With just 10 days to go until Italy's general election on 13 May it is hardly surprising that most of the country's newspaper space is given over to that - an average of five or six pages of politics in each. There is still room on the front pages though for some international reaction to US President George Bush's revival of the Star Wars project.
Most papers carry little boxes reporting what international papers have to say on the issue.
Not Thailand' All the front pages carry a strong statement from President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, who usually keeps out of the electoral fray, saying that a pro-European position is shared by all political parties and by Italians. As many papers point out, it was a stern reminder not to put the country's image at risk to gain cheap political points. Also in the papers with lots of photos and coverage is Emma Bonino, the former EU commissioner. She is into her sixth day of a hunger strike in protest at lack of media access for the smaller parties like her radical party. At a press conference from a Milan hospital she vowed to continue refusing food and water until the main TV networks gave her more space.