European press review

The Russian submarine that has sunk in the Barents Sea is the leading story of most European dailies, though few are optimistic that the sailors trapped inside will be rescued alive.

The US Democratic Party convention is seen as offering largely entertainment over issues of substance, and the party's candidate, Al Gore, as being overshadowed by his mentor, President Bill Clinton.

Finally, in Hungary there is criticism of a racing brothel that apparently was more wretched than erotic.

Submarine disaster

The Russian submarine that has sunk in the Barents Sea with a crew of over 100 trapped on board is the front page story of most of Europe's papers.

"Fears for submarine crew," says the headline of Zurich's Tages-Anzeiger.

The paper speaks of a "race against time" to try to rescue the sailors trapped inside the submarine.

Madrid's El Mundo is quite pessimistic about the Russian crew's chances. "Little hope of rescuing alive the crew of the Russian nuclear submarine," the paper says on its front page, under a photograph of a Russian Oscar II class submarine, the same type as the stricken vessel.

'Catastrophes'

"Nightmare on board a Russian submarine," says Rotterdam's Algemeen Dagblad. The paper reports that the Russian captain settled his submarine on the bottom of the sea after an accident, the cause of which remains unknown.

Germany's Frankfurter Rundschau says the latest incident involving a Russian nuclear submarine shows once again that "accidents are bound up with the arms race and that accidents can turn into catastrophes".

"This certainly applies to the plans for the US anti-missile system, or NMD, whose susceptibility to accidents is graphically illustrated by the latest tests," it says.

The drama of the Russian submarine prompts the Italian daily La Stampa to wonder whether the Cold War between Russia and the West is really over.

Spying

"Presidents can slap each other on the back, call each other by their first names, remove their ties and go to the theatre together... They can even go to the G-8 summit as they did in Okinawa a few weeks ago and talk to each other as if they were partners," the paper says in an editorial.

"But they do not for a second stop spying on each other, using the most modern electronic systems or - as used to happen and is still happening in the Barents Sea - by sight."

Such war games, the paper says, "seem increasingly like the farcical continuation of a play that is now out of fashion - but in which people die for real".

In Clinton's shadow

The French daily Liberation says that the Democrats' convention in Los Angeles will have to show America that the party's presidential candidate, Al Gore, can be "a worthy successor to Clinton, able to give the country four more years of prosperity, without any scandals".

However, the problem for Gore - as the paper sees it - is that Clinton remains the dominant politician in the election campaign, and his shadow "continues to crush his vice-president".

Vice-President Gore, the paper continues, is trying to get people to forget that for two terms he has been a co-tenant in the White House.

"His title will not be mentioned at the convention, which will be treated to all the other episodes in Gore's life: Al in Vietnam, Al in the Senate, Al the journalist," it adds.

Carnival

Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung warns German delegates attending this week's Democratic Party convention in Los Angeles against being swept away by their enthusiasm for the "instruments of mass influence" which are so highly developed in the USA.

The carnival atmosphere and "lavish eulogies" would be all right, the paper says, if the substance were retained and there was real grass-roots discussion about concrete issues.

But national conventions have become a "mere accessory to television entertainment," it says.

"Power is no longer vested in the delegates, but in the strategists and media consultants of the candidates."

This trend is damaging democracy itself, "which thrives on the trust vested by an individual voter in the integrity and competence of a presidential candidate", the paper argues..

Helping children

Vienna's Die Presse says that the demand to name and shame paedophiles has moved from Britain to Austria, where a councillor in the town of Salzburg has proposed that the names of convicted child molesters be put on display in the local town hall.

Yet the paper believes the initiative is misguided.

"Whoever wants to protect children has to look for the perpetrators," it says. "In Austria these are found in the families. Fathers, uncles, other relatives and good friends of the family."

The paper suggests that children should be taught seriously how to resist pestering, victims should be encouraged to speak out about their ordeals, and that more research into therapies for perpetrators is needed.

Blow to farmers

France's leading daily Le Monde turns its attention to the implications for British farming of the outbreak of swine fever in the east of the country, which has prompted the European Union to impose a ban on the export of live pigs.

"This is the first time in 14 years that cases of swine fever have been diagnosed in Britain, where the trauma of Mad Cow Disease is still far from over," the paper writes.

"If it were to spread, this epidemic could quickly assume the proportions of a national disaster for the reputation of British agriculture."

Le Monde quotes experts as saying an embargo will be a "real catastrophe" for Britain's pig farmers.

Not so racy

Hungary's Magyar Hirlap slams what has otherwise been reported to be the latest success story of the Hungarian Formula-1 race, the establishment of a "tolerance zone" for prostitutes within the recreational area to keep the rest of the area trouble-free.

"The prostitutes' pleasure-house was more like a wretched forced labour camp than an erotic centre," the paper says.

"We have again proved to be true to ourselves, that we are able to spoil what can be spoilt", the paper adds.

The European press review is compiled by BBC Monitoring from internet editions of the main European newspapers and some early printed editions.