Press Review

Tuesday's front pages cover everything from Osama bin Laden to the Oscar nominations to the continuing attempts to find a new Czech president. One name being hotly discussed is Jan Sokol, a Charter 77 signatory and former education minister. Mr Sokol tells HOSPODARSKE NOVINY that while he doesn't have the charisma of Vaclav Havel, he could communicate better with both the Chamber of Deputies and the cabinet.

Whereas Jan Sokol says there is no need for a direct vote, former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright calls for just that in LIDOVE NOVINY. Mrs Albright, who is of Czech origin, criticises Czech legislators for failing to find a new president in two attempts, but says it is by no means a tragedy. A few years ago Mr Havel suggested Mrs Albright as a possible future Czech president.

PRAVO reports on the country's first flu epidemic in two years. While so far north Moravia has been hardest hit, the epidemic is spreading around the whole of the Czech Republic. Some hospitals and old folks homes' have been closed to visitors in an attempt to keep the infection rate down.

As for how to avoid catching the flu in the first place, one doctor recommends "otuzovani" or becoming more hardy. Many children are simply too well-wrapped up, says the doctor, who says parents shouldn't put too many layers on their kids and turn them into "onions". The fact that school gyms are overheated also makes Czech children less hardy, he tells PRAVO.

LIDOVE NOVINY reports on plans to start a new St Valentine's Day tradition in Prague, with the first St Valentine's pilgrimage planned for Vysehrad this Friday. The impetus comes from the discovery of the remains of the patron saint of lovers in the Petr and Pavel Roman Catholic church at Vysehrad last year.

Sticking with lovers, MLADA FRONTA DNES asks why so many Czech footballers like Tomas Rosicky and Martin Jiranek have model partners. Sexologist Petr Weiss tells the paper that every successful man has an attractive partner, be they a singer, actor or sportsman.

Something widely loved in the Czech Republic is the country's most famous export, beer. Beer usually comes in 10 degree and the stronger 12 degree, and it is the latter which is the focus of today's "test" supplement in MLADA FRONTA DNES. Two brews share the honours as best Czech "dvanactka", Krusovice Imperial and Radegast Premium.

The daily also comments on former president Havel's relationship with beer. Mr Havel was forced to work in a brewery in his dissident days, and set his play "Audience" in one. His favourite beer is Pilsen, confirms his former cook, and he has often been photographed drinking it with famous friends like Mick Jagger and Bill Clinton, writes MLADA FRONTA DNES.