'BBC star in hospital' and 'big drop in US inflation'

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BBC has come under pressure to justify the suspension of its broadcaster, said the Daily Telegraph

By BBC News
Staff

Thursday's newspapers are dominated by the disclosures about Huw Edwards, with many carrying photographs of the broadcaster with his wife, Vicky Flind. "My husband has serious mental health issues" is the headline on the cover of the Daily Mail, which calls it a "bombshell". "It IS Huw Edwards" writes the Metro. The Daily Telegraph says the developments mean the BBC will now come under pressure to justify its suspension of the broadcaster.

The Times, owned by the same Murdoch group as the Sun which published the original allegations, says the tabloid stands by its reporting. But the Guardian's Media Editor, Jim Waterson, writes of a growing "defensiveness and nervousness" in the Sun's story over recent days. He says the paper faces "serious questions and a potential legal risk" from its journalism.

Writing in the Daily Mail, Sarah Vine describes Huw Edwards as "the Corporation's mouthpiece". "The public's belief in the integrity of those who hold such exalted positions of power has been shaken to its core, " she adds.

The i newspaper says the crisis will make it harder for ministers to appoint a high-quality chair of the BBC to replace Richard Sharp, who resigned over claims he had helped secure a loan for Boris Johnson. One person tipped to take on the role told the paper "the whole thing seems an absolute mess".

In other news, the Telegraph alleges that hackers suspected of working for Russian intelligence have been targeting diplomats working at embassies in Ukraine with fake online car adverts to try to break into their computers. More than a quarter of embassies in Kyiv have been sent an email apparently selling a BMW at a price significantly lower than would usually be expected.

Football's world governing body Fifa has scored "the most expensive own goal in football history" according to the Times. The organisation was apparently collecting more than £100m a year for lending its name to the wildly successful Fifa console football game. But the paper reports it "overplayed its hand" by asking for more than £900m for a new four-year deal, so the game's developers decided to end the partnership and have today released the first title independent of Fifa.

The discovery of a 3,000-year-old comb in a burial pit in Barry, South Wales, suggests Britons in the Bronze Age liked to take care of their appearances, the Guardian says. It was found along with a hair ring. A member of an archaeology group muses the comb may have been used for grooming alongside an open fire in 1,300 BC. It may also, he says, have been used get lice out of hair.

And the Telegraph writes of a mystery benefactor who has stumped up almost £200,000 for the British Library to acquire one of the world's rarest cricket books. A London-based collector has given the money so the institution can buy a "collection of all the grand matches of cricket played in England within twenty years from 1771 to 1791". It is a book of scorecards and statistics owned by the late cricket commentator John Arlott.