Press Review

All today's Czech daily newspapers carry shocking reports of an accident when a dog killed a small child in the street. This sad news shares front page space with another round of violence in the Middle East, analyses of terrorist threats and a list of countries at which the United States is reportedly planning to aim its nuclear arsenal. Lidove noviny feature a large photo of an eighteen months old German shepherd called Ben behind iron bars, with a caption "What will become of him?" As the paper reports, Ben killed a seven-year old boy in a street in the town of Rumburk after escaping from his cage. It quotes neighbours as saying children used to play with the dog which they say had never been aggressive.

Lidove noviny actually devotes a whole page to the issue of dog breeding. It presents the eight most dangerous breeds and lists serious accidents involving dogs over the past several years, some of which had fatal consequences. The paper also mentions a parliamentary initiative to introduce stricter regulations for breeding dangerous animals but is sceptical about its chances of passing the parliament before the general elections.

Mlada fronta Dnes has been somewhat investigative recently, especially as concerns the private lives of top representatives of the ruling Social Democratic Party, including cabinet ministers. In today's issue, it writes about a conflict of interests of the Interior Minister Stanislav Gross and his wife Sarka.

The paper writes that Mrs Grossova was provided a luxurious car Audi TT Roadster after her husband helped the German carmaker to a government contract for 18 limousines worth over 50 million CZK. Besides that, she was allegedly involved in obtaining sponsorship donations for an arts agency from private companies interested in privatisation of state assets.

Today's Pravo mentions the intensifying animosity between two of the highest state representatives, Czech president Vaclav Havel and the Speaker of the Lower House and former Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus. The two have not met for almost a year and never miss an opportunity to denounce each other.

The paper quotes Mr Klaus as blaming his rival of the current situation. The presidential office told Pravo the head of state meets everyone he needs to consult and did not rule out that he may invite Mr Klaus for a talk before the June general elections.