'The Sun, the Moon' and 'The greatest show on Earth'
The once-in-a-generation solar eclipse spanning the UK and Europe dominates Thursday's front pages. The Sun splashes on a striking image of a partial eclipse leaving a crescent sliver peeking out with the playful headline: "The Sun, the Moon." And, yes, it does cheekily employ its own famous masthead as part of the very special effect.
"Once in a generation" is the i Paper's headline as it fills its front page with an image of the Moon completely obscuring the Sun, which was what was seen in parts of Greenland, Iceland and Spain.
"Hello darkness my old friend" says Metro, showing the Moon slowly blotting out the Sun as seen in the skies above south London, where a 97% eclipse was witnessed.
"Move over, sunshine" says the Independent, noting that the eclipse brought a "moment of shade" to the ongoing heatwave.
The Daily Mail strikes a similar note, saying the UK "finally gets a break from the sun" during the eclipse, albeit "only for a few minutes". Alongside, the paper's top story says climate campaigners are criticising the government's environment policies for the more than 1,000 wildfires this year.
The Daily Telegraph calls the solar eclipse "the greatest show on Earth", picturing a crowd in Birmingham gazing at the phenomenon along with millions across the UK and Europe. Among its other top stories, the paper says Vladimir Putin has threatened to seize British ships in retaliation for a European crackdown on Russia's shadow fleet. A UK government spokesman says the UK Armed Forces are disrupting harmful activity of shadow fleet vessels and "operate firmly in line with international maritime law".
The Times follows with its own photo of the eclipse seen from Spain, saying it was the most significant eclipse in more than 25 years. In politics news, it reports that the PM's proposals to restrict zero hours contracts could impose costs up to £3bn a year on businesses.
"Solar eclipse thrills Europe" says the Financial Times. Elsewhere, the paper says Ukraine has halted its drone strikes on oil tankers using a critical Russian port in the Black Sea after a request from US Vice-President JD Vance.
With more on climate, the Guardian reports the PM is promising to tackle "the bigger questions" of climate adaptation, the nurses unions warning that their staff were collapsing during shifts amid conditions caused by extreme heat.
Finally, the Daily Express covers a study that shows taking the stairs instead of the lift could cut your risk of an early death by nearly a quarter. It adds that those who climbed stairs regularly had lower risk of cardiovascular events like heart attacks or strokes.
