The papers carry thw story of the barrow boy bomber

Three Royal Marines were killed in Afghanistan yesterday by a 13-year-old boy who approached their patrol with a wheelbarrow packed with explosives.
One other Marine and a soldier died in separate incidents in Iraq and Afghanistan in what was the worst day for British Forces in six months.

reports the Times

The Telegraph adds that

The men from 45 Commando Royal Marines were on foot patrol when they were approached by the 13-year-old. As he drew closer, a bomb hidden under papers in the wheelbarrow was detonated, it is believed by a watching member of the Taliban using a remote-control device.

Both the Guardian and the Independent lead with the De Menezes verdict

Did the police lie asks the Independent

Jean Charles de Menezes was not lawfully killed as part of an anti-terrorist operation, a jury decided yesterday, rejecting the police account of how the Brazilian died as not to be trusted.
Returning an open verdict at the end of the 12-week inquest, the jurors contradicted evidence given by seven firearms and surveillance officers when they answered a series of 13 questions put to them by the coroner.

The Times says that

In one of the most important public examinations of police conduct, the jurors found the testimony of the officers who shot the young Brazilian to be unreliable and concluded that Metropolitan Police commanders failed their frontline colleagues.

According to the Guardian

Police who shot De Menezes will return to frontline duty

Scotland Yard will allow two firearms officers who shot and killed Jean Charles de Menezes to return to frontline duties, even though an inquest jury fundamentally rejected their account of the shooting and criticised almost every aspect of the police operation, the Guardian has learned.
Yesterday's verdict plunged the Metropolitan police into further turmoil and drew a personal apology from the acting commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson. The force may yet face compensation claims from de Menezes' relatives, who were yesterday deeply critical of the coroner, Sir Michael Wright, over his decision not to allow the jurors to consider a verdict of unlawful killing.

The economy continues to grab the headlines,the Times reports that

A financial rescue package for Britain’s motor industry was being put together last night, mirroring efforts in Washington to save America’s three big carmakers from collapse.
Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, and Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, may offer bridging loans on commercial terms to vehicle and component manufacturers and wider guarantees for loans from banks.

Carmageddon! says the Mail

British car makers could be forced to beg the Government for a bail-out after the spectacular meltdown in the American motor industry put a million UK jobs at risk.
The U.S. Congress has ruled out a £9billion bail-out for the country's 'big three' car manufacturers - General Motors, Ford and Chrysler - which have all been hit by a dramatic slump in sales of new cars.

More than four million still paying their credit card debt from last Christmas is the lead in the Telegraph

Ahead of one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year, figures showed that one in 10 adults – the equivalent of 4.5 million – had still not paid off their credit card debts from a year ago despite the looming recession.
Experts warned that a further spending spree over the Christmas period would bring misery to thousands of borrowers in the New Year as they faced the task of paying off their credit cards while family finances are stretched by the economic crisis.

The Independent reports that

Britain has formally protested to the German government about the stinging attack on Gordon Brown by its Finance Minister, deepening the Anglo-German dispute over the Prime Minister's economic strategy.
Sir Michael Arthur, the British ambassador in Berlin, raised strong objections with the German Finance Ministry over the remarks by Peer Steinbrück, who branded Mr Brown's £20bn fiscal stimulus "crass" and "breathtaking".

Better Europena news in the Guardian which reports

EU leaders claim historic agreement on cutting pollution

A two-day summit of 27 government leaders in Brussels ended a two-year effort to agree mandatory reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in Europe and came as a triumph for President Nicolas Sarkozy of France in the closing days of his six-month presidency of the EU.
Not noted for his understatement, the French leader declared: "This council will go down in the history of Europe."

The Mail leads with a story of Xmas chaos

Millions of cards and presents could arrive too late for Christmas because of plans by postal workers to strike next Friday.
The cynical decision to walk out at the peak of the festive postal rush was condemned by Royal Mail and consumer groups yesterday.
Around 120million letters and parcels are sent every day in December. The strike organisers, the Communication Workers' Union, could not have chosen a more damaging date in the entire calendar.

Road pricing trials continue despite Manchester rejection reports the Telegraph

Within hours of the referendum results being declared, the Department for Transport said it would press ahead with development of the costly series of studies which would underpin a pay-as-you-drive scheme, which could see motorists paying up to £1.30 a mile to drive in the rush hour.
The results of the referendum appears to cast serious doubt on the Government's ability to deliver an acceptable road pricing scheme.

The Sun is still on the case of Haringey council £200k says its front page

THE new boss of the council department shamed by the Baby P case will earn nearly £200,000 a year, it has emerged.
Peter Lewis was yesterday named as Haringey’s head of children’s services.
The 54-year-old is being paid nearly twice the wage of predecessor Sharon Shoesmith, sacked over the catalogue of failures that led to Baby P’s death.

The Guardian reports that

The government found itself embroiled in another damaging row over crime figures yesterday after the head of the UK Statistics Authority accused the Home Office of releasing "selective" knife crime figures earlier this week.
Sir Michael Scholar said the figures, which showed a sharp decline in stabbings, had not been checked and were "premature, irregular and selective".

The Express leads with a new cancer drug

Tens of thousands of healthy women could slash the risk of getting breast cancer by taking a drug to prevent it, it was revealed yesterday.
Researchers have found that Tamoxifen, currently used to treat breast cancer, could cut the chances of women developing the disease by almost two thirds.

how Leonard Cohen became an X Factor winner without trying reports the Times

The mordant songwriter is set for a £1 million windfall after his classic song Hallelujah was chosen as the debut single by tonight’s winner.
The biblical epic, composed in 1984, has survived more than a hundred interpretations from artists including Bob Dylan, k. d. lang and Rufus Wainwright.

Finally the Guardian reports After 4,750 shows, Carol's drraepute

She was introduced in a characteristically cringe-making way as "our vital statistician" and "a pretty good figure". Twenty six years, 4,750 episodes, 320,000 letters and 57,000 dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur-dur-dum doo! of the Countdown clock later, Carol Vorderman left Channel 4's long-running quiz show in tears yesterday after a final conundrum spelled out "era closes".