Press Review

Friday's front pages cover a variety of topics from the central bank's intervention against the strong crown, to the sentencing of the 'Package Murderer', a man who chopped up his girlfriend and posted her body parts to non-existent addresses.

Earlier in the week one of the Social Democrat government's most ambitious plans - the purchase of new fighter jets for the Czech air force - fell just one vote short of being passed in the Chamber of Deputies. It was a disgrace for the Social Democrats, Defence Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik tells Pravo - the vote failed because two of the party's MPs were in the pub.

Minister Tvrdik did not hide his anger, but he refused to name the two MPs, Pravo writes. He did say however that he was not referring to Prime Minister Milos Zeman, who apparently missed the vote because he was resting his injured leg in his office. That's right, resting his leg.

And alcohol also features in Lidove noviny, which reports that the lawyer for Ales Rozehnal (himself the lawyer of TV Nova boss Vladimir Zelezny) could be barred by the chamber of lawyers for smuggling booze into Mr Rozehnal's cell while he was on remand. Lawyer Lucie Dedova brought a bottle of wine to Mr Rozehnal on New Year's Eve.

"Killer Greek virus could come to the Czech Republic" reads a sensational headline in Pravo, referring to the mystery illness which has killed three people in Greece. A hygiene official recommends that any Czechs visiting Greece ought to pay twice as much attention as usual to personal hygiene, and to wash their hands frequently, especially before meals. The story is on Pravo's front page.

There has been an outcry over plans to inter the remains of German soldiers who died in the Czech lands during World War II in a cemetery in Prague 10, Mlada fronta Dnes reports. A German organisation which looks after war graves has been allowed to revive the old cemetery, where no-one has been buried since the end of World War II.

The project is reportedly intended as a symbol of reconciliation. Locals are not happy with the fact that it is located opposite a symbolic grave to the victims of fascism in Strasnice crematorium. They also fear it may become a destination for German tourists, the paper says.

Cartoonist Stepan Mares has recently been in the news, having been ordered by a court to apologise to Minister Karel Brezina for a rather strong cartoon which showed Mr Brezina - a regular in the tabloids - naked and in a state of tumescence.

So it might come as a surprise to find that an exhibition of Mr Mares's cartoons has opened in the lower house of parliament of all places. Lidove noviny features a photo of the cartoonist in conversation with house chairman Vaclav Klaus, while Pravo shows Mr Klaus in an "I can take a joke, me" pose.