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Slavia Prague have kept their hopes of winning the final series in ice hockey's Extraliga alive, after beating Sparta Prague 3:2 on Sunday. The result narrows Sparta's lead to 3:2 on games. The best of seven series continues at Sparta's arena on Friday.

The Czech environment ministry has called on the German state of Saxony-Anhalt to provide within 24 hours a timetable for the removal of waste illegally imported into the Czech Republic. On Monday the Czech environment minister, Libor Ambrozek, said if the Germans did not remove waste from the town of Libceves by the end of this month, the Czech authorities would do so and send them the bill.

Firefighters were called out to deal with a blaze at a dump in Libceves at the weekend, the third fire there since February. Several cases of the illegal importing of German rubbish to the Czech Republic have been reported in recent months.

The Civic Democrats remain the most popular political party ahead of June's elections, suggests a poll just released by the SC&C agency. Almost 30 percent of respondents said they would vote for the party. The Social Democrats remain in second with 23.6 percent support, slightly down on last month. The Communists have 18 percent voter support, followed by the Christian Democrats with 12 and the Green Party with 10.

Some 52 percent of respondents in the same poll said they would not welcome the Communist Party playing a role in the next government.

The Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, says Turkey should be allowed to become a full member of the European Union. Speaking on a visit to the Turkish capital Ankara, Mr Klaus said it would be a mistake for Turkey to accept mere privileged partnership with the Union. The country began accession talks with the EU in October.

Prague's biggest funfair Matejska pout closed its gates on Monday for the last time this year. The traditional fair begins at the end of February and takes place in the Vystaviste exhibition grounds in Prague 7.

The Czech environment minister, Libor Ambrozek, has called on the German state of Saxony-Anhalt to remove by the end of April waste illegally exported to Libceves in north Bohemia. Otherwise, Mr Ambrozek said, the Czech authorities will pay for its removal and send them the bill. Firefighters were called out to deal with a blaze at a dump in Libceves at the weekend - the third fire there since February. Several cases of the illegal importing of German rubbish to the Czech Republic have been reported in recent months.

English Premier League club Fulham are interested in signing the Czech footballer Rudolf Skacel in the summer, the internet site 4thegame.com reported. The player is contracted to Marseilles but has been on loan at Scotland's Hearts all season. He has been a big success at the club, scoring 16 goals in 31 league games.

A record number of tourists came to the Czech Republic this year for the Easter weekend, according to tourism analyst Jaromir Beranek. He told the Czech Press Agency that up to 280,000 visitors were accommodated in the country over the weekend, representing an increase of up to a third on 2005. Mr Beranek said that was partly due to the coincidence of Easter with the last weekend of the skiing season.

Rudolf Slansky, a former diplomat and dissident, has died at the age of 71. He was expelled from the Communist Party following the Soviet-led invasion of 1968 and later signed the Charter 77 protest document. From 1990 to 1996 he was Czechoslovak and then Czech ambassador to Moscow, where he had spent the war years as a boy. His father, also Rudolf Slansky, was executed in the 1950s after Czechoslovakia's most notorious show trial.

The leading Czech men's tennis player Radek Stepanek has reached 12th in the ATP world rankings, the highest position of his career. Stepanek won his first ATP title in Rotterdam in February, after previously losing three finals.