Press Review
All the Czech newspapers today carry a photo of Demi Moore, who was spotted by Italian tourists as she was shopping in a Prague crystal shop. MLADA FRONTA DNES claims that Demi's fans almost demolished the shop, and the owner had to call the police. Demi Moore is in Prague this week with her three children to see ex-husband Bruce Willis, who's currently on location in the Czech capital.
But the paper leads with a much more important issue - saying that Czech-American relations are at their worst for a decade. The Americans, writes MLADA FRONTA DNES, are outraged by the Czech draft of a Cuban human rights resolution to be submitted to the United Nations, which contains criticism of U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba.
The paper speculates that the affair might have implications for the upcoming NATO summit, which was meant to take place in Prague next year. The NATO leadership, says the paper, still haven't confirmed the date and venue, even though there's less than 18 months to go. According to a source at Prague Castle, this is not unintentional. The United States is sending a very obvious hint that neither the date nor the venue of the summit are definite, concludes MLADA FRONTA DNES.
"Zeman Likely to Lose Power over Ministers," writes LIDOVE NOVINY on its front page. The paper notes that until now, it was Prime Minister Milos Zeman who decided who would fill the cabinet seats. But as soon as he gives up the post of the ruling Social Democrats - and this should happen in May - he'll lose this chance.
LIDOVE NOVINY writes that so far Mr Zeman has a firm grip on political power in the country. The main change is that elected senior party members will have a chance of influencing both the work of the cabinet and its composition. But Mr Zeman still has a trump in his hand: he can always threaten to resign as Prime Minister if he doesn't like the choice, which would lead to the collapse of his government, writes the paper.
Today's PRAVO reveals that 40 percent of Czechs have personal experience of corruption. The paper writes that civil servants in the Czech Republic have a truly awful reputation, and a recent survey showed that 80 percent of respondents say they're corruptible.
Most people - regardless of their political orientation - said they had little trust in civil servants. Twenty-two percent said they were convinced that even public figures take bribes. On the other hand, people say police anti-corruption units are successful - especially the prosecution of those who embezzled large sums of money.
ZEMSKE NOVINY carries quite a worrying story on juvenile delinquency in the Czech Republic. Child and adolescent delinquency is on the rise, writes the paper. For instance more and more children are stealing. In many cases the police are powerless, and what's even worse - the young thieves' parents are often indifferent to their offspring's crimes.
The main motive of young delinquents is usually finding money for drugs, gambling on slot machines and drinks at discotheques. Due to their age, the young criminals cannot be send to jail, their cases are usually postponed and then simply fade away. Recently there have been more and more cases where pupils robbed their teachers without being punished, writes ZEMSKE NOVINY.
