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Officials at the Spolana chemical plant north of Prague say they have pumped out around six of the twelve to fourteen tonnes of chlorine from a partially submerged storage tank. They said specialists were converting the chlorine into a harmless chemical. Fire crews and buses are on standby to evacuate residents in the event of an emergency. Leaks of both liquid chlorine and chlorine gas from Spolana over the last ten days have alarmed the authorities and local residents. On Monday the government intervened after a second leak of chlorine into the air, and Spolana's director was sacked. No one was hurt in the leak, but crops in surrounding fields and gardens were burnt.

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:

This week's edition of Profile is not dedicated to one person as usual. During the recent floods Pavla Horakova went out and talked to people who together with the rescue crews were the real heroes of the recent events... the voluntary workers.

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 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

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 General Director of the Spolana chemical factory, Radomir Vek, has been sacked following two serious leaks of toxic chlorine gas and liquid chlorine at the flood-damaged plant, just 25 km north of Prague. The plant's board has decided to replace Mr Vek with the General Director of Chemopetrol, Miroslav Kuliha, as of Tuesday. A third degree chemical alert was called in the north Bohemian town of Neratovice and several nearby villages on Friday following an accident at Spolana in which several hundred kilograms of poisonous chlorine gas were released into the air. A Spolana representative later admitted to other flood related problems, saying that close to 80 tons of chlorine had leaked into the river Elbe when the plant was flooded.

Meanwhile, at the plant itself, Spolana's emergency committee decided on Monday to begin pumping out the remaining 12 -14 tons of chlorine, to be converted into non-toxic sodium chlorate. Since a further leak of the chlorine gas into the air cannot be ruled out, rescuers have been put on alert and evacuation buses are ready to transport residents to a secure area.

Czech police said on Monday they had recovered the body of another victim of floods that ravaged much of the country, bringing the death toll to 16. A police spokeswoman said the body of a 46-year-old man was found late on Sunday near the town of Litvinov, about 80 km north of Prague, adding that the victim probably died about 12 days earlier. Torrential rain in much of central Europe swelled rivers in the Czech Republic to record levels almost two weeks ago, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people. Many of those evacuated remain barred from returning to their homes as numerous buildings suffer structural damage. Czech government officials have estimated the cost of repairing the damage to run between 2 to 3 billion U.S. dollars.

A third degree chemical alert was announced on Friday in the town of Neratovice near Prague following an accident at the Spolana chemical plant in which several hundred kilograms of poisonous chlorine gas leaked into the air. This was the second leak in ten days and both times several hundred kilograms of chlorine were released. On top of that around 80 tons of fluid chlorine leaked into the river Elbe during the floods. Pavla Horakova has more.

The old town of Pisek, eighty kilometres south of Prague, was in the front line of last week's floods. Only as the mopping up operation begins has it become clear quite how much damage has been done. The town's best-known landmark, its medieval bridge, adorned with 18th century statues of saints, has taken a severe battering, and much of the town centre is recovering after coming under several metres of water. One of the many people who have been working as volunteers to help clear up the mess is Peter Moree, who teaches at Prague's Protestant