Press review
Two first ladies grace the front page of Lidove Noviny. Livia Klaus and Margot Loffler, the wife of visiting Austrian President Thomas Klestil are shown arm in arm, wearing big smiles - a photo symbolic of the thaw in Czech-Austrian relations. The Austrian President's one day visit to Prague has been hailed as a success with both sides prepared to strengthen cooperation and conduct "an open friendly and critical dialogue" as President Klestil put it.
The paper has also devoted plenty of attention to the idea of setting up a monument to the 12,5 million Germans who were expelled from their homes in different parts of central and Eastern Europe in the last century. Many well known intellectuals and politicians from the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Israel and Germany itself - have signed a petition against the idea -arguing that the Germans are not the only nation which had people expelled and that if all European countries started setting up monuments for their expellees it would only end in new recriminations across the Continent.
Among the Czechs who signed this petition are the chairman of the Senate Petr Pithart, a member of the old nobility Prince Schwarzenberg, and the rector of Charles University Ivan Wilhelm. Others include the former German foreign minister Hans Dietrich Genscher, the former Polish foreign minster Bronislav Geremek, the Hungarian Nobel Prize winner for literature Imre Kertesz and the German Nobel prize winner for literature Gunter Grass.
Do the rich and famous abuse their popularity and fast cars? The latest incident in which a well known actress caused an accident in which two people were seriously injured has re-opened a frequently debated problem. "They are rich and famous and they drive accordingly" says Mlada Fronta Dnes in a full page report subtitled " From Prague to Pilsen in twenty minutes? No problem!"
The paper slams the police for tolerating this behaviour, noting that Czechs have become notorious in Europe for their hazardous and inconsiderate driving.
The rich and famous feel that they can get away with anything. They laugh in the face of the law, pay steep fines as if it were a cheap ticket for some fun and some well known singers openly boast that they carry a stack of their own CDs in the car to give to traffic police in place of a fine, says Mlada Fronta Dnes.
The paper carries a list of accidents involving rich and famous personalities -all of which involved speeding and some even drinking and driving. In sharp contrast to this are two incidents in which Czechs were caught speeding abroad - just speeding, no accident occurred. They both happened in the United States -in one case hockey star Jaromir Jagr had his drivers license confiscated for 6 months, in the other hockey goalie Domink Hasek was given 100 hours of community work as punishment. No further comment is needed.
And finally all the papers carry a report that is sure to grab cat lovers. The latest electronic gadget on the Japanese market is a tiny appliance that looks like a cat mobile but which in fact translates cat-language into human language. Called the "Meaow-lingual" the appliance will let you have a simple conversation with your pet. A similar appliance translating dog-talk is reported to have been a huge hit on the Japanese market.
