Press Review
Well the Czechs are gearing up for the Winter Olympics - Mlada fronta Dnes shows cross-country skier Katerina Neumannova during her last training session in Salt Lake City before her first race on Friday. But it's sport of a different kind that makes the front page of Pravo - the paper carries a photo of Formula 1 drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, posing for the cameras with Ferrari's brand new F202. And a royal edition of Lidove noviny today - the paper shows Britain's Queen Elizabeth II celebrating her fiftieth jubilee. God bless you ma'am.
Starting with Mlada fronta Dnes, and a disabled couple from the North Moravian town of Prerov are taking the Czech Republic to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, claiming that the Czech authorities discriminate against the physically handicapped. The paper says if they win their case, it will serve as a precedent for thousands of disabled people across the country.
For years, writes Mlada fronta Dnes, the Zehnals have tried to force the Czech Republic to comply with its own laws on the disabled, but to no effect. 1994 saw the introduction of a new law requiring disabled access for all new public buildings. The couple - who are both in wheelchairs - say that law is simply ignored by both the Prerov authorities and the Czech courts. The case could usher in thousands more compensation claims from disabled Czechs, and the authorities, says Mlada fronta Dnes, are scared stiff.
Someone else who might be a bit worried this morning is Rostislav Gregorovic, a Czech soldier who was caught pulling faces while he was carrying the standard of the new joint Czech-Slovak military unit bound for Kosovo. Gregorovic was caught by a Reuters photographer during a solemn ceremony to mark the unit's departure for the Balkans, and the photo was published the next day in Pravo. The picture shows him with his tongue sticking out and his eyes bulging, in what can only be described as an expression of pure idiocy.
But as Pravo reports, his antics did not go unnoticed. Both Defence Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik and Chief-of- Staff Jiri Sedivy saw the photo, and neither are said to be best pleased. Mr Tvrdik says he plans to have words with the young soldier. Now that's what I call being in trouble with your boss.
And finally from silly faces to toilet humour - the tabloid Blesk reports on some rather unorthodox campaigning by the non-parliamentary National Social Liberal Party. The party has just launched a poster campaign ahead of June's parliamentary elections, but has chosen a rather unusual location for the posters: public toilets in metro stations.
The posters are located above the urinals, and feature pictures of leading politicians - including Social Democrat Prime Minister Milos Zeman and Communist Party leader Miroslav Grebenicek - with the slogan "Aim Higher."
