Press Review

The Czech newspapers today carry a lot of sports news - featuring photos from Germany's victorious match over South Korea at the World Cup, and of Dominik Hasek, the Czech ice hockey player who is considered one of the best goaltenders the history of the sport and who announced on Tuesday that he was ending his sports career and would return from the US to the Czech Republic. On the domestic front, the papers inform their readers about the on-going negotiations between the Social Democrats and the centre-right Coalition on forming a new cabinet.

Pravo reports that an 11 year-old school girl, who disappeared while on a trip with her class, was found dead at noon on Tuesday. Her death remains to be shrouded in mystery, as the dead body bore no signs of violence, writes the paper. It reports that a black flag has been flying above young Vladimira's school where both teachers and pupils are shattered by the news.

Pravo asks if it is possible at all to protect children against all possible dangers. It quotes a child psychologist as saying that parents should teach children some of the basic principles - such as not to go with strangers. He says children must be taught consistently, so that they develop the right instincts. Just a few days before the holidays is usually too late, writes Pravo.

'Czech soldiers in Kuwait are endangered by tropical heat and cobras', reads a headline in Lidove noviny. It writes that currently in Kuwait daytime temperatures are 43 degrees Celsius, while nighttime lows do not fall below 38 degrees, which is far too much even for locals. By now, two Czech soldiers from the chemical and biological protection unit have given in for health reasons, but the rest - 249 soldiers, eight of them women - are firmly resolved to stay.

Due to the heat, they are fulfilling most of their tasks before 8 in the morning and after 4 in the afternoon, and their daily water consumption is eight litres. The soldiers say they have to look out for poisonous snakes in the desert, especially the black cobra, the most poisonous snake in Kuwait, reports Lidove noviny.

Mlada fronta Dnes carries one good and one bad bit of news to its readers who live in flats with regulated rent. The good news is that rents will rise by only 4 percent as of July, the bad news is that bathrooms and toilets will be fully included in calculating the total area. But the really good news for tenants is that - with another Social Democrat government in office - rents will not be fully de-regulated for at least the next four years, concludes Mlada fronta Dnes.

The economic daily Hospodarske noviny comments on the strong Czech crown, which has reached an all-time high of less then 30 crowns to the euro. According to experts, this is the result of currency speculation, and they expect the Czech National Bank to intervene soon. Hospodarske noviny writes that some smaller companies, which live mainly from exports, have already gone bankrupt.