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The aftermath of the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia continues to dominate the front pages of the Czech newspapers today. Another prominent story is the failure of the Prague tram driver's strike on Monday, when some tram services were disrupted. But one thing that is still going is the search for a Czech president, and it remains a big story in the newspapers. This time the focus is on the academics Helena Illnerova, Pavel Klener and Ivan Wilhelm - but will the country find a president in one of these figures?

This Monday there are basically two items that dominate the Czech dailies: one is the tragedy of the Columbia shuttle, which broke up in flames upon re-entry on Saturday killing all of the astronauts on board. The second dominant event in the press this Monday is the end of Vaclav Havel's presidency. Mr Havel's final term ended on Sunday after thirteen years in office, so it is hardly surprising all of the papers devote several pages to his legacy.

Apart from the ongoing search for an eligible new Czech head of state and various profiles of the outgoing President Vaclav Havel, the papers are dominated by the statement supporting the US stance on Iraq signed by eight European leaders, including Vaclav Havel, and the outgoing president's gala evening at Prague's National Theatre on Thursday.

It's a tale of two presidents in today's Czech dailies - splashed across the covers are photos of either US President George W. Bush, giving his State of the Union address, or Czech president Vaclav Havel, visiting Slovakia as a statesman for the last time. In contrast with Mr. Bush's serious face, Mr Havel was all smiles when meeting with both friends and state officials in Bratislava.

A variety of stories are covered on the front pages of Wednesday's Czech newspapers, but one theme still dominates: the retirement of President Vaclav Havel and the as yet fruitless attempts to find his successor. PRAVO and LIDOVE NOVINY carry the same photo of Mr Havel being toasted in Prague by the presidents of Poland and Austria and their wives. MLADA FRONTA DNES meanwhile has a photograph of President Havel's wife Dagmar been given what they term a "Polish kiss" by Aleksandr Kwasniewski.

All of the main papers today feature Monday's report for the United Nations Security Council by chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix, which says that Iraq falls short on co-operation, which affects the ability of weapons inspectors to fully ascertain the state of the Iraqi arms program. The papers give a detailed explanation of Mr Blix's report pointing out that he had criticised Iraq for not giving enough evidence of its past weapons of mass destruction programmes. At the same time, the paper writes, inspectors have not provided evidence supporting

The main message to be found on every front page today could be expressed by two words "President Wanted". The search for a new Czech president continues and following Parliament's failure to elect a new head of state in the second round of elections last Friday, commentators are growing skeptical regarding the possibility of finding an early replacement for outgoing president Vaclav Havel.

It won't surprise you to hear that one item dominates all of Friday's papers... I'll whisper it - the Czech presidential elections - all the front pages feature photos of the three candidates Klaus, Moserova, and Zeman, though LIDOVE NOVINY was original enough to put a Josef Lada illustration on its cover reflecting the difficulty of electing a new president: a famous picture of a bar-room brawl: men fighting, dogs biting, the fire brigade coming through the window, while the band plays on. Surely it isn't as bad as all that, even if the caption

The papers continue to report on the upcoming second attempt to elect a new Czech president. Most dailies write about what they call the behind-the-scene wheelings and dealings of the presidential candidates who are trying to rally votes across the political spectrum.

I hate to bore you with the presidential elections, but that's what's dominating the headlines today, two days before parliament has another bash at choosing a successor to President Vaclav Havel. The consensus among the papers is that Friday's second attempt will be as hopeless as the first - "Failure looms again for presidential vote" says MLADA FRONTA DNES today.