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The arrival of Bill Gates in Prague, the Golden Globe Awards and the salaries of Czech deputies to the European Parliament - those are the main stories on today's front pages. The papers have also devoted plenty of space to the tragic death of Hungarian football player Miklos Feher and freestyle aerial skiing Olympic champion Ales Valenta's victory in a World Cup event.

The Czech Republic's first elections to the European Parliament will be probably take place on June 11 and 12, and political parties will be required to submit their lists of candidates by April 6. Many parties have already approved their slates or at least agreed on their election leaders. President Vaclav Klaus has to set the EP election date in the first half of March at the latest, according to a decision of the EU Council. According to a recent opinion poll, just a little over a half of Czechs are willing to go to the polls and two thirds believe the Czech Republic should be represented in the European Parliament by independent personalities rather than members of political parties. Czechs will have 24 seats in the 732-seat European parliament after European Union enlargement in May.

The first and only Czech astronaut, Vladimir Remek, has confirmed that he was interested in running in the country's first election to the European Parliament on the Communist Party's candidate list. Mr. Remek's confirmation followed several insider reports this week in the Pravo newspaper about his alleged negotiations with leaders of the Communist Party. Remek, who is 55, currently works in the commercial section at the Czech Republic's embassy in Moscow. Mr. Remek flew with a Russian partner on the Soyuz 28 mission in 1978, becoming the first person in space who was neither American nor Russian. Czech voters will choose 24 of the European parliament's 732 seats after European Union enlargement in May.

The Communist Party say that the first Czechoslovak cosmonaut Vladimir Remek has confirmed he is interested in running for a seat in the European Parliament for the Czech Communist Party. The party's vice chairman Miloslav Ransdorf is expected to top the list of the Communists' candidates for the European Parliament, and according to speculation Vladimir Remek could come second in Sunday's secret vote of the party's central committee. The Czech Republic will have 24 MEPs in Strasbourg.

One person is featured on most covers of today's dailies and that is Czech actress Jirina Bohdalova, the popular star of countless movies, who won an important case in court on Wednesday against the Interior Ministry. Mrs Bohdalova filed charges after the ministry included her name on a list last year outlining collaborators with the former communist regime's secret police, the StB. However, MLADA FRONTA DNES indicates that in spite of her success the actress remains unhappy with the ruling. The reason? At the end of day her name will not be struck

There's a mixed bag of stories on the front pages of today's dailies - news that Vladimir Zelezny could have a chance of regaining control of the country's most popular commercial TV station Nova, the latest fatal road accident in which four young people died when another vehicle failed to give way at a crossroads, and proposals by Interior Minister Stanislav Gross for the Czech president to be elected in a direct vote, rather than today's parliamentary system.

European Union food inspectors have begun inspecting Czech food companies in a final check up before EU accession in May. However the inspection was overshadowed by what could be the country's first case of BSE or mad cow disease this year, and the ninth case since BSE was first discovered in a Czech herd in 2001. The State Veterinary Authority says test results should determine by Thursday whether the cow, from a farm near Litomysl, was infected. Food safety has been a key issue in accession talks between Brussels and Prague. Last year, the EU said hygiene at meat processing plants and dairies was a problem which needed addressing before accession. Several hundred companies were forced to close at the end of 2003.

A team of inspectors from the European Commission have arrived in the Czech Republic to examine hygiene standards in food processing plants and restaurants ahead of the country's entry into the EU in May. Daniela Lazarova has been following the story and joins me now in the studio. Daniela is this the crucial moment for Czech restaurants and processing plants - will this visit decide their future?

Continued controversy over who should be the Czech Republic's EU commissioner, efforts by the Christian Democratic Party to push through much tougher punishment for violent crimes and the 35th anniversary of the self-immolation of Jan Palach in protest of the Soviet led invasion of Czechoslovakia - those are the main stories on most of today's front pages.

Among the domestic topics in today's dailies the one that dominates is the likely candidacy of former Environment Minister and current Social Democrat MP Milos Kuzvart for the post of Czech European Commissioner. The papers also pay a good deal of attention to a new clause in the labour code which defines sexual harassment as a criminal offence.