News of Radio Prague
Klaus leaves hospital
Czech President Vaclav Klaus was released from hospital on Friday afternoon and is feeling better, according to a spokesman. Mr Klaus was admitted to a Prague hospital on Thursday evening after falling ill following a tennis game. The 62-year-old president, elected in February, has generally been in good health apart from a bout of tonsillitis in July when he also complained of joint pain. A spokesman for the President's Office said Mr Klaus had undergone medical checks in a Prague hospital and that his illness was probably related to dehydration and hot weather. Mr Klaus, an avid sportsman, fell ill after playing tennis during a holiday break in the West Bohemian spa town of Karlovy Vary.
Spidla: state coped well with last year's floods
Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla has said that one year one after last August's floods it can be said that the state coped well with the natural disaster. Mr Spidla said that the Integrated Rescue System had learnt a lesson from the floods in Moravia in 1997 and reacted in a more flexible manner last year. From August 2002 until the end of July 2003, the Ministry for Local Development paid 1.8 billion crowns to compensate for damage caused by the floods. 116 million crowns have been paid to finance demolitions, 90 billion was spent for temporary lodging, and one billion for repairs of houses and flats. Mr Spidla said that thanks to the good rescue system combined with people's unbelievable courage and effort the floods had been coped with much better than had been expected.
Czech tourist injured in Lefkada earthquake still in hospital
The Czech tourist who suffered head injuries in Thursday's earthquake on the Greek island of Lefkada, remains in the intensive care unit of the hospital in the mainland town of Ioannina. A representative of the travel agency that organised the holiday has said that previous examinations have not shown any signs of brain damage or internal injury, however, the injured man remains under anaesthetics and still awaits further examinations. The Czech tourist and his wife were injured as they fell from a motorcycle, after they were hit by falling rocks during the earthquake. The woman suffered only a slight injury to one leg. The island of Lefkada, in the Ionian Sea off the west coast of Greece, was struck on Thursday morning by an earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale.
Czechs clean up as storm wreaks chaos and breaks heat wave
Communities in the central part of the Czech Republic were cleaning up on Friday after an overnight wind storm ripped off roofs and toppled trees. One man was killed and his companion injured when a falling tree crushed their car near the town of Louny in Central Bohemia. Elsewhere winds gusting to 25 metres per second damaged homes, a school near the Central Bohemian town of Nymburk, and a former brewery north of Prague. Some areas were left without electricity on Friday night. With the havoc, though, the storm brought cool relief to the country, breaking a heat wave marked by record-high temperatures in Prague and other cities this week.
Couple charged with six counts of murder
Police say they are investigating the largest series of murders in the history of Czech criminal science that were committed in 2001 and 2002 in East, Central and South Bohemia. Police are suspecting a 47-year-old man and his 44-year-old wife of killing and robbing eight, mostly old, people and later disguising the deaths as suicides or accidents. The couple have so far been charged with six counts of murder and one attempted murder. If convicted, they face up to 25 years in prison, or a life sentence.
Weather
Saturday should be partly cloudy with daytime temperatures between 22 and 28 degrees Celsius. Sunday should be cloudy but temperatures should be higher - at 26 to 30 degrees Celsius.
