Press Review | All stories

Lidove Noviny writes that some MPs for the ruling Social Democrats want the US authorities to abolish visas for Czech citizens in return for Czech participation in US-led military missions. The head of the foreign affairs committee in the lower house, Social Democrat Vladimir Lastuvka, tells Lidove Noviny that the situation is unsustainable. According to him, either the US should abolish visas for Czechs, or the Czech Republic should introduce visas for Americans.

The year of the Monkey has started - that appears to be the main international story in today's Czech papers. On the domestic front, the dailies offer a mixed bag of stories on their front pages.

One person is featured on most covers of today's dailies and that is Czech actress Jirina Bohdalova, the popular star of countless movies, who won an important case in court on Wednesday against the Interior Ministry. Mrs Bohdalova filed charges after the ministry included her name on a list last year outlining collaborators with the former communist regime's secret police, the StB. However, MLADA FRONTA DNES indicates that in spite of her success the actress remains unhappy with the ruling. The reason? At the end of day her name will not be struck

The State of the Union address by US President George Bush is the only foreign news making headlines in the papers today. MLADA FRONTA DNES also features a photograph of US Senator and candidate for the Democrat presidential nomination John Kerry. Mr Kerry, who is celebrating after unexpectedly winning the Iowa caucus, has roots in the Czech Republic, the paper writes. Domestically, it's the price hike expected in restaurants as of May 1, and the arrest of two Czech nationals in New Zealand, accused of smuggling protected plants that dominate the

There's a mixed bag of stories on the front pages of today's dailies - news that Vladimir Zelezny could have a chance of regaining control of the country's most popular commercial TV station Nova, the latest fatal road accident in which four young people died when another vehicle failed to give way at a crossroads, and proposals by Interior Minister Stanislav Gross for the Czech president to be elected in a direct vote, rather than today's parliamentary system.

Perhaps no story draws more attention in today's Czech dailies than President Vaclav Klaus' visit at Milos Zeman's cottage in the Vysocina region. The two men - who are former political rivals of the highest calibre - both ran for the Czech presidency last year, a race Mr Klaus eventually won. Former prime minister Milos Zeman welcomed Mr Klaus at his cottage on Sunday with typical Czech fare - a selection of pork dishes from a zabijacka or recent pig slaughter. The two men spoke for about two-and-a-half hours - in the end saying they had just

Continued controversy over who should be the Czech Republic's EU commissioner, efforts by the Christian Democratic Party to push through much tougher punishment for violent crimes and the 35th anniversary of the self-immolation of Jan Palach in protest of the Soviet led invasion of Czechoslovakia - those are the main stories on most of today's front pages.

Among the domestic topics in today's dailies the one that dominates is the likely candidacy of former Environment Minister and current Social Democrat MP Milos Kuzvart for the post of Czech European Commissioner. The papers also pay a good deal of attention to a new clause in the labour code which defines sexual harassment as a criminal offence.

The return home of two Czech prisoners serving 50 year jail sentences for heroin smuggling in Thailand is splashed across today's front pages. "Handcuffed, behind bars, but home" reads the lead headline in Mlada Fronta Dnes.

The return of two Czech drug mules from Thai prisons to see out their sentences in Czech jails receives a lot of attention in Tuesday's dailies, as does the ongoing search for a Czech European commissioner. LIDOVE NOVINY reports that most of the governing Social Democrats' potential candidates lack the language requirements for the job.