Press Review

All of Tuesday's Czech newspapers carry photographs of the same two figures. The first is Vaclav Klaus, whose Civic Democratic Party has launched the final stage of its pre-election campaign in - as the newspapers put it - an American style. The other shows the American First Lady, Laura Bush, currently on a private visit to the Czech Republic, during which she met with president Vaclav Havel and his wife Dagmar on Monday night.

Lidove noviny writes that Mrs. Bush, her daughter Jenna and the Czech First Lady Dagmar Havlova were taken for a guided tour of those parts of Prague Castle which are usually closed to the public. Laura Bush also brought presents for the Czech presidential couple.

Vaclav Havel, a playwright himself, received a valuable numbered edition - one of just 550 copies in existence - of Eugene O'Neill's play 'Mourning Becomes Electra'. His wife Dagmar was given a gold and silver bracelet. Then the four spent the evening at the Nebozizek restaurant on Petrin hill, from where there is a spectacular view of Prague.

Mlada fronta Dnes writes that 25 days before the general election, Vaclav Klaus's Civic Democrats have launched what the paper calls 'the last stage of the hunt for voters.' Vaclav Klaus tells the daily that after four years in opposition, the only option for his party is to form a new cabinet and start ruling again.

Although Mr. Klaus expressed sharp criticism of the ruling Social Democrat cabinet, saying they had not succeeded in bringing prosperity to the country as they had promised, he does not rule out the possibility of forming a majority government with the Social Democrats, writes the paper. It adds that in his pre-election speech on Monday Mr. Klaus praised the opposition agreement - a power sharing pact between the Social and Civic Democrats - for having created political stability in the country.

Stories with medical themes dominate today's Pravo, which on its front page announces that as of July this year, mammographs will be free for women over 45. This will concern about 1.6 million women of that age, while younger women will have to pay 500 crowns - that's around 17 dollars. Out of 100 clinics where mammographs are carried out, only twenty are considered suitable, writes Pravo - those clinics use the lowest levels of radiation possible. The paper also offers advice on how to prevent repeated heart attacks.

And finally Hospodarske noviny carries an article entitled 'The number of jobless people is falling, but slowly'. According to official statistics the number of unemployed has been decreasing since the beginning of this year, but economic analysts warn the daily against exaggerated optimism.

Over the past four years of Social Democrat rule the unemployment rate has increased, writes Hospodarske noviny. However, it is most likely that no government would have been able to prevent such a development, the daily says. The paper also presents the results of a recent survey in which most respondents described the current unemployment rate of 9,1 percent as too high.