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The Czech Defence Minister Miroslav Kostelka has said he is satisfied with the details of two contracts outlining the terms for the Czech Republic's lease of 14 JAS-39 Gripen fighter jets from Sweden. The cabinet is due to get copies of the contract on Wednesday. The defence minister said that final debate on the contracts would round up by next week, making the documents' signing a matter of days. The defence minister told journalists on Tuesday the lease would cost the Czech Republic around one billion crowns less than originally proposed - some 19 billion in all. The first contract outlines specifics of the ten-year lease, while the second covers offset programmes.

The Czech Defence Minister Miroslav Kostelka has revealed that he does not expect Czech military personnel currently serving in Iraq to continue their mission next year. 90 Czech military police officers have been stationed in Iraq since the beginning of 2004, training Iraqi police officers ahead of the transfer of power on June 30th; Parliament has given Czech specialists a mandate to be Iraq until the end of the year. On Monday Mr Kostelka told journalists that the Czech Army's foreign missions needed to be reduced, as the military was also running continuing missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo. He said that although the Czech Army had proved capable of taking part in three missions at once, it was not ideal with regards to on-going reforms. Still, Mr Kostelka did indicate a final decision on forces in Iraq would ultimately lie with "the politicians".

President Vaclav Klaus has criticised as "undignified" comments made by Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber at the weekend regarding the so-called Benes Decrees. The decrees, which sanctioned the expulsion of 2.5 million ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia after World War II, remain a point of controversy and contention for some German and Austrian politicians. On Sunday Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber repeated a call for the decrees' abolishment, saying they had no place in the European Union. Mr Stoiber added that unless the Czech Republic condemned the post-war expulsion of Germans he would not pay an official visit to the country. Responding on Monday, however, Czech President Vaclav Klaus said the decrees were "untouchable" - saying any attempt to have them abolished was an attempt to rewrite history.

Doctors in the north Bohemian town of Usti nad Labem helped save two patients suffering from meningitis hospitalised last week. The two patients, aged 29 and 39, were admitted to hospital in critical condition, but both are now out of danger, doctors have said. Since the beginning of the year the Usti region in north Bohemia has registered a total of nine patients who came down with the disease, four of whom died, two infants and two young adults. Following two recent deaths council members in Usti decided to contribute 2 million crowns for the vaccination of young people in the region.