Press Review

The main stories in Tuesday's dailies focus on the policy statement approved by the Czech government on Monday. Today's papers also continue to pay attention to Friday's murder of a policeman at one of Prague's busiest metro stations.

Pravo questions whether the policeman died because he followed the regulations that prohibit using firearms inside a metro station. The paper concluded that violent crime is on the increase, and that the police might therefore need more appropriate training to respond.

Similarly, Mlada fronta Dnes speculates that with better training and arming, the policeman could have lived. Besides that, the paper features a photograph of 24-year-old civilian who witnessed the incident and caught the murderer. Jaroslav Cesky, a hockey player who studies in Minnesota came to Prague to spend the summer with his family. When he witnessed the attack and saw a policewoman trying to fight the man responsible for the killing, his response was instantaneous. He ran towards the attacker, jumped on his back and pushed him to the ground. Then he waited for the police to arrive with hand-cuffs.

A Czech prisoner in Thailand has been moved to a tougher prison outside Bangkok, writes Lidove noviny. Two Czech citizens were sentenced to 50 years for smuggling heroin. But now, the Thai judicial system seems to be applying double standards. Whilst one of the two prisoners, 26-year-old Emil Novotny has recently been moved to a tougher prison, and has only had 8 years taken of his sentence, the second prisoner, 33-year-old Radek Hanykovicz has had his original tariff slashed by half .

In May the Czech Republic and Thailand signed an agreement which should make it possible for both prisoners to serve their sentences in Czech prisons. That, of course, does not mean the men will get away with their crime. The agreement, which will come into effect in September, stipulates that the Czech Republic may suspend their sentences but only after both prisoners have served two-thirds of the time in prison.

Vaclav Havel is happy that the tabloid Super no longer exists, writes Lidove noviny. According to the paper, President Havel expressed his happiness on the pages of Literarni Noviny in response to a question posed by the readers. Mr Havel wrote that despite a huge advertising campaign, Super failed because people were able to recognise that the newspaper was trashy and decide not to take it any longer.

The newspaper - one of the most vitriolic tabloids that often wrote unfavourably about the presidential couple - ceased to exist in mid July. There has always been speculation that Super was linked to the Civic Democratic Party but the party officials continue to deny any such links.

Meanwhile, Hospodarske noviny writes that the Czech Republic is no longer a transit country for counterfeit DVDs, but has instead become a major producer itself. With the amount of illegal DVDs produced, the film industry is losing millions of Czech crowns. Although some of the pirates are only 15-years-old, they are becoming more professional and forming well-organised groups.

And finally, Pravo reports that the town of Pribram will soon witness the first wedding in the air. A couple from Prague have decided to get married on a plane and then sky-dive off it. Since the Prague City Council has refused to conduct such a wedding ceremony, the couple turned to Pribram where the officials were much more willing to do something unusual.