News Tuesday, MAY 30th, 2000

Prague hosts transport ministers session

Prague is hosting a session of European ministers of transport. Almost 250 delegates from more than 40 countries arrived in the Czech capital to discuss sustainable transport, integration of the European transport system, railway reform and fiscal harmonization of road transport. The Czech Republic also wants to raise the issue of possible utilisation of EU funds for investment in Czech transport projects.

The Conference of European Transport Ministers was established in 1953 in Paris by 17 West European countries. The organisation now has 39 regular members and its aim is effective utilisation and development of European international transport.

More EU anti-dumping proceedings against CR

The European Commission has initiated anti-dumping proceedings against Czech exporters of steel cables. The same measure has been taken against five other countries. An association of European steel cable producers had accused producers and exporters from the Czech Republic, South Korea, Malaysia, Russia, Thailand and Turkey of massive exports of this commodity to the EU at dumping prices, which seriously damaged European producers. The European Commission has held several anti-dumping proceedings against the Czech Republic in recent years, such as the case involving seamless steel tubes and iron fittings.

US experts to help build Czech Army command and control system

US experts will help the Czech Army to build a unified command and control system from scratch. The US army will then use the experience in integrating its five different and mutually incompatible systems. The new automated system, compatible with NATO, will enable the Czech Republic to get rid of its out-dated, manually controlled system from the Warsaw-pact era.

Number of Internet users growing fast

The number of Internet users in the Czech Republic has increased rapidly over the past six months. A survey conducted by the GfK agency suggests that 16 percent of Czechs between 15 and 79 years of age use the Internet. This is 60 percent more than half a year ago. Most of these people are young men. However, some 80 percent of Czech population have never used the Internet.

Czech weather report

And finally, the weather forecast. We are expecting a mostly cloudy day with scattered showers, afternoon highs should range from 15 to 19 degrees Celsius. Wednesday should be much the same -- cloudy with showers, with temperatures between 14 and 18 degrees Celsius.

And that's the end of the news.