Press Review

All of Wednesday's Czech dailies lead with different stories, with Mlada Fronta Dnes, for instance, reporting that rents are falling in Prague and remaining static in other parts of the country. The news is especially good for those renting larger, more up-market flats, says the daily. The reason for the decline in rents in the capital is that so many new flats - around 2,000 - are being built every year. Added to that, it's now easier to get a mortgage at rates which compare favourably with monthly rent.

The same daily reports on another trend: the growth in the number of hit-and-run accidents. A spokesman for the Prague traffic police says there are more such accidents every year. Last year over 8,500 drivers fled the scene of a crash, reports Mlada Fronta Dnes.

An expert tells the daily that most hit-and-run drivers are young men in used but fast cars. Some drivers flee because they have been drinking, only to report to the police a day or two later when they no longer have alcohol in their blood. Others make their escape because they don't have insurance, writes the daily.

With teachers threatening to strike in September if planned government cutbacks go ahead, the minister of education, Petra Buzkova, tells Pravo that she believes the education budget will be increased when the cabinet meets in the autumn. Ms Buzkova says that even though Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka is under pressure from all ministries, she has succeeded in making education a priority in the next budget.

Both Pravo and Lidove Noviny carry front page stories quoting United States ambassador to Prague, Craig Stapleton, as saying Czech President Vaclav Klaus will be invited on an official visit to the US next year. Mr Klaus had a much-publicised disagreement with Mr Stapleton at the time of the war against Iraq, though the US ambassador says the reason the Czech president didn't receive an invitation earlier this year was because he had not been in office very long.

As an international warrant is prepared for his arrest on charges of large scale fraud during the privatisation process, Viktor Kozeny has been attempting to defend himself, reports Lidove Noviny. In a letter sent from his home in the Bahamas, Mr Kozeny says the charges against him represent the carrying out of "political orders intended to bring about my personal liquidation."

In a special report on fish ponds, Lidove Noviny says if all the Czech Republic's artificial fish lakes were joined, they would cover an area bigger than Prague. But in the golden age of fish ponds - from the mid-15th to the 17th century - there were three times as many in the Czech lands as there are now. Fish ponds are a Central European phenomenon, an expert tells the daily, though you will not find as many in neighbouring countries as you will in the Czech Republic.