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The Czech government will present a counter-proposal to the US radar treaty, outlining the conditions under which the Czech Republic would be prepared to host a US radar base on its territory, deputy foreign minister Tomas Pojar said at the start of a second round of talks with US officials in Prague. The Czech Foreign Affairs and Defence Ministries should be ready to present their own draft proposal within two months, outlining what counter-services the United States should provide in exchange for being able to site the radar on Czech territory. "For tactical and diplomatic reasons it would not be good to communicate our ideas to the media," Mr. Pojar said. The talks on the radar base are expected to last until the end of the year. The United States wants to locate a radar base in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in neighbouring Poland to counter a possible missile attack threat by Iran. Neither country has as yet made a firm commitment.

A new constitution for the European Union should favour unanimous rather than majority voting, Czech President Vaclav Klaus and his Polish counterpart Lech Kaczynski agreed on Monday. The two heads of state met at Lany Chateau near Prague ahead of a summit of Central European presidents which starts in Brno this Thursday. Following the meeting, Mr Kazcynski said that the EU continues to be composed of independent states and it must be said clearly that there are lines that must not be crossed. Both the Czech Republic and Poland have put on hold any plans to ratify the current European draft constitution and have resisted efforts by the German EU presidency to set out by the end of next month a "roadmap" towards ratifying essentially the same constitutional treaty before elections to the European Parliament in 2009.

The health of eight year old Ondra, who was severely abused by his own mother Klara Mauerova, is said to have improved. On Tuesday Ondra was released from hospital and returned to the children's home where he and his two siblings were placed after their mother was arrested. The fate of his alleged thirteen year old adopted sister Anna who mysteriously disappeared from the children's home 11 days ago remains uncertain. The latest information on the story indicates that the alleged 13-year old who had no identity papers was not the said Anna at all but a 34 year old woman who may have mental problems. The police are now investigating why the family passed her off as Anna and whether the alleged 13-year old sister ever existed.

The ruling Civic Democratic Party's deputies met to thrash out their differences on the government proposed reform of public finances on Tuesday. Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose cabinet needs the vote of every coalition deputy, said later that some of his party colleagues still had objections to the draft reforms but that progress had been made. Critics from party ranks argue that the Civic Democrats had made too many concessions to their coalition partners and were betraying their own policy programme. The Prime Minister has linked the future of his cabinet to this crucial reform package. Parliament is to vote on it at the beginning of June.