Nothern rock and the problems for the Chancellor dominate the headlines this Tuesday morning

Taxpayers may pay for Northern Rock fiasco is the headline in the Telegraph

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, refused to guarantee in Parliament that the £24 billion of public money propping up the bank - the equivalent of £1,000 for every taxpayer - would ever be repaid in full.
Mr Darling, who previously said he expected the money - which amounts to half the annual education budget - to be paid back with interest, would only say he was looking for the "best outcome for the public purse".

The same in the Times

Taxpayers to foot the Northern Rock bill which reports that the chancellor

did not answer when both George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, and Vince Cable, the acting Liberal Democrat leader, asked him to guarantee that the loans plus interest would be repaid in full. Opposition spokesmen claimed that Mr Darling’s assurance was weaker than those previously given by the Government, and said that the Treasury’s statement to the Stock Exchange, that it would expect the private sector “to the greatest extent possible” to bear the costs, was open to doubt.

Taxpayers could lose BILLIONS in Northern Rock crisis says the Mail

The Chancellor failed to provide a convincing guarantee that all £25billion of Bank of England loans would be paid back.
Tories said his job was now on the line. As shares in the bank plunged 21 per cent to an all-time low, investors scrambled to sell their stock and the prospects of a rescue deal appeared to be fading.


Ministers scramble for Northern Rock rescue plan says the Guardian

The government is considering backing a management buyout of Northern Rock to safeguard jobs at the bank and placate angry shareholders, the Guardian has learned, as pressure grows to find a solution to the crisis and ensure that taxpayers do not foot the bill for any rescue.

The Mirror has a different perspective on the crisis

Hamper losers hit out at bank rescue

Hard-up families who lost hundreds of pounds each when Christmas hamper firm Farepak went bust are angry that the government is spending billions to rescue Northern Rock while they get nothing.
Taxpayers could end up paying £1,300 each to bail out the bank. But 122,000 Farepak customers, who invested an average of £400, will be lucky if they get back 5p in the pound.

The Independent turns its attentio across the channel where today is

Mardi Noir:

Strikes. Sabotage. Student unrest. Transport, schools and hospitals disrupted. National newspapers halted. Factories running out of raw materials.
France faces a Black Tuesday today. Is this President Nicolas Sarkozy's " Thatcher moment"? Is this another May 1968? Is the New France promised last spring by a combative new president, struggling to emerge from the muddled, but often charming, Old France of street protests, government climbdowns and generous social benefits?

Striking civil servants turn heat on Sarkozy says the Guardian

President Nicolas Sarkozy faces a crucial test of his nerve today as a transport strike continues into its seventh day of commuter chaos, and civil servants stage a walkout that could see up to half of France's schools closed and disrupt air traffic control, the postal service and even weather forecasts.
France's rail and bus strike is continuing despite trade union leaders agreeing to begin talks with the government and state employers tomorrow. They are protesting at plans to change special pensions deals which allow certain workers to retire as young as 50 on favourable terms.

Staying in France and the Times as does many of the papers reports that

Top surgeon lists five key blunders that may have cost Diana her life

Thomas Treasure, a leading British surgeon, told the inquest that a “window of opportunity” may have existed to get her to hospital half an hour before she was taken there. Professor Treasure, a former president of the European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgery, said that medics had done “very substantial good” in the initial period after the accident but that once the Princess was in the ambulance time began “slipping away”.

Diana could have lived bluntly says the Sun

Prof Treasure also questioned some decisions by medical staff, including the use of a ventilation tube in the ambulance and the amount of adrenalin given during surgery.
The inquest was also told that Diana was so distressed after the crash she had to be restrained.
At one point she was shouting out in English, thrashing around and even pulled out a drip.

The paper leads though with the moving

FAREWELL MY LOVELY

THE distraught father of murdered teenager Dinah McNicol paid an emotional visit to her House of Horrors grave yesterday — then said: “Now I will cry on my own.”
Head bowed and silent, frail Ian McNicol kept his tears in check as he bade a final farewell to his beloved daughter, who vanished in 1991, aged 18.

Dinah's memory is laid to rest as father visits Margate house reports the Times

A formal identification has yet to confirm that the body of a second teenager unearthed from the garden of the house once occupied by Peter Tobin is that of Dinah McNicol, but jewellery buried beside it suggests that it is the 18-year-old who went missing on August 3, 1991.
Her father has no doubt. Emerging from the house while police and forensic archaeologists continued to dig in the front garden, he walked slowly up the pavement, accompanied by a younger relative.

MADELEINE: POLICE QUIZ PRIEST AGAIN is the front page of the Express

DETECTIVES have carried out fresh searches at the church where Kate and Gerry McCann prayed for their missing daughter, it emerged yesterday.
The Roman Catholic priest who offered comfort to the distraught parents and gave the couple their own set of keys to the chapel has also been reinterviewed by investigators.

Meanwhile the Mirror reports

Murat and friends accused

Three friends may have been behind Madeleine McCann's kidnap, investigators claimed last night.
Private detectives fear Robert Murat, girlfriend Michaela Walczuch and her estranged husband Luis Antonio were part of an organised ring that snatched the four-year-old. Pool cleaner Antonio worked at the resort where Maddy vanished and had full access to the complex

The Telegraph carries the story of

Girl, 13, commits suicide after online bullying

A 13-year-old girl hanged herself after she fell victim to a cyber-bullying campaign orchestrated by the mother of one of her classmates, who masqueraded online as a "good looking" teenage boy.Megan Meier was in great spirits after she began corresponding with a 16-year-old named Josh Evans, who she met on MySpace, the popular social networking site. They exchanged messages for six weeks before he abruptly ended the friendship, telling her he had heard she was cruel.

Cop killer jailed after 13 years reports the Sun

COP killer James Hurley – dubbed Britain’s most wanted man – was back behind bars last night after 13 years on the run.
The fugitive was seized in a drugs raid by police in Holland and was allegedly in possession of cocaine worth millions.

And the Telegraph reports that the

UK's longest-serving prisoner, Straffen, dies

A notorious child killer, who was Britain's longest-serving prisoner, has died in custody after more than 55 years behind bars.John Straffen, 77, achieved notoriety in 1952 by escaping from Broadmoor high-security hospital, where he had been sent after killing two girls, and murdering another girl within hours.


The Guardian reports that

UK condemned for failing to protect children's rights

The UK government will be criticised today over key aspects of children's human rights in a report highlighting how youngsters in custody are being handcuffed or have needed oxygen after being restrained.
Analysis by the Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) found that handcuffs were used 44 times on youngsters in custody, and two children had their clothes cut off during a search in prison this year.
The UK continues to imprison more children than almost any other European country, with about 3,000 incarcerated at any one time, the study notes.

There is still a lot of coverage on the Pakistan situation

Puppet judges reject challenge to Pervez Musharraf says the Times

Pakistan’s neutered Supreme Court dismissed the main challenges to the reelection of Pervez Musharraf as President yesterday, taking him a step closer to quitting as army chief and restoring civilian rule.
Stripped of hostile judges by General Musharraf under a state of emergency, because he feared that it would rule he was ineligible for another five-year term, the new-look court took just over two hours to throw out the cases.

Meanwhile the Telegraph carries the story of the

Survivors tell of tying their children to trees to save them from Bangladesh cyclone

The cyclone's 150mph winds descended on the coast last Thursday night "like a hundred demons", reported the occupants of one of the hundreds of chars - shifting silt islands - which are found in the middle of Bangladesh's many rivers.Zabbar Mia, from Majher Char, on the mouth of the river Bishkhali, rushed to save his two young cousins Riaz, 13, and Sumon, 5, by tying them to a palm tree as the cyclone roared overhead.

A bit closer to home and the Guardian reports that

US and Europeans try to avert breakaway by Kosovo with new year recognition pledge

The US and the main European powers are attempting to delay the looming crisis in Kosovo with a deal to head off an immediate unilateral declaration of independence, it emerged yesterday. Risking a showdown with Serbia and Russia, which bitterly oppose independence, the EU and the Americans will offer Kosovo's Albanian leaders prompt recognition of independence, sometime in January, said UN officials in the territory and European diplomats.

Back to the Uk and the Mail predicts

One million homeowners face a 60 per cent jump in mortgage rates

More than a million homeowners face a jump in mortgage payments of up to 60 per cent when their cheap fixed-rate deals end.
Analysts fear the impact will result in a surge in repossessions.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders is so concerned that it has taken the extraordinary step of suggesting that some homeowners should sell their property rather than risk losing it.

And Bin wars look set once gain to break out

Brown urges ban on plastic bags

In his first major speech on the environment and climate change since taking office, Mr Brown said supermarkets had already promised to reduce the "environmental impact" of plastic bags by 25 per cent over the next year. He said: "I believe we can go further. Indeed, I am convinced that we can eliminate single-use plastic bags altogether in favour of long-lasting and more sustainable alternatives.

Brown reveals green dream says the Mirror

Gordon Brown pledged yesterday to put Britain on the road to a green revolution which will create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
In his first major speech on the environment since moving into No10, Mr Brown hinted he is ready to extend the target to cut emissions by 2050 from 60 to 80 per cent.
He launched an initiative offering advice to householders on reducing their carbon footprint, predicting it would be "the biggest improvement in home energy efficiency in our history".

Chris Langham gives his first interviews since leaving prison

Why I looked at chid porn? says the Sun

COMEDY actor Chris Langham said today that he was being “compassionate and sympathetic” when he looked at the child porn that put him behind bars.
Langham, who was released from prison early last week, denied he had any sexual interest in children but admitted looking at the images was “completely wrong”.
And he revealed he may have been filmed by the man who abused him as an eight-year-old.

'I considered suicide': Sex offender Chris Langham speaks at last reports the Mail

Langham, a BAFTA-winner thanks to his star performance in BBC TV's political satire The Thick of It, has given his first full interview, speaking of the 'vile' time he had in his brief stay in prison.
The father-of-five has admitted what he did was wrong - but continues to deny he derived any sexual pleasure from what he said were 'upsetting, distasteful and disturbing' images.
And he said he fell so low he began planning to gas himself, until a chance phone call put him off.

Do we think we've had enough? Beer sales plunge as Britons stay at home reports the Guardian
Shakespeare may have declared "a quart of ale is a dish for a king", but five centuries on, Britain appears to have slaked its thirst for the humble beer.
Sales of a drink that, for many, is the cornerstone of British social life, have dropped to their lowest level since the 1930s, according to figures released today.
The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), which represents the brewing and pub industry, revealed that 14m fewer pints daily are being sold in pubs today - a slump of 49% since the peak in 1979.

Michelin makes Tokyo haute cuisine's home reports the Telegraph

Paris was forced to swallow its pride as Tokyo stole its crown as the city with the most Michelin-starred restaurants.From local sushi houses to formal Japanese banquets, the city's top food spots scooped a total of 191 stars, almost double Paris's 97 and triple New York's 54.

And finally as the countdown to the big game begins the Sun reports that

Jinxed Brown is to miss match

GORDON Brown WILL stay away from England’s crucial Euro 2008 qualifier – amid fears he is jinxed.
The PM has been on hand to see our football and rugby teams crash to defeat in recent months.
He also saw Scotland get knocked out 2-1 by Italy at Hampden Park on Saturday.