Health again returns to dominate the papers this morning

The Telegraph reports that

Britain is sickest nation in Europe

The rate of obesity in British adults is the worst in Europe and, in some areas, are now above the national average of the United States. In Boston, Lincolnshire, almost a third of men and women are now dangerously overweight.
The "snapshot" of the nation's health showed that almost 900,000 children aged under 11 are obese - a 50 per cent increase in the past decade. The report from the Department of Health also revealed England as the only European country with rising alcohol consumption and an increase in alcohol-related deaths, particularly amongst women.

Whilst also reporting that

Incapacity benefit claims still on the rise

More than half of the 2.4 million people claiming incapacity benefit have been off work for more than five years, new figures have revealed.The damning statistics contradict Government assurances that the problem of widespread incapacity claims is being tackled by getting the long-term sick back to work.

The Independent stays with the health theme,its front page reporting that

Former Blair adviser outlines plan to improve nation's health

A radical plan to persuade people to stop smoking, take more exercise and change their diets was proposed last night by a leading Government adviser.
As new figures were published yesterday showing that England tops the European league as the fattest nation in the EU, Professor Julian Le Grand, chair of Health England and a former senior Downing Street aide to Tony Blair, said a completely fresh approach was required by Government to reverse the epidemic of obesity and to tackle similar ills caused by "excess consumption".

The Mail tells us that

Boozy Britons sink 37 bottles of whiskey a year

Britain's demand for booze is growing, with the average adult getting through the equivalent of 37 bottles of whisky a year.
The UK is one of the few countries in the EU where alcohol consumption is rising, a study of the nation's health has found.
One result has been a disturbing increase in the number of young women dying from chronic liver disease.


The Times leads with an exclusive story that

Olympics chiefs set to ban all car travel

The team organising the London Olympics in 2012 is adopting the most aggressive anticar policy ever applied to a major event in an attempt to deliver a permanent shift in people’s travel habits.
The eight million spectators will be banned from travelling by car and forced to take public transport, walk or cycle. Only a small number of disabled people will be allowed to park anywhere near the car exclusion zones planned for the main venues in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Cardiff, and Weymouth and Portland in Dorset.

Labour's plan to abandon renewable energy targets is the lead story in the Guardian

Ministers are planning a U-turn on Britain's pledges to combat climate change that "effectively abolishes" its targets to rapidly expand the use of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.
Leaked documents seen by the Guardian show that Gordon Brown will be advised today that the target Tony Blair signed up to this year for 20% of all European energy to come from renewable sources by 2020 is expensive and faces "severe practical difficulties".

The Mail leads with the news that

'Child judges' aged 10 given the legal power to punish teenage thugs

Children as young as ten are being given the power to mete out justice to teenage thugs.
They will deal with tearaways guilty of spraying graffiti, vandalism, anti-social behaviour and under-age drinking.
They will have the power to make the hooligans clean up their mess and pay reparations to the victims of their vandalism.

Its comment page tells us

Now we've heard it all. In its latest crackpot initiative to cut youth crime, the Government is handing over the administration of justice to ten-year-olds.
No, we're not pulling your leg. Under a pilot scheme set up in Preston - with the blessing of the police and a cool £500,000 of taxpayers' money - panels of youngsters aged 10-17 will arbitrate between offenders and victims on appropriate punishments.

Increase in serious crime by offenders on parole reports the Guardian

Public confidence in the supervision of high-risk offenders released from prison suffered a fresh blow yesterday with the disclosure that 83 have been charged with a further serious offence, such as murder or rape, in the last year.
The figure for 2006-07 compares with 61 high-risk offenders who committed further serious crimes while under the supervision of the probation and police services in the previous year

Cull badgers to fight TB, advises top scientist is also widely reported

Killing badgers would help reduce the spread of tuberculosis in cattle, Sir David King, the Government's chief scientific adviser, has concluded. says the Telegraph adding

In a report sent to ministers, which remained a closely guarded secret until its publication, Sir David calls for a badger cull in areas such as the South West where there is a "high and persistent incidence" of the disease, to be carried out by "competent operators".


Turkey seeks lost troops as pressure for action grows reports the Times

Turkey were seeking eight soldiers believed kidnapped by separatist Kurdish militants yesterday after a weekend ambush in which at least a dozen troops were killed near the Iraqi border.
The announcement lifted to fever pitch strident calls for a military incursion in pursuit of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels in northern Iraq.
Skirmishes continued yesterday, claiming the lives of 34 PKK rebels so far, according to the military

Diplomacy staves off Turkish incursion reports the Guardian

The threat of an imminent invasion of northern Iraq by the Turkish army receded yesterday as Ankara's foreign minister vowed to put diplomacy before war, and Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, predicted that the PKK guerillas holed up in the mountains on the border with Turkey were about to announce a new ceasefire.

Most of the papers report that

Four parents die trying to save children

Three British parents drowned as they attempted to rescue their children when they became trapped in strong currents off a Portuguese beach yesterday afternoon.
Bob and Debbie Fry had rushed into the ocean at Praia do Tonel after their children, George and Rose, had got into trouble while playing with a German youngster.
When the couple from Wootton Bassett, near Swindon in Wiltshire, were dragged out into the sea their friend Jean Dinsmore also waded into the waves to try to rescue the children. All three were swept away from the sandy cove at the most south-westerly point of Europe. says the Times

Brits drown trying to save kids says the Mirror

The holidaymakers, a married couple and a woman, waded in after the kids aged between six and 12 got into trouble.
It is believed two of the youngsters belonged to the married couple.
A German, in his late 50s, also died at Tonel beach near the village of Sagres in the Algarve.
Police said: "It's a popular beach but the currents this time of year can be very strong. The children were just playing near the water but quickly got into trouble.

The Sun reports another holiday tragedy

Mum hunted after girls fall

A GIRL of seven was fighting for life last night after a mystery plunge from her family’s fifth-floor hotel balcony in Majorca.
Cops were looking for the mother of Gianna Cooper, who needed emergency surgery for her injuries. Last night she was not expected to survive.
Gianna suffered a ruptured liver, broken jaw and head injuries when she plummeted from a 60ft balcony on to the roof of an office 30ft down.
She was found conscious lying next to a lilo. Police were combing the holiday island for her mum Sara, 45 — missing since Gianna was found at 7.30am yesterday.


California fires force 250,000 to flee homes says the Telegraph

Nearly a dozen separate blazes were burning last night across the drought-parched region, fuelled by gale-force winds and scorching temperatures.
Thousands of firefighters struggled to tackle flames that ate up arid brush and vegetation, tinder dry after a year of record-low rainfall.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California Governor who declared a state of emergency in seven counties, described the escalating crisis as a "tragedy" for the state during a visit. He ordered the deployment of 1,500 troops from the National Guard to help firefighting efforts.

PARADISE IN FLAMES says the Mirror

These were the scenes of devastation yesterday as the rich and famous of Malibu faced losing their paradise homes to an inferno.
Among stars with lavish properties under threat from wildfires are Britney Spears, Jennifer Aniston, Pamela Anderson and Courtney Love.
Mel Gibson, Sting, Pierce Brosnan, Jim Carrey, Bill Murray, David Arquette and Courteney Cox also have houses there.

Its front page claims that

NEWS AT 10 IS BACK along with Sir Trevor and the Bongs

Bong! News at Ten is back with a "terribly excited" Sir Trevor McDonald at the helm, ending an eight-year blunder.
There was a huge outcry when ITV's flagship bulletin was scrapped in 1999, then moved to its present 10.30pm slot. The Mirror led the campaign to get it back on our screens.
Now the much missed old favourite is expected to return in the spring.


Both the Sun and the Express lead with Maddy

McCANNS OR A FRIEND MUST BE TO BLAME says the Express

MADELEINE McCann’s disappearance could only be the fault of her parents or a family friend, it was claimed yesterday.
A crucial eyewitness accuses the McCanns of being irresponsible parents.
The waiter who served them on that fateful night says he cannot understand why they did not use the resort’s £10-a-night babysitting service. He even goes on to claim that he told police: “I did not think she had been taken by an abductor.

The Sun takes up the same story

KATE LEFT KIDS ALONE 3 HOURS A NIGHT

The Telegraph reports that

Supermarkets 'raise food bill by £750 a year'

According to price comparison website mySupermarket.com, the three biggest supermarkets – Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's – are charging their shoppers 12 per cent more on average for a basket of 25 different goods compared with last year.
Tesco has increased its prices by 16 per cent in the past year. A kilo of peas has gone up from £1.19 to £1.79 at Tesco, a dozen eggs at Sainsbury's has leapt from £1.62 to £2.35, while Asda has increased the price of its orange juice from 73 pence a litre to 88 pence.
The figures suggest that, despite promises from the supermarkets that they are continually cutting their prices, households are being hit hard by food inflation.

Staying on the supermarket theme the Times claims

Supermarkets ‘foil recycling’

Up to 40 per cent of the packaging in an average household shopping-basket cannot be recycled.
A survey for the Local Government Association also found that 5 per cent of the contents of shopping baskets were made up of packaging. Lidl supermarket had the heaviest packaging, while Marks & Spencer had the lowest levels of wrapping that could be recycled (60 per cent). Asda was the best performing supermarket, with the lightest packaging, of which 70 per cent was recyclable.

Most of the papers report on the latest Bin Laden message

Osama bin Laden urges Iraq fighters to unite reports the Telegraph

In the message addressed to "my brother fighters in Iraq", bin Laden called on the insurgent groups to fulfil their "duty" to unite "so that they become one, as God wants".
The tape appeared to be a response to moves by some Sunni tribes in Iraq to join US troops in fighting al-Qa’eda.
Other Sunni insurgent groups, while still attacking Americans, have formed coalitions opposed to al-Qa’eda.

The Guardian reveals a cahnge of heart from the Clinton camp

Hillary Clinton woos man who nearly ruined her husband

A decade ago, the internet journalist Matt Drudge was very nearly Bill Clinton's ruin, after leaking the story of his affair with Monica Lewinsky. These days, Drudge is one of Hillary Clinton's best kept secrets. During the presidential campaign, the Drudge Report, once known as the scourge of Democrats, has betrayed a surprisingly soft side for the woman previously viewed by diehard Republicans as the mother of all that is liberal and permissive in America.

Di cop ready to pull his gun reports the Sun

A TOURIST feared the first policeman at Princess Diana’s crash would pull his GUN as tempers flared, her inquest heard.
American Joanna Da Costa also told how she ran for her life when liquid poured from the car, fearing it would explode.
And she said a motorbike carrying a photographer drove round her as she tried to stop traffic going in the Alma tunnel.



Finally the Independent reports on

The engineer from Rotherham mistaken for rock god in Russia

When Neil Smith set out on a work trip to Siberia, he was braced for whatever the Russian Far East could throw at him – the vast open spaces, the extreme cold and the unremitting boredom of being away from home.
But in a case of mistaken identity that recalls Peter Sellers's classic portrayal of Chance, a simple gardener unwittingly transformed into a media celebrity and presidential adviser in the film Being There, the electrical projects manager from Rotherham was about to undergo an equally dramatic elevation in his fortunes.