Not a great deal of good news for the government on the front of the papers this morning.

The Mail leads with the news that

Home Secretary 'knew' thousands of illegal migrants were working in Whitehall

Jacqui Smith was accused last night of trying to cover up yet another Home Office blunder.
Leaked documents revealed that the Home Secretary was warned four months ago that thousands of illegal immigrants had been cleared to work in sensitive Whitehall security jobs.
But she accepted advice from her officials for a news blackout on the affair, secret memos have confirmed.

As does the Express

£2 MILLION BONUS FOR MIGRATION SHAMBLES BOSSES

IMMIGRATION officials who presided over a year of blunders have been awarded almost £2million in bonuses.
Staff were handed the extra awards for 2005-06, shortly before then Home Secretary John Reid described the department as “not fit for purpose”.
The figures were revealed as the Home Office this week faced a fresh series of fiascos, including the admission that up to 5,000 illegal immigrants had been cleared to work as security guards.

Change of subject for the Times

Targets ‘let dangerous criminals escape net’

Police are neglecting to tackle serious, violent crimes and focusing instead on more minor offences as they strive to meet government targets, the man charged with shaping the future of policing in England and Wales has admitted.
Peter Neyroud, chief executive of the National Policing Improvement Agency, said that over the past five years police had focused on increasing the number of “offences brought to justice”. But the former chief constable admitted that this meant that catching a murderer carried no more importance than apprehending someone who had stolen a bottle of milk.

And for the Guardian

'Failing' school reforms put Labour under pressure

An urgent review of academy schools has been ordered by ministers amid growing concern at the heart of government that education policies are failing to target the most disadvantaged pupils.
Downing Street has set an eight-week deadline to examine whether academies are achieving their original goals of tackling the weakest urban schools. There is no question of academies being scrapped, but there will be recommendations to refocus the programme.

Booze culture is the lead in the Mirror

WAR ON BOOZE

Stores could be banned from flogging booze after 11pm as Gordon Brown wages war on binge-drinking.
The PM fears cheap, 24-hour alcohol is fuelling street violence among young thugs.
Pubs will still be able to serve all hours under his blitz - due in weeks - but not supermarkets and corner shops.
A No10 source said last night: "There are serious concerns, not just about when alcohol is sold, but about how it's priced, how it's advertised and who it's sold to."

New laws 'fail to curb binge drinking'

Measures to combat binge drinking have failed and the controversial move to relax licensing laws must be reviewed, says the report from the Nuffield Council on Bioethics.
It says tax on alcohol must be increased and the hours that bars and shops are allowed to sell drink should be restricted.
The report says the Government has failed to tackle the booze culture and the number of alcohol-related deaths had doubled since 1991 to 8,000 in 2005.

But it leads with more bad news

Fastest rise in food prices for 14 years

Food prices are increasing at their highest rate for more than a decade, official figures showed yesterday.Increase in wheat, dairy, meat and vegetable prices mean food factories are having to pay six per cent more for their raw ingredients than a year ago - the highest annual rate since 1993, said the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

And to round it all off

Xmas turkeys hout by bird flu says the Sun

FIVE thousand Christmas birds were being slaughtered last night after an outbreak of avian flu among turkeys.
Tests showed the turkeys, on a farm in Suffolk, had the H5 strain of the disease.

Farms to lock up free-range birds after avian flu is found in turkeys reports the Times

Turkeys, ducks and geese were being culled in East Anglia last night after an outbreak of avian flu just as the poultry industry gears up for the Christmas rush.
The cull of more than 6,000 birds came after turkeys tested positive for the contagious H5 strain of the virus on a free-range farm on the borders of Norfolk and Suffolk, near Diss. Tests by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency at Redgrave Poultry, part of Gressingham Foods, on the Suffolk side of Diss, yesterday confirmed that the birds had the H5 strain of avian flu.


Brown: UK will lead tough Iran strategy says the Guardian

Gordon Brown declared last night that Britain "will lead" the international campaign to stop Iran's nuclear programme, calling for new sanctions on oil and gas investments in the Islamic republic if it fails to comply with UN resolutions.
In his first set-piece foreign policy speech, the prime minister described his approach as "hard-headed internationalism" and said that if Iran continued to ignore UN security council demands to suspend uranium enrichment, Britain would call for tighter sanctions.

Brown tells Iran: Scrap nukes says the Sun

Different position by the Independent

Brown signals foreign policy shift towards EU

Mapping out his strategy of "hard-headed internationalism" for Britain's future foreign policy, Mr Brown marked a shift from Tony Blair's readiness to act as foremost ally of the US and favoured confidant of President George W Bush. He signalled that in future Britain would work more closely with EU partners and through the UN. Mr Brown made it clear that Britain believes tougher sanctions – rather than the threats of military action – against Iran are starting to work, although his senior officials insisted that "nothing is ruled out".



The paper gives prominance to the latest Meredith story

Meredith suspect caught on CCTV at murder scene

The American university student at the heart of the police inquiry into the death of Meredith Kercher was caught on camera entering the building where the murder took place on the evening of the killing, it emerged yesterday.
Police revealed that Amanda Knox was picked up by CCTV cameras situated above the building where she lived with the Leeds University student, contradicting her previous claims that she had spent the night with her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.

All of the papers carry the story of

Justice at last as DNA traps girl’s murderer 32 years on

Her sister punched the air in triumph and her mother could not contain her delight outside the court. After more than 32 years the criminal justice system finally got it right for Lesley Molseed.
An innocent man had spent 16 years in jail and after his release another 15 years had passed before it finally became obvious that Ronald Castree was the deviant who lured 11-year-old Lesley into his taxi before sexually assaulting her and stabbing her 12 times. reports the Times

Child sex fiend gets life in jail says the Mirror

Jailing Castree, 54, judge Mr Justice Openshaw said he would probably spend the rest of his life behind bars for his "truly dreadful crime".
He said: "You kept up the pretence for 32 years. Now your past has caught up with you."
Ordered to the cells balding Castree, convicted on compelling DNA evidence, whined tearfully: "My Lord..." But he was cut off with the words: "No.

Prince Harry continues to get a fair amount of coverage,the Sun leads with

CHELSY CAUGHT HARRY HAVING TXT

PRINCE Harry was last night at the centre of a “whothumbit” riddle – over texts from a mystery girl that sparked a huge bust-up with girlfriend Chelsy Davy.
Suspicious Chelsy, 22, discovered the messages on the Prince’s mobile after she overheard him having a whispered conversation. adding that

A source revealed: “She stole a look at his phone and found the text messages. Chelsy was furious.
“She then confronted Harry and they had a blazing row.”

Wretched Chelsy: A picture of misery after split with Harry says the Mail

Lank-haired and puffy-eyed, Chelsy Davy was the picture of misery as she trudged through the streets of Leeds yesterday following her split from Prince Harry.
Her appearance suggested that she had either spent the weekend in tears - or followed her ex-boyfriend's example by drowning her sorrows.

The Indy though has

It's great up north: twenty reasons to love Leeds

More bad news as the Telegraph reports

Huge fire at Olympic site in east London

A huge fire broke out on the site of the London Olympics today sending a plume of black smoke into the air across central London.which according to the paper

Health officials were last night monitoring the fallout from the giant plume of smoke after police confirmed that materials containing asbestos were found at the scene.

Six die in clashes as Fatah emerges onto streets of Gaza reports the Guardian

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, accused the rival Hamas movement of a "heinous crime" yesterday after six people were shot dead and dozens more injured during a rally in Gaza city. The rally, organised by Abbas's Fatah movement to mark the third anniversary of the death of Yasser Arafat, the former Palestinian leader, degenerated into a shoot-out between gunmen from Fatah and Hamas. At least 60 people were injured, hospital officials said.

The Independent reports that

Khmer Rouge minister and his wife to face genocide charges

The former Khmer Rouge foreign minister has been arrested with his wife and brought before Cambodia's genocide tribunal to face charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Ieng Sary and his wife, Ieng Thirith, who served the regime as minister for social affairs, are believed to be two of five unnamed suspects listed by prosecutors for the United Nationsbacked tribunal. Two others have already been detained.


Row lad's 115mph in dad's car reports the Mirror

A teenager drove at 115mph in his father's car after he had a bust-up with his parents over poor exam results.
Furious Buster Evans, then 17, was told he was grounded and had to leave his £22,000-a-year public school, a court heard.
He drove though Reading and nearby villages on the wrong side of the road, jumped two red lights, went at 115mph in a 40 zone and ignored a chasing police car.

The Mail reports

Disgraced DJ Andy Kershaw set for jail term after breaching restraining order AGAIN

Disgraced DJ Andy Kershaw is facing a three-month jail sentence on Tuesday after breaching a restraining order against his former partner for the second time.
The Radio 3 presenter has already spent six nights in prison for contacting the mother of his two children when expressly forbidden by the courts.
Isle of Man police have confirmed that Kershaw was arrested on Saturday following a complaint from his ex-partner of 17 years, Juliette Banner. The 48 year-old was picked up in the port of Peel, Isle of Man after speaking to Miss Banner on the pier side.

And all the tabloids report that

WEATHER GIRL TRISH IS KILLED

VETERAN breakfast TV weathergirl Trish Williamson has been killed in a car accident.
The mum of two – who first appeared on TV-am in the 1980s – died when her Ford Fiesta crashed into a field in Suffolk, it emerged last night.
She was dead by the time emergency services reached her on Friday, near Weybread.
Cops believe no other vehicle was involved. adding that

Trish, 52, was one of the first weathergirls to forecast on Good Morning Britain, alongside Wincey Willis and Ulrika Jonsson.
The brunette became an ITV weathergirl in the 1990s and went on to other shows including BBC Look North, London Tonight and BBC1’s current affairs series Inside Out.

The Express reports that

ELDERLY 'CAN'T AFFORD TO HEAT HOME'

One in five elderly people live in just one room of their home to save on heating bills, research suggests.
A poll, commissioned by the British Gas Help The Aged partnership, found that up to 2.5 million older people could be inhabiting just part of their house because they cannot afford to heat their entire home.

The Telegraph reports on the

Recluse who is king of Amazon reviews

He does not own a television or have an internet connection at home, yet an unemployed recluse has become one of Britain's most influential reviewers of books, films and music.Peter Harris, a 56-year-old bachelor from Leicester, has written more than 5,000 reviews for Amazon, the online retailer.

And finally the Times reports that

Chocolate inventors were trying for beer

Humanity’s love affair with chocolate began at least 500 years earlier than was thought previously, scientists have discovered.
Chemical residues found in pottery vessels from what is now Honduras have revealed that the ancient peoples of Central America were drinking chocolate beverages as long ago as 1150BC, probably to celebrate occasions such as births and weddings. The evidence suggests that they were alcoholic drinks made from fermented pulp of cacao fruit.