Monday, November 12, 2007

The papers cannot agree on the main news this morning with all choosing to lead with a different story.

The Guardian tells us that

UK terror detention limit is longest of any democracy

Britain's existing 28-day limit on holding terror suspects without charge is already far longer than that for any comparable democracy, according to a study to be published tomorrow.
The survey, by the human rights organisation Liberty, was carried out by lawyers and academics in 15 countries. It shows that the four-week maximum in Britain outstrips limits in countries that have also suffered al-Qaida inspired terrorist attacks in recent years, including the United States, Spain and Turkey.

Tories warn of a 'lost generation' is the lead in the Telegraph

In a stark warning about the extent of the "broken society", it says a toxic combination of family breakdown and school failure is creating a violent and anti-social youth culture.
The Commission for Social Justice will today launch an inquiry into the epidemic of gang and youth crime that threatens to turn inner cities into no-go areas.
It will study New York's success in reducing crime and the impact of a zero tolerance approach to law enforcement

The Times leads with

Peers help themselves to £300 a day tax-free

Hundreds of peers are exploiting a loophole on expenses to give themselves a tax free income of up to £48,000 a year, The Times has found.
Rules agreed by Parliament allow members of the House of Lords to claim up to £308 a day to pay for meals, hotels, taxis and other travel expenses associated with their role.
But peers do not have to submit receipts and an analysis of their expenses shows that nearly two thirds automatically claim the maximum almost every time they visit the Lords.

DIANA INQUEST: IT'S A FARCE says the front page of the Express

THE inquest into Princess Diana’s death is set to descend into farce as two French experts with vital information will be shielded from giving evidence.
Last night’s revelation will outrage those who believe the French authorities are sabotaging the £10million inquest a decade after Diana and lover Dodi died in a high-speed car crash in Paris.

Many of the papers report from Perugia on yesterday's events,the Mail leads with

Dramatic Foxy Knoxy u-turn: 'I wasn't there when Meredith was murdered'

The American student accused of killing Meredith Kercher has dramatically changed her story once again .
American Amanda Knox - already branded a compulsive liar by police - has reverted to her original claim that she was with her Italian boyfriend on the night of the murder and not at the flat she shared with Meredith.
The 20-year-old's protestation of innocence to her mother follows her "confession" to police last week that she was in the kitchen while Meredith was being killed in her bedroom.

According to the Telegraph

Amanda Knox, 20, from Seattle, told her mother that she had been "wrong" to confess that she was there on the night Miss Kercher died and that she had put her "fingers in her ears" to shut out Miss Kercher's screams.
Edda Mellas, Knox's mother, said yesterday: "Amanda is devastated by the death of her friend. She is completely distraught. But she is innocent and she is confident she will soon be released."

Staying in Italy,

Protests after Lazio fan is shot dead by police reports the Independent.

A supporter of the Italian football team Lazio was shot dead by a policeman at a motorway service station yesterday, prompting a wave of protests by fans up and down the country.The shooting occurred when a highway patrol officer intervened to break up fighting between a small group of Juventus and Lazio fans, reportedly involving as few as three car-loads, at the Badia al Pino service station in Umbria yesterday morning.
Gabriele Sandri, 26, was shot in the back of the neck and died in his car. Mr Sandri, who worked as a DJ in Rome, was said by friends and acquaintances to have been a keen fan but never a violent one.

The front page of the paper carries a picture of a monkey under the headline

Cloning: a giant step

A technical breakthrough has enabled scientists to create for the first time dozens of cloned embryos from adult monkeys, raising the prospect of the same procedure being used to make cloned human embryos.
Attempts to clone human embryos for research have been dogged by technical problems and controversies over fraudulent research and questionable ethics. But the new technique promises to revolutionise the efficiency by which scientists can turn human eggs into cloned embryos.

Planted question damages Clinton in key primary state reports the Guardian

Hillary Clinton's reputation for calculated political orchestration has been enhanced after a member of her staff was caught out in the crucial primary battleground of Iowa planting a tame question in the audience.
The Clinton campaign operation in Iowa was forced to admit that it had set up the question on climate change at a town hall rally in Newton last Tuesday. The meeting had been an important set-piece for Clinton, with several members of the national media present.

Hillary Clinton, a woman with all the answers - and the questions says the Times

Barack Obama and John Edwards, her two main rivals, pounced on the revelation and claimed it to be further proof that Mrs Clinton was a politician who could not be trusted.

Musharraf promises to stick to election date but gives no guarantees on lifting emergency reports the Independent

President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan has announced that elections will be held on schedule, but declined to give dates for the lifting of emergency rule or his promised resignation as army chief, raising doubts as to whether the polls could be free and fair.
Speaking at a news conference at the presidential palace in Islamabad yesterday, General Musharraf said that he expected elections to take place "before 9 January". He said that the current parliament would complete its term and be dissolved on 15 November.

Prince William's duty and sorrow reports the Telegraph on yesterday's events at the Cenotaph

Prince William may not have been allowed to fight in a war, but he understands the reality of armed conflict.Two officers he knew have been killed in action this year. So his laying of a wreath at the Cenotaph for the first time yesterday, Remembrance Sunday, was no mere observance of royal protocol.The second-in-line to the throne followed his grandmother, grandfather and father in paying tribute to the dead of Britain's wars, after a field gun broke the minute's silence. Wearing the uniform of the Blues and Royals, the prince stepped forward to lay his poppy wreath, before saluting the fallen.

The Tabloids though are more interested in his brother,the front page of the Sun tells us

CHELSY QUITS BRITAIN

CHILLY Chelsy Davy quit Leeds University because she was shocked by the freezing Yorkshire WEATHER, pals revealed last night.
The Zimbabwean beauty was also unhappy with her law degree course and had struggled to make genuine friends since moving to the northern city in September.
Friends revealed her romance with boyfriend Prince Harry HAS hit trouble — and she has asked for a “cooling-off” period.

How Chelsy came to hate the spotlight says the Mail

As far as appearances are concerned, they are chalk and cheese.
One is a tall, leggy brunette with a reputation for being (dare one say it) rather dull, the other a curvaceous beach-bleached blonde who likes nothing more than to party until dawn.

UDA orders military wing to stand down reports the Telegraph

In an Armistice Day statement, the UDA leadership said all UFF weaponry would be put beyond use and all military intelligence destroyed.
They said they were making the move because the military war was over and the struggle to maintain the Union was on "a more complex battlefield".
The UDA also ordered its members not to become involved in crime or criminality and said that those who had joined for such purposes had to be rooted out.

There is a lot of speculation about Britain's relationship with America

Brown to reassure Washington that US remains Britain's closest ally says the Guardian

Gordon Brown will seek to reassure the United States tonight that the special relationship still lies at the heart of British foreign policy, following concerns that transatlantic ties have been weakened since his predecessor departed.
In the annual Mansion House foreign policy speech, the prime minister will stress that America remains Britain's most important ally and shares its values. He will welcome its improving relations with the rest of Europe, arguing that paves the way for reform of international institutions such as the United Nations - allowing them to tackle issues ranging from the environment to turbulence in global financial markets effectively.

Gordon Brown attempts to mend fences with President Bush says the Times

Gordon Brown will offer an olive branch to President Bush tonight by describing the United States as Britain’s most important ally and central to his foreign policy plans.

Sex education classes should teach pupils about consent, says Cameron reports the Independent

Sex education classes should teach children that "no" means "no", David Cameron will say today as he launches proposals for an overhaul of the law on sexual violence.
He will condemn low conviction rates and argue that only 15 out of every 1,000 rape victims see justice done in the courts. The party's attempt to again portray itself as tough on crime came after it emerged that the disgraced former minister Jonathan Aitken, who was jailed for perjury, had been asked to chair a task force on prison reform reporting to former leader Iain Duncan Smith.

'Stop them getting away with it': Cameron calls for more rape convictions says the Mail

Rapists in Britain "think they can get away with it", David Cameron will say today.
The Tory leader will point to a conviction rate far lower than other EU countries and a fall in sentences.
He will promise to tighten the law - and to act against a "growing sexualisation" of society.

Illegals got the Home Office OK reports the Mirror

Embarrassed Home Office chiefs yesterday admitted 5,000 illegal immigrants had been cleared for jobs as security staff.
Some were employed at sensitive places including Whitehall, the Met, ports and airports.
Ministers have now ordered checks on hundreds of thousands of staff vetted by the Security Industry Authority over the past three years. It failed to ask if they were entitled to work here.

The Express reports that

UK DESCRIBED AS 'DUSTBIN OF EUROPE'

More than 30% of household waste was recycled or composted in 2006/7 and the amount of waste sent to landfill by local authorities fell by 5.5% to 16.9 million tonnes the same year.
But despite the promising figures, Paul Bettison, chairman of the Local Government Association's Environment Board, said: "Britain is still the dustbin of Europe, throwing more waste into landfill than any other country in the EU."
He continued: "While these figures are a move in the right direction, there is an inescapable need to do more."

The Mirror has the first puctures of Maddie's bedroom on its front page

Portuguese police may gag Madeleine McCann's parents by keeping them suspects for the next 15 years.
The grim warning comes as the Mirror publishes the first picture of the bedroom from where Madeleine, four, vanished six months ago.

Finally the Guardian reports

Researchers follow the Enterprise and look into warp speed

Captain Kirk and his crew may someday be followed on their travels across the universe at warp speed by the rest of us. If scientists meeting for a one-day international conference next week have their way, the starship Enterprise's warp drive will no longer be the stuff of science fiction but a viable means of travelling vast distances at faster than the speed of light.
Anyone wanting to boldly go on a trip to a far-off galaxy should not hold their breath though. Scientists admit there is little chance of anyone building a warp drive this century, but there is serious academic interest in the subject.

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