News

Kurkova wins bronze medal

Czech shooter Karolina Kurkova has won a bronze medal in the women's 10 metre air rifle final at the Olympic Games in Athens. Kurkova, who has gold medals from both world and European championships, said she was delighted with the result. She is coached by her father, who was a professional shooter himself. Petr Kurka won medals at European and world championships and he even set a world record, but despite taking part in five Olympic games he never managed to add an Olympic medal to his collection. "Karolina has just fulfilled my dream for me," he told reporters. In her youth Kurkova wanted a career as a swimmer but health problems made her change her plans and she decided to follow in her father's footsteps. Her's is the first Czech medal won at the Olympic Games in Greece.

Eight hockey players suffer carbon monoxide poisoning

Eight young women hockey players were rushed to hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning due to a leak from a machine at the Kladno ice rink on Saturday. Three of them are in intensive care, but none of their conditions are life-threatening. They were taking part in a local hockey tournament when they suffered the effects of the poisoning. The dangerous gas is believed to have leaked from a machine used to repair the rink during intervals in the tournament. One of the coaches said that several players had complained of feeling sick during previous training sessions on the ice. The ice rink has been closed to the public and the incident is being investigated.

Disputes over government's policy programme

Disputes continue over the government's policy programme. Following talks on Friday, the deputy Prime Minister and deputy chairman of the senior ruling Social Democrats Zdenek Skromach told newsmen his party was happy with the document in its present form and was not expecting any significant changes. However the Christian Democrats, the second biggest party in government, have made it clear that they are not satisfied with several points in the policy programme and will continue to press for changes. Work on the document will continue over the weekend.

Petition against government office head

About 50 well known personalities have signed a petition demanding the resignation of Government Office head Pavel Pribyl. Pribyl took office last week and it has since emerged that in 1989 he headed a police unit that was sent to break up anti-communist protests in the streets of Prague. The organizers of the petition are planning to stage a protest outside the Czech government building on Tuesday morning, when the Cabinet is due to meet.

Weather:

Sunday is expected to be partly cloudy with day temperatures between 22 and 26 degrees Celsius.