What the papers say

Journalist Fionola Meredith takes a look at what is making the headlines in Tuesday's morning papers.

The Irish News pictures 10-year-old Clarice Harron, from Castlederg, who choked to death on a balloon at a birthday party.

The Mirror leads with that tragic accident too.

Inside the Irish News, the paper reports that the Ulster Museum has had to rectify a Troubles exhibit after it made a bit of a spelling howler in the name of a former taoiseach. Dr Garret FitzGerald has been turned into Gareth Fitzgerald.

The paper says the mistake appears on three separate monitors showing images of key moments during the conflict.

Dr FitzGerald tells the paper that he thinks the error "odd", adding "the only person who ever called me Gareth was Margaret Thatcher".

More spelling stories making the headlines - the Sun is still leading with Gordon Brown's condolence letter to the mother of a dead British soldier.

The paper has a transcript of a phone call between the prime minister and Jacqui Janes, in which Mr Brown denies making 25 "disrespectful" errors in the spelling of Guardsman Jamie Janes' name.

'Walking miracle'

The Belfast Telegraph reports on a Northern Ireland teenager brought back from the brink of death.

When 18-year-old Edward Thorburn from Carrickfergus fell 40 feet when climbing a tree, his parents feared the worse.

His injuries included a brain haemorrhage, fractured sternum, fractured ribs, collapsed lung and a ruptured spleen.

But a team of medical staff at two Belfast hospitals worked painstakingly to repair his broken body, and now he's gone home - a "walking miracle" according to his mum Sharon.

The papers reflect on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The Irish Times pictures fireworks illuminating the Brandenburg Gate, and the paper says Berlin partied like it was 1989, fuelled by wurst and sparkling white wine.

Picturing Mikhail Gorbachev, Angela Merkel and Lech Walesa reunited for the anniversary, the Times says, "The architects of freedom remember the day The Wall came tumbling down", while the Guardian calls them: "The class of 89".

But French President Nicolas Sarkozy's claims on his Facebook page that he was one of the first people to tear down the wall are being treated with some scepticism.

The Guardian says Mr Sarkozy has been accused of "rewriting history" after it emerged he was probably not in Berlin until a week after the wall fell.

It's "total fantasy" as far as the Mail is concerned.

It says online commentators were also unconvinced, with one suggesting that Mr Sarkozy had "filmed Neil Armstrong on the Moon", while another said "he was probably in the stable at Nazareth on December the 25th".

Extra sleep

Meanwhile, a laid-back regime is proving popular at a school in Whitley Bay.

"To sleep, perchance to get better grades" is how the Independent describes an experiment being conducted at Monkseaton High School.

Pupils there have been given an extra hour in bed and don't start lessons until 10am.

The school's head, Paul Kelley, says the extra sleep improves the children's mental and physical health.

Early results would appear to back up claims by neurologist Russell Foster who says teenagers need more sleep than adults - and are traditionally exposed to "considerable dangers from sleep deprivation".

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
The Irish News
The News Letter
Belfast Telegraph
The Irish Times
Irish Independent
The Mirror
The Sun
The Guardian
The Daily Telegraph
The Independent
The Times
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites