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A coach carrying Belgian and Dutch children home from a skiing holiday collided with a tunnel wall in southern Switzerland: 22 twelve-year-olds and six adults who accompanied them died in the crash.
Sierre, 13 March 2012. 28 dead, 24 injured. – De Standaard
Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo has announced a national day of mourning in memory of the victims of the Sierre tragedy.
State of shock – Le Soir
The Swiss newspaper asks questions about the speed of heavy vehicles in tunnels and the design of safety bays. The coach crashed into a wall of one such bay.
Sierre tragedy, fear and grief – Le Temps
The social-democratic and Green coalition, which has ruled North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populated German state, for the last two years, has been unable to have its budget passed. The alliance will still be the favourite in elections to be held in May, which will be another dangerous test for Angela Merkel’s CDU.
Oops! New elections – Die Tageszeitung
Staunchly anti-communist Fidesz, the ruling party in Hungary, has refused to support a motion presented by the Greens with support from the socialists (formerly the Communist party) and the far right to publish the names of secret police informers under the communist state. The brick on the front page refers to the Hungarian term for an informer. The country remains the only former member of the Soviet bloc where these lists have not been published.
Informers sheltered – Heti Válasz
The Polish episcopate has approved a set guidelines to fight against the sexual abuse of children. Priests who have been found guilty will be suspended from their ministry and kept away from children. However, the church will not compensate victims by paying damages, which it believes should be the responsibility of individual priests concerned.
Church against pedophiles – Gazeta Wyborcza
The regional authority wants to introduce a number of measures. These include making it less easy to choose the “Spanish” option when selecting a language for school tuition, an end to the obligation to fly the national flag, and a law that will pave the way for a referendum on more fiscal autonomy for the region.
Catalonia. We have a problem – ABC
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