News of Radio Prague

NATO summit ends in Prague

The NATO summit came to an end in Prague on Friday after two days of talks on the enlargement, transformation and modernisation of the alliance. Leaders of the 53-year-old defence organisation made the historic decision to invite a further seven former Eastern Bloc nations to join, and for the first time the expansion is to include countries which were once part of the Soviet Union. NATO leaders also decided to create a rapid Response Force to be used in global anti-terrorist missions, and issued a statement backing UN efforts to disarm Iraq. However the statement did not go so far as to endorse military intervention overtly. On Friday, representatives of the 19 NATO member states met their counterparts from 27 East European and Central Asian nations that have partnership accords with the alliance.

Ukraine says it will support probe into alleged radar sale to Iraq, Kuchma attends summit meeting

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister Anatoly Zlenko said at the Prague NATO summit on Friday that his government was co-operating with a probe into allegations that Kiev approved the sale of a Kolchuga early warning radar system to Iraq. However, Mr Zlenko said that Ukraine could not give out all data on Kolchuga sales. British and American experts have been investigating claims that Kiev authorised the radar sale to Baghdad. Speaking to journalists on Friday, Mr Zlenko said that Kiev was "really frustrated by the unreasonable conclusions of the expert team" that reported Ukraine failed to present convincing evidence that it did not sell a Kolchuga to Iraq.

Despite blunt warnings that he was not welcome due to the accusations, the Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma attended a NATO Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council meeting on Friday. In order to avoid having the Ukrainian head of state seated next to the "United Kingdom" and "United States" delegates, summit organisers used French, NATO's second official language, for the alphabetical arrangement of the nations at the session table. In this way Mr Kuchma ended up sitting next to the president of Turkey, seven seats away from British Prime Minister Tony Blair and more than 30 seats away from U.S. President Bush.

NATO press conference protesters released from police custody, Havel apologises for incident

Two men who disrupted a news conference concluding the NATO summit on Friday have been charged with breaching the peace. During NATO Secretary General George Robertson's closing speech, the men attempted to throw a tomato at Mr Robertson and shouted anti-alliance slogans in Russian. After security officials hauled the protesters out of the room, one of them said he was a Russian National Bolshevik Party activist. The two protesters were accredited as journalists. Both were released from police custody on Friday evening. Lord Robertson took the incident with humour, saying that the tomato had now become historic as it was thrown during a historic NATO summit. Czech President Vaclav Havel apologised to Lord Robertson after the incident.

Prague gets back to normal after NATO summit

Meanwhile, with the NATO summit being over, Prague is gradually getting back to normal. Those who left the city or stayed home for fear of getting caught in demonstrations are returning to their normal lives. Despite further protest demonstrations scheduled to be held in several parts of the city, Prague streets remained quiet on Saturday. Police who were called in during the summit from the rest of the country are being sent back home.

Spidla: Poland and Hungary could join Czech-Slovak co-operation in airspace protection

The Czech Prime Minister, Vladimir Spidla, said on Saturday that he would not be against Hungary and Poland participating in a Czech-Slovak joint plan to defend their airspace. Mr Spidla was speaking at a meeting of students from NATO member states and countries in the Partnership for Peace in Prague. On Friday, the Czech and Slovak defence ministers agreed to start talks on the project. The Czech government first brought up the idea on Monday after it cancelled a planned contract to purchase 24 JAS-39 Gripen fighter jets to replace the country's ageing fleet of Soviet MIGs.

Albright receives award in Prague

The former US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, has received an award in Prague in acknowledgement of her international public service. The award was given by the Prague Society for International Cooperation which is chaired by former South African President F.W. de Klerk. Mrs Albright devoted the award to the respected Czech journalist Petra Prochazkova, who has spent several years working in Chechnya and more recently in Afghanistan.

Polish border police detain six Chechens

Polish border police said on Saturday they had detained a Polish national and six Chechens who were trying to cross the border into the Czech Republic illegally. Only a few days beforehand the group of Chechens had applied for refugee status in Poland. The detained Chechens include three children. The 39-year old Polish citizen admitted to having received 350 U.S. dollars for his help in smuggling the group across the border.

Police still investigating chemical plant fire

Czech police are still investigating what caused a fire at a chemical plant on Thursday night. The Spolchemie plant in the North Bohemian town of Usti nad Labem manufactures synthetic resins, dyes, and cosmetics. The residents of the town were told to close all windows and stay indoors to avoid toxic smoke. No injuries were reported. The fire burnt down one of the plant's buildings leaving some one hundred employees temporarily without work.

Czech gardeners receive silver medal at Floriade 2002

Czech gardeners have come back from the Floriade 2002 international horticultural exhibition in the Netherlands with a silver medal. The Czech stand covered an area of 400 m2. According to the Czech Floriade 2002 Association, the exhibition was a success for the whole country as it now is one of Europe's leaders in horticulture along with the Netherlands, Spain and France.

Weather

Sunday is expected to have partially cloudy skies with occasional showers throughout the country. Temperatures will range between 6 and 10 degrees Celsius.