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The record increase in wages makes the front pages of all papers today, followed by strikes in Austria and France that have brought everything to a standstill and the US-Arab summit in Egypt at which US President George Bush got positive responses from Arab leaders to the so-called Road Map to Peace in the Middle East conflict.

Government cutbacks dominate most of Tuesday's front pages, with trade unions in several sectors threatening protests. On its front page, MLADA FRONTA DNES also reports on divisions within the opposition Civic Democrats over next week's referendum on European Union membership.

Monday's papers all lead with different stories. Internationally, the G8 summit in Evian and celebrations in St. Petersburg make the front pages. The G8 summit is in full swing in France, and thousands of anti-globalisation protesters have brought chaos to the streets of Evian and Lausanne in nearby Switzerland on the other side of Lake Geneva. In Russia, it's the three hundredth anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg that makes the headlines. Meanwhile, Defence Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik's repeated resignations and objections to reform in

There's just one story for the papers today: the surprise resignation - now withdrawn - of Jaroslav Tvrdik. His U-turn came too late for the dailies of course, and pictures of a glum-looking Mr Tvrdik are splashed across the front pages. The country's most widely read paper - the tabloid BLESK -- sums it all up with the words "Tvrdik Packs His Bags!" Except now he's unpacking them.

Questions about the whereabouts of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and the 50th anniversary of Edmund Hillary's historic conquering of Mount Everest are both topics on the front pages of the Czech papers today. MLADA FRONTA DNES and LIDOVE NOVINY feature the same photo of Hillary on their covers, quoting his appeal to the Nepalese government on Wednesday to stop issuing climbing permits to scale the fabled peak. In his view, the world's highest mountain now needs a rest from tourist ascents for at least a few years. Meanwhile on the home scene,

Wednesday's Czech dailies offer a mixed bag of headlines. HOSPODARSKE NOVINY leads with the story that the disease SARS - which has not been detected in the Czech Republic - could cost the country billions as tourists from Asia choose not to travel.

The latest scandal to hit the Czech Republic is splashed across Tuesday's front pages. "Where are NATO's top secret documents?" asks the lead headline in Mlada Fronta Dnes, aptly placed next to a snapshot of NATO Secretary General George Robertson and Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla. Mr Robertson could see for himself how secret documents are handled in the Czech Republic, the paper says.

All the papers today lead with news that police have caught the alleged "cyanide blackmailer" - a thirty-year-old man accused of threatening to poison hospital food with cyanide. LIDOVE NOVINY not only publishes the suspect's full name, but also carries a front-page photo of his house near Benesov. So much for the concept of innocent until proven guilty...

All of today's papers unanimously lead with yesterday's vote of the lower house approving a hike in the value-added tax from five to twenty-two percent as of January next year. MLADA FRONTA DNES reports that this move will increase monthly expenses for every Czech family by several hundred crowns. The rise in VAT will increase the prices of certain services, such as using both mobiles phones and land lines, or the services of lawyers, tax consultants and real-estate agencies.

The first suspected case of SARS in the Czech Republic, the international anti-smoking convention - which the Czech Republic has also signed - and the planned trade union protest in the Moravian city of Ostrava - those are the lead stories on Thursday's front pages.