Health,what we eat and Mrs McCartney dominate the agenda this morning

The new rules for defeating cancer says the Times

Being even slightly overweight can increase the risk of a range of common cancers including breast, bowel and pancreatic cancer, a landmark study has found.
The largest review of links between diet and cancer, incorporating more than 7,000 studies, concludes that there is convincing evidence that excess body fat can cause at least six different types of the disease. The researchers give warning that everyone should be at the lower end of the healthy weight range.
Their recommendations include avoiding processed meats such as ham, bacon, salami or any other meat preserved by smoking, curing or salting; only consuming small amounts of red meat; moderate consumption of alcohol; and avoiding junk food and sweet drinks.

Is anything safe to eat? asks the Mail

A bombshell report yesterday blamed putting on weight, alcohol and a whole range of everyday foods for causing cancer.


Consumers were told to curb drinking, avoid processed meats - including bacon, ham and sausages - and cut their intake of red meat and salt.
Even supposedly healthy fruit and vegetables were said to offer only "limited" protection against the disease. adding

Last night, as the public wondered what exactly is safe to eat, there was a growing medical and food industry backlash against the £4.5 million study by 21 international experts on behalf of the World Cancer Research Fund.

SAVE OUR BACON says the Sun

CELEBRITY chef Antony Worrall Thompson last night led a revolt against cancer experts who warned we should NEVER eat bacon.
He hit out after medics who carried out the world’s biggest study on cancer linked the killer disease to processed meats.
They urged all Brits to STOP eating bacon sarnies, ham and sausages — some of the nation’s favourite grub.
But Antony, 56, dismissed the research as “just another scare”.
He said: “They test mice and rats and they force feed them and they get cancer.

The Guardian keeps the theme going with its lead

'Fit towns' plan to tackle child obesity

The government is planning to tackle the growing obesity epidemic in Britain by broadening its plans for eco towns and turning them into healthy or fit towns, the Guardian can reveal.
The health secretary, Alan Johnson, is convinced that two great challenges facing Britain - climate change and obesity - are linked.
He believes it makes sense that 10 eco towns already being planned by the government should now be built and designed to confront the UK's obesity crisis, drawing on pioneering schemes already producing results in Australia, France and Finland.

And staying with health the Independent leads with

Doctor, doctor: How can you justify a 10% pay increase?

It not what you expect from members of a "caring profession". Medicine is supposed to be a vocation and doctors are renowned for putting the interests of their patients first. Yet family doctors have boosted their earnings by awarding themselves a larger slice of the NHS cake – at the expense of their patients.
Official figures published yesterday show GPs' pay soared to an average of £110,000 a year in 2005-06, a rise of almost 10 per cent on the previous year and 35 per cent in the two years since their new contract was introduced in 2004.

But the paper returns to the food theme

Fury and disbelief greets report's claim that Britain needs more supermarkets

Yesterday, the commission published preliminary findings of its third report in seven years into Britain's grocery sector, which is dominated by four big chains – Tesco being by far the largest. Watchdogs concluded that the current situation offered shoppers unprecedented value, choice and convenience, and denied that Tesco enjoyed an unfair advantage because of its size. The commission even recommended making it easier for the retail giants to open more stores to promote competition between them – a suggestion which infuriated campaigners against the growing might of supermarkets.

Big four give shoppers good deal but suppliers suffering, says watchdog says the Guardian

Tesco has been cleared by the Competition Commission of driving its smaller grocery rivals out of business - but the consumer watchdog ruled that the big supermarket groups were not competing effectively in some parts of the country.
The commission said it had identified 200 locations across the country where competition could be improved. It has also uncovered evidence that the big grocers make unfair demands on suppliers - an ombudsman scheme may now be set up to help protect farmers and small businesses that sell to supermarket chains.

Telling people not to buy tyem was not the best move of her career and the Tabloids have reacted

Heather's hate tape is the lead in the Mirror

Heather Mills stuck the knife into Sir Paul McCartney yesterday by playing a tape in which he allegedly admitted hitting first wife Linda.
Estranged Heather, 39, produced the tape off camera after a day of interviews in which she ranted she had been pushed to the brink by death threats and smears.
A witness who listened in said: "It was extraordinary. Heather and Paul were shouting. He can be heard confessing he hit Linda 'once or twice'." Sir Paul, 65, is said to fear Heather is on the verge of a "total breakdown".

MUCCA ON THE EDGE says the Sun

DISTRAUGHT Heather Mills wept and ranted through bizarre TV interviews yesterday – prompting one shocked presenter to tell her: “You are on the edge.”
GMTV host Fiona Phillips listened as Mucca, 39, compared herself to Princess Diana and the parents of missing Madeleine McCann.
In a string of outbursts that left pals worried for her health, ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney’s estranged wife:

Whilst the Mail asks

How dare you compare yourself to Kate McCann

On GMTV, Miss Mills claimed that, nine months after splitting from the star in May 2006, she received death threats from an "underground movement".
This, she said, prompted her desire to kill herself so her four-year-old child could live a safer life.
Miss Mills, 39, said she had taken steps to ensure that the facts would become known about the marriage if she is murdered.

And the McCanns also feature in the Tabloids

IS MADELEINE A CHILD SLAVE IN MOROCCO? asks the Express'front page

MADELEINE McCann may have been condemned to a life of slavery working as a “little maid” for a rich Arab family in Morocco, child trafficking experts claimed yesterday.
But as a child slave, Madeleine could be regularly abused by her host family or by visitors invited to meet the blonde-haired “curiosity”.

Exclusive: McCann 'clear us' demand says the Mirror

The McCanns yesterday demanded to be cleared over daughter Madeleine's disappearance as a legal chief ruled there was no evidence against them.
Portimao district attorney Jose Magalhaese Meneses admitted there was nothing to implicate them after reviewing the six-month police probe.
A friend of Kate and Gerry, both 39, said: "They are adamant they should now be cleared."

Back to the real?? news agenda and the Telegraph leads with the headline

Migrants may push up council tax

Millions of homeowners face higher council tax bills next year because of the government's failure to keep track of the number of immigrants in Britain, local authorities have warned.Schools, hospitals and other services are struggling to cope with rapid and uncontrolled influxes of migrants, the Local Government Association [LGA] claimed.

Councils say £250m emergency fund is needed to cope with influx of migrants says the Times.

Most of the papers cover the verdicts in Spain

Mass murderers jailed for 40 years as judge delivers verdicts on Spain's 9/11says the Guardian

A Spanish court convicted three men of mass murder yesterday for their part in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, but one of the alleged ringleaders was acquitted.
At the end of a four-month trial, 21 of the 28 defendants were convicted on at least one charge for their role in Europe's worst Islamist attack, in which 191 people were killed and more than 1,800 injured when bombs hidden in duffle bags ripped through four crowded commuter trains.

Men behind Madrid bombs laugh in court says the Telegraph

Two Moroccans, Jamal Zougam, 33, and Otman el Gnaoui, 32, were convicted of carrying out the attacks on four commuter trains. A Spaniard, Jose Emilio Suarez Trashorras, 30, was found guilty of supplying the explosives.
Eighteen other people were convicted of lesser charges and received sentences ranging from three to 18 years. But seven defendants were cleared of all charges including one of the alleged masterminds, Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, 35, who is serving a prison sentence in Italy on unrelated terror offences.
The 28 defendants laughed inside the courtroom’s bullet-proof glass chamber shortly before the verdicts were delivered.

A handshake and a smile - but how did Gordon really feel? asks the Independent

Gordon Brown and his "friend" King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia shook hands yesterday outside No 10 Downing Street.
It may not make the Brown family photograph album but Mr Brown put on a brave smile. No matter that Labour MPs were protesting outside the Saudi Arabian embassy a few hours later at the red-carpet treatment for the "dictator" of a "corrupt regime".
Ignoring the demonstrators, the Prime Minister steered the 83-year-old King into his Georgian official residence for a fireside chat that lasted 25 minutes before they posed for more photographs. They signed three bilateral agreements, on education, taxation and closer diplomatic links before going into lunch in the state dining room. "The atmospherics were very good and warm," said a senior aide to the Prime Minister. "They focused on issues that they feel passionate about."

The Guardian reports that

US supreme court calls a halt to executions

America's execution chambers fell idle yesterday after the supreme court made it clear it will allow no more prisoners to be put to death until it reviews the legality of lethal injection.
Death penalty campaigners yesterday said they expected the informal moratorium to last at least until next summer when the supreme court is expected to issue its ruling.
The moratorium follows a decision by the supreme court on Tuesday night to block the execution of a Mississippi inmate minutes before he was to be put to death. Earl Wesley Berry, who has been on death row for 19 years for the murder of a woman, had been served his last supper and was 15 minutes away from execution when the court intervened.

The Times reports meanwhile that

Public outrage leads to first fall in number of speed-camera fines

The number of drivers caught by speed cameras has fallen for the first time, according to government figures which reveal that widespread complaints about excessive enforcement have finally forced a retreat by police and local authorities.
All of the main types of motoring offence, including illegal parking and driving without insurance or an MoT certificate, have declined. For the first time in more than a decade drivers are less likely to be given a penalty than in the previous year.

Lib Dem hopefuls 'face jail' reports the Mirror

The two Lib Dem leadership hopefuls face jail - after vowing to rip up their ID cards if they become compulsory.
Pm Gordon Brown has pledged to make ID cards and registering on a database mandatory within five years, it is said.
But Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg and environment spokesman Chris Huhne yesterday vowed to defy a compulsory scheme.
Mr Clegg said: "I, and I expect thousands of people like me, will refuse to be forced to register. I'm willing to do everything in my power to stop this."

The Sun reports that

TOUGH LAWS IN CHAOS

TOUGH laws to restrict the activities of terror suspects were in disarray last night after judges branded them a breach of human rights.
Six “danger men” won a court battle over control orders making them prisoners in their homes for 18 hours a day.
Five Law Lords said the curfews were worse than being sentenced to a stretch in open prison – without the perks.
They also told courts to rethink orders imposed on two suspects without a fair hearing.
Their judgment was seen as a major blow to the Government’s anti-terror measures.

Meanwhile the Independent reports that

Police ordered to destroy decades-old petty crime records

Four police forces in England and Wales have been ordered to destroy criminal records of minor offences committed by teenagers who have gone on to lead unblemished adult lives but claim they are still being punished for their past misdemeanours.
In a test case that has wide implications for the rehabilitation of many thousands of children, the police forces must remove information they have about petty crimes that took place nearly 30 years ago.


According to the Mail

Christmas should be 'downgraded' to help race relations says Labour think tank

Labour's favourite think-tank says that because it would be hard to "expunge" Christmas from the national calendar, 'even-handedness' means public organisations must start giving other religions equal footing.
The leaked findings of its investigation into identity, citizenship and community cohesion also propose:

Finally the Guardian reports on

Elephant on acid, dog head grafts and a seesaw to revive the dead

One Friday in August 1962 Warren Thomas, director of Lincoln Park Zoo in Oklahoma City, raised his rifle and took aim at Tusko the elephant. With a squeeze of the trigger he scored a direct hit on the animal's rump, firing a cartridge full of the hallucinogenic drug LSD into the animal's bloodstream.
The dose was 3,000 times what a human might take for recreational purposes, and the results were extraordinary. Tusko charged around and trumpeted loudly for a few minutes before keeling over dead. adding

The case of Tusko the elephant is among 10 of the most bizarre experiments carried out in the quest for knowledge and reported in New Scientist magazine today. If there is a fine line between madness and genius, many of those involved firmly crossed it.