POLLS The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) fell behind the ruling Social Democrats (ČSSD) in voter approval, according to a new poll by the Factum Invenio agency. After trailing their rivals on the political left for more than a year, ČSSD now leads KSČM 22.6 to 19.3 percent.

FICTION? A new book entitled Shoot Down the Premier portrays former Prime Minister Stanislav Gross as the victim of a conspiracy by "dark forces," including Sudeten Germans, the junior government Christian Democrats and the German owners of Czech newspapers. Gross quit in April after a political crisis surrounding murky personal finances and links to a brothel's landlord.

COURT Bohumil Kulínský, head of the famous Bambini di Praga children's choir and accused of sexually abusing underage girls, won release from custody July 1 on the order of the Prague City Court. Authorities had detained Kulínský in November. The state attorney opposed his release, claiming he could influence witnesses.

BRIBES Traffic police have asked one in seven drivers for a bribe, according to a poll for Mladá fronta Dnes. Young drivers and owners of luxurious cars are more likely to be asked for a backhander, said Jana Hamanová of SC&C, the agency that conducted the survey.

GAYS The 110-member Boston Gay Men's Chorus delivered a fundraising performance July 1 in Prague's Rudolfinum concert hall in support of a Czech bill on registered homosexual partnerships. The bill passed a first reading in the Chamber of Deputies June 24 but must survive several more parliamentary stages to become law. Several similar bills have failed to make it through Parliament in the last two years.

GAS Scientists from Masaryk University in Brno, south Moravia, have invented a new method of rendering mustard gas harmless, Czech Television reported June 29. The project, commissioned by NATO, will help scientists eliminate old stockpiles of chemical weapons and respond to terrorist attacks involving such arms.