Newspaper headlines: Global alarm over nuclear power plant strike

The huge ball of light created by a Russian shell exploding at Ukraine's largest nuclear power station is pictured on several front pages.

In their headlines, the i newspaper and the Guardian pick up on the words of the US envoy to the UN who declared that a nuclear catastrophe was narrowly avoided.

The Financial Times repeats Boris Johnson's condemnation of the strike as "reckless". The Daily Star calls President Vladimir Putin a "nuclear nut job."

In its editorial, the Sun insists that it was only luck that "prevented a catastrophe 10 times worse than Chernobyl" and that it was a "terrifying rain check" for anyone still thinking President Putin was working to a meticulous plan.

The Daily Mail says it shows the Russian president's "utter disregard for the consequences of his warmongering".

The Daily Telegraph has a reporter in Marhanets - a city close to the plant. He has spoken to the local mayor, Gennady Borovik, who has arranged for free anti-radiation iodine pills to be handed out to people in the area as a precaution.

Mr Borovik explains that contingency plans were put in place after Chernobyl.

A photo showing the anguished face of a woman next to a house in flames destroyed by a Russian missile appears on the front of the Times - with the headline: "Welcome to hell, Russians".

The words are taken from a banner in President Zelensky's home city of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine. People living there are preparing for Russian troops by digging trenches, tank traps and barricades.

In an interview with the Daily Express, Boris Johnson says that the outlook for Ukraine is "very, very bleak". The prime minister said that the UK would keep trying to supply the country with defensive weapons but time was very tight.

The Daily Mirror mocks up a wanted poster for Mr Putin.

The paper says calls are growing for him to be put on trial - with ex-PM Gordon Brown demanding a tribunal deal with his actions, a Russian businessman offering a million dollar reward for his arrest, and British police helping the war crimes investigations.

The Mail focuses on the UK extending the time Ukrainian refugees can stay here to three years with the headline - "kindness amid the carnage".

The paper suggests making the terms of the emergency programme "much more generous" came "unexpectedly".

The papers all offer their tributes to the Australian cricketer, Shane Warne. The Telegraph and Mail both call him the King of Spin; the Star calls him "the greatest"; and the Guardian a "once in a century player".

The Sun uses the player's own understated words for its front page headline: "I smoked, I drank, I bowled a bit".

Piers Morgan, who revealed in the Sun that he had been in contact with Warne only a day earlier, called him a genius who never really grew up because he never really wanted to.

His death takes precedence on the Australian news websites.

His manager tells the Age and the Herald that Warne had been watching Australia play Pakistan on the TV when his friend discovered him unconscious.

The Sydney Morning Herald says that fans had placed not only flowers at the foot of his statue at Melbourne Cricket Ground but a cricket ball with the words "thank you", a can of Australian beer, a packet of cigarettes and a meat pie.

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