The Daily Mirror’s front page features a large image of residents on roofs in Gennadi, Rhodes, as they try to save homes from the huge flames with hoses. The front page also says the bid to close almost all train station ticket offices faces a delay following crisis talks over the plan on Tuesday.
At least 34 people have been killed by blazes in Algeria as scorching 40C temperatures have turned the region into a tinderbox, according to the Metro. A British mother also tells the paper how she and her 11-year-old son fled the Rhodes fires in their swimming costumes as a blaze consumed their hotel.
The UN is calling for schools to ban smartphones to protect the wellbeing of children as a new report has warned of the impact on learning and dangers of the digital revolution, the front page of the Guardian says. There is also a poignant picture of villagers in Gennadi, on the island of Rhodes, looking despondent as a wildfire enters their village.
The i’s front page splits between the wildfire crisis deepening across Europe and Rishi Sunak delaying a flagship eco-policy forcing manufacturers to pay for recycling to “help drive down inflation”.
Natwest’s chief executive Alison Rose admitted she leaked private banking information about Nigel Farage, while also accepting she had made a “serious error of judgement”, the front page of the Daily Telegraph says. However, the front page story adds the bank has said it will not sack her.
The Times also leads on Natwest boss Alison Rose with its front page focusing on downing Street’s concerns about her staying in the job. Meanwhile on the front page, exercises such as the plank, the bridge and the “wall sit” could help millions of people who need to lower their blood pressure. And Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has warned some of the UK’s biggest businesses that they must do more to help with the cost of living crisis as they prepare to announce large profits.
Natwest boss Alison Rose may need to fight for her job after admitting she leaked details about Nigel Farage’s bank account, according to the Daily Express.
The Daily Mail continues its expose of immigration solicitors who the paper says are charging thousands of pounds to submit false asylum claims for illegal immigrants.
The FT reports Algeria is battling killer wildfires as the heatwave in Europe appears to be wreaking havoc in North Africa too. Elsewhere on the front page. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government is planning to overhaul green targets for landlords as the UK’s general election nears.
The Daily Star leads on a pig who was has made almost £1 million by painting portraits after being rescued from a slaughterhouse.
Many of the papers reflect the pressure on Dame Alison Rose to quit last night – before it emerged that she’d agreed to step down.
The Times quotes three cabinet ministers saying she “has no integrity”, has “obfuscated at every turn” and “hasn’t understood from the outset just how serious” the situation is. One tells the paper the bank’s entire board “has to go if it wants to defend her”.
That sentiment is echoed by one City boss, who tells the Daily Telegraph that “it’s ridiculous” that the board backed her, saying Dame Alison broke “the cardinal rule of banking”.
In its leader column, the Daily Mail says client confidentiality is a “fundamental tenet of banking” and demands an “unexpurgated explanation” of what’s happened. It finishes with the question: “Can banks be trusted with our money?”
Image source, PA Media
Dame Alison Rose has agreed to step down as chief executive of Natwest
The FT reports that the government is planning to overhaul green targets for landlords in an attempt to ease the strain on the housing market. A Whitehall official tells the paper that the rules around energy performance certificates need “fundamental reform”.
The Guardian leads with a new report from the United Nations, which says smartphones should be banned from schools. The paper says the recommendation is designed to improve learning and help protect children from cyberbullying.
Referring to the report, it says “excessive or inappropriate” use of technology by students in the classroom and at home can be “distracting, disruptive and result in a detrimental impact on learning”.
A volunteer at an evacuation centre in Rhodes tells the paper that many tourists left stranded by wildfires haven’t received a response from their travel agencies.
One tourist says she was offered a flight to Manchester, but told by her travel company that she’d have to pay for a taxi for the 200-mile journey to her home in Wiltshire.
The Sun tells the story of a family from Manchester who fled their burning hotel and spent the next three days in their swimwear.
The Daily Mirror reports that plans to close almost all railway station ticket offices in England have been “plunged into chaos”. It says a consultation on the proposals – which was due to end tonight – is expected to be extended until September, after what it calls “last-ditch crisis talks”.
The paper’s headline is: “Train delay… and for once it’s a good thing.”
