According to the Times this morning

Mortgage debt forces thousands to sell up

More than one in five homes on the market are there because their owners cannot afford the mortgage repayments, The Times has learnt.
A survey of estate agents suggests that at least 5,000 properties a week are being put up for sale by “forced downsizers” – people who are in financial difficulties.

and the paper adds that

Lenders believe that repossessions have soared by 70 per cent in 2008 compared with last year. Quarterly figures to be published today by the Council of Mortgage Lenders will show that repossessions are expected to have risen from 18,900 in June to at least 45,000 by the end of December. Figures to be published by the Ministry of Justice are expected to point to soaring mortgage arrears.

According to the Mail,

Alistair Darling is so exasperated by the 'moral failure' of banks to help small firms and families that he is poised to toughen the law.
The Chancellor is studying legal options to end the 'unacceptable' behaviour of the banks towards companies struggling in the downturn.
The revelation that he is contemplating the 'nuclear option' of legal action will send a shockwave through the City and marks a major escalation in the war of words between banks and the Government

The Telegraph agrees

Small businesses have complained that they are facing sharp increases in the cost of loans following the global credit crisis.
Gordon Brown and Mr Darling yesterday met with small business representatives.
In next Monday's pre-Budget report, the Government is expected to introduce a new scheme to underwrite small business loans made by banks. Ministers will also put intense pressure on the banks in which the Government is buying a stake to lend at competitive rates again

Find £1bn to help 10p tax rate victims, Darling told reports the Guardian

Frank Field and Greg Pope, the leaders of the tax rebellion earlier this year, have written to Darling, urging action. Field told the Guardian: "The Labour backbenches will not abandon the poor who have still not been compensated. It is a Rubicon they will not cross, and at a time the government has found £50bn to bail out the bankers, the Treasury can surely find £1bn to ease the resentment of our core voters."

The Independent meanwhile reports that

Business backs Brown and Darling

A ComRes survey for The Independent shows that the Chancellor has recovered ground among business leaders, rising from his disastrously low "confidence rating" of just 9 per cent after he presented his Budget this spring to 27 per cent now, as he prepares to deliver a mini-Budget designed to limit the impact of the downturn on Monday.

It has a blacka nd white picture on its front page this morning under the headline

Congo: a touch of hope in the war without end

A man cradles his son as he stares intensely at the camera; the baby, secure in the strong arms of his father, playfully touches the man's mouth with an outstretched finger. Only the rough bandages swaddling the legs of the chubby infant tell a bigger story, the story of a war without end, and of those men, women, ordinary families, caught up in the fighting in eastern Congo.

Sun sets on US power: report predicts end of dominance is the Guardian's lead story

The United States' leading intelligence organisation has warned that the world is entering an increasingly unstable and unpredictable period in which the advance of western-style democracy is no longer assured, and some states are in danger of being "taken over and run by criminal networks".
The global trends review, produced by the National Intelligence Council (NIC) every four years, represents sobering reading in Barack Obama's intray as he prepares to take office in January. The country he inherits, the report warns, will no longer be able to "call the shots" alone, as its power over an increasingly multipolar world begins to wane.

The Times also covers the report

The next two decades will see a world living with the daily threat of nuclear war, environmental catastrophe and the decline of America as the dominant global power, according to a frighteningly bleak assessment by the US intelligence community.
“The world of the near future will be subject to an increased likelihood of conflict over resources, including food and water, and will be haunted by the persistence of rogue states and terrorist groups with greater access to nuclear weapons,” said the report by the National Intelligence Council, a body of analysts from across the US intelligence community.

Staying with America,and the Telegraph says that

Obama to appoint Hillary Clinton secretary of state 'next week'

The aide said the two camps have worked out financial disclosure issues involving Mrs Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, and the complicated international funding of his foundation that operates in 27 countries. The aide said Mr Obama and Ms Clinton have had substantive conversations about the secretary of state job.

The Independent though says that

Hillary's quest for her 'legacy' job hits trouble

in scenes more worthy of divorce proceedings than an appointment to a plum job at the top of the State Department, the vetting of Bill Clinton – which Obama insiders are calling "the project" – is being handled by an inner coterie of lawyers and trusted advisers from both sides

Meanwhile more problems across the water as the Gaurdain reports that

Brutal share sell-off in US

Wall Street suffered its biggest battering in more than 10 years last night, while fears of a long and painful economic slump continued to stalk the markets.
Both stockmarket indices in the US - the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Standard & Poor's 500 index - closed the day at levels not seen since before the burst of the dotcom bubble in 2000. And the price of oil dropped below $50 a barrel for the first time in 3½ years.

The Express now predicts that

Petrol prices could tumble by more than 10p a litre in time for Christmas, bringing cheer to millions of motorists.
The price of crude oil yesterday crashed below 50 dollars a barrel to hit its cheapest point in more than three years.
The drastic fall prompted experts to predict unleaded could go below 83p a litre by Christmas.

According to the Mail

More than 10,000 people die needlessly each year because their cancers are not diagnosed in time, a study says.
The charity Cancer Research UK found GPs too often miss symptoms or do not send enough patients for tests.
In some cases their training is simply out of date. The report says some people are deterred from seeking treatment by the difficulty of getting an appointment.

Outcry over gag on Baby P report reports the Independent

Ministers face demands for a change in the law after declaring that the detailed report into Haringey Council's handling of the Baby P case cannot be made public.
Conservatives and Liberal Democrats called for reform after Ed Balls, the Children's Secretary, said an Information Commissioner ruling meant the serious-case review conducted after the baby died last year could not be released to opposition MPs.

The Sun meanwhile reports that

THE vile mum of Baby P partied at the infamous Monsters’ Ball in jail – while her tragic tot was given a pauper’s funeral.
The cold-hearted 27-year-old joined some of Britain’s most evil murderesses at the fancy-dress bash.

and adding that

Last night a prison source said: “This woman is the most hated prisoner at Holloway. No one can believe how evil she is.
“Seeing her feasting on cake while Michael Jackson’s Thriller played in the background turned everyone’s stomachs

pirates demand $25m within 10 days says the Guardian

Pirates holding a Saudi supertanker off the coast of Somalia have reportedly told the ship's owners to pay a $25m (£16.9m) ransom within 10 days or face "disastrous" consequences.
The Sirius Star, which is carrying 2m barrels of oil worth £68m, was captured on Saturday and is being held near the town of Harardheere along Somalia's eastern coast. The 25 crew, including two Britons, are being kept hostage on the ship

The Telegraph meanwhile reports that

Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden have forced one of the world's largest shipping companies to reroute its vessels.The Danish group AP Moller-Maersk said the deteriorating situation meant it could no longer allow its more vulnerable ships to make the hazardous voyage.
They will now send their slowest vessels and the ones with the lowest 'freeboard' - the distance from the lowest point of the deck to the waterline - further east.

The Times reports the story of the

A 19-year-old man has committed suicide on live TV encouraged by others who were watching, according to reports.
The teenager, named as Abraham K Biggs, from Broward County, Florida, took an overdose of pills while broadcasting himself on Justin.tv, a live video streaming website.
On a chat forum he told others he was going to commit suicide and posted a suicide note on another forum before taking the pills and turning on his live video feed

Are you having a laugh? asks the Sun as it reports that

AN al-Qaeda terrorist involved in a plot to bomb London was taught how to be a stand-up COMIC at his top-security prison, The Sun can reveal.
Evil Zia Ul Haq was enrolled on an eight-day “comedy workshop” at Whitemoor jail, along with murderers and rapists.
The 18 cons were given lessons in stand-up, comic drama, improvisation and scriptwriting.

500 chefs, 4,000 lobsters and Kylie - recession Dubai style reports the Guardian

The real world rarely intrudes on the artificial playground of Dubai. And last night, the global financial collapse seemed far behind as one of the most outlandish architectural extravagances of recent times opened with a £15m celebration in the company of A-list stars and a feast of 4,000 lobsters.
For the 2,000 guests, it was a heady cocktail of sunshine and as much champagne and oysters as they could wish for. Kylie Minogue was given her very own fiscal stimulus, a £2m cheque to perform at the party thrown by South African tycoon Sol Kerzner, 73, to launch the Atlantis Palm Jumeirah hotel.