Press Review

Pictures from New York, remembering the 1st anniversary of the terrorist attacks, feature on the front pages of all the Czech newspapers today. But all of them also write about solemn acts held in the Czech Republic, the biggest of which was a mass at St. Vitus cathedral at Prague Castle, attended by leading Czech public figures, including President Vaclav Havel and his wife Dagmar, and the US ambassador in the Czech Republic Craig Stapleton.

On the same theme, Lidove noviny reports on the Czech Republic joining many other countries throughout the world on Wednesday in the Rolling Requiem, which was performed in the East Bohemian town of Pardubice. The Pardubice Philharmonic's conductor, Jaroslav Krcek, performed Mozart's Requiem with his orchestra and a 200-member choir composed of both professional and amateur singers, who wanted to join the world-wide remembrance day.

Turning to other domestic events - Mlada fronta Dnes features an article under the headline 'MP Kavan Hides In New York To Avoid Problems, ". The paper said that if MP Jan Kavan - the former Foreign Minister - appeared in the lower house of the Czech parliament today, he would have to answer many questions and explain the various scandals at the ministry. But Mr Kavan can relax, says the paper - he is currently in New York working as the newly elected president of the UN General Assembly.

The paper goes on to say that Mr Kavan's absence could cause complications for the governing coalition, which has a majority of just one vote in the lower house. That's why in Mr Kavan's party itself his Social Democrat colleagues point to the fact that Mr Kavan's work for the United Nations might become an obstacle to passing legislation. But opinions on Mr Kavan's engagement in New York are mixed - although the absence of his vote in the lower house might be crucial, his position at the United Nations is seen as a significant international post, important also for the Czech Social Democrats.

The business daily Hospodarske noviny writes that the bulk of Czech military contingents will be withdrawn from their missions abroad. Half a billion crowns will be saved, and used for the recovery of the country after last month's floods. The move will mostly concern Czech soldiers serving in the international mission in Afghanistan and soldiers from the Czech anti-chemical unit in Kuwait, but no reduction in the Czech unit in Kosovo is planned.

And finally - from the animal world: Pravo writes that on Wednesday, three animals from the zoo in the West Bohemia city of Plzen - an Asian stag and two capybaras, the biggest rodents in the world - decided to leave captivity and set out for a journey into the city centre. While one of the rodents was captured in the vicinity of the zoo, two other animals succeeded in escaping.

The stag was caught thanks to drivers in Plzen who reported seeing a strange animal to the local police. He was used to people, and so it was no problem to catch him using a net. The run-away capybara, however, has still not been found. But Plzen zoo employees still hope that it will turn up somewhere.