Press Review

The bad weather makes the front pages, although what's bad for some is not necessarily bad for others. MLADA FRONTA DNES shows a man cross-country skiing along the tram tracks in Prague's Bila Hora district, while LIDOVE NOVINY has a photo of someone snowboarding on Petrin Hill, with a snow-topped Prague Castle behind him.

The fallout continues from this week's announcement by a special team of police investigators that Jan Masaryk, Czechoslovakia's post-war foreign minister, was murdered, and did not - as the Communist authorities always claimed - commit suicide. Masaryk's body was found in a courtyard beneath his apartment at the Foreign Ministry on March 10th, 1948, two weeks after the Communists took power. Many people believe he was pushed.

But the police verdict has been widely criticised by many papers, and today PRAVO joins them, saying Czechs should think twice before entering the verdict of "murder" in the history books. Yes, the Communists could have killed Masaryk, but why would they want to? Masaryk had legitimised their government by remaining in it. Surely killing him would have hurt, not helped the political future of Communist leader Klement Gottwald, says PRAVO.

The theory that Masaryk was killed by rogue Communists on orders from Moscow is plausible, he goes on, but with the Russian authorities refusing to open the archives, that version remains nothing but hearsay. And finally, why disregard the testimony of Masaryk's last secretary, who insists his boss committed suicide? The police investigators have simply not offered a sufficient explanation, writes PRAVO.

MLADA FRONTA DNES leads with news that Miroslav Antl, the former deputy police chief who resigned last year after crashing his car while drunk, has avoided prosecution over the incident. Mr Antl managed to avoid formally receiving the charges for the offence for one year, and under Czech law can no longer be prosecuted. Miroslav Antl was known for his zero tolerance policy on crime, and even wrote a book called "I Don't Like Gangsters".

LIDOVE NOVINY writes today that the government is having trouble choosing a candidate to be the Czech Republic's first EU Commissioner. The cabinet is supposed to send its nomination to Brussels by the end of the month. The largest party in the coalition government, the Social Democrats, insist one of their own should get the job, writes LIDOVE NOVINY. But at the weekend their first choice - "a former high-ranking politician" turned them down.

And finally to the country's most widely read paper, the tabloid BLESK, which has just launched a campaign to find a fiancée for ice-hockey star Jaromir Jagr. The paper says it's sick and tired of watching Jagr feeling sorry for himself following his break-up with model Andrea Veresova. Only a new love can restore the smile to Jagr's rosy cheeks, says BLESK, and it's determined to find one.

The best-paid ice-hockey player in the world might have an annual salary of 10 million dollars and a fleet of Mercedes in his garage, but he's missing that special someone in his life, writes BLESK. He'll be 32 in a few weeks' time, and he says it's time to settle down and have kids. And what's more, he doesn't want an American, which is an ideal opportunity for all those single Czech women out there, says BLESK. Available women should send in their details - with a photo of course. And they shouldn't forget to write "Jagr" on the envelope.