News Sunday, JULY 04th, 1999
Hello and welcome to the programme. We begin as usual with a look at the main newsstories this hour:
Those were the headlines and now the news in more detail
Havel criticizes Parliament
President Havel has criticized Parliament's schizophrenic stand regarding the Social Democrat government. He was referring to the fact that on Friday the Lower House severely criticized the Cabinet's performance in its first year in office and even approved a resolution saying that the present government was detrimental to the state of Czech society 'yet the house turned down a resolution asking the Cabinet to resign. This was due to the fact that the opposition agreement between the two strongest political parties in the country , the governing Social Democrats and the right wing Civic Democratic Party, prevents the Civic Democrats from supporting a no-confidence vote in the Social Democrat Cabinet.' To my way of thinking either a government is detrimental to the state and gets a no-confidence vote, or it is not and remains in office, President Havel pointed out. It is schizophrenic actions such as this that paralyze the political life in this country and lead to growing distrust on the part of the public, he added. It was an indirect attack on Vaclav Klaus' Civic Democratic Party which other opposition leaders accuse of engaging in a hidden grand coalition with the Social Democratic Party.
Buss accident kills one, injures 18
A Czech tourist bus heading for Spain has crashed in the south of France , killing one person and injuring 18 others. French police authorities say the accident happened in the early hours of the day on the A9 highway . The Czech bus driver appears to have lost control and collided with an oncoming vehicle. An investigation is still underway.
Czech troops arrive in Macedonia
The first part of a 160-strong Czech reconnaissance unit which is to serve within KFOR in Kosovo has arrived in Macedonia after a tiring six day train ride through Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. In Skopje, the unit is to receive further orders. The Czech troops are to come under British command in Kosovo and will fulfill classical reconnaissance tasks, including pre and post-action monitoring of personnel and troop movements. The unit has a large number of bomb disposal experts which are in high demand in Kosovo today.
Illegal migrants detained
Czech border patrols have detained 77 illegal migrants in their attempt to cross the Czech Republic's eastern border with Slovakia. Five were from India and 72 from Afghanistan. Of the group 26 were children. All were heading west, preferably to Germany. 4 Slovak smugglers who had been leading the group were arrested .
Weather
We're enjoying a tropical heatwave here in central Europe. Sundays temps should hover between 28 and 32 degs C. There's a possibility of brief , heat related thunderstorms in the late afternoon hours. Monday's temps are expected to climb higher still to between 30 and 34 degs.
