Newspaper headlines: 'Channel horror' and 'give nurses a deal'

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By BBC News
Staff
EPA

Many of Thursday's papers carry photographs of migrants in the Channel trying to clamber for their lives from their sinking dinghy on to a British trawler.

The i has listened to a desperate voice message saying: "Water is coming in - please help". It was made by someone on board a boat to a French charity. The paper says a child can be heard crying as a man says "we have a family on the boat".

The Times tells how the trawler's skipper was woken by screams to find migrants clinging to the side of his boat in freezing water. Ray Strachan describes pulling five people aboard and watching others try to swim towards his boat "like something out of a Second World War Movie".

The Sun reports that trafficking gangs charged those on board the dinghy £5,000 for what it calls a "ticket to death".

A picture of a young man looking shocked appears in several papers. "Saved after staring death in the face" is the caption in the Daily Telegraph.

The Guardian's top story is a damning report into how police forces handle rape cases - including failure to track repeat suspects and what it calls "explicit victim blaming". The independent study examines the first year of the government's Operation Soteria Bluestone which was set up after a huge fall in rape prosecutions.

The first nurses' strike in NHS history leads several front pages, including the Daily Telegraph which warns that longer and more damaging stoppages could be on their way in January. The paper reports that an extended dispute could affect end-of-life care and says today's action will hit thousands of operations and appointments for cancer patients.

The Daily Mirror takes a clear stand on the industrial action, with its headline telling nurses: "We are with you".

The Daily Express urges the government to "give nurses a deal and stop this madness". The paper highlights polls which suggest there is overwhelming public support for the strike, with just 27% opposed.