MAFIA Czech police arrested 44-year-old Sicilian Mafia boss Luigi Putrone Aug. 11. The convicted mass murderer was on the run for the past six years, authorities said. Putrone has already been found guilty of involvement in a series of murders, including killing nine people himself, for which he faces a life sentence in Italy, officials said.

TERRORISM The Czech Republic's civilian counter-intelligence service (BIS) has disputed reports in the Právo newspaper that Prague has become a target for an Islamic terrorist attack, such as the crash of an explosive-laden plane into Old Town Square. BIS spokesman Jan Subert said the intelligence service does not have the slightest knowledge of information that would support any of Právo's allegations.

IRAQ A Brno court has halted prosecution against a Czech Army officer caught with two laptop computers from the Czech Embassy in Baghdad worth more than 60,000 Kc ($2,530) in his luggage. The officer said he had removed them because of the chaotic situation in Iraq; the state attorney's office, meanwhile, said it will appeal the decision.

POLITICS Six Prague chapters of smaller center-right parties have agreed to cooperate in the upcoming elections, mutually developing policies on lower taxes, environmental protection, support for education, attacking corruption and endorsing a pro-European future for the Czech Republic. The parties, including the Greens, the Freedom Union, the European Democrats, the Civic Democratic Alliance, the Party for Open Society and the Path of Change, will now seek a nationwide agreement among their members to list candidates together on the ballot.

GRAFFITI A 52-year-old woman known as the "sprayer doyenne" has been sentenced to eight months in prison after being convicted in Brno as the nation's oldest graffiti bandit. Jaroslava Hrabálková, known for her eccentricities and political messages in her tagging, said that she knows that writing on walls is wrong but "I can't help it; it is not my fault."