The British daily The Independent asks all the pertinent questions after this latest crash. Are Airbuses safe? The answer given by the paper: it is respectable and comparable to its rival, Boeing. Some pilots have expressed reservations about the “Fly-By-Wire” approach. This automates more processes than Boeing.
Airbus believes this method is safer - it reduces pilot error. The recent accidents are most likely down to a string of bad luck

Is Yemenia Airlines safe? The answer: you probably should think twice about flying with them. The very plane that crashed was deemed unsafe by French authorities in a 2007 inspection at a Paris airport.

The Globe and Mail in Canada reports on the remarkable story of the 14 year old girl who survived that Yemenia Airways crash. Half conscious and shivering, she was pulled from the water by a police officer. She couldn’t remember her name at first. It is one positive element in this sad story.

The Irish Times reports a worrying incident involving a flight coming in from Egypt to Dublin Airport yesterday with 200 people on board. It narrowly missed a tractor lawnmower.

The official report reads like something out of a comedy except it could in fact have been a tragedy.
“A small ride on grass mower was moving eastwards along runway 10 a number of metres inside the runway edge lighting at the time that the aircraft landed…It is probable that the starboard wing passed over the ride-on mower during the landing roll.”

Poor visibility and indeed poor communication is being blamed.

The front page of the Swedish paper Dagens Nyheter carries an interview with Jose Manuel Barosso, the President of the European Commission. Today is the first day of the six month Swedish presidency of the EU. Sweden is a big supporter of Barosso who isn’t loved by all European countries. France and Germany in particular have expressed their reservations in the past.

Barosso says of Sweden, “You have been a source of inspiration for many in Europe. You have shown it is possible to have an open market, to resist protectionism and have social cohesion, social development and high environmental ambitions.

This Czech English-language paper The Prague Daily Monitor puts a positive spin on the Czech presidency of the Union. The agenda has been fulfilled and the presidency was a complete success, it says.

The Jerusalem Post reports on a diplomatic spat between France and Israel over Nicolas Sarkozy's advice to Netanyahu to dump his Foreign Minister, the far-right politician Avigdor Lieberman. Sarkozy compared him to Jean-Marie le Pen, France's far-right leader of the Front National. Netanyahu came out in support of his Foreign Minister, according to today's edition of the Post.

According to the Daily Mail, it is understood the Michael Jackson’s coffin will be transported to his funeral in a white carriage led by two horses. The coach would indeed fit the fantastical style of his Neverland ranch. In death as in life, the paper notes, Michael Jackson is doing things with fairytale extravagance.