Press Review | All stories

Today's Czech dailies lead with a variety of stories: PRAVO reports that gas and electricity prices are to rise from the beginning of January, LIDOVE NOVINY says MPs have crudely insulted Education Minister Petra Buzkova, while MLADA FRONTA DNES leads with the story that children's hospitals around the Czech Republic are to be closed.

All the papers report on the shocking figures released by the UNAIDS and WHO organisations warning that a record three million people have died from AIDS this year. Domestically, it's a mix of stories that make the headlines ranging from Hyundai Motor's decision not to build its car plant in the Czech Republic to the increasing number of junk mail sent to Czech homes.

Monday's tragic fire at a Moscow student dormitory makes the front pages of several dailies today, with PRAVO as usual featuring a grisly and gratuitous photo of one of the victims. Also making headlines today is the ongoing situation in Georgia, and closer to home, pay rises for the country's teachers and scientists.

The dramatic weekend events in Georgia culminating in the resignation of President Eduard Sevarnadze fill the front pages of all Czech dailies. "Georgia's Velvet Revolution" reads the lead headline in today's Lidove Noviny. All the papers sport pictures of thousand-strong demonstrations in Tbilisi, reminiscent of the street protests that led to the fall of communism in former Czechoslovakia in 1989.

All today's front pages are dominated by reports on Thursday's blasts in the Turkish city of Istanbul accompanied by photos of the scenes of destruction. The papers also carry statements by the US President George W. Bush and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair condemning the attacks.

Two international stories are covered in depth on today's front pages - they are US President Bush's visit to Great Britain and the arrest warrant on the US pop idol Michael Jackson. On the domestic front, the spotlight is on next year's state budget and the latest police gaffe - the story of how a serial rapist managed to give the police the slip after he was brought handcuffed to police headquarters.

A vibrant mix of stories in today's Czech dailies, not least U.S. President Bush's visit to Great Britain - PRAVO writes that London has been transformed into a fortress. On the home front stories that dominate include: a boom in consumer retail sales, a concert protesting the rising popularity of the Communist Party, and the continuing fever for cell phones on the Czech market. But we begin first with the sensational story of a dinosaur bone find - the first ever - in the Czech Republic. As a result just about every paper features a little dinosaur

The devastation wrought by the terrorist attacks in Istanbul, the fourteenth anniversary of the student protests which led to the fall of communism in the former Czechoslovakia and possible changes in the Czech government - those are the lead stories on today's front pages.

Czech dailies do not find a common main domestic story today. While MLADA FRONTA DNES leads with a report on another fatal accident on a pedestrian crossing, LIDOVE NOVINY writes about potential Czech participation in a new television station to be launched in Iraq in February, and PRAVO on its front page discusses the question of remuneration for members of supervisory boards of state-run companies.

Today's Czech dailies all take note of the latest tragedy in Iraq - 18 Italian soldiers killed in the town of Nasiriya when a bomb went off: a soldier hangs his head at the devastation on the cover of HOSPODARSKE NOVINY while the headline proclaims "Americans look for a way to get out of Iraq". Meanwhile, other stories making the front pages include the US ambassador's role in lobbying for American F-16s for Prague, and a legal case involving the interior minister and the weekly Respekt.