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A spokesman for the Czech foreign ministry has said Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma will be allowed to attend this week's NATO summit in Prague. The spokesman, speaking to the German news agency DPA, said there was "no political problem" in granting a visa to Mr Kuchma. There had been speculation that Prague would refuse to allow him to attend the summit, along with the Belarussian president Alexander Lukashenko, who was denied a visa last week. Mr Kuchma's government was recently accused of selling military equipment to Iraq, a charge he denies. The president has also been implicated in the murder of an investigative journalist.

Czech police are stepping up their presence on the streets of Prague, as security arrangements for the two-day summit continue. Around 12,000 policemen will patrol the capital's streets on Thursday and Friday, in the country's largest ever security operation. Controls at border crossings have been tightened, while police marksmen will be deployed on rooftops. Rubbish bins have been removed from the city centre, amid fears of a bomb attack.

European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels are reported to have decided on May 1st, 2004 as the date for the EU's enlargement to the east. Unnamed diplomats told the Reuters news agency that the Czech Republic and the nine other leading candidates for membership would probably join the EU one year after the signing of the EU accession treaty, expected in April 2003. The diplomats said the EU believed it would take the 15 member countries 12 months to ratify the treaty.

A group of about 200 anarchists used the anniversary to protest against the upcoming NATO summit in Prague. They took the same route as the 1989 student demonstration, calling for a world free of militarism and elite groups. Marching to the sound of drums, the proponents of a new world order advocated an end to private ownership to be replaced by a system of self-government by the people. Their spokesman Jiri Krovinek told the CTK press agency that anarchists planned several peaceful protests during next week's NATO summit in Prague, but that they would defend themselves if they were attacked by the police. Sunday's anarchist march through the Czech capital passed without incident.