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Today's Lidove noviny carries a headline which readers are unlikely to overlook. "Chemical and biological weapons to be tested on Czech soil" the headline reads. According to the paper there is a lack of such training centres in Europe, meaning that European NATO members would have to fly their experts to the United states for training in chemical warfare. The Czech military has suggested a solution - offered one of its military sites in southern Moravia for that purpose.

All of Tuesday's Czech newspapers carry photographs of the same two figures. The first is Vaclav Klaus, whose Civic Democratic Party has launched the final stage of its pre-election campaign in - as the newspapers put it - an American style. The other shows the American First Lady, Laura Bush, currently on a private visit to the Czech Republic, during which she met with president Vaclav Havel and his wife Dagmar on Monday night.

Although sparks are flying again over the controversial Benes decrees, which sanctioned the expulsion of over 2.5 million ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia after the war, it is the visiting US First Lady Mrs. Laura Bush who has stolen the show and whose smiling face graces the front pages of all Czech dailies today.

Some of the topics that have made headlines in today's Czech dailies include the Prague premiere of the new Star Wars film, and there's a young Czech lady decked-out in futuristic regalia on the cover of Lidove noviny. Also dominant: pre-election events and meetings which are gaining in momentum now that election day is just a month away...

With less than a month to go to the June general elections, Czech politicians are spending more time in the streets of Prague than in their offices and all the papers carry lengthy reports about their activities, rivals and chances in the elections.

Today we have a wide variety of headlines but the one story that dominates all of Wednesday's papers is the two-day conference of NATO foreign ministers in Reykjavik, Iceland where the alliance has decided to create a new NATO- Russian council. Mlada fronta Dnes has a picture of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell giving his Russian counterpart, Igor Ivanov, a friendly hug.

The story which gets the most space on Tuesday's front pages is the police anti-corruption unit's investigation of Czech Television director Jiri Balvin, who is accused of dubious dealings. Mlada fronta Dnes however leads with a story about the right-wing Civic Democrats, who a month ahead of general elections have promised to limit the number of asylum seekers and deport illegal immigrants.

The words "Sme majstri" feature prominently on the front page of Lidove noviny today - "Sme majstri" is Slovak for "We are the champions", and champions they are: Slovakia won the ice hockey World Championships on Saturday, for the first time since Czechoslovakia split into two a decade ago. All the papers carry photos of the team returning to a hero's welcome in the Slovak capital Bratislava.

You can take your pick from a number of topics making the front pages of today's Czech dailies, although it has to be said that the main story in the headlines this Friday is yesterday's passing of a government bill in the lower house approving the financing for 24 new Gripen fighter jets. The bill passed by just three votes on Thursday in a decision which went 98 for and 95 against.

All the Czech newspapers today feature photos of disappointed Czech ice hockey players, who were knocked out of the world championships in Sweden after losing to Russia. The team's captain Jaromir Jagr is featured in most of them, with sadness in his eyes.