News of Radio Prague

Security tightened at Ruzyne airport after discovery of RPG

The police are tightening security at Prague's Ruzyne airport following the discovery of a functional anti-tank missile near one of the runways. The airport and its environs will be patrolled jointly by the police and military units. A fully functional rocket-propelled grenade was found about one kilometre away from runway No. 24 on Thursday. The weapon reportedly does not come from the stores of the Czech Army.

Iraq denies its Czech consul's contacts with terrorists

Iraqi deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz has denied reports in Czech media that a former Iraqi diplomat in Prague, Samir Ani, had contacts with terrorist Muhammad Atta. Muhammad Atta was identified as one of the suicide pilots who carried out the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11. According to media reports, Muhhamad Atta visited Prague twice, in 2000 and 2001, and met with the former Iraqi diplomat and intelligence service agent Ahmad Chalil Ibrahim Samir Ani. Back then, Samir Ani was the second secretary of the Iraqi embassy in Prague. He was under surveillance of the Czech counter-intelligence due to his unusual interest in the Radio Free Europe headquarters in Prague. In April this year, he was proclaimed a persona no grata and was expelled from the country.

EU commissionaire: Temelin is safe

The European commissionaire for enlargement, Guenter Verheugen has called on the Czech Republic and Austria to conclude the process of environmental impact assessment of the Czech nuclear power station at Temelin. In a letter to the Czech and Austrian Prime Ministers, Verheugen wrote that "all safety concerns have been resolved" and asked the top representatives to conclude the so-called Melk process as soon as possible.

Mr. Verheugen's appeal comes at a time when the Austrian parliament is about to discuss a proposal to hold a referendum on vetoing the Czech Republic's accession to the EU because of Temelin as proposed by the Austrian ruling Freedom Party.

Temelin to increase output to 75 % of nominal

Meanwhile, the Temelin power station received a permission from the State Office for Nuclear Safety to increase output to 75 percent of the nominal value. The power station will undergo another four sub-stages of hot tests, concluded with a 144-hour full operation. Until now, Temelin has completed about a half of the total of 1600 tests planned for the warming-up stage. The State Office for Nuclear Safety estimates that the first reactor could switch to test operation stage towards the end of this year.

Czech weather report

And finally, the weather forecast. We are expecting a mostly cloudy day with low cloud formations throughout the country, with a chance of showers in places. The highest daytime temperatures should range from 12 to 15 degrees Celsius, in places where the clouds dissolve, up to 18 degrees. Sunday should be cloudy with scattered showers, afternoon highs should reach between 14 and 18 degrees Celsius.