The Czech government has declared a nationwide state of emergency as rising rivers threatened to burst their banks and flood the capital Prague and other towns. From Prague here's Rob Cameron. As the rain falls and the river rises, the people of Prague arrange for an anxious night. Metal flood barriers and sandbags have gone up along the embankments. Most of the metro is closed, and all of the city school children have been told to stay at home tomorrow. A riverside hospital has been evacuated, the city's iconic Charles Bridge is closed. Across the country the floods brought destruction and at least two deaths with several people missing. The river Vltava rises in the woods and hills of South Bohemia, it's burst its banks in many places and its tributaries are overflowing. Other countries in central Europe are also reinforcing their flood defenses, water levels on the Rhine, the Danube and many tributaries are at dangerous levels.
World News from the BBC
Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa demanding the release of jailed journalists and activists. Protesters, many of them from an opposition movement, shouted slogans calling for freedom and justice. The rally was the first major demonstration since 2005, and hundreds were killed in postelection unrest. Here is our Africa Editor Richard Hamilton. The sight of thousands of protesters on the streets of Addis Ababa is a rare show of opposition to the governing party, the EPRDF, which maintains strict control over public life. However, the fact that was given permission to be held at all and passed off peacefully, suggest that the Ethiopia's new Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, who succeed Meles Zenawi after his death last year may be more tolerant than his predecessor, as such a large rally would have been unthinkable under Prime Minister Meles.