European press review

The scare of a rogue pilot crashing a plane into a Frankfurt skyscraper, the oil slick in France and the German stand on the Iraq crisis all make Monday's papers.

Claims of human cloning are examined by a French daily.

And a Hungarian commentator vents his hatred of reality shows on TV.

Frankfurt air scare

The threat by a man to crash a light aircraft he had stolen into a skyscraper in Frankfurt's financial centre makes headlines in Germany.

11 September has left traces in people's awareness that are practically impossible to erase

Frankfurter Rundschau (Germany)

The Frankfurter Rundschau argues that the events of 11 September have etched themselves into the consciousness of people all over the world and it is not too far fetched to assume that they inspired the Frankfurt pilot.

"11 September has left traces in people's awareness that are practically impossible to erase," it says, both in the minds of those wishing to commit a similar act and those who fear falling victims to it.

In the neighbouring Czech Republic, Prague's Pravo asks, "How come a person of such disposition made it into the cockpit and endangered thousands?"

"What will happen if another mentally unstable pilot gets into the cockpit?" it continues. "Will it mean that soldiers will have to shoot the plane down?"

Despite all security measures, Pravo argues, hundreds of small airports scattered around the world can become an easy way in for terrorists.

Black and white

"Black tide and white tide" is how Paris's Liberation describes the two environmental problems France faces: the oil slick from a tanker that sank off Spain, polluting the French Atlantic coast, and snow and ice disrupting life in parts of the country.

It cannot be ruled out that we are confronted with the first great hoax carried out on a worldwide scale

Le Monde (France)

The paper says motorists stuck on motorways due to the weather and airline passengers facing long delays in airports for the same reason were "furious" at being "abandoned" by the authorities.

The government is strong on rhetoric and weak on action, the paper argues.

The government is right to be more concerned about the oil slick than the cold wave, but when the president says he is "outraged" by the oil slick and the prime minister uses words such as "barbarity" to describe it, "that requires identical commitment on the ground".

"This is currently not the case." The resources being made available for handling the slick are insufficient, Liberation believes.

Cloned humans, really?

France's Le Monde is sceptical about the claim by the Raelian movement, led by Frenchman Claude Vorilhon, of the birth of two cloned babies.

"It cannot be ruled out that we are confronted with the first great hoax carried out on a worldwide scale."

It raises several questions about the cult and its biotechnology company, Clonaid, and points out that they have thus far failed to provide any proof.

"If it turns out... that the Raelians are unable to produce the slightest shred of scientific proof, we will have to move from the suspicion of a grotesque hoax to that of a pure and simple fraud."

But, the paper believes, however ridiculous the affair seems, some good will come of it.

"It will have forced countries and the UN to face up to their reprehensible backwardness in legislating on and regulating cloning."

Germany, Iraq and the UN

Germany's stand on the Iraq crisis continues to generate heated debate throughout the country.

There is no position that remains constant within the government

Der Tagesspiegel (Germany)

On Saturday, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said that he would closely consult French President Jacques Chirac, now that Germany has joined the UN Security Council for a two-year term.

"Germany's position on a potential Iraq war has finally ended up where it should have begun in the first place: in Europe," says the Frankfurter Rundschau.

Noting that neither US President George Bush nor British Prime Minister Tony Blair have yet committed themselves to military action, it argues that "a concerted stand by the European sceptics on all diplomatic fronts could still avert war".

But Berlin's Der Tagesspiegel is infuriated by what it calls Mr Schroeder's refusal to indicate what exactly Germany's position will be in the Security Council.

Reacting to the chancellor's statement that any German vote would reflect the position "adopted both before and after" last September's election, the paper says: "The problem is: there is no position that remains constant, certainly not within the government."

'Terrorized by TV'

A commentary in the Hungarian Nepszabadsag targets the escalating impact TV reality shows like "Big Brother" have on public consciousness.

We get sucked in. I get sucked in by writing about them and you by reading my article

Commentator in Nepszabadsag (Hungary)

The daily goes as far as "hailing" the anonymous bomb-scare caller who forced the residents of one of the shows out of its "fake" reality for a short period.

"Let us hail the brave rebel who brought down to earth this shop-window display of human meat broth", it says.

The shows, it says, have been "terrorizing" viewers whose only weapon, it adds, "is the red button on the remote control".

"They follow us on television, in newspapers, on street posters, through telephone calls," the commentator says.

"We get sucked in. I get sucked in by writing about them and you by reading my article."

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.