Vaclav Klaus

Political heavyweights and economic experts from all corners of the globe will converge on this Swiss resort city on Thursday to ponder ways of pulling industrial nations out of an economic slump. The five-day World Economic Forum is chaired by former German Foreign Minister Hans Dietrich Genscher, former Bundesbank chairman Karl Otto Pohl and Sony Corp. head Akio Morita.

Czech television workers Saturday agreed to end their seven-week strike after Parliament chose an interim director who immediately ousted top managers whose political ties had touched off the protest. Pledging to take a tough line, interim director Jiri Balvin ended disruption in the newsroom by dumping managers loyal to former chief Jiri Hodac.

In the first election since the Czech Republic split from Slovakia, the center-right coalition of Premier Vaclav Klaus was holding a slim lead over leftist rivals, according to preliminary results Saturday. As expected, Czech voters did not appear to follow the lead of other former Soviet-bloc nations in returning ex-Communists to power. It was not clear Saturday whether Klaus' coalition would win enough support for a comfortable majority in parliament. Final results were expected today.

Parliament on Thursday approved the former East Bloc's most ambitious plan yet to return property nationalized by communists to its previous owners. Legislators then moved on to another cornerstone of the government's plan to end its control over the economy--a bill to turn much of industry over to private hands. As much as $10.

The leaders of the Czech and Slovak republics agreed late Wednesday to dissolve the Czechoslovak federation on Jan. 1. The announcement was made after eight hours of talks between Czech Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus and his Slovak counterpart, Vladimir Meciar, in the south-central city of Brno. "On January 1, there will be two republics, two states," said Meciar. "I am sure we shall be able to form better relations with Slovakia than we have now," said Klaus.

Vaclav Havel, who helped Czechoslovakia break free of communism but as president couldn't stop it from splitting in two, was elected president of the new Czech Republic on Tuesday. A playwright who led the 1989 "Velvet Revolution," Havel was Czechoslovakia's first post-Communist president and remains the best-known Czech politician at home and abroad. Even many of his opponents said they could imagine no one else as the new republic's first president.

Angry Czechs flooded the streets of Prague Wednesday in numbers not seen since November 1989, when massive demonstrations helped topple the Communist regime. This time demonstrators were venting frustration with the government's attempts to manipulate the media through political appointments. Underlying the protest is growing distrust of government, an encouraging sign that freedom of the press has become an important part of the political fabric throughout Central Europe.

The leaders of Czechoslovakia's two deeply divided parts said Thursday they have agreed on how to split the country peacefully. Czech Premier Vaclav Klaus and his Slovak counterpart, Vladimir Meciar, said they will ask Parliament to pass a law to wind up the Czechoslovak federation. "We'd like the Federal Assembly to pass the law by September 30," Klaus, sitting alongside Meciar, told a news conference in the Slovak capital, Bratislava.

The beleaguered director of Czech state television faced growing pressure to quit over alleged political bias Thursday as politicians decided to speed up a legal amendment that could end his rule within weeks. The director, Jiri Hodac, was taken to a hospital after what appeared to be a breakdown from exhaustion. Doctors said later that his condition had stabilized. Hodac's ailment is the latest twist in a bitter 2-week-old conflict over independent reporting at state-run Czech Television.

Vaclav Havel, the playwright who led the "Velvet Revolution" against communism, stepped down as president Monday after failing to halt Czechoslovakia's disintegration. The resignation left the country without a president as its Czech and Slovak regions moved toward a formal dissolution of the 74-year-old nation. Unlike in Yugoslavia and parts of the former Soviet Union, a peaceful split appears certain.