News Thursday, AUGUST 03th, 2000

Hello and welcome to Radio Prague. I am Libor Kubik, and we start the program with a brief news bulletin. First the headlines:

Those were the headlines, now the news in more detail.

CZECH-TECHNO-POLICE

Police in South Bohemia say they have established the identity of the organisers of an unauthorised techno party that disturbed residents at the weekend and early this week.

The police did not rule out the possibility of pressing charges against the organisers as the party resulted in substantial damage to property and the environment.

The open-air dance extravaganza, CZECH TEK 2000, began on Friday when an estimated 5,000 young people from all over Europe set base on a 30-hectare lawn near the regional capital of Ceske Budejovice for five days of smoking pot and gyrating to blaring music. There were no incidents and the party ended on Wednesday without the police having to take action.

Mayors of several local communities have complained in a letter to the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior about what they described as lax attitudes and inaction on the part of the police.

CZECH-AIRFORCE-CRASH-GROUNDED

The Czech Air Force has grounded most of its planes including trainers after a light jet crashed Eastern Bohemia on Tuesday, killing its pilot.

The plane, a Czech-built L-29 Delfin two-seater, came down in good weather while on a routine mission near the East Bohemian town of Chrudim. Its pilot has been described as a reliable professional with thousands of flight hours to his credit.

No cause of the accident has been discovered as yet.

Exempted from the flight ban, which will be in force until the investigation is carried out, are air defence and medical evacuation flights.

CZECH-GLIDER-CRASH

In a separate incident on Wednesday, a motor glider crashed at an airfield near Vrchlabi in Eastern Bohemia. Its pilot was rushed into hospital in serious condition. No further details have been released.

CZECH-POLICE-BRIBERY

Traffic police in the Czech city of Brno are welcoming offers of bribes under a new scheme which rewards officers with bonuses equalling the tainted money they have turned down.

Brno city officials came up with the bribe bonus idea as part of an anti-corruption crusade.

Critics warn that officers could go on a bribery binge, extorting bribe offers from drivers or setting up bogus bribery scams in a bid to boost their pay packets.

But officials say the bonuses will be limited to a maximum of 100,000 Czech crowns or about 2,500 dollars per officer.

CZECH-HAVEL-HOLIDAY

The Czech President Vaclav Havel has gone on a two-week-long holiday in Portugal to oversee repair work on an Atlantic Coast property he and his wife Dagmar bought recently.

However, his spokesman says that Mr. Havel will also have some rest and will write speeches for his upcoming autumn travelling schedule.

With both the Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman and Lower House Speaker Vaclav Klaus also away on holiday, the duties of the head of state have been temporarily assumed by Senate Chairwoman Libuse Benesova.

CZECH-SOCCER

Football -- and Slavia Prague scored an easy 4-1 away victory in Baku over Azerbaijan champions Samkir on Wednesday to advance into the Champions League third qualifying roud 5-1 on aggregate.

Slavia, who reached the UEFA Cup quarter-finals last season, will play Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine for a place in the Champions League.

CZECH-WEATHER

And we end as usual with a quick look at the weather.

Thursday will be a wet day here in the Czech Republic, with early morning lows between 13 and 17 degrees Celsius and afternoon highs between 21 and 25 degrees.

Friday will bring more scattered showers and daytime temperatures between 19 and 23 Celsius in Bohemia, and between 21 and 25 degrees in Moravia and Silesia.

I'm Libor Kubik and that's the end of the news.