Papers in Scandinavia and central Europe review the recently concluded Winter Olympics in Turin.
The panic in Europe over bird flu, rather than the virus itself, is causing concern in Germany and Spain.
And a French daily finds disparity in how Paris has reacted to the threat of bird flu in mainland France and how it has been handling an epidemic affecting a French island in the Indian Ocean.
Winter Olympics
The 2006 Winter Games officially closed on Sunday evening amid a carnival and circus celebration which saw all the athletes wearing red clown noses at Turin's Stadio Olympico.
The best-ever Winter Olympics for Sweden, culminating in a 3-2 victory over Nordic neighbours Finland in the final of the men's ice hockey, makes the front pages of most of the country's dailies.
"We don't care that Sweden might never have another Olympics like this"Tabloid Aftonbladet carries the headline "Heroes" over a picture of the ice hockey team celebrating at the end of "the Olympic final of the century".
"People around Sweden were biting their nails when Finland looked like equalizing", it says.
Svenska Dagbladet writes of "a supreme conclusion to a fantastic Olympic Games".
"Swedish hockey's golden generation, but also the future, were behind the victory."
And Dagens Nyheter sums up the national ecstasy following "Swedish ice hockey's greatest moment".
"We are not bothered at all that a time like this may never come again. We don't care that Sweden might never have another Olympics like this," the paper declares.
"The Winter Olympics are not a global event but, first and foremost, a European competition"In neighbouring Norway, the mood is subdued and thoughtful.
Aftenposten reflects on a comparatively poor Winter Olympics for the country.
"It has been stated that the Olympic Games in Turin were a Norwegian fiasco. Some people are talking about a national disaster."
"But Norwegian reactions over the last few days hint that we need to adjust our perspective... both when we enjoy great success and when results are more mixed," the paper argues.
"The Winter Olympics are not a global event but, first and foremost, a European competition," it says, noting that only six of the medal-winning countries were non-European.
"Our athletes deserve that we point out that it was only in the last four Winter Olympics that Norway won more medals than we did in Turin."
"We can continue to be glad about that," it says.
"We should remind each other that neither our triumphs nor defeats make a big impression on the rest of the world. With the possible exception of Sweden."
'The shabby games'
But the Winter Olympics do not escape criticism.
The Czech Hospodarske Noviny, under the headline "The shabby games", criticizes the Italian organizers for splitting the Olympic Games between Turin and the mountains, thus - it argues - destroying the feeling of community, above all among the participating sportsmen.
"No scandal equals weak publicity""International Olympic Movement officials will never say it publicly but they are certainly aware that the Turin model for the games is a wrong one - future winter and summer Olympic Games must be different."
"Otherwise the next Olympic Games will be nice to watch on TV, but shabby for those actually there," it concludes.
Slovakia's Pravda was left disappointed for a different reason.
"The Turin Olympic Games will be soon forgotten," it believes.
"No scandal equals weak publicity," the paper says.
It also mourns the changing character of the Games: "They used to be seen as a feast of sport - but these days the Olympic Games are big business."
"The Italians did cope, but they will hardly be praised by anyone," the paper says, criticising the long distances between individual venues and the Olympic village being split into three locations.
Us and them?
In France, Le Monde contrasts the government's reaction to the bird flu threat with that to the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus in the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion.
"In the case of bird flu, the government has learned the lessons of public health crises over the past 15 years," it says, citing BSE, foot-and-mouth disease and the 2003 heatwave.
By contrast, the paper notes, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin yesterday visited Reunion to dispel the "deplorable impression" of his handling of the epidemic, which has infected 157,000 people and killed dozens.
Although the scale of the chikungunya outbreak was unprecedented, it says, this does not justify France's failure in eradicating the mosquitoes or its initial, "calamitous" dismissal of the virus.
The paper recalls President Jacques Chirac's reaction last year to an air crash in Venezuela which killed 152 people from another French island, Martinique.
"France... was able to show the inhabitants of the overseas departments that they were not rejects of the republic, and that their tragedy was the entire country's."
"In Reunion, the opposite has been shown," the paper laments.
Epidemic of fear
Elsewhere, there is concern about how the European public is reacting to the spread of the bird flu virus.
French President Jacques Chirac on Saturday urged people to eat cooked poultry and eggs to try to prevent the collapse of the poultry industry.
"Disinformation can have a more lethal effect for the economy than the infection"But, Germany's Frankfurter Rundschau says, it appears that even "crystal-clear arguments" are failing to convince people that poultry produce is safe for consumption.
In Italy "the poultry market immediately collapsed," it notes, "and German consumers lost their appetite last week when they saw Bundeswehr [German army] soldiers clothed in space suits gathering swans".
"And now it has also reached the French with a vengeance."
While precautions need to be taken, and the mass culling of poultry is still on the cards in Germany, there is no need to panic, the paper argues.
Spain's ABC also voices concern over the "hysteria" in France.
"The problem is that disinformation can have a more lethal effect for the economy than the infection itself," the paper warns.
The panic in France might infect Spain, it fears.
"A consistent message of reassurance must be sent to the public as a matter of urgency," the paper stresses.
The European press review is compiled by BBC Monitoring from internet editions of the main European newspapers and some early printed editions.
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