What the papers say

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

A mother's appeal leads in the Belfast Telegraph.

It is grieving German Almut Hauser, who is appealing for an end to her "21-year nightmare" after her teenage daughter Inga Maria was murdered in Northern Ireland in 1988.

Frau Hauser said that Inga's dream had always been to visit Ireland and inside the paper there are touching family snapshots of her daughter.

The case came back into the headlines this week after new DNA evidence was said to have narrowed the field of suspects.

An elderly victim of crime is the lead in today's News Letter.

A Tandragee pensioner in her 80s, terrorised by "five masked thugs", is pictured peering from her front door and is interviewed about her ordeal.

The paper's editorial says that "law and order in Northern Ireland is beginning to creak at the seams".

It puts the Policing Board in the dock "for failing to deliver" in getting money from the government for policing and says that the lack of police on the ground dates back from the Patten report.

The Daily Mirror also has that County Armagh robbery story, when only a couple of pounds was taken. The five men, who forced their way into Janet Jeanette's home, had been posing as police officers.

The Mirror's editorial praises the "feisty lady's" courage, but says that the "Janet Jeanettes of our world should never have to face this terror in their own homes".

The Sam Maguire looks as if he's about to fall off the back of a lorry in the front-page picture in the Irish News on Friday, but the trophy is merely posed amongst aid packages going from Tyrone to Gaza.

The lorry will be one of 100 vehicles leaving London in convoy on Saturday, St Valentine's Day.

Young father

A picture of a teenager holding a baby fills the front page of the Sun.

And it is not the child's brother, which is what one might assume.

The baby-faced boy is the 13-year-old father of the child. Apparently he was 12-years-old when his 15-year-old girlfriend conceived.

But a local teenager is also making medical headlines in the paper.

Golf sensation Rory McIlroy had to fly to England for tests, after a series of fainting spells.

But happily, there's a simple solution. And it's saline. Rory's been told he needs to have more salt in his diet.

Politics the lead in the Irish papers - again.

There's been a collapse in support for Fianna Fail, according to a new poll. Both the Irish Independent and the Irish Times analyse the results.

They put Fianna Fail behind Labour for the first time since polling began. Fine Gael's in most favour with those polled and Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore is the most popular party leader, by a significant margin.

The Irish Times' editorial favours tough action on the economy if Brian Cowen and his party are to regain support.

It says that "harsh measures can sometimes generate approval, if those administering the unpalatable medicine convince the public they know what they are doing."

And finally, Friday 13th.

Matt sums it up as succinctly as ever in his cartoon in the Daily Telegraph.

Two men in suits in the Treasury are flipping over their desk calendar to today's date.

Friday the 13th, of course. And one's saying to the other: "I used to be superstitious, but frankly, what else can go wrong?"