Press Review | All stories

The outcome of the Spanish elections in the light of the Madrid massacre, the security situation in Europe and President Putin's election victory in Russia -those are the lead stories on today's front pages. Election terror brings Spaniards to the polls, says a headline in Lidove Noviny. "It was Al Qaeda" reads the headline in today's Pravo, while Mlada Fronta Dnes has picked a horrifying quote from the Al Qaeda videotape acknowledging responsibility for the massacre "we like dying as much as you like living".

All the Czech dailies dedicate most of their front page space to Thursday's terrorist attacks in the Spanish capital Madrid in which almost 200 people died and around 1,400 were injured. All papers carry photos of the scenes of devastation as well as pictures of rescue workers and medical personnel helping the victims.

All of Thursday's dailies feature cover photos of former Finance Minister Ivo Svoboda and his former assistant Barbora Snopkova leaving court after being handed down guilty sentences for fraud. The baseball-capped Mr Sovoboda and bee-hived Mrs Snopkova look visibly shaken by the verdict, which sent both sent to prison for five years. Both immediately appealed the decisions. If the sentences are confirmed it will mark the first time a former government minister in the Czech Republic spends time behind bars.

All Czech dailies are unanimous in their choice of the main story today: the government's failure to push through a bill on rents in a vote which experts said would test the strength of the ruling coalition. Mlada Fronta Dnes says that the important bill was not refused by the lower house just because of two MPs that recently left the junior coalition Freedom Union. The reason was that several coalition MPs were on foreign trips and the opposition easily rejected the bill, Mlada Fronta Dnes explains.

Iraq's new interim constitution, hailed as an important step on the road to democracy, the reasons behind the record unemployment in the Czech Republic and the future of the governing coalition following the latest rift within one of the smaller parties in government are the main topics on most front pages.

All today's papers analyse the current tension in the governing coalition. Similar headlines in Mlada Fronta Dnes, Lidove Noviny and Pravo say that the junior coalition partner Freedom Union has decided to stay in the government after all. Lidove Noviny writes that after a five-hour long meeting on Sunday night, the national committee of the Freedom Union gave its chairman and Deputy Prime Minister Petr Mares a vote of confidence.

All Czech dailies carry photos of Czech President Vaclav Klaus and European Commission President Romano Prodi who met yesterday in Brussels to discuss issues of European Union enlargement and the future of its financing.

U.S. presidential hopeful John Kerry's overwhelming victory in Super Tuesday makes the front pages of all the dailies today. The elaborately coiffured Democrat - who reportedly has some Czech blood running through his veins - is shown kissing his wife and daughters after winning nine out of ten states in Tuesday's primaries.

The massacre in Iraq fills the front pages of all dailies, with Lidove Noviny describing it as the worst day since the end of the war. There are horrifying reports by foreign correspondents and speculation regarding who is directly responsible for the efforts to bring about a civil war.

All the Czech papers lead with Monday's shocking murder of a teacher who was stabbed by his student in the east Bohemian town of Svitavy. The Academy Awards that were held in Los Angeles early on Monday morning CET also make the front pages, with the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King emerging as the clear winner of the night with a record eleven Oscars. But it was not a lucky night for the Czech film industry as Zelary, the Czech nominee in the Foreign Film category, came close but not close enough, the papers report.