Flood warnings down the East coast of Britain as winter erupts on the country, and the latest on the Meridith murder occupy the papers.

East coast tidal surge threatens 10,000 homes says the Telegraph

Thousands of people have been told to be ready to leave their homes as a tidal surge threatened to batter the east coast, bringing "extreme danger to life and property".The freak, 10ft rise in sea level was expected to breach coastal defences and could bring the worst flooding in 50 years.
Gordon Brown chaired a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergency response committee last night as the Environment Agency warned that more than 10,000 homes could be hit.

Thousands told to evacuate homes as storm surge approaches says the Times

The Met Office predicted that sea levels would rise 3 metres above usual as a result of northwesterly winds, a pocket of low pressure and spring tides. The wind was predicted to reach speeds of up to 60mph, funnelling water from the wider part of the North Sea to the narrow part in the south. A build-up of water was expected to arrive between 7am and 9am tomorrow.

Both the Mail and the Mirror lead with the latest from Italy

Foxy Knoxy 'held Meredith down during deadly sex attack', say police says the former.

Student Meredith Kercher was held down by her American flatmate as she was killed in a sex attack, Italian police say.
Detectives believe Amanda Knox, 20, helped bar owner Patrick Diya Lumumba, 37, subject the English girl to a terrifying ordeal.
Knox pushed so hard on the 21-year-olds face that she left an imprint of her fingers on the skin.

Is the headline in the Mirror.

PM under pressure to step in over Sir Ian Blair says the lead in the Telegraph

Gordon Brown is under mounting pressure to intervene over Sir Ian Blair’s refusal to step down as Metropolitan Police chief after an independent report levelled personal criticism at the Commissioner over the Stockwell shooting. Unlike other chief constables, Sir Ian can only be sacked with the approval of the Home Secretary because of his force's unique status as Britain's largest, with responsibility for royal protection and guarding the Palace of Westminster.

Met chief tried to stop De Menezes inquiry says the Independent

Sir Ian Blair refused to resign yesterday after the official report into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes criticised the Metropolitan Police Commissioner for attempting to stop the independent investigation of the shooting. The report also found the force had committed "very serious" and "avoidable" mistakes.

The paper leads though with

Off with their subsidies!

Some of Britain's wealthiest landowners, including the Queen, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Westminster, would see their farm subsidies drastically reduced under plans by Brussels to impose, for the first time, a cap on the amount of money that individual farmers can claim.
The proposal, being drawn up by the European Commission, is the first attempt in years to tackle the scandal of giant agri-businesses and millionaire barley barons – as opposed to smallholders and family farmers – being the chief beneficiaries of the Common Agricultural Policy. The plans, due to be submitted for consultation with EU member states on 20 November, will suggest that some of the largest payments to super-rich landowners and industrial farms could be reduced by as much as 45 per cent.

The Guardian meanwhile leads with

Washington tells EU firms: quit Iran now

Multinational companies are coming under increasing pressure from the US to stop doing business with Iran because of its nuclear programme. European operators are facing threats from Washington that they could jeopardise their US interests by continuing to deal with Tehran, with increasing evidence that European governments, mainly France, Germany and Britain, are supporting the US campaign.

Georgian President calls snap election says the Times

Georgia's embattled President stunned his political opponents today by calling a snap election, a day after he imposed emergency rule in a crackdown on anti-government protests.
Mikheil Saakashvili declared in a televised address to the nation that he would run in new presidential elections on January 5 “to receive the trust of the people”. Elections were not due until next November but Mr Saakashvili threw down the gauntlet to his opponents, telling them: “You wanted elections early. Have them even earlier.”

A victory for Russia's secret war as Georgian leader calls election reports the Indy

Russia has scored a tactical victory in its long-term strategic battle with Western-leaning Georgia after a clumsy and brutal crackdown on the opposition by the leader of the "rose revolution" in the former Soviet republic, President Mikheil Saakashvili.

The Guardian reports the latest from Pakistan where

Bhutto prepares to defy ban with mass rally

A crunch moment in Pakistan's emergency rule crisis loomed last night as the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto prepared to stage a mass rally today, in defiance of a government ban. With the security forces threatening to break up the meeting, it promised the first major confrontation with President Pervez Musharraf since he assumed sweeping powers last Saturday, and added to international pressure for a return to constitutional rule.

'Lyrical terrorist' convicted for jihad poems says the Times

A Heathrow worker who called herself the “Lyrical Terrorist” burst into tears today after becoming the first woman to be convicted under new terrorism legislation.
Samina Malik, 23, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of possessing records likely to be used for terrorism by a majority of 10 to one.
The court had heard that Malik, who worked at WH Smith, wrote poems entitled How To Behead and The Living Martyrs and stocked a "library" of documents useful to terrorists.

The paper leads with

Penalty points double for speeding drivers

Motorists face being banned from driving for only two speeding offences under a government plan to double the fixed penalty for exceeding the limit by a wide margin, The Times has learnt.
Those caught driving at 45mph or above in a 30mph limit are likely to receive a higher-rate fixed penalty of six points and a £100 fine, up from the existing flat rate of three points and a £60 fine.
Ministers want to send the message that excessive speeding will lead more quickly to an automatic six-month driving ban for totting up 12 points within three years.

According to the Mail,

Tony Blair 'will covert to Catholic faith within weeks'

The news prompted demands from followers of the faith for the former prime minister to renounce his previous support for abortion.
Mr Blair's long-expected switch to the faith of his wife and four children is expected to come at a Mass in the private chapel of Cardinal Cormac Murphy- O'Connor, the leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales.

More controversy for the ex PM in the Indy

China's media scorns Blair's £200,000 'cash raking' lecture trip

Tony Blair earned the scorn of the Chinese media yesterday for accepting £200,000 for a three-hour spin through southern China, during which he gave a "cliched" speech and fitted in a quick jaunt around a high-class villa complex.
"Is he worth the money?" asked some Chinese newspapers and compared the former prime minister's oratorical insights to those of a village official.

The Guardian reports on

Ashcroft: new questions about his peerage, his tax and his home

Lord Ashcroft, the multimillionaire bank-rolling the Conservatives' controversial campaign in marginal constituencies, was last night coming under increasing pressure to explain whether he has honoured pledges, made before he received his peerage, that he would return to the UK and pay income tax.

Labour planned to abolish inheritance tax first reports the Telegraph

The news comes after Tory leader David Cameron asked Gordon Brown in the Commons to look him in the eye and say he had not thought of the proposals before the Conservative party conference.Papers released to the Telegraph by the Treasury this afternoon show that officials were working on the proposal on 9 January this year.


The Express returns to Maddy for its front page claiming that

THE McCANNS ARE TO SUE THE POLICE FOR £1M

THE parents of Madeleine McCann are ready to sue Portuguese police for £1million for failing to find their daughter, it was claimed last night.
Kate and Gerry McCann, who remain official suspects in the case, are considering legal action over a string of blunders which they claim hampered the search for Madeleine.
Portuguese lawyers representing the couple confirmed that they may launch legal action if the authorities decide to shelve the investigation.


GERRY TEXT MESSAGE RIDDLE reports the Sun

GERRY McCann sent and received 14 text messages on the night Madeleine disappeared, Portuguese TV reported last night.
The consultant cardiologist was said to have exchanged the messages on his mobile phone during dinner with friends on May 3, before Madeleine was found to be missing.
Portuguese police have asked for the mobile phone records of the 39-year-old and his wife Kate but have not yet received them.

It leads though with

MUCCA'S DUMPED AGAIN

HEATHER Mills was last night looking for new divorce lawyers – after the top firm she hired “fired” her over her bizarre TV war against Sir Paul McCartney.
A source claimed the firm acted because Heather was wrecking her own case with repeated tirades. The insider revealed: “Mishcon have just been tearing their hair out. They are astonished at Heather’s crazy outbursts.”

Military chiefs call for cash reports the Mirror

British troops are "paying in blood" for the lack of Government cash invested in the armed forces, top soldiers warned yesterday.
Military leaders and MPs have formed the UK National Defence Association to demand a 50 per cent rise in spending - up from £34billion this year.
They warn troops will carry on struggling in Iraq and Afghanistan unless the armed forces get vital supplies.


The Mail reports on a

Drinks free-for-all: Number of premises with 24-hour licence soars by two-thirds in a year

The number of 24-hour drinks licences has increased by two-thirds in the last year, Government figures showed yesterday.
Some 5,100 premises are now allowed to sell alcohol around the clock, up from 3,000 only 12 months ago.
The Culture Department figures prompted a row over Labour's controversial decision to relax the licensing laws in 2005.

Cost of ID card and passport rises to £100 reports the Guardian

The cost of providing an identity card combined with a new-generation biometric passport has now passed the £100 mark as the latest official estimate yesterday put the total price tag of the scheme at £5.6bn over the next 10 years.
James Hall, chief executive of the Identity and Passport Service, yesterday indicated that people applying for identity cards from 2009 might have to give their fingerprints in post offices and travel agents, on top of the network of 70 new ID card offices. He disclosed that negotiations were starting to find private outlets to supplement the national network of ID card and passport offices being built across the country.

The front page of the Telegraph reports that

Britain 'to be growing GM crops by 2009'

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs yesterday published the results of a consultation involving more than 11,000 people on the growing of GM crops.
It showed that more than 95 per cent of the public are opposed to the produce.
Despite the backlash, a written statement slipped out in Parliament by the Government appeared to indicate that plans were now afoot to introduce GM crops.

The Mirror leads with

Amy Winehouse's husband cuffed and off to cells

my Winehouse's husband Blake Fielder-Civil was sensationally arrested in front of her last night over a claimed £200,000 plot to fix a trial.
As eight plain-clothed officers manacled Fielder-Civil and led him off to cells, the tearful jazz diva begged hysterically: "I want to go with him."


Turmoil for Amy Winehouse as police storm her home reports the Mail

Police battered their way into Amy Winehouse's home yesterday and spent three hours searching through her belongings.
More than a dozen officers smashed in the front door of the house the singer shares with junkie husband Blake Fielder-Civil.
The incident - in which police used a crowbar and battering ram to force their way into the North London home - was the latest crisis in Miss Winehouse's turbulent personal life.

The Sun meanwhile tells that

O.J. Simpson has appeared in court to find out if he will face trial on charges he and others robbed two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room.
The former football star wore a tan suit, white shirt and dark sunglasses as he made his way into the court surrounded by a contingent of lawyers and about a dozen uniformed officers.

Finally to the Express which reports on the

COSTA CANNIBAL WHO CHOPPED UP HIS LOVER THEN ATE PARTS OF HER

A SELF-confessed cannibal told police he had killed his girlfriend and eaten parts of her, a court heard yesterday.
After his arrest, heroin addict Paul Durant, 47, spoke of God’s will and of “messages from the telly”.
Durant, from east London, appeared in a Spanish court where he admitted battering 41-year-old Karen Durrell to death with a mallet.
But he denied his own earlier claims of cutting her up with a saw and disposing of her body at a flat