Parliament committees ask lower house to extend Iraq mission

The Czech Parliament's defence and foreign affairs committees have asked legislators to approve the government's proposal to extend the mission of Czech military police stationed in Iraq. The group of about one hundred military police is based in southern Iraq and is helping to train local police there. The mission was to return home at the end of February, but the government recommended last week that it stay on till the end of the year. The lower house of parliament is expected to discuss the extension, which will cost the Defence Ministry around 175 million crowns (just over 7 million US dollars), at Friday's session.