News of Radio Prague
Czech economic performance expected to catch up with EU slowly
The Czech economic performance measured by per capita GDP is expected to catch up with the European Union only very slowly. A recent study by leading economic experts from Czech universities suggests that the Czech per capita GDP will grow from the current 60 percent of the EU average to 70 percent by 2010, which is seven years after the country's expected accession. Although the Czech Republic is significantly lagging behind the EU in economic performance, it is the second most advanced candidate country, after Slovinia. Economic performance of most of the other candidates is lower than 50 percent of the EU average. The Czech Republic's economic level is approximately the same as that of Ireland and Greece at the moment of their accession, and much higher than Portugal's, which was only 52 percent of the rest of the EU.
Police arrest two men carrying military ammunition
The police in the Southern town of Cesky Krumlov arrested two men who carried a substantial amount of military ammunition and disassembled weapons in their car. The two men claimed to have found the Russian- and German-made ammunition, such as hand grenades, cannon shells, anti-aircraft gun shells and others, in the countryside. They were charged with illegal possession of weapons and the police continue investigating the case.
Railway traffic renewed in Western Bohemia after accident
Traffic has been renewed on one of rail tracks in Western Bohemia which was damaged on Friday by a collision of two trains. Just before 4am on Friday, a military train transporting equipment collided with a local freight train near the town of Karlovy Vary. A Czech train driver was killed and 14 U.S. soldiers were injured in the accident which the Czech Railways officials say was caused by human error. Some 2,000 U.S. soldiers are due to take part in training exercises with Czech forces in Western Bohemia next week.
Soccer - Liberec claim league title
Slovan Liberec won the Czech football league title for the first time in the club's history on Friday, ending Sparta Prague's run of five consecutive titles in the Czech league. Liberec began the last round of the first division season one point ahead of Viktoria Zizkov and appeared to have blown their title chances in a 2-1 defeat by Bohemians. Viktoria appeared to be on their way to the title - they beat Liberec in both their matches and needed only a draw in the last match, but lost to Slavia 1-0. The narrow defeat was doubly costly for Zizkov as it allowed Sparta to move into second place and claim the second Champions League spot. Zizkov finished third.
Czech weather report
We are expecting a mostly cloudy day with rain showers, the highest daytime temperatures should range from 18 to 23 degrees Celsius.
