What The Papers Say – December 18

What The Papers Say – December 18
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British embassy worker Rebecca Dykes, who was found dead by a Beirut motorway on Saturday, is pictured on many of the front pages.

Lebanese police are investigating whether Ms Dykes, believed to have been aged 30, was sexually assaulted before being strangled to death.

The papers also carry the latest lines from Westminster on Brexit, Theresa May’s Government and faltering attempts to avert a future pensions “crisis”.

“Brit embassy girl is murdered” reads the Daily Mirror front page, which carries comments from her “devastated” family and “deeply shocked and saddened” colleagues.

The Metro also reports on Ms Dykes’s death, saying the diplomat was preparing to fly home for Christmas.

In its coverage, The Guardian says Ms Dykes is believed to have been at a party before her death. The newspaper’s lead story reports the PM has been told by Tory rebels that she should form a cross-party alliance with Labour MPs to deliver a soft Brexit.

The fragility of negotiations to leave the EU could see Mrs May stay in office until 2021 – as a result of the Tories wishing to avoid a damaging leadership contest, reports The Times.

The crisis in Yemen leads the Daily Telegraph, with calls from International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt for Saudi Arabia to stop “starving” the country with its blockade that could be in contravention of international law.

The Independent’s online edition reports that bomb-making “manuals” that show how to build devices similar to that recently used on the New York subway can still be found online.

Workers from the millennial generation and the gig economy face a pensions squeeze in retirement despite Government efforts to better prepare the population for old age, the Financial Times reports following the publication of a new analysis by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

The Daily Mail also reports on the DWP analysis, warning of a “middle-class pension crisis” as six million people are not saving enough for retirement.

The Sun carries a story concerning the past conduct of former Coronation Street actor Bruno Langley on its front page, along with news of the death of the actor Terence Beesley, husband of Extras actress Ashley Jensen.

The Daily Express carries warnings from weather forecasters that a “70mph storm” is expected to batter Britain over the Christmas period.