Papers feel peace slip away

There is a touch of resignation in the papers on Wednesday as they review the sudden reversal in Tony Blair's efforts to restore power sharing in Northern Ireland.

"Ulster: History is on hold," says the Independent.

The Guardian is grimmer, saying: "Peace deal falls apart", while the Times remarks ruefully: "The day peace slipped away again".

The paper says the prime minister and his Irish counterpart, Bertie Ahern, were waiting at Hillsborough Castle believing they were within minutes of a huge advance when the deal was rejected by the Ulster Unionists.

It left them both stunned, with the whole peace process in crisis as David Trimble said he was unhappy with the latest report on IRA decommissioning.

The Financial Times strikes an upbeat note, saying the peace process has not unravelled, but is on hold for what many outsiders will see as a technicality.

Strain on PM

The Daily Telegraph says the prime minister has played down the disagreement, while admitting that the talks have hit a "glitch".

But the Daily Mail thinks the setback will come as a blow to Mr Blair, who had hoped to slot the last pieces of the Good Friday Agreement into place.

The Sun is worried about the strain it has put on the prime minister, barely 72 hours after his heart scare.

The paper's health editor warns that while he has been given the all clear by doctors, he was unwise to push ahead with such a punishing schedule so soon.

The Guardian reports that a top British athlete - and one of the country's big hopes for a gold medal at the Olympics - has tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid.

Royal anger

It says the athlete may now face a life ban from the sport. The drug involved is tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG, which was undetectable until the recent development of a specific test.

Scores of urine samples have now been re-examined.

The Guardian says about 50 of the world's best known athletes may have been caught in the same dragnet, which threatens to undermine the credibility of next year's Olympics in Athens.

Several papers devote column after column to the Royal anger at the book by Princess Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell.

The Sun says Buckingham Palace lawyers are looking into whether Mr Burrell is breaching copyright rules by reprinting letters written by the Duke of Edinburgh to the princess.

The Daily Mirror, in its latest excerpt from the book, quotes from a letter said to have been written by Diana's brother Earl Spencer, accusing her of being manipulative and deceitful.

Niagara marvel

The earl also complains of being a peripheral part of her life.

Mr Burrell contrasts this with the funeral address Earl Spencer gave in Westminster Abbey, saying his eloquence masked his hypocrisy.

Few papers fail to marvel at how an American man survived a plunge over Niagara Falls.

The Telegraph carries a picture of the man, standing by the river's bank, minutes after he was washed down the 167 feet drop.

The Mail says Kirk Jones, who is 40 and from Michigan, is the first person to survive the drop without a buoyancy aid.

But as it points out, he could now face a £6,000 fine under a US law that prohibits what is called "stunting".