What the papers say

Journalist Mike Philpott takes a look at what is making the headlines in Friday's morning papers.

The photographers were out in force to capture the flavour of Bill Clinton's return visit to Northern Ireland.

Among them, on the front of the News Letter, is a woman who managed to get into the front line of the media scrum to snap her own souvenir of the trip with a digital camera.

The Mirror says Mr Clinton was mobbed by enthusiastic crowds.

The Irish News describes Bill and Hillary as "the Posh and Becks of politics".

In a leader, it offers a reply to Thursday's News Letter editorial which was critical of Mr Clinton's record while in the White House.

We are clearly some way from achieving the kind of harmonious society where people can live side by side, regardless of religion Irish News

It comments that history will offer a positive judgement on his contribution to peace in Northern Ireland - and it believes he was a friend to both nationalists and unionists.

The News Letter leads with Friday's anniversary of what it describes as one of the blackest days of the Troubles, 25 years ago.

Four people died when Lord Mountbatten's boat was blown up off the County Sligo coast, and 18 soldiers were killed near Warrenpoint in County Down.

The paper says the republican movement "has yet to apologise for what its murder squads did that day - a day which reminds us of the worst excesses of man's inhumanity to man on this island".

'Damages the image'

There is some comment on the displacement of Protestant families from the Torrens Estate in north Belfast.

The Irish News says it is clear that the residents have suffered harassment.

It concludes that "we are clearly some way from achieving the kind of harmonious society where people can live side by side, regardless of religion".

It reports that the economy will surge to 7% growth, putting Ireland well up the world economic league table Irish Independent

The News Letter says it is the latest depressing episode in a cycle of social violence that damages the image of Northern Ireland.

It is worried that the movement of families to safer areas will simply reinforce the polarisation between the two main communities.

But in the short term, it feels little can be done to repair the damage.

The papers in Dublin look ahead to what the Irish Times calls "a bonanza" when special savings accounts begin to mature in two years' time.

'Massive car boot sale'

A firm of stockbrokers estimates that 14 billion euro will flood into the Irish economy.

The Irish Independent says the effect will be immense, as savers "splash out on holidays, cars, property and home improvements".

It reports that the economy will surge to 7% growth, putting Ireland well up the world economic league table.

A cleaner at the Tate Gallery in London saw what appeared to be a transparent bin liner full of waste and threw it out with the rest of the rubbish The Times

It seems the state of California could do with something similar.

The Daily Telegraph reports that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is hosting what it calls "a massive car boot sale" to raise money.

A mountain of items, seized by police, confiscated at airports or simply out of date, will be for sale on Friday and Saturday.

It includes everything from the obvious, like office desks, to the less predictable, such as 3,000 bulbs for traffic lights and three aircraft engines.

Aside from the sale, the state government will save nearly $100,000 a month on the cost of storing the items in a warehouse.

Finally, the Guardian asks this morning: "When is a bag of rubbish not a bag of rubbish?"

The answer, says the Times, is when it is a work of art.

Sadly, the distinction was lost on a cleaner at the Tate Gallery in London, who saw what appeared to be a transparent bin liner full of waste and threw it out with the rest of the rubbish.

Although it was retrieved, the artist felt it was damaged beyond repair.

The good news is that he has created another bag of rubbish, which is put in a box at night for safekeeping.