Press Review
Following a relatively quiet Easter weekend, many of the papers have given prominence to international stories - the situation in Iraq and the spread of the killer virus SARS in China. Lidove Noviny reports that although there is no confirmed case of SARS in the Czech Republic security measures remain in place and the management of Prague's Ruzyne Airport has acquired masks for all its employees. At this point wearing them is not compulsory but we are advising caution, a spokesman for the airport said.
The process of setting up a Czech field hospital in Basra, southern Iraq, has been slightly complicated by the difficulty of finding an appropriate site. The locations viewed so far are practically swamps - one of the Czech experts told Lidove Noviny. While the hospital's personnel and equipment await developments in neighbouring Kuwait, Czech soldiers are striving to improve the lot of the civilian population in Basra by distributing clean water supplies among the town's inhabitants.
Arriving in Basra from Kuwait City is like landing on a different planet, writes the paper's correspondent. There are millions of people living in utter poverty - there's a lack of clean water, a lack of food and medicine. The town is like a huge rubbish dump with stray dogs running around and children playing in the debris.
According to the paper, the Czech government wants to send a team of experts to Iraq who would assist in the process of rebuilding the country. The Cabinet will meet on Tuesday to consider suitable candidates in areas such as education, agriculture, irrigation and so on, the paper says.
On the domestic scene, Mlada Fronta Dnes reports on President Vaclav Klaus' growing popularity with the public. Vaclav Klaus is making an all out effort to succeed in his new post and it is working, the paper says. Opinion polls reveal that Vaclav Klaus has now surpassed his predecessor Vaclav Havel in popularity ratings.
Mr. Klaus is doing a great deal to come across as "the people's president", frequently visiting the regions and talking to people on walkabouts. He roots for the Czech national team at football matches, turns up at charity events and is seen with popular actors and sports people, says Mlada Fronta Dnes. As a result his former arrogance is forgotten, his popularity is growing by the day and two thirds of Czechs say they trust their new head of state.
Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka is a frequent target of the media- but today it is not in connection with the state of public finances. The Finance Minister's usually serious face wears a broad smile as he poses for photographers with his twenty-year-old bride on his arm. Despite an effort to keep the weekend wedding a secret reporters turned out in force for the event and Pravo brings its readers full details - including the wedding menu.
And of course, the papers have plenty of stories from the three day Easter weekend -ranging from photos of the Pope serving mass, to villagers dressed up in traditional costume in different parts of the Czech Republic. And just how much fun people had is evident from a snapshot of a green-haired Vodnik, or water sprite, riding a "floating bike" across the Dyje river.
