Press Review | All stories

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.

The fallout from the TV Nova drama continues to dominate the papers: the personnel changes following the departure of director Vladimir Zelezny make the front pages today. Also making the papers is planned industrial action in protest at the government's budget reforms.

Today's papers are all dominated by domestic stories ranging from Dominik Hasek's aggressive fit during a hockey game to the government's unsuccessful clean hands campaign. NATO's plan to have the Czech Republic establish a new multi-national battalion to protect the alliance against weapons of mass destruction is one of few international stories making the front pages.

All of today's Czech dailies take full note of neighbouring Slovakia's weekend referendum on EU accession, in which low voter turn-out almost derailed an otherwise overwhelmingly pro-EU decision. Of the Slovaks who voted, 92 percent voted for accession, while just 6 percent voted against. Still, voter turn-out overall leaves something to be desired: only 52 percent of eligible voters took part in the plebiscite, a mere 2 percent higher than the minimum threshold. MLADA FRONTA DNES writes that after the dramatic results were released an enthusiastic

What looks like the final instalment in the TV Nova saga dominates the front pages today - all the papers lead with news that the Czech Republic finally paid 335 million dollars in compensation to the station's former investors on Thursday, after the country lost a final appeal in an international court of arbitration. The papers also carry more details of Vladimir Zelezny's dramatic departure from the post of General Director.

Two domestic stories share the limelight on today's front pages - they are the dismissal of TV NOVA boss Vladimir Zelezny and the continuing search for a blackmailer who has threatened to poison hospital food with cyanide unless he receives 300 million crowns.

The suicide bombings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in which over thirty people died, and the anonymous blackmailer threatening to poison hospital food make the front-page headlines in all of the main papers today. A mix of photographs are also featured ranging from US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Riyadh to a man in a medieval costume at a demonstration against pension reform in Paris.

The government's trip to Brno features heavily on the front pages today - Pravo shows Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla and cabinet colleague Zdenek Skromach helping themselves to traditional Moravian cakes and glasses of wine in the town square, while Mlada Fronta Dnes features a rather intimate photo of Interior Minister Stanislav Gross kissing a member of a Moravian folk group. The government needs all the positive publicity it can get: the widespread public finance reforms unveiled in Brno have been criticised by both unions and right-wing economists.

All of today's papers lead with the same story, the government's plans to reform the public finance system. Canada's victory over Sweden in the finals at the World Ice Hockey Championships also makes the headlines in most of the main dailies. On the international front, it's US President George Bush's dissatisfaction with his team in Iraq and the recent car accident that left three Czech soldiers injured in Basra, that make the front pages.