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Meanwhile a dispute over the EU between Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda and President Vaclav Klaus continued on Thursday, with Mr Svoboda again distancing himself from recent remarks made by the president. President Klaus said during last week's EU signing ceremony in Athens that his country would lose some of its sovereignty when it joins the Union, comments which were harshly criticised by Mr Svoboda. The Foreign Minister said in parliament on Thursday that equating EU membership with loss of sovereignty was the same as encouraging people not to vote in the forthcoming EU referendum. President Klaus has often been criticised for his negative comments about the European Union, which his country will join in May 2004.

President Vaclav Klaus who is on a one day visit to neighbouring Austria has said the Czech Republic is willing to talk but not to negotiate about the issue of the Sudeten Germans' expulsion after the Second World War. Mr Klaus added that for his part, he said all in a statement to mark the March anniversary of the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. At a joint press conference with Mr Klaus, the Austrian President Thomas Klestil said Austria felt the Sudeten German question had not yet been solved "in a satisfactory way". In recent years Austria has been pressing for a "gesture" by Prague over the Sudeten Germans issue. The Austrian right-wing Freedom Party also demanded formal abolition of the post-war Benes Decrees legitimising the expulsion, threatening that the Czechs would otherwise be barred from EU membership.

Since becoming President in succession to Vaclav Havel in early March, Mr Klaus has toured the Czech Republic's neighbouring countries to stress the importance of good neighbourly relations. Austria is his fourth stop after visits to Slovakia, Poland and Germany.

An explosive device was discovered and defused near where Czech and Slovak soldiers are stationed at Camp Doha in Kuwait, Czech newspapers reported on Wednesday. The 30-centimetre long tube was discovered on Monday. A robot was employed to recover the device. Colonel Dusan Lupuljev, who commands the 400-member unit of nuclear-biochemical weapons experts, said the device may have been designed for demolition tasks.

Two year-old Hasan Khalaf, the son of Iraqi parents whose plight recently evoked a wave of sympathy in the Czech Republic, has been admitted to hospital for treatment of cerebral palsy. The boy's illness was Mrs Khalaf's main reason for coming to the country - the family arrived last Saturday at Prague airport, with representatives of a Paediatric Hospital Ward on hand to arrange treatment for the two year old. The treatment of the child, and acceptance of the Khalaf family in the Czech Republic, caps a dramatic turn in events: Mrs Khalaf was originally refused entry - allegedly for 'security reasons', despite the fact that she had a valid visa. The original refusal sparked angry protests from human rights activists, provoking widespread criticism of the foreign police.