What the papers say

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

The Irish News leads with the listeria infection at the Royal Victoria Hospital that has killed three elderly patients.

The paper says it is the first outbreak of its kind at a hospital in Northern Ireland.

It adds that the investigation is centring on food brought in by relatives or bought in the hospital's shops.

Prayer power

The News Letter carries a claim that an international prayer movement may have helped save the life of a teenager who had apparently died in an operating theatre.

Andrew Duffin and his family tell the paper that he recovered after his father issued an appeal for prayer.

The Belfast Telegraph devotes its main headline to an inquest on a man who killed his police officer wife with her own PSNI issue gun before killing himself.

The inquest heard that Caroline Kewley had asked her husband for a divorce a short time earlier.

And the Daily Mirror has an investigation into misconduct within the police service.

It says 56 officers have been disciplined internally or through the courts for offences including drug possession and using excessive force.

The Irish Independent says the taoiseach, Brian Cowen, faces a grilling from his fellow leaders in the European Union over last week's "no" vote against the Lisbon Treaty.

The paper says the fallout from the vote is continuing to divide opinion across Europe.

The Irish Times says it has become known as "the Irish situation".

In a comment column, it advises the government not to allow Ireland to be marginalised if the other member states decide to go ahead with the Treaty despite its rejection.

It says the vote reveals a much more general dissatisfaction with how citizens relate to government at both national and European levels.

Cancer treatment

The paper thinks Ireland might even have done the EU a favour by starting an intense debate on the real issues.

Two of the cross-channel titles lead with a remarkable story about cancer treatment.

The Daily Express and the Daily Telegraph tell the story of how a man with advanced skin cancer was apparently cured after being injected with billions of his own immune cells.

The Telegraph says the disease had already spread to one of his lungs, but then doctors in Seattle removed some of his cells, cloned them and then injected them back into his body.

According to the paper, he was free from tumour eight weeks later and is still clear of the illness two years on.

It quotes experts as saying that it could mark a major breakthrough, but the doctors who developed the treatment warn that the effects have been shown in only one patient, and we'll have to wait for the outcome of a larger trial.

Credit crunch

As the credit crunch continues, the Guardian has a 20-page supplement with advice on how to beat the property slowdown.

The Sun has two pages of money-saving tips, some of which are surprising.

For example, it says you should never buy the first round when you're out with friends.

Apparently, research has shown that evenings out usually end after an odd number of rounds, so over the course of a year you'll spend much more.

Also, it advises that you can get a great shine on your shoes by using the inside of a banana skin followed by a soft cloth.