Press Review | All stories

Both Lidove noviny and Mlada fronta Dnes devote much of their front pages to the Czech chemical unit from the North Bohemian town of Liberec, which left for Kuwait on Monday night. Whilst Lidove noviny features a photograph of the soldiers in their new gear - special uniforms and boots for desert operations, the photo in Mlada fronta Dnes focuses on Czech President Vaclav Havel's final words of encouragement to the unit at Prague's Ruzyne airport on Monday night.

After a fairly quiet weekend on the home scene it is the Barcelona summit which dominates Monday's front pages. "The EU launches an economic revolution" , "the EU promises work for all" and the "EU aims to overtake the US" -those are some of the attention grabbing headlines splashed across today's front pages.

All of today's papers are carrying the story of Helena Cermakova, sentenced to three years in prison for criminal negligence in the death of her five-year-old daughter Tereza, who she accidentally smothered while in an alcoholic stupor. Mlada fronta Dnes features the teary- eyed Cermakova on its cover with the caption "Being a mother? She failed".

Many of today's papers carry the story of the mysterious death of Jan Masaryk, Czechoslovakia's postwar foreign minister. "It was murder," writes Lidove noviny, quoting a forensic expert. The paper also features an interview with Jan Masaryk's secretary, Antonin Sum, who maintains Masaryk committed suicide.

A colourful mix of domestic and foreign stories jostle for attention on today's front pages. There are snapshots of President Havel celebrating the third anniversary of the Czech Republic's admission to NATO at army headquarters in Prague, with Defense Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik at his side. The latter's gloomy looks are attributed to the fact that after an upbeat speech he was forced to field reporters' questions about an alleged information leak at the defense ministry and the resignation of one of his deputies.

A sombre George W. Bush appears on the front pages of all the Czech dailies today: "Remove the Parasites" reads a headline in Lidove noviny, quoting President Bush as he unveiled phase two of the "war on terrorism." Closer to home, Pravo features a photo of Monday's demonstration by construction industry employees, who are calling for five weeks of annual leave and a six percent pay rise.

All today's Czech daily newspapers carry shocking reports of an accident when a dog killed a small child in the street. This sad news shares front page space with another round of violence in the Middle East, analyses of terrorist threats and a list of countries at which the United States is reportedly planning to aim its nuclear arsenal.

Today we start with Mlada fronta Dnes and who could ignore the front cover photograph of Martina Tumova smiling a little grin at the Andel awards last night. The awards, which are held annually, are the Czech equivalent of the U.S. Grammys. And Ms Tumova, who is the manager of the band Krystof which won "Best New Artist of the Year", had the pleasure of explaining why band members had refused to accept the award personally.

There is no one story which dominates Wednesday's front pages. Mlada fronta Dnes has a huge photo of Olympic gold winner Ales Valenta, which reflects the current interest in the freestyle aerial skier - normally he would not be on the front pages for winning a competition in the east Bohemian ski resort of Spindleruv Mlyn.