Newsround: what Wednesday's papers say

Coveneny and Varadkar seek to calm Fine Gael backbenchers and US trip could be Kenny's last

Tuesday's papers

The top stories in Wednesday's newspapers:

THE IRISH TIMES

- Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar and Minister for Housing Simon Coveney are attempting to calm Fine Gael backbenchers who want to rapidly remove Taoiseach Enda Kenny as party leader, according to the paper's front page lead.

- It also reports that the Trump administration suffered it first high-profile casualty after the country's top security official, retired general Michael Flynn, was forced to resign in a controversy that has reignited concern about the US president's ties with Russia.

- Northern Ireland will not be given a special status after the UK leaves the EU but the British government will seek arrangements that take the "unique circumstances" on the island of Ireland into account, Northern Secretary James Brokenshire has said.

- Mandate's decision to strike at Tesco in a row over terms and conditions for long-serving staff is "an entirely unreasonable move against a good employer", the Irish Business and Employers Confederation has claimed.

FINANCIAL TIMES

- A key part of the UK's energy strategy has been thrown into doubt after Toshiba said its financial troubles were likely to force it to abandon its leading role in a Cumbria nuclear power station intended to meet eight per cent of Britain's electricity needs.

- The half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was killed yesterday in an apparent assassination at Kuala Lumpur airport. Malaysian police said Kim Jong Nam was attacked by a woman as he waited for a flight to Macau.

- The US economy faces an uncertain path under Donald Trump, Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen has warned. She said monetary policy was not on "a preset course" but it would be "unwise" to raise rates too slowly.

- The FT Big Read focuses on the Wallenbergs, one of the most powerful business families in Europe, who use a foundation to invest in scientific research and fund it via large corporations. It asks whether this is a model for how to avoid family disputes.

IRISH INDEPENDENT

- Enda Kenny's trip to the White House for St. Patrick's Day will be his final one as Taoiseach, senior Fine Gael sources believe, with a widely-held belief in Leinster House that the party leader should get a final chance to step down of his own volition.

- US tech firms have hit the "pause" button on any plans to hire staff here, according to a leading recruitment expert. Morgan McKinley said that since Donald Trump's inauguration as US president, it had identified a reticence among US technology firms to invest in Ireland.

- The role played by Finance Minister Michael Noonan and his officials in the run-up to the controversial sale of Project Eagle will come under sharp focus today when members of the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee are expected to sign off on their investigation into Nama's €1.6 billion sale of its Northern Ireland loan book.

- On its business pages, the paper reports that Aer Lingus is understood to be close to finalising a deal that would add seven long-range versions of the Airbus A321neo to its fleet.

IRISH EXAMINER

- The government is facing the threat of collapse as the Independent Alliance says is "dismayed" at contradictory versions of events in the Maurice McCabe crisis, the paper reports on its front page.

- Identifying location points for full customs checkpoints along the border with Northern Ireland has begun under government plans to deal with Brexit and the return of a hard border which would see full "red and green" channel checkpoints.

- Goal and Oxfam Ireland are entering formal talks on merging into one aid agency after the boards of the two charities approved the possibility of a tie-up between the two agencies.

- PSA Group, the maker of Peugeot and Citroen cars, is exploring an acquisition of General Motors' European business to cement a top position in Europe in a deal that could hasten consolidation of the crowded industry, the paper reports in its business section.