News of Radio Prague
TV crisis ends at high noon
Czech Television employees have ended their strike after more than six week's. Rebellious staff signed an agreement with a new interim general manager, Jiri Balvin and ended their strike on Saturday noon. At the same moment, the inscription "on strike" disappeared from the TV screens. The strike ended after the newly appointed director fulfilled all demands of the striking staff, including a removal of three controversial members of management appointed by his predecessor, Jiri Hodac, who had to leave his post upon accusations of political bias. He also withdrew notices of dismissal the striking journalists had received from their former management and promised to pay them their salaries for the time they were on strike. Jiri Balvin was elected as interim director of the Czech public TV network, Czech Television, on Friday by the Lower House of Czech Parliament and he'll head Czech TV until the Lower House elects a new Supervisory Board, which will then appoint a new director.
Havel visits Middle East
Czech president Vaclav Havel is visiting the Middle East. The aim of his 6-day visit is to promote economic and political relations with Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. President Havel is accompanied by the Czech Army Chief Of Staff, Jiri Sedivy and a group of Czech business, such as representatives of the Czech-Arab Chamber of Commerce, aircraft makers Aero and Moravan, truck-maker Tatra and other Czech companies. This is the first ever president Havel's visit to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Temelin to go on-line again in two weeks
Nuclear fission at the Temelin power station will start again within two weeks and tests on the first block will continue. Temelin was stopped in the middle of January because of excessive vibrations of the main steam pipeline leading to the turbine. Engineers later discovered a large crack in the pipe and had to replace it. After the new tests are finished, the power station will ask the State Office for Nuclear Safety for permission to increase output to 45 percent of the nominal value.
Czech defence minister visits India, main focus on aviation
Czech defence minister Vladimir Vetchy is visiting India. He opened his visit by taking part in the international aero space show Aero India 2001 which is being held at Bangalore. On this occassion, Mr. Vetchy met with high-ranking representatives of both Indian and Czech aviation and defence industry who expressed interest in mutual cooperation. One instance of such cooperation is that between Indian aviation consortium HAL and Czech radar maker ELDIS. Besides that, India is interested in purchasing Czech-made sub-sonic multi-purpose military aircraft L-159 and in the possibility to have outdated Soviet-designed aviation technology modernised by Czech companies.
Tennis - Sweden beats Czech Republic in doubles
Sports now - and Czech tennis players Jiri Novak and David Rikl lost to Sweden's Jonas Björkman and Nicklas Kulti 2-6, 6-4, 6-8, 5-7. Sweden is leading the Czech Republic 2-1 in their Davis Cup world group first round tie after winning the doubles on Saturday. This is the first loss of the Czech couple in their Davis Cup career.
Weather forecast
And finally, let's take a look at the weather. The unseasonably high temperatures have caused troubles to mountain ski resorts around the country as much of the snow cover has melted and many facilities have been closed. In this respect, the outlook is not very bright as the warm weather is expected to continue in the next few days. Skies on Sunday should be cloudy to overcast, with scattered rain or sleet showers, and the highest daytime temperatures should range from 1 to 5 degrees Celsius. The beginning of next week should be much the same, cloudy or partially cloudy with occasional showers, with afternoon highs up to 10 degrees Celsius.
