Dutch politician's death sparks concern

Shock and foreboding in equal measure greet the violent death of the right-winger, Pim Fortuyn in the Netherlands.

The Independent and the Mirror carry the same grim picture of his body after his assassination outside a radio station.

The Times believes the murder has left other casualties - namely Dutch tolerance, informality and civilised debate.

Mr Fortuyn was attempting to articulate people's worries about immigration in his blunt way, the paper says.

The Mirror calls him a right-wing rabble rouser who stood for some deeply unpleasant causes but says his fate should have been decided by the not by the bullet.

The Daily Mail believes the racists and the bigots of the far right now have their martyr.

A worryingly unhealthy development for the whole of Europe, it concludes.

He was the Dutch Le Pen, according to the Sun, assassinated in a bloody backlash against the rise of the right.

The Guardian believes the prospect of Mr Fortuyn's success in forthcoming elections was too much for a man with a gun in Hilversum, after the French vote.

New French premier

President Chirac's new prime minister may be the man to restore consensus in the French political scene, says the Guardian.

Jean Pierre Raffarin, the former coffee salesman and PR man turned politician, is described as "engaging and inoffensive" by the paper.

But the Independent says if the centre-right fails to win next month's parliamentary elections, he could turn out to be one of the shortest lived premiers in French history.

Abducted baby returned

News of the return of the new-born twin girl snatched from Wordsley Hospital in the West Midlands fills the later editions.

The Independent says the kidnapping demonstrated that any amount of staff vigilance and modern technology can be overcome by determined intruders.

However, the Sun speaks to a father, whose baby was on the ward at the time of the abduction.

He tells the paper it was easy for anyone to walk in and out of the room.

The Daily Mail, carries the simple headline: She's Safe!

Burma release

Amid all the celebrations for the release from house arrest of the Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, the Guardian sounds a cautious note.

It says there were few signs from the country's military rulers that they were prepared to relax their iron grip on the country, and usher in the return of democracy.

But the Independent speaks of "epoch making" scenes which greeted her freedom.

FA Cup audience

Several papers comment on the viewing figures for the coverage of the FA Cup Final.

The Daily Star tells its readers they are the worst in the event's history, with just 6.3m tuning in to watch Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-0.

The Cup has lost its sparkle, declares the Mail, which believes the declining television audience is a stark reflection of the plummeting popularity of a match which once brought the country to a standstill.

Primary schoolchildren learn Latin

At least the teaching of Latin is on the up, according to the Independent.

It is apparently making a comeback in primary schools, thanks to a new book which teaches seven to 11-year-olds the language, via the adventures of a mouse called Minimus, who lives with a Roman family near Hadrian's Wall in the year 100AD.

This can only be a good thing, says the paper.

The subject is now more popular than hot cakes at the Circus Maximus.