Press Review
All of today's papers lead with the same story, the government's plans to reform the public finance system. Canada's victory over Sweden in the finals at the World Ice Hockey Championships also makes the headlines in most of the main dailies. On the international front, it's US President George Bush's dissatisfaction with his team in Iraq and the recent car accident that left three Czech soldiers injured in Basra, that make the front pages.
Mlada Fronta Dnes reports on a study made by Charles University sociologists called Migrating the Czech Future, which predicts the country would experience economic growth and political shake-ups. By 2015, the Czech Republic will become Central Europe's economic Tiger. After its accession to the European Union, it will concentrate on supporting entrepreneurs, the development of information technology, the reduction of the state budget deficit and the introduction of the Euro. But according to the director of the university's social studies department, the future will also see two groups of people, the hardworking and the lazy, revolt against each other resulting in political instability.
Czechs may soon be able to smoke marijuana in public without the risk of being sent to jail. Hospodarske Noviny writes that Deputy Prime Minister Petr Mares has proposed to amend the penal code and reduce the consequences of smoking marijuana or growing cannabis for personal use to introduce a small fine.
Pravo and Mlada Fronta Dnes report that Czech soldiers in the city of Basra in southern Iraq had to use their weapons to defend themselves against a crowd of Iraqis for the first time last week. The soldiers had to shoot warning signals after a group of locals tried to rob the contents of a Czech Army car that was involved in an accident. While the soldiers were attending to three injured colleagues, a number of Iraqis took the opportunity to steal the contents of the affected car, Ivo Musil from the Czech contingent in Kuwait tells Pravo. After the shots were fired, the crowd quickly ran away to hide.
Lidove Noviny reports that a businessman from Eastern Bohemia has to pay a one million crown fine for installing pirated copies of Microsoft and Adobe programmes in twelve company computers. If the man fails to pay the fine, he will face a year in prison. What makes his case unique is that fines for violating copyrights usually involve some 50,000 crowns. However, for the first time in the Czech Republic, a court has ruled that the software companies affected have a right to compensation. The Czech businessman now has to pay Adobe 800,000 crowns and 144,000 to Microsoft to make up for their losses.
The Czech Republic lost hundreds of millions of crowns due to dubious and expensive contracts signed under the government of former Prime Minister Milos Zeman, writes Mlada Fronta Dnes, referring to the results of audits carried out at the Education Ministry, Transport Ministry, Foreign Ministry and the Ministry for Regional Development. The paper says that hundreds of millions of crowns were furthermore saved only thanks to contracts having been changed or rescinded. The audits were called shortly after new ministers took office following the parliamentary elections in June 2002. While the police are investigating all the ministries, a number of Foreign Ministry officials have already been charged with being responsible for disadvantageous transactions, writes Mlada Fronta Dnes.
