Press Review

The top stories in today's papers include a tragic shooting Wednesday of a Nigerian diplomat in Prague, as well as important developments on the Czech political scene. On Wednesday the Social Democrats, senior partners in the governing coalition, finally rallied to support one candidate in a third round of presidential elections, and their choice, Jan Sokol, is shown on the cover of HOSPODARSKE NOVINY. The sixty-six-year-old philosophy professor has now acquired the necessary support and momentum to make a relatively strong run against the Civic Democrats' Vaclav Klaus on February 28th.

HOSPODARSKE NOVINY calls the Social Democrats' unity over Mr Sokol "relatively optimistic", recalling two previous election rounds in which the party was split in voting, ultimately failing to stand behind their own previous candidates. The paper writes there should be no surprise this time around, but says it can't be completely ruled out - some sympathies still lie with Milos Zeman, the former Social Democrat chairman who is openly at odds with the current chairman Vladimir Spidla. Suggests the daily, a failure by Mr Spidla to secure united support for Jan Sokol in the third round, would have a profound impact on his own party leadership. Presumeably it would let the bugbear of a party split back in, and mark the return of Milos Zeman.

LIDOVE NOVINY reports that there are now more than 500 job opportunities for Czechs at the European Commission offices in Brussels as the EC will now prefer employing people from the ten candidate countries over those from the current member states. The paper says the contestants will have to prove proficiency in foreign languages and pass a number of tests. If they do not meet the tough requirements, the positions allocated for individual candidate states will remain unoccupied, LIDOVE NOVINY notes.

MLADA FRONTA DNES writes that not only humans but also dogs have been affected by the current wave of viral infections. When a fifteen-year old dog called Michal started coughing and his nose was running, his owner from Prague 4 thought those were just signs of old age. But the local vet said Michal the dog had a viral cold. Just like in humans, the viruses affect breathing and the symptoms are similar and so is the treatment: vets recommend warmth, quiet, some cough drops and only very short walks.

Staying with MLADA FRONTA DNES and the paper reports the highest mountain in Bohemia, Snezka, will most likely lose its old tourist attraction - Ceska bouda, or the Bohemian Chalet restaurant at its top. The chalet was built at the peak of Snezka in 1868 to provide hikers with refreshments and shelter in severe weather conditions. The restaurant was closed in 1990 and the state of the building has been deteriorating ever since. It is now up to the Environment Ministry whether Ceska bouda will be demolished and who will bear the costs.

Turning to PRAVO now the daily writes about plans underway to change the classic high school leaving exams, or maturita as it is known. The education minister is pushing forward a proposal which would standardise part of the exam for all schools, in which students would be required to pass three core tests from three subjects: Czech, one foreign language, and a choice of either mathematics, natural sciences, computer science, or ethics. The other half of the exams would have subjects decided by the schools themselves. Overall, Czech students have the privilege of learning one of six languages depending on their high school, including Spanish, Russian, English, or Italian. PRAVO writes that impressive results in the new school leaving exam system could waive entry exams into some university programmes.

Finally, one more curious item of note in PRAVO: you may have heard of the Czech lion, the symbol of Czech statehood, but it isn't that often that you see one walking on the street. The daily features a photograph of a Czech man from Holedec na Lounsku walking a beautiful specimen named Leon on their way to the market. Writes PRAVO - walking the unusual pet always draws a crowd. Adds the paper: the creature's favourite food is whipped cream from a can.