What the papers say

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

"Shutdown", says the main headline in the Belfast Telegraph as it and the other papers tell us how we will all be affected by the walkout by public service workers.

According to the Telegraph, the strike could create bigger problems in Northern Ireland than elsewhere, because there's already a slight backlog in bin collections caused by the July holiday.

The Irish News highlights the fact that Belfast Zoo will be one of the casualties. It's apparently having to close for the duration of the strike. The paper says City of Derry Airport will also be badly affected.

The News Letter thinks it could be just the start of what it calls "a summer of misery".

In a comment column, it says that "if a settlement isn't reached soon, future action could bite deeper and last much longer, possibly affecting weddings and funerals and leading to growing piles of rubbish".

"Whatever the outcome," it says, "we'll all end up paying for this dispute one way or another."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is the subject of the main headline in the Irish Times.

The paper says he has caused fury in government circles in Dublin after saying, on the eve of his visit to Ireland, that the country will have to vote again on the Lisbon Treaty.

One of the leading figures in the No campaign is quoted as saying that if Ireland is forced into a second vote, there will be an even bigger rejection of the treaty than before.

Somebody else who's taking a bit of a hit features on the front of the Irish Independent.

Sean Quinn, Ireland's richest man, has apparently lost a billion euros because of the fall in value of the Anglo Irish Bank. According to the paper, the loss still leaves him with an estimated fortune of nearly 4bn euros.

Canoe

Several papers have front page pictures of Anthony and Mark Darwin, the sons of the canoeist who reappeared after going missing for five years.

As the Daily Mirror reports, they gave evidence against their mother, accusing her of lying to them.

The Times claims that Britain's third-largest airline, BMI, will fly almost empty aircraft from this autumn to hold on to its valuable landing slots at Heathrow.

According to the paper, rising fuel prices and an expected slump in passenger numbers will force other airlines to cancel flights, but BMI must use its landing slots or lose them.

The story says the rights are crucial, because BMI could be sold this year to a larger airline. Friends of the Earth tell the paper that the airline will be guilty of environmental vandalism.

Finally, the cycling scheme in Paris that found itself being exported around the world.

The French capital introduced the self-service scheme, under which you can put money in a slot machine and hire a bike.

The problem, as the Independent reports, is that it was so popular that many people didn't bother to bring the bikes back.

Large numbers of them have been seen on the streets of Romania, and one has even turned up in Australia.