges of money laundering.

Czech military police in Iraq are to operate in only one base, for security reasons, the commander of the 8th regiment said on Friday. The training of Iraqi policemen will now take place where the Czech MPs are housed, the Shaiba base in the south of the country. Previously the Czech soldiers had to drive eight miles to a training centre on dangerous roads.

Czech football player Rudolf Skacel has set a new record in the Scottish Premier League, after scoring in seven games in a row. Skacel, who is 26, scored the only goal of Hearts' game against Inverness on Saturday.

President Vaclav Klaus has vetoed a law under which accused felons could have received legal immunity in return for their testimony in serious criminal cases. Mr Klaus refused to sign the bill on the grounds that it had been previously rejected by the Senate; he said the consent of both houses of parliament was necessary for such an important piece of legislation. It will now be returned to the Chamber of Deputies.