Newspaper headlines: Asbestos in schools and George's pizza at Lord's

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By BBC News
Staff
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The Sunday Telegraph reports that French President Emmanuel Macron has dispatched the elite police tactical unit, the GIGN (similar to the SAS), to Marseille, as rioting continues in France.

The paper quotes one police union as saying clashes on Friday night had been "apocalyptic".

The Sunday Express says new analysis suggests that some of the groups that oppose government plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda are receiving funds from the taxpayer, to the tune of £1.5bn.

According to the paper, most of that total went to the International Organisation for Migration, and another United Nations body, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, over a period of about nine years. Critics including backbench Conservative MPs tell the paper it's not what government funds should be used for.

The main story for The Sunday Times is an investigation into asbestos in schools. The paper cites one estimate that as many as 10,000 pupils and staff may have been killed by exposure to toxic asbestos fibres, since the 1980s. It says it's starting a national campaign to have all asbestos removed from buildings over the next four decades. It says that although asbestos was banned in the UK almost 25 years ago, more than six million tonnes may still remain.

The Observer reports that two thirds of England's biggest water companies are employing key executives who used to work at the industry's watchdog Ofwat. It says the findings have raised fresh concerns over what it calls a "revolving door" between the regulator and industry.

The water companies insist to the paper that all their employees have complied with the relevant appointment rules for ex-civil servants.

The Sunday Telegraph says pylons carrying hundreds of miles of overhead electricity cables could be fast-tracked through planning processes, to help the government meet its net zero emissions target. Ministers are said to be concerned about having enough capacity to cope with a big expansion of wind generation, as well as more households having heat pumps, and electric cars. The paper says formal consent for major infrastructure projects could be given in as little as half of the seven-year timeframe it normally takes.

The Mail on Sunday's main story is a claim that the Metropolitan Police banned its officers at Pride celebrations in London from wearing a commemorative badge for colleagues who'd died in the line of of duty. Senior Met staff were said to be worried that the black and white union flag, with a horizontal blue line through it, might offend member of the LGBT+ community, because similar symbols have been linked to far right groups in America.

The man who survived the racist attack which killed Stephen Lawrence tells the Sunday Mirror that a sixth suspect, recently identified by the BBC, was there. Duwayne Brooks says he would have picked out Matthew White from an identity parade, if he'd been given the chance. But he said he was certain White, who died two years ago, was kept out of any line-up because rogue officers made him a "witness", rather than a suspect.

A number of the front pages feature pictures of Prince George watching the Ashes at Lord's with his father the Prince of Wales. "At least there's one young Englishman with his hands on the Ashes" quips the Express, a reference to England's precarious position in the second Ashes test, having lost the first.