News

Prague Lord Mayor Pavel Bem, who returned from a successful expedition to the Himalayas recently, has met with President Vaclav Klaus. During their meeting on Friday at Prague Castle the mayor presented Mr Klaus with an ice-axe he had used to successfully scale Mt Everest. On May 18th Mr Bem became only the tenth Czech ever to reach the top of the world's highest mountain. The 43-year-old mayor took two months of unpaid leave to go on the expedition, something he was criticised for by members of the opposition as well as the Czech president. But, Mr Klaus, himself a keen sportsman, was among the first to send congratulations.

A fifteen-year-old girl who suffered a serious head injury on in-line skates in the area of the East Moravian of Ostrava last week has died in hospital. The girl fell while going down a hill. She had not been wearing a helmet and had to undergo emergency surgery. Doctors say that the summer months see an average of 10 - 12 serious falls among youths or children on in-line skates, bike, or even on horseback in the Czech Republic. They stress that the chance of severe injury would be greatly lessoned by wearing a protective helmet. Under Czech law in-line skaters are classified as "pedestrians", meaning they are not required to wear the protective gear.

The Czech prime minister, Mirek Topolanek, says a planned US anti-missile defence system will protect the whole of the Euro-Atlantic area. Speaking in Prague at a conference about US plans to build a radar base in the Czech Republic, Mr Topolanek said unless European states expressed the will to defend themselves, they could face destruction. He pointed out that the anti-missile system was defensive, not offensive, adding that Russian criticism of the plan was aimed at weakening Euro-Atlantic ties.

US President George Bush will discuss the radar base with Mr Topolanek and the Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, in Prague at the start of next week.

Czech newspapers reported on Thursday that Mr Bush will not, as previously suggested, be accompanied by US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

The police have accused a number of witnesses of giving false testimony to the benefit of Deputy Prime Minister Jiri Cunek, who is accused of taking bribes when he was mayor of Vsetin, Pravo reported. Police described as untrue statements asserting that Mr Cunek could not have accepted a bribe in Vsetin at a stated time because the three witnesses had seen him elsewhere. They believe the witnesses themselves were elsewhere, Pravo said. Meanwhile, a police officer involved in the case will also be questioned, the daily reported. For his part Mr Cunek says the police are trying to scare witnesses and divert attention from their own mistakes.

Jiri Cunek has come under pressure to resign over the bribery allegations and other affairs. However, he has said he will not leave the cabinet, where he is also regional development minister, even if charges are filed against him.