Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek’s (TOP 09) tactical offensive to prevent fellow party member Vlasta Parkanová from being stripped of her immunity from prosecution will likely end in defeat. Not only would it go against TOP 09’s stated principles, the opposition is united in wanting the ex-defense minister to face charges over the purchase of CASA planes for the Czech Army. Parkanová also should rather seek clarity from the courts, writes commentator Petr Nováček.

Two Czech officers are with an international force in the Sinai desert,Egypt, that has been surrounded by around 300 Bedouin tribesmen according to  Czech Radio (ČRO). The Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) force is mostly made up of Colombian and Uruguayan troops.

Last November, Minister of Defense Alexandr Vondra said that Spanish aviation manufacturer EADS and the Czech arms trading firm Omnipol must deliver the four CASA planes purchased by the Czech defense ministry in full working order, including functional anti-rocket defense system, by end of May, or the order would be cancelled. On Friday, Vondra announced that EADS and Omnipol had agreed to the deadline.

Members of an elite Czech police unit were detained in early January when trying to leave Iraq with weapons, including guns with silencers, Czech Radio reported on Monday. Pro-Baath Party media said the Czechs had then been allowed to leave because they were in fact mercenaries hired by the Shiite-dominated government to eliminate members of the Sunni opposition as part of a “death squad.”