News of Radio Prague

Havel meets Annan, calls for "clear demands" to Iraq

President Vaclav Havel, currently on a six-day state visit to the United States, has met the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York. The two men stressed the importance of a U.N. Security Council resolution on Iraq. President Havel said any resolution on Iraq should lay down clear demands, but if such demands were rejected, the path to military action would be open. Mr Havel stressed that any action should be carried out by a broad international coalition, possibly involving NATO.

Havel: new skyscrapers should replace World Trade Center

Earlier President Havel said new skyscrapers should be built on the site of the World Trade Center, destroyed in last year's terrorist attacks on the U.S. Mr Havel said skyscrapers were an integral part of Manhattan, and new ones should be built at Ground Zero. He was speaking after visiting the site with the former mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani. Mr Havel awarded Mr Giulani a Czech state medal for his courage and determination during last year's attacks

Deputy PM: if coalition collapses, CSSD will seek Communist support

A deputy prime minister in the Social Democrat government has said if the present centre-left coalition falls, his party will include the Communist Party in talks on support for a minority government. Deputy Prime Minister Pavel Rychetsky said if the coalition was brought down by the right-of-centre Freedom Union, the Social Democrats would look for support among all parties in parliament, including the Communists. The Social Democrats passed a resolution several years banning co-operation with the Communists at national government level.

Svoboda, Ferrero-Waldner to capitalise on post-flood solidarity

Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda is to meet his Austrian counterpart Benita Ferrero-Waldner for talks next Tuesday in South Bohemia. Mr Svoboda said recently that relations between the two countries had improved enormously, due to the solidarity shown between Czechs and Austrians during the recent catastrophic floods. The two ministers will tour the towns of Cesky Krumlov, Ceske Budejovice and Trebon, all of which suffered extensive damage during the floods.

Two hundred attend anti-war demonstration in Prague

Around 200 people have attended an anti-war demonstration in Prague, organised by anarchist groups. Demonstrators listened to speeches against the forthcoming NATO summit in Prague. Police said the demonstration was peaceful, although two people were arrested for minor offences.

Weather forecast

Sunday will be another cool and cloudy day, with rain and showers in places. Temperatures in the daytime will range from 11 to 16 degrees Celsius, falling at night to lows of five degrees.