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September 2nd marks the day an amazing 655 years ago that one of the most important and influential rulers of the Czech kingdom, was crowned - his name: Charles IV. The son of John of Luxembourg, Charles was named King of Bohemia in 1347; he was the first Czech monarch to become the King of the Romans, and, in 1355, Holy Roman Emperor - effectively making him the secular head of all of Western Christendom.

The European Union's Commissioner for Enlargement, Gunter Verheugen, gave the Czech government reasons to be satisfied on Thursday, when he said that to all intents and purposes the EU already considered the Czech Republic an EU member. The main reason for his brief visit to the country on Thursday was to look at the damage caused by the recent catastrophic floods, and to offer EU support. Radio Prague's David Vaughan joined Mr Verheugen as he visited one of the most devastated parts of old Prague.

If you were to stand along the embankment of the Vltava river that runs through Prague, you would no longer find it to be a romantic and soothing experience but would probably be forced to turn away in disgust instead. With over sixty water treatment facilities damaged by the devastating floods that hit the country at the start of the month, waste from the sewer system is now being flushed directly into several Czech rivers. Whilst in most cases the situation is under control, the amount of waste in the Vltava river that runs through the Czech

Transparency International has just published its Corruption Perceptions Index for 2002. The Czech Republic is half way down the list of 102 states, ranking 52nd. Earlier today, Daniela Lazarova spoke to the executive director of the Czech branch of Transparency International Adriana Krnacova and asked her what she thinks of the Czech Republic's rating .

To compensate damages caused by recent severe floods in the Czech Republic, the cabinet is considering to temporarily increase income tax for the rich. All those who earned more than a million crowns a year would have to pay to the state 37 percent from their annual income over the next three years. Alena Skodova has this report:

One of Prague's main tourist attractions, the famous Charles Bridge has reopened to public again after being closed for two weeks due to the floods. It is just one example how quickly historic Czech towns and cities were able to recover from the devastating floods to be able to welcome tourists again. Vladimir Tax has the details.

The U.S. embassy in Prague has been more than actively involved in trying to raise U.S. financial aid and humanitarian aid to the Czech Republic, recovering from recent catastrophic floods. Earlier today I spoke to U.S. embassy official Lisa Helling and asked her how the U.S. embassy's activities in finding and providing assistance were developing...

The catastrophic floods which knocked out much of Prague's underground system also swept away the myth of an infallible system which would protect thousands against a nuclear war. The metro staff, who believed in the system, are now coming to terms with the disillusionment and are trying to find out why exactly the protection was not so watertight after all. Pavla Horakova has the following report.

The people of the small town of Neratovice, just a few kilometres north of Prague have had a frightening few days. Not only was the town seriously affected by the huge flood wave that swept through the Czech Republic last week, but they have also been living in constant fear from the huge Spolana chemical plant on the edge of the town. A series of leaks that occurred at Spolana have led even the Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla, to ask serious questions about how prepared Spolana's management was for the floods. David Vaughan reports