Newspaper headlines: Migrant crisis, blue whale, visiting friends and giant sheep By Nigel Pankhurst

BBC News Published duration 3 September 2015

The migration crisis dominates the papers, with emotive pictures of the body of a young boy being lifted from a Turkish beach featuring on many of the front pages.

The Times reports that Aylan Kurdi, three, died with his brother, Galip, and their mother while trying to cross a few short miles of the Mediterranean to reach Greece. Their father survived.

The Times says : "As the terrible pictures emerged, eastern European nations defied calls led by Germany to share the huge numbers of migrants, many fleeing the war in Syria.

"Viktor Orban, Hungary's conservative prime minister, will head to Brussels today to make clear that he is not prepared to accept Muslim refugees amid EU threats to withdraw voting rights from member states guilty of discrimination.

"The move follows a similar demand from Slovakia and unease in half-a-dozen former communist countries at being made to accept quotas of migrants under a scheme to be announced by the European Commission.

image copyright Reuters image caption Refugees have been protesting in the Hungarian capital Budapest

"David Cameron also gave his clearest indication that he would not cave in to demands from Berlin for Britain to accept more asylum seekers, warning that the crisis could not be solved 'simply by taking more and more refugees'."

A picture of a policeman in Macedonia carrying a screaming baby at the barbed wire border with Greece encapsulated the plight of the countless children making desperate journeys through the Balkans, it adds.

"The EU is deadlocked, our prime minister is in denial. A vast human catastrophe is unfolding. Do we really believe this is not our problem?" asks the Independent , which has chosen to show the most graphic image of Aylan Kurdi on its front page.

The Guardian has also published the image, inside the paper, but the BBC and other newspapers have chosen to publish a photograph of Aylan in which he is being carried by a Turkish police officer and is unidentifiable.

The Financial Times says: "As EU leaders struggled for a response to the crisis, Germany, Italy and France made a joint plea for 'fair distribution' of refugees throughout the EU and David Cameron attracted criticism at home and abroad."

'Wake-up call'

But, continues the Times, it does not help for Germany to lecture Britain on altruism or the merits of a misconceived quota plan that Berlin wants to force on the rest of Europe.

John Harris, in the Guardian , says this human tragedy was a test for David Cameron which he has failed.

"If there was any shred left of the progressive, 'modernising' politician who wanted to avenge the idea of the 'nasty party' and take on the uglier aspects of Labour's record, this was arguably his moment.

"The case for an act of principled leadership was glaring. But on the barren political ground left by his predecessors, he flunked it."

"The Second World War began 76 years ago this week," begins an editorial. "What followed in the years between 1939 and 1945 was death and displacement of people on scale never before seen.

image copyright AP image caption Hungarian police officers guard the border with Serbia

"Europe is now at peace, but the continent cannot escape the impact of conflicts in the Middle East and Africa which are driving millions of innocent men, women and children to seek safety in the West.

"European leaders have manifestly failed in their response to the crisis, dithering in the hope that the migratory tide might turn."

The FT believes Mr Cameron has misjudged the situation, saying: "Britain's politicians have long believed that voters instinctively reward toughness on immigration.

"But there is a compassionate and humane streak in the British people that ought not to be underestimated.

"As Europe's refugee crisis develops, it is not the defensive crouch of Mr Cameron that Britons may come to admire but the courage and principle of Angela Merkel."

The Mirror says the distressing picture of the drowned young boy "must be a wake-up call for Europe".

"On our continent and off its shores a terrible humanitarian tragedy is unfolding which shames all those governments, including Britain, which turn their back on desperate people."

'Magnificent creature'

The whale, says the Telegraph, was spotted 250 miles off the coast of Cornwall, in a rare sighting that stunned and delighted marine biologists in equal measure.

A scientific expedition took what they describe as "conclusive" photographs, by chance, aboard the RSS James Cook.

image copyright National Oceanography Centre image caption A blue whale was spotted off the coast of Cornwall

Prof Russell Wynn, of the National Oceanography Centre, tells the Telegraph: "I was undertaking our daily marine mammal survey and enjoying watching up to seven fin whales around the ship, when the blue whale suddenly surfaced about a kilometre away.

"I had just enough time to get a few shots before it disappeared below the surface. It was fantastic. Hopefully it's an indication that the population of the blue whale is starting to recover."

The Telegraph comments that "generations who have marvelled at the Natural History Museum's skeleton and model of a blue whale will understand the thrill of marine scientists running across one of these magnificent creatures in what can loosely be called English waters, albeit 250 miles off the coast of Cornwall".

Woolly mammoth

The Telegraph carries official figures that suggest social media and the internet are killing off face-to-face contact with friends.

The annual National Travel survey, drawn up by the Department for Transport, found the average number of times people visit friends each year has fallen by almost a third over the past 20 years.

People made an average of 192 trips to see friends in 1995 - that has fallen to an all-time low of 136 by last year. This drop is almost entirely attributed to fewer visits to friends' homes.

The study suggests the decline is being driven by new technology cutting the need to work in an office, meet in person or visit the shops.

image copyright AFP image caption This sheep is due for a drastic haircut

Finally, the Mail has the story of a 44lb merino sheep , about five times his normal size thanks to his enormously overgrown coat, which was found wandering near Canberra, Australia.

The Mail warns that although he may look endearingly fluffy, his thick coat means he is unable to see and could be harbouring serious infections.

The animal is due for a drastic haircut which will be carried out by a champion sheep shearer in a marathon two-hour session.

The Mail reckons the sheep could be forgiven for feeling a bit woolly-headed.

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