What the papers say

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

The Mirror carries the one-word headline "Inferno", while the Mail speaks of "the flames of hatred".

Along with the Express and the Daily Telegraph, they carry front page pictures of a British soldier on fire after being attacked with petrol bombs in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

The Mail is not the only paper to link this incident with Israel's assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

Many of them highlight the quote from Hamas: "(Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon has opened the gates of hell."

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin founded Hamas with the aim of not just ending the Israeli occupation, but eliminating the Jewish state The Independent

There is general consensus that Israel's action was a bad move.

"Extremely stupid" says the Financial Times, while the Mirror calls it "an act of terrible folly".

There is general agreement that Sheikh Yassin was "no peacemaker", as the Independent puts it.

The paper says he founded Hamas with the aim of not just ending the Israeli occupation, but eliminating the Jewish state.

'Achieve the opposite'

He called from his wheelchair for armed struggle and suicide bombings, it says.

"Nevertheless, this killing was state-sponsored murder and as such it was illegal," says the Independent.

A former associate of convicted loyalist paramilitary Johnny Adair may have a jail sentence for blackmail extended Irish News

However great the provocation, it says, nothing can justify such action.

The Mirror says that if the killing was done for revenge, it was self-defeating.

"And if it was done to stop the violence, then it will achieve the opposite", it says.

But the Star urges readers not to cry for the Sheikh.

'Undercover police officer'

And the Sun reminds us that being spiritual leader of Hamas "is not like being the Archbishop of Canterbury".

The Times agrees. "He had more in common with Osama Bin Laden," it says.

The Irish News reports that a former associate of convicted loyalist paramilitary Johnny Adair may have a jail sentence for blackmail extended.

Her family was given permission to take her home from hospital in Downpatrick so that they could care for her themselves, but they were told they would have to wait up to eight hours for an ambulance News Letter

Last month, Thomas Potts was given three years for trying to extort money from an apparent building contractor - except the "contractor" in question was an undercover police officer.

According the the Irish News, the Attorney General now thinks the sentence was unduly lenient and is going to look into it.

The offence carries a maximum penalty of 14 years. The paper says the news that the case is to be reviewed is "an encouraging development".

The News Letter highlights the story of a woman from Killyleagh in County Down who is terminally ill with cancer.

Her family was given permission to take her home from hospital in Downpatrick so that they could care for her themselves, but they were told they would have to wait up to eight hours for an ambulance.

Now a local assembly member has lodged a complaint with the ambulance service.

Meanwhile, the News Letter's Morning View column is angry about the high level of attacks on staff in Northern Ireland's hospitals.

It says hospitals must be revered as sanctuaries and those who staff them should be treated with the greatest respect.

They should not have to brace themselves in fear when the pubs close or work in conditions of oppressive security.

The Daily Telegraph gives us more on the story of Terence Hope, a surgeon at the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham who was suspended after allegedly taking an extra bowl of soup from the hospital canteen without paying.

As a result, the paper says, three brain operations were postponed on Monday.

Mr Hope himself is not saying much. The Daily Telegraph shows him gardening at his home, trying to disguise himself in a long ginger wig and a woolly hat.