What the papers say

Journalist Mike Philpott takes a look at Thursday's morning newspapers

The News Letter leads with a one-day stoppage by health care workers in north and west Belfast, prompted by the fact that one of their colleagues received a bullet in the post.

The paper says union members have described it as "the last straw".

In a leader, the paper comments that "all our troubles in Northern Ireland are of our own making, and life is too precious for us to indulge in bitter feudal acrimony."

"An African child who doesn't know where his or her next meal is coming from would be grateful for a guarantee of living long enough to reach adulthood," says the paper.

George Best will face intense public scrutiny in the months to come, to ensure that he lives up to the second chance he has been given

Irish News

It concludes that, although we've created our own problems, we still have it within us to come up with solutions.

The Irish News carries an appeal from the mother of Daniel McColgan, the postman who was murdered earlier this year.

She calls for an end to sectarian killings and urges people to attend Friday's rally at Belfast City Hall.

The paper's editorial concentrates on George Best's recovery after his liver transplant.

It says he will face "intense public scrutiny in the months to come, to ensure that he lives up to the second chance he has been given".

Bomb attack

The Daily Telegraph reports on its front page that a secret British military unit is operating in Spain gathering intelligence on the Basque separatist group ETA.

The paper says Spain has been making increasing demands for outside help to crush terrorism, and the British unit is also investigating links between ETA and the IRA.

But the most widely covered story in the cross-channel broadsheets is the bomb attack that killed seven people at a university in Jerusalem.

Many papers carry the same picture, showing a man comforting an injured woman, whose knees are covered with blood-soaked bandages.

The Independent's reporter on the scene has written a graphic account of the aftermath, while the Times says the university was one of Israel's few symbols of cross-community life.

The papers in Dublin are dominated by a court ruling in which a nightclub owner in Donegal was found to have been wrongly convicted for a drugs offence after the police fabricated evidence.

Finally, several papers carry some research indicating that man's best friend is brighter than we thought.

Scientists have discovered that dogs communicate different messages by barking and they can even count.

The Daily Telegraph reckons that's why they can work out each day when it's time for walkies.