News Monday, OCTOBER 11th, 1999

Hello and a very warm welcome to Radio Prague. I´m Rob Cameron, first the news headlines.

Those were the headlines, now for the news in more detail.

Klaus unhappy with political situation, calls for talks with Zeman

The leader of the main opposition Civic Democrats, the former prime minister Vaclav Klaus, has said "cosmetic changes" to the minority Social Democrat cabinet would not be sufficient, and has called for urgent talks with the ruling Social Democrats. Mr Klaus was speaking after a meeting on Sunday with President Vaclav Havel, who also said he was dissatisfied with the political situation. The Civic Democrat leader said he predicted the talks would produce an "unexpected outcome." Observers say Mr Klaus could either propose a grand coalition with the Social Democrats or call fresh elections.

Mayor vows to ignore parliament on Maticni street wall

The mayor of Usti nad Labem´s Nestemice district has vowed to ignore a Chamber of Deputies resolution on the construction of a controversial wall in the city´s Maticni street. Nestemice mayor Pavel Tosovsky, who is a member of the opposition Civic Democratic Party, said the wall was a local matter and any parliamentary resolution would be ignored. Work started on the wall on Tuesday, several months after private house-dwellers on one side of the street complained about noise and rubbish from apartment blocks opposite, which are inhabited largely by Roma rent-defaulters. However Roma activists and human rights workers have been dismantling the wall, watched by police. The local council has ignored orders from the central government to halt construction of the wall.

Klaus attacks "Third Way"

Meanwhile Mr Klaus has issued a sharp attack on the political ideology of the "Third Way" in an article in Austria´s Die Presse newspaper. The Civic Democrat leader, who adheres to Thatcherite free-market principles, described Third Way thinking as an attempt to preserve old-fashioned social democracy at the expense of the free market. He listed adherents of the Third Way as U.S. President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Vaclav Havel, as well as the former Yugoslav leader Tito and the former Spanish dictator Franco. Mr Klaus described the Third Way as being "the quickest way to the Third World."

Charles University calls for Law Faculty dean to step down

The Academic Council of Charles University has called on the dean of the Law Faculty to step down in the wake of June´s scandal over the sale of exam papers. The Council voted 27 to 11 to call on Dean Dusan Hendrych to resign over the affair, which emerged when staff discovered that a suspiciously large number of applicants for the Faculty had submitted identical answers in an entrance exam. It later came to light that completed exam papers had been sold to students for 100,000 crowns each. The Council said there was no suggestion that Mr Hendrych had any knowledge of the wrongdoing, but explained that as Dean he had no choice but to accept the moral responsibility for the scandal. Mr Hendrych declined to comment on the Council´s decision.

Czechs enter record books after Euro 2000 clean run

The Czech football team have won their tenth and final European Championships qualifier with a 2:0 victory over the Faeroe Islands on Saturday, booking themselves a ticket to the Championships in Belgium and the Netherlands next year as well as a place in the record books. The Czechs are the first team in European Championships history to win all ten qualifying matches. The Czech performance was marred by the sending off of Liverpool forward Patrik Berger, who misses the first two matches when the Championships begin next year.

Police investigate multiple killing in Chinese restaurant

Police in the North Bohemian town of Decin are hunting the killers of three people whose bodies were discovered in a local Chinese restaurant on Saturday evening. All three victims - two women and one man - were believed to be Chinese. Police also found a three-month-old baby at the scene of the killings. A spokesman said the baby was recovering in intensive care in hospital.

Weather

And finally a quick look at the weather. Monday will be mostly cloudy with showers and rain in places. Temperatures are expected to reach a maximum of 18 degrees Celsius, falling to a low of six degrees at night.

I'm Rob Cameron and that's the end of the news.