What the papers say

A look at what is making the headlines in Wednesday's morning papers.

The News Letter focusses on Prime Minister Tony Blair with the headline: "PM insults Ulster victims".

The paper says Mr Blair has "sparked outrage" by suggesting the IRA threat had not been as serious as al-Queda's because, according to the prime minister, the IRA "did not set out to kill as many people".

The News Letter quotes Victor Barker, who lost his 12-year-old son, James, in the Real IRA Omagh bombing, and who says it was an "appalling moral stance" for a prime minister to take.

The Irish News turns its attention to the Police Ombudsman who, it says, for the first time has censured an officer over the firing of a plastic bullet.

The paper says that an investigation by Nuala O'Loan found that a constable who fired a plastic baton round and hit a nationalist in the leg in north Belfast in April of 2002 should not have had the weapon in his hand at the time.

The paper says it occurred during disorder at a flashpoint in the area.

'Crisis pregnancies'

The Irish Times reports on the Tanaiste Mary Harney's statement that the contraceptive pill should be made available to children as young as 11 in certain circumstances.

The paper says Ms Harney takes a liberal view on the availability of contraception in the Republic of Ireland in order to prevent crisis pregnancies among teenagers.

And, in the Irish Independent, it is an increase in the mortgage rate that captures the paper's attention.

It says banks and building societies in the republic have been given the green light to bring in mortgages as high as 120%.

Turning to the London papers, and there's considerable anger in some quarters over the backgrounds of the suspects in last week's failed London bombings.

Several print a school photo of one of the men being sought - Muktar Said Ibrahim, who, according to the Sun, came to Britain as a 14-year-old in 1993 when his family fled Eritrea.

The Daily Telegraph reports that he later served a jail sentence for mugging.

It says he was granted a British passport last year even though a key condition of naturalisation is that the applicant be "of good character".

The Daily Mail says he became a British citizen just 10 months ago, which required him to swear allegiance to the Queen, yet according to the Sun, he'd become a sworn enemy.

The Times says it was his parents who identified him to police after seeing CCTV pictures.

The Guardian is not happy about some of the tough new measures being considered by the prime minister to deal with terrorism, such as giving police the power to hold suspects for three months for questioning.

"This is a battle of values," the paper says, "as such it demands not just strong leadership but smart leadership."

Driver fined

A glum looking taxi driver stares out from an inside page of the Daily Mail.

He is Gary Flintoft from Hull, who drove three men attacking a fellow woman passenger two weeks ago straight to a police station, only to find it closed.

He locked the doors and dialled 999, but by the time a patrol arrived, the attackers had kicked out his back window and escaped.

However, he now has a £60 fine and three points on his licence because in his hurry to get to the police station, he was flashed by a camera travelling at 37 miles per hour in a 30 zone.

Finally, the Sun is among papers to tell the story of a parrot at a wildlife sanctuary in Nuneaton who's been banned from meeting visitors.

The macaw, called Barney, used to belong to a lorry driver.

Since arriving at the sanctuary, he has called a vicar and local schoolchildren a nasty word, and offended the local mayoress by telling her to go away.

The centre's manager, Geoff Grewcock, says Barney tends to swear most at people in uniform.

The Sun says he is hoping to improve the bird's language by making it listen to TV documentaries and "posh Radio 4".