Press Review

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.

Barbora Snopkova and Ivo Svoboda, photo: CTK

Lidove Noviny writes that the Czech police from the section for preventing organised crime have charged two Czech men for allegedly smuggling 328 tons of explosives into the Czech Republic. The incredible amount was reportedly smuggled into the country in several train cars, in unmarked packages. Police confiscated the material but have not revealed the explosive type, though Lidove Noviny writes that public broadcaster Czech TV speculated on Wednesday that the explosives were similar in type to Czech-made Semtex, and had been imported illegally from Sweden, taken from the Swedish military. Both of the suspects now face up to 10 years in prison.

Speaking of Sweden, the Czech Republic's Gripen fighter jet deal is entering its final phase reports Thursday's Pravo: the government unanimously passed Defence Minister Miroslav Kostelka's proposal to lease 14 Swedish fighter jets and extended the minister's mandate to negotiate with Swedish partners. The defence minister has until the end of April to tie-up loose ends and put a contract on the table. According to the daily the ten-year lease on the planes will cost the Czech Republic 20.3 billion crowns. Points remaining in negotiation include off-set deals - return investments in the Czech economy.

The average monthly Czech wage went up by 6.7 percent last year says Hospodarske Noviny - the paper writes that the average salary now tops out at just under 17, 000 crowns, or approximately 680 U.S. dollars. The average wage crossed the 20, 000 mark in Prague for the first time (21,081) - earnings in the Czech capital are traditionally higher than anywhere else in the country. In the east Moravian town of Olomouc for instance earnings are the lowest - reaching just 14, 305 crowns. Still, the financial daily writes that experts are already warning that the 6.7 percent increase - the highest since 1996 - is unsustainable over a longer period.

Photo : Jana Šustová

We finish with today's Mlada Fronta Dnes, which notes that this year's extraordinarily persistent winter - at least in Czech terms - is finally on its way out. At least one meteorologist is more careful, however, telling the daily Czechs may see one or two more days of sudden temperature drops and unexpected snowfall. That, at least, is how things have been for the last three weeks: all began with heavy snow and overcast skies, catching some drivers by surprise. So don't change your snow tires yet. Finally, even when spring does settle in, Czech skiers need not worry: the snow on the slopes won't be disappearing just yet, meteorologists say.