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According to a Swedish newspaper, a Swedish citizen of Lebanese origin who is being held in the Czech Republic pending the outcome of a hearing to extradite him to the United States on terrorism charges has applied for asylum in this country. The Swedish daily Expressen claims that Oussama Kassir has asked for asylum in the Czech Republic because he is disappointed with how the Swedish authorities have handled his detention in this country.

Mr Kassir is wanted in the US on suspicion of running an Al-Qaeda training camp in Oregon. Although he was exonerated of terrorist-related offences by a Swedish court, he was arrested on the basis of an international arrest warrant during a brief stopover in Prague while he was flying from Stockholm to the Lebanon in December 2005. The Czech authorities have neither confirmed nor denied Mr Kassir's alleged asylum application.

Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek told journalists on Wednesday that he would like to divorce his wife Pavla, but that she has refused to countenance the idea. Mr Topolanek said that he fully respected his wife's stance. He added that if Mrs Topolankova would agree to a divorce, he would be willing to transfer ownership of their home to her and still continue paying the mortgage.

The Prime Minister was making his comments a day after his mistress - fellow Civic Democrat MP Lucie Talmanova - gave birth to the couple's son Nicolas. Mr Topolanek publicly admitted in January that he had left his wife to live with Ms Talmanova, who was then pregnant with their child. He told journalists on Wednesday that he was "very proud" of the birth of his son and that, although he had possibly been a bad husband, he hoped to be a good father to his newborn child. Mr Topolanek already has three children from his first marriage.

Seven civic and environmental organisations have filed a complaint with the European Commission over the Czech Republic's failure to draft strategic noise maps within a deadline set by the EU. The country was supposed to have mapped noise levels in several Prague cities and areas near motorways and railways by 30 June, but had so far only submitted data on railroads. A spokeswoman for one of the organisations said that 90,000 people suffer from excessive noise levels in Prague alone, and that so-called noise-maps were urgently needed to come up with action plans for limiting noise pollution. The government is supposed to draft anti-noise measures by July of next year, and these will be partly financed by the EU.

Czech Defence Minister Martin Bartak told journalists on Wednesday that the government had approved an agreement with the United States on the destruction of aging Czech anti-aircraft missile systems. According to Mr Bartak, the Americans will pay around 600,000 dollars to the Czech Republic for the destruction of outdated Soviet-made missiles and launching pads. The US government fears that if the missiles are not destroyed they could be sold to third parties, which could increase the risk that some might end up in the hands of terrorists.