What the papers say

Journalist Fionola Meredith takes a look at what is making the headlines in Tuesday's morning newspapers.

A solution to superbugs is the prospect held out on the front page of the Irish News, after a Belfast dentist told the paper that ozone has the power to decontaminate wards and bed linen infected with bugs like MRSA or C diff.

Dr Edward Lynch, who is professor of restorative dentistry at Queen's University, believes that the powerful sterilising agent could save lives because bacteria can't develop resistance to it, and it takes effect in only a fraction of a second.

The News Letter leads with a landlord's dismay when he discovered that his investment property on the north coast had been turned into a cannabis factory by a criminal gang.

His property was one of more than 70 raided in recent weeks. The PSNI stated in June that criminal Chinese gangs from outside Northern Ireland were farming cannabis for distribution outside Northern Ireland.

Axe for NIO?

Could the Northern Ireland Office be facing the axe? That's the question in the Belfast Telegraph. It speculates that Shaun Woodward could be Northern Ireland's last secretary of state if the Prime Minister decides to shake up his government next month, perhaps subsuming the NIO into a new Department of the Regions.

And the paper suggests that Mr Woodward, who has reportedly become a close adviser to Gordon Brown, could well land the plum job of Defence Secretary.

Desperate scenes from Georgia continue to dominate the cross-channel front pages.

"Russia tightens the noose" is the Independent's headline, picturing Georgian soldiers running for cover as Russian rocket fire rains down around them.

The paper reports how, in defiance of a chorus of international condemnation, Russian forces pushed deeper into the former Soviet republic, seizing strategic positions - a signal, the paper says, that Moscow intends to hold its gains.

Meanwhile, the Irish Times tells how many ordinary Georgians feel betrayed by the US and the EU, in whom they placed such high hopes. "Georgia didn't deserve this - Europe closed its eyes", says one man.

A poolside squabble at the Olympic Games, between a 14 year-old-boy and his diving partner, has caught many papers' attention.

High-board

Tom Daley - the youngest competitor in Beijing - took exception to 26-year-old Blake Aldridge calling his mum in between dives, in yesterday's synchronised high-board final. The pair finished last.

As synchronised divers, they were only as good as each other, points out the Independent.

Picturing the pair looked grumpy under the shower, the Mirror sums it all up with the headline - "Belly strop".

And finally, the Guardian brings news of actor Matthew McConaughey's plans for his newborn son's placenta - he's going to plant it under a tree, Aboriginal style.

As the paper notes, McConaughey was not the first Hollywood star to share his placenta plans with the world: in 2006, Tom Cruise let it be known that he was going to eat his daughter Suri's placenta.

Or why not take it further and indulge in a spot of placenta art? That's the latest thing, says the Guardian - both a fun activity, and a unique keepsake of the pregnancy.