Prague- The Czech government Wednesday approved an agreement setting the rules for US troops at a planned missile defence base in the former Soviet-bloc country.

The Status of Forces Agreement is required for the United States to set up its first military base in Czech Republic. It complements the main US-Czech missile defence deal signed in Prague on July 8.

Czech Defence Minister Vlasta Parkanova said she and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates are expected to sign the second accord on September 19 on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in London.

Prague - The Czech economy slowed to 4.6 per cent in the second quarter of 2008 on the back of a firming koruna, skyrocketing consumer prices and a slump in Western Europe, according to revised gov

Prague  - A Czech appeals court Tuesday sentenced an 86-year- old retired prosecutor to six years in prison for her role in the state execution of a Czechoslovak anti-Nazi resistance fighter and democratic politician.

The Higher Court sentenced Ludmila Brozova-Polednova 58 years after she participated in sending Milada Horakova to the gallows on trumped-up charges of treason in a Stalinist-style show trial.

"Should I bear the guilt for everyone who was involved?" CTK news agency cited the former prosecutor as saying after the ruling, which was the first hearing in her case which she attended in person.

Prague- The Czech Republic is negotiating to buy a share in the Transalpine Pipeline (TAL), which pumps Azeri oil from the Italian port of Trieste to Germany, in a bid to lower energy dependence on Russia, a Czech official said Tuesday.

"We are interested in it. It's a long-term project," said Vaclav Bartuska, a Czech ambassador-at-large for energy security.

According to earlier reports, the Czech Republic has been negotiating with pipeline's eight shareholders to buy a 2-per-cent stake. Bartuska declined to elaborate.

Prague- Former Czech president Vaclav Havel Tuesday urged the West to speak up to Russia despite its economic interests.

Speaking at a conference on Asia-Pacific Security Challenges in Prague, Havel said economic interests should not make the West "shy away from speaking about what it does not like about Russia's politics".

Havel has earlier criticized "Russian aggression" in Georgia, backing Tbilisi in a brief war with Moscow last month over breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The Czech Republic's inflation slowed down and unemployment remained steady in August, according to government data released Monday.

The inflation rate year-on-year dropped to 6.5 per cent in August, from 6.9 per cent recorded in July, mainly due to falling food, fuel, alcohol and tobacco prices, the Czech Statistical Office said.

Consumer prices in August fell 0.1 per cent compared to July, the statisticians said.