Newspaper headlines: 'Riddle of lost dog ball' and Johnson calls for tax cuts

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By BBC News
Staff
Family handout via Lancashire police

The search continues for the whereabouts of 45-year-old dog walker Nicola Bulley

In Saturday's papers, Fthe Financial Times attempts to explain why China sent a surveillance balloon to fly over the United States. The paper says balloons allow the Chinese to record in greater detail and over a larger area than they can using satellites. They can also remain in the air for weeks and are harder to spot than drones. The Times says the US is also using balloons - with the Pentagon spending more money on them, while running a classified programme code-named Cold Star. In its editorial, the Sun accuses President Biden of being caught napping again; it says China's "stunt" is a consequence of years of weak US foreign policy.

Photographs of Nicola Bulley appear on most front pages after police in Lancashire said she might have fallen into a river while walking her dog, on the day she disappeared. "Did Nicola slip into the river going after dog's ball?" Is the Daily Mail's front page headline. The Sun poses the same question. In the Daily Mirror, a retired Scotland Yard chief inspector says officers will keep reviewing what is known and checking nothing has been overlooked.

According to the Times, the Home Office has come up with a radical proposal to remove the right of migrants - arriving in small boats - to appeal against their automatic exclusion from the asylum system. The idea is being considered for inclusion in draft legislation to meet Rishi Sunak's pledge to "stop the boats". The Times says a second proposal being examined would allow migrants to lodge an appeal, but only after they are deported.

For its main story, i reports that women in the UK are struggling to get hormone replacement therapy after a breakdown in communications between the government and manufacturers. Pharmacists tell the paper they began experiencing shortages in December, while suppliers say they have been frustrated by the silence from government on the issue. The Department of Health says it is in regular contact with manufacturers.

The Daily Telegraph says a group of Tory peers - including the former culture secretary, Lady Morgan - is pushing the government to introduce tougher penalties for social media platforms that fail to remove misogynistic abuse. The paper says Labour will back the group's amendment to the Online Safety Bill; if adopted, social media firms could be fined up to 10% of their global turnover if they fail to abide by a code outlawing online misogyny.

The Daily Mirror says ITV has postponed the filming of a celebrity episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire after at least three female stars refused to work with the presenter, Jeremy Clarkson. They pulled out because of an article he wrote, in which he spoke of his hatred for the Duchess of Sussex. The paper says the female stars feared they could be seen as legitimising Clarkson's comments if they shared a platform with him. ITV has not commented. Jeremy Clarkson has previously apologised for the article.

According to the Sun, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be invited to the King's coronation in May. The paper says invitations are to go out this month, and officials planning the coronation say there's been no suggestion from Buckingham Palace that Prince Harry and Meghan would be excluded.