Events in Pakistan continue to dominate this morning

Bloody crackdown as west urges end to emergency rule is the lead in the Guardian

Pakistani police launched a sweeping crackdown on opposition to military ruler President Pervez Musharraf yesterday, thrashing protesters and arresting thousands as western powers stepped up pressure for an early end to emergency rule.
The first big street protests since Gen Musharraf assumed wide-ranging powers on Saturday were swiftly crushed. Riot police fired teargas, baton charged crowds and flung bloodied lawyers into prison vans. The interior ministry said at least 1,500 people had been picked up; opposition groups estimated over twice as many arrests.

Benazir Bhutto threatens demonstrations as police use teargas on lawyers says the Times

Benazir Bhutto, the former Pakistani Prime Minister, vowed yesterday to bring her supporters on to the streets to force President Musharraf to lift a state of emergency and restore democratic rule.
As police used batons and teargas to disperse thousands of protesting lawyers, the United States and Britain backed her call for General Musharraf to retire as army chief and hold elections by mid-January.

LAWYERS v THE GENERAL is the front page of the Indy

Pakistan’s ousted Chief Justice has issued a message of defiance from house arrest, accusing General Pervez Musharraf of acting illegally, and demanding the restoration of the rule of law.
In a statement passed to The Independent, Judge Iftikhar Chaudhry, whose home has been surrounded by dozens of armed police and his phone lines cut, warned General Musharraf that he would not be deterred from launching a fresh struggle to restore the constitution and the rule of law. He also dismissed the general’s claims that the judiciary was interfering with the government’s efforts to combat terrorism.

Meanwhile the Telegraph reports that

Pakistan's regime began to crack under international pressure last night when it conceded that parliamentary elections will be held on schedule in January.Shaukat Aziz, the prime minister, said the vote will go ahead despite President Pervez Musharraf's decision to suspend the constitution and impose emergency rule.
But David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said this did not go far enough.

Gordon Brown to launch house-building boom is its lead as it previews today's Queen's speach

Ministers will pledge to "unblock the planning system" in a race to build an extra 100 houses a day for the next 13 years to meet the growing demand for new homes.Local communities trying to block the plans will be warned that they will be "letting down" future generations by opposing development.
The plans for a network of environmentally friendly developments will go further than previously pledged by the Prime Minister. Applications for the projects, the first new towns since the 1960s, have surpassed expectations.

Homes and funds at heart of Queen's speech, but plans for troops may take centre stage says the Guardian

Gordon Brown will seek to reverse Labour's slide in the polls today with a Queen's speech in which he will be under special political pressure to clarify his vision after the dithering over calling an early election.
He is expected to promise to act to control the funding of political parties, increase the supply of affordable housing and also announce plans for everyone to be required to stay in some form of education until they are 18, or face a fixed penalty fine. The government has also said it will draw up a white paper to do more to honour the military covenant between government and the British military, possibly by improving medical services and the date by which army accommodation reaches a decent standard.

Gordon Brown hopes 23 Bills will boost his popularity as poll lead slips says the Times

Gordon Brown will try to recapture the political initiative today with his first legislative programme, as a poll for The Times shows that Labour’s standing has returned to where it was when he became Prime Minister.
The Populus poll, undertaken over the weekend, also shows a big drop in Mr Brown’s standing. The number of people believing that he has what it takes to be a good Prime Minister has dropped five points to 49 per cent in a month and is ten points below its midsummer peak. The number who believe that he is likeable is down nine points to 44 per cent since late July.

All the papers report the comments of the MI5 chief

Children of 15 groomed to carry out terrorist acts says the Times

Teenagers as young as 15 are being recruited by terrorist groups in Britain, swelling the number of people suspected of being involved in terrorism to 4,000, the head of MI5 said yesterday.
In his first public speech since taking over as Director-General of MI5 in April, Jonathan Evans indicated that the number of terrorist suspects has more than doubled in the past year.
Mr Evans painted an alarming picture of youngsters being turned into extremists, saying: “Terrorists are methodically and intentionally targeting young people and children in this country.

The story also knocks Maddy off the front page of the Express

SUICIDE BOMBERS IN OUR SCHOOLS

AL Qaeda is grooming British children to carry out terrorist attacks across the country.
MI5 chief Jonathan Evans warned yesterday that Islamic extremists are targeting teenagers as young as 15.
It led to fears they are recruiting in our schools, and raised the prospect of British child bombers committing atrocities on home soil.
Mr Evans said: “As I speak, terrorists are methodically and intentionally targeting young people and children in this country. They are radicalising, indoctrinating and grooming young, vulnerable people to carry out acts of terrorism.

But not the Mail

Police 'did nothing as Madeleine crime scene was trampled by circus of people' says the Mail

Two Portuguese officers among the first to investigate Madeleine McCann's disappearance yesterday blamed their superiors for allowing the initial crime scene to be contaminated by a 'circus' of people.
Breaking a six-month silence, the pair said the behaviour of senior detectives in the first few hours of the investigation had made Portuguese police an international laughing stock.

COPS CONTAMINATED EVIDENCE says the Sun


The papers report the opening of the appeal of Jill Dando's killer

'Doubt over gun evidence' in Jill Dando case reports the Telegraph

The speck of firearms residue that became a central piece of evidence in the trial of the man jailed for murdering Jill Dando was "worthless", the Court of Appeal has been told.The single microscopic particle, which measured one two-thousandth of an inch in size, had been presented as "powerful" Crown evidence that Barry George shot and killed Miss Dando in April 1999.
According to new evidence, forensic scientists now regard the single particle as of "zero value" in helping to decide whether a defendant was guilty or not.

According to the Times

Credit card users hurt by squeeze

Nearly half of all shoppers seeking new credit cards are being refused, as a money squeeze begins to hit ordinary borrowers.
The number of applications refused by card providers has risen by 17 per cent to an estimated 3.27 million in the past six months, figures released yesterday showed, while those who are granted a card are being forced to pay higher interest rates and charges. There have been 125 separate fee and rate increases over the past two months.

The Mail meanwhile reports that

'More banks could run into trouble' warns Darling

Alistair Darling warned yesterday there may be more upheavals in the banking sector as lenders grapple with the "unparalleled" turmoil caused by the global credit crunch.
The Chancellor called for banks to be more transparent about the risks they are taking and predicted they will toughen up their lending criteria as they prepare for a slump in profits.

Banks try to head off crisis after third day of falls says the Guardian

The prospect of a full-blown financial crisis edged nearer yesterday as fears of black holes in the accounts of British, European and US banks sent confidence in the sector spiralling downwards.
A third successive day of falls in the values of Britain's banks, led by Barclays, mimicked declines on the continent and the US following concerns that banks had failed to own up to all their debts and trading problems resulting from the global credit crunch.

The Sun reports that

PAL HELPED KILLER MURDER STUDENT

COPS hunting the knife killer of Meredith Kercher now reckon he may have had an accomplice.
And they are probing the theory that the 21-year-old British student’s throat was cut after a planned sexual encounter turned violent.
Reports in the central Italian city of Perugia yesterday suggested she had bruises on her cheeks consistent with being held from behind.

46 held over kid sex films reports the Mirror

Forty-six British paedophiles have been arrested as part of a gang who swapped sick child videos on the internet.
Police raided the homes of the men in 21 towns including London, Manchester and Glasgow.
The 150 films, made by an Italian paedophile, were then distributed to 2,500 men in the "video club" in 19 countries via a website.


'Boss of bosses' successor arrested at mafia summit reports the Guardian

Sicily's Cosa Nostra yesterday suffered a dizzying blow with the arrest of the mafia don regarded as the successor to Bernardo Provenzano, the "boss of bosses" seized last year.
Salvatore Lo Piccolo, 65, was captured when police raided a "godfathers' summit" in the hills above Palermo. His son and two other top mafia bosses were arrested with him.
The prosecutor who oversaw the operation warned it could unleash a power struggle within Cosa Nostra. Domenico Gozzo said: "A very dangerous phase has now begun."




According to the Express

NOW SMOKING MAY BE BANNED IN YOUR HOME

HEALTH officials are considering plans to stop people smoking in their own home.
Critics last night said the scheme was a sign of the “nanny state gone mad”.
Anti-smoking groups made the proposals in a conference last week, saying that smokers who have young children are exposing them to deadly fumes.

Staying with health matters and the Telegraph reports

Mums who drink 'have naughty children'

Conduct problems increased with every day that expectant mothers had a drink, a team in America found.The study comes as women are already confused about having alcohol while pregnant after conflicting advice was issued by the Department of Health and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) within months of each other.
Scientists disagree about whether the behavioural problems of children whose mothers drank in pregnancy were caused by the alcohol itself or by other factors.

The Mail has exclusive pictures of one example

Caught in the act: Kerry admits to smoking and drinking while pregnant

Health campaigners have warned that Kerry Katona is putting her unborn baby's life in danger after she admitted regularly smoking while pregnant.
They criticised her for setting a bad example to other expectant mothers after said revealed that she did not think smoking one cigarette a day was harming her baby.
She also admitted to drinking alcohol while pregant.

The Sun continues to report on the McCartneys

MACCA AND THE MARRIED CRACKER

SIR Paul McCartney put his divorce nightmare on hold as he enjoyed carefree days with mega-rich lawyer’s wife Nancy Shevell.
The pair strolled along a windswept beach in the posh Hamptons resort on New York’s Long Island.
They chatted warmly over breakfast and shared late-night dinners and cocktails at restaurants.
They spent time at each other’s mansions – six miles apart on the ritzy millionaires’ playground.
And at one point, 65-year-old Macca put his arm around Nancy after he drove her home – and they kissed tenderly.

Finally

Far cry from Hogwarts as Daniel Radcliffe plays Rudyard Kipling’s doomed son in Great War film reports the Times

Harry Potter’s many young fans could find the sight of Daniel Radcliffe being shot to pieces disturbing. But according to the teenage actor, his new role as Rudyard Kipling’s ill-fated son offers an important Remembrance message.
ITV is prepared for complaints over My Boy Jack, the story of the author’s son, who went missing in action on a First World War battlefield after his father pulled strings to get him a commission. Kim Cattrall plays Kipling’s American wife, Carrie, in the £10 million film, to be screened on Sunday as part of the channel’s Armistice Day commemorations. The film shows the fate of Lieutenant John “Jack” Kipling at the Battle of Loos in France with brutally violent clarity.