Press Review

Apart from the ongoing search for an eligible new Czech head of state and various profiles of the outgoing President Vaclav Havel, the papers are dominated by the statement supporting the US stance on Iraq signed by eight European leaders, including Vaclav Havel, and the outgoing president's gala evening at Prague's National Theatre on Thursday.

LIDOVE NOVINY features a photo of Mr Havel on the theatre's stage with a bouquet of flowers and surrounded by prominent Czech artists, while MLADA FRONTA DNES shows pop-singer Karel Gott singing a song dedicated to Vaclav Havel. Karel Gott had chosen a song about the good old times of boyhood and while he was singing, photos of Vaclav Havel as a young boy were projected on a large screen at the back of the stage.

LIDOVE NOVINY comments that the evening was in fact a grand reconciliation between artists who were ostracised by the communist regime and those who conformed and basked in the limelight. The papers says that last night was an appropriate ending to the story that began thirteen years ago, in the squares of Bohemian and Moravian cities and towns when people of various beliefs gathered and hailed the new era.

MLADA FRONTA DNES dedicates a sixteen-page supplement to the life and presidential career of Vaclav Havel. The insert features a short biography of Mr Havel and a number of opinion pieces written by both Mr Havel's political supporters and adversaries, among the latter the current presidential candidate Vaclav Klaus, to name but one. Among the plentiful photos, there are pictures from Vaclav Havel's family album as well as official photographs and snapshots from Mr Havel's numerous foreign trips.

PRAVO writes that the controversial neon heart which has been adorning the skyline of Prague Castle since November 17, last year, is to be switched off today at 6 pm. According to the original plan, the red heart was to glow until the end of Mr Havel's term, on February 2, but due to the President's busy schedule, the date had to be moved ahead by two days, otherwise Mr Havel would not have been able to take part in the ceremony.

Staying with PRAVO and the paper reports on a tragedy that took place on Thursday in the south Moravian district of Trebic. A thirteen-year old boy could not stand the prospect of having to show his parents a bad mid-term school report and he instead chose to end his life. And on a similar topic, LIDOVE NOVINY carries an article written by psychologist Vaclav Mertin, criticising the Czech system of gauging children's school performance as obsolete.

Rather than marking the kids by numbers from one to five, one being the best and five meaning the child has to repeat the year, Mr Mertin suggests the Czech education system should adopt verbal reports. Those are, in the author's opinion, more objective and can tell the children and their parents more than just a single number.

And finally, the economic daily, HOSPODARSKE NOVINY reports on yesterday's surprise move by the Czech National Bank, which cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point. The papers says that loans and mortgages are likely to become cheaper in the following days, while interest rates on deposit accounts will fall even further.