Press Review

While no one story dominates Tuesday's front pages, all of the Czech dailies cover the trial of former Communist interior minister Jaromir Obzina as well as Israel's attacks on Palestinian territory and Israeli leader Ariel Sharon's talk of war.

The issue of the Temelin nuclear power plant is of great importance to Czech-Austrian relations, writes a commentator in Mlada fronta Dnes. It is too serious an issue to be left to the likes of Joerg Haider or Czech Industry Minister Miroslav Gregr - it should be dealt with by those who are aware of how dangerous the question is and are prepared to compromise, says the commentator.

It is a well known fact that President Vaclav Havel is not as popular with the Czech public now as he was at the beginning of the 1990s. A recent poll suggests that the president is less popular than Senate chairman Petr Pithart - sometimes spoken of as a possible replacement for Havel when his term ends in 2003, according to Prazske Slovo.

Compensation for personal injuries - such as those sustained in the workplace - is set to rise sharply at the begining of January, writes Mlada fronta Dnes. Compensation for a workplace eye injury for example will increase around five-fold to 24,000 Czech crowns, or around 650 US dollars, the paper says.

Only people who really need to spend time at the many spas in the Czech Republic should be allowed to do so, says a commentator in Pravo. Last year only fifty-five percent of the people who attended Czech spas were there on the orders of their doctor - most of the others were from abroad.

Many of today's arts pages carry pieces on the visit to Prague on Monday by Terry Jones of the British comedy team Monty Python. Jones tells Mlada fronta Dnes that George Harrison was a wonderful guy, and reminds readers that the classic Monty Python film Life of Brian would never have been made if Harrison hadn't invested in it.

Prazske Slovo carries a front page photo of a huge chocolate Santa Claus, made from Belgian chocolate in the west Bohemian town of Karlovy Vary. The chocolate Santa is sixty-two centimetres high and weighs three and a half kilogrammes. Let's hope that whoever buys it doesn't eat it all in one day.