Newspaper headlines: 'War threat grows' and 'punish Putin harder' call

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By BBC News
Staff
Reuters

"Putin takes Europe to the brink of war" is the headline in the i newspaper.

The Daily Mail describes what it calls the "chilling sight" of Russian tanks churning up mud on their way to battle in Ukraine.

Mr Putin's decision to send in the military to support pro-Russian rebel enclaves has heightened western fears of a broader offensive, says the Financial Times.

"Stop Mad Vlad" is the headline in the Sun, which reports that Britain will send more weapons to Ukraine within days.

"Too Little Too Late" is the Daily Mirror's view on what it calls "Boris Johnson's weak sanctions against Russia". It says MPs and activists have "savaged" the package of measures.

One campaigner tells the paper that the prime minister could stop the invasion of Ukraine by targeting the assets of the 50 oligarchs said to control Vladimir Putin's billions in the UK.

The privately-owned Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta also believes that the western sanctions were "softer than expected".

It sums up the package as: "Russian MPs can't go shopping in Milan". However, the paper notes President Biden's warning that this is just the beginning.

Analysts tell the Washington Post that the sanctions are an incremental step unlikely to alter Mr Putin's calculations in the short term.

EPA

Instead, they say the response by the West sets the stage for a protracted pressure campaign, with the Kremlin and European leaders all weighing their next moves.

The Times says the police document sent to Boris Johnson to assess the extent of parties in Downing Street during lockdown included a standard police caution, which would make him the first British prime minister in history to have been questioned in this way.

The Daily Telegraph reports details of what it calls the biggest shake-up of higher education funding for a decade.

It says that banning people from taking out student loans if they fail maths or English at GCSE will limit the numbers applying for what it calls "Mickey Mouse" degrees and then failing to pay back the money they've borrowed.

The measures are designed to protect the taxpayer, it says, and reflect a "rowing-back" on the drive by New Labour and the coalition government to encourage more young people to go to university.

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The Guardian says there's been a huge rise in so-called "ghost flights" during the pandemic.

They are defined as those with no passengers, or less than 10% of normal capacity. It says 15,000 such flights left the UK during an 18-month period.

Some airlines say they operate in this way to avoid losing valuable landing slots at airports. Flying is one of the most carbon-intensive activities people can undertake, and environmental campaigners say they're appalled by the number of unnecessary journeys.

Magpies are known for their bold personalities and intelligence, says the Daily Telegraph, but scientists in Australia were surprised to see how easily a group of them were able to outwit researchers.

Each bird was fitted with a GPS tracker under the breast, so they couldn't reach it themselves.

But within minutes, they'd successfully removed the devices from each other.

The study had a simple conclusion, said one of the scientists: "The birds outsmarted us".