News Review

2008-12-29T11:10:00.003Z

The End

The Daily review of the papers has been going on at this site for just over two years.

As from the new year,a shortened version will be appearing on my political site Procrastinating Politicians in conjunction with comment and analysis.

Thanks for reading and a Happy New Year and please keep reading on my other blogs

2008-12-28T08:05:00.002Z

The escalation of fighting in the Middle East is the lead in some of the Sunday's.

The Independent reports that

A massive wave of Israeli air strikes, launched yesterday against Hamas in Gaza, has killed at least 227 people – the highest death toll in a single day in the territory since the end of the 1967 Six Day War.
Warplanes and combat helicopters launched their ferocious assault on the Islamic faction's security compounds and rocket launching pads in what Israel said was a response to about 470 Qassam missiles and mortars, launched from Hamas-controlled Gaza since a five-month ceasefire began to break down in November.

The Observer adds that

As world leaders called for an immediate end to the biggest air assault on Gaza since 1967, Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, refused to rule out a ground invasion in the next few days saying that the retaliation against rocket attacks by Hamas had only just begun. "It won't be easy and it won't be short," said Barak. "There is a time for calm and a time for fighting, and now the time has come to fight."

Bishops deliver damning verdict on Britain under Labour rule is the lead in the Telegraph

Five of the Church’s most senior figures said the Government now presided over a country suffering from family breakdown, an unhealthy reliance on debt and a growing divide between rich and poor.
The Bishop of Manchester accused Labour of being “beguiled by money” and “morally corrupt

Meanwhile the Mail reports that

The Queen has endorsed a crackdown on honours for bankers and leading City figures because of their role in causing the economic crisis.
As a mark of Royal displeasure, leading figures from the world of finance are understood to have been omitted from the New Year’s Honours List to be unveiled this week.
The disclosure that there will be ‘few, if any’ high-ranking awards for financiers has filtered through to the City, where it has deepened the dismay among a demoralised and shrinking workforce.

The News of the World reveals that

CHILDREN’S champion Sara Payne will pick up an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list after being personally recommended by Gordon Brown.
A Downing Street insider told the News of the World the Prime Minister has been a keen supporter of Sara during her battle to keep Britain’s kids safe from paedophiles.

The Times reports that

The Conservatives are poised to propose three new tax cuts to help recession-hit families, savers and pensioners in a bold attempt to shed their “do nothing” image.
A future Tory government would aim to reduce National Insurance, income tax on savings and the tax burden on the over-65s, George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, will say.
The move follows criticism that the Conservatives have failed to support ordinary people during the economic downturn, allowing Gordon Brown to seize the political initiative

Brown: we need Dunkirk spirit in 2009 says the Observer

Gordon Brown today calls on the British people to summon the same patriotic and optimistic spirit that guided them though second world war, as he warns that 2009 will be a year of grave "danger", uncertainty and "enormous economic challenge".
In a New Year message heavy with Churchillian echoes, the prime minister insists that he and his government will be the "rock of stability" upon which people can stand as the economy slides fast into the worst recession for a generation.

According to the Independent

Gordon Brown will today use his New Year message to broker a new "coalition for change" with Barack Obama on the economy, the environment and the war on terrorism.
In an attempt to make a decisive break from the Blair-Bush era of transatlantic diplomacy, the Prime Minister sets out the terms for the new special relationship with the president-elect ahead of his inauguration next month.

Near disaster yesterday as many of the papers report that Lottery chaos as computer fault leaves thousands without tickets

The National Lottery was in chaos last night after a computer glitch crashed terminals in stores across Britain – leaving hundreds of thousands of people unable to buy tickets.
Sales of tickets for the £4.2million jackpot on one of the biggest nights of the year were hit after terminals started displaying problems at around 11am.
Despite the problem the draw was due to go ahead as normal last night.

reports the Mail

Pay cuts and freezes loom for millions in private sector reports the Times

David Frost, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said: “First of all employers talked of pay freezes, but in the last two weeks directors have started talking to me about reducing pay next year.
“This is the third recession I’ve seen, and I’ve never seen employers cutting wages before. This shows how bad things have got – nothing is now off limits. If this keeps more people in work it’s surely the better of two evils.”

The Independent reports that UK's holiday waste smashes all records

Waste watchdogs warned yesterday that rubbish from the estimated 100 million toys unwrapped last week is likely to burn big holes in the ozone layer as well as in parents' pockets.
The Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) said toy manufacturers are not putting enough information about recycling on their packaging and, as a result, most of it will be sent needlessly to landfill. Over Christmas 2008 alone, this will lead to more than 400 extra tonnes of harmful C02. The news is a blow to the Government's 2007 Waste Strategy, which aims to see 40 per cent of all household waste recycled by 2010.

One in 10 shops will stand empty says the Telegraph

The prediction comes despite a Boxing Day sales bonanza driven by unprecedented discounts and a last-minute Christmas Eve surge in gift-buying.
Retail analysts Experian said the number of shoppers at the December 26 sales was up 12.5 per cent on last year, while John Lewis said the final four shopping days in the run-up to Christmas saw sales rise 2.5 per cent on last year.

Sales stampede too late for Woolies says the Observer

The shutters began coming down on 99 years of high-street history last night as Woolworths closed a quarter of its 800 stores. Unless a last-minute buyer is found, the remaining 600 will shut next week with the loss of 27,000 jobs, killing off one of the best known names in retailing. The chain called in administrators last month amid debts of £385m.

According to the Times,Bush’s $300m library in danger of becoming white elephant

Bush has bought a $3m (£2.05m) house in a Republican enclave 10 minutes away from his proposed library and hopes to play an active role in the policy institute that will be established there. With his approval ratings at a record low of 20%, according to a CBS poll, he is keenly interested in shaping the verdict of history

but says the paper

So far, fundraising has been “very modest”, according to Dan Bartlett, a former senior White House aide and spokesman for the library

Meanwhile more problems for the president as the Observer reports that

A $70m lawsuit filed by Dan Rather, the veteran former newsreader for CBS Evening News, against his old network is reopening the debate over alleged favourable treatment that Bush received when he served in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam war. Bush had hoped that this controversy had been dealt with once and for all during the 2004 election.

The Independent reports that Stalin vies for top spot in 'greatest Russian' TV contest

He massacred millions of his own people, enforced a system of terror that plagues Russia to this day and, to top it all, he was Georgian. But Joseph Stalin, the former Soviet leader, has a strong chance of winning the mantle of Russia's greatest historical figure.
More than two million votes have been cast in state-run Rossiya television's Name of Russia contest, modelled on the BBC's Great Britons, with the result to be announced today.

Earl of Wessex in gun dog 'cruelty' row reports the Telegraph

The Earl of Wessex has found himself at the centre of an animal cruelty row after being captured on film raising his stick to one of his dogs during a pheasant shoot.
Prince Edward, 44, reacted when he saw two black Labradors trying to grab hold of the same dead bird on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
He went up to the dogs with his shotgun tucked under his arm and his four-foot long stick raised in the air. He then brought down the stick – a shepherd's crook – in the direction of one of the dogs, but it is not known if he made contact.

Finally staying with dogs,according to the Times

One of Britain’s most eminent vets has warned that dogs suffer as many injuries chasing and catching sticks as they do on Britain’s roads.
Owners are being advised that to protect their pets from accidental stabbing or choking, they should never throw sticks. Instead they should use rubber throwing toys or a suitably sized ball.
Dan Brockman, professor of small animal surgery at the Royal Veterinary College, has catalogued dozens of serious injuries and infections, almost all the result of animals being stabbed as they rushed after a sharp stick.

2008-12-24T06:39:00.004Z

Varied headlines in the papers this morning.The Telegraph leads with the story that
Motorists face fines and points for minor accidents.

Thousands of drivers who would have escaped prosecution for collisions after simply swapping insurance details will now face likely prosecution as soon as the police become involved.
An array of trivial motoring offences in addition to minor crashes are also likely to lead to action under proposals to give police powers to issue fixed penalty notices for careless driving.

The Times reports that

Hundreds of children who suffered neglect or abuse at the hands of their parents have been given the green light to sue councils for damages that could total millions of pounds.
Between 200 and 300 cases where councils failed to take children promptly into care are being prepared after a landmark legal ruling, The Times has learnt. The delays in removing children stretch from weeks and months to years in some cases.

The Sun is in Afghanistan

THOUSANDS of miles from their loved ones, Royal Marines sing Christmas carols in Afghanistan – moments before Taliban forces staged a surprise attack.
The troops, from 40 Commando Royal Marines, were attempting to bring a touch of British normality to war-torn Helmand Province when their festive service was interrupted by enemy gunfire.
Hurling aside hymn sheets, they rushed to grab their weapons and – still in their Santa hats – loosed off round after round of mortar fire to see off the enemy.

Little Oliver is a real Christmas miracle is the lead in the Mail

Sitting by the tree with his mother and a pile of presents, two-year-old Oliver Taplin looks as happy as any boy in Britain.
But behind the Santa hat and the timid smile is the story of a toddler who has been fighting for his life since it began.
With him at every turn have been his parents, who were told by doctors to give him his last cuddle when he was just seven days old.

The Independent leads with the story that Millions stranded in trains fiasco,the paper reports that

The rail industry, the Government and regulators were engaged in a farcical blame game last night over who is responsible for Britain's annual 58-hour Christmas railway shut down, which begins tonight.
Train operating companies said yesterday that they would be ready to introduce services from next year but blamed the Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc) for not co-ordinating an agreement. Atoc, however, said it was prepared to take part in meetings with Network Rail and the Government to discuss a new Christmas timetable, but it blamed the Government for failing to co-ordinate talks. Meanwhile, the Government has laid the blame at the door of individual operators, which it says are the only ones who can act to introduce the services.

The recession is covered as the Times reports that

Retailers are introducing earlier and bigger discounts in the hope of unleashing a wall of pent-up Christmas spending among shoppers.
After nearly three months of poor trading, shopkeepers are offering record discounts in the hope of bringing forward the levels of spending they anticipate when the January sales begin in earnest on Friday.

The Telegraph says that

The Queen will stress the importance of the family during the economic downturn in her Christmas Message which will include rare film footage of Prince Charles as a baby.

Whilst the Indpendent reports that

Alistair Darling may be forced to revise his forecast that the economy will start to grow again from next summer amid fears that his prediction is already proving too optimistic.

A French hedge fund manager whose company lost as much as $1.4bn of clients' money in Bernard Madoff's corrupt investment firm was found dead in his Manhattan office yesterday after apparently killing himself.
The body of Thierry de la Villehuchet, 65, co-founder of Access International Advisers, was found at his company's headquarters on New York's Madison Avenue. Police said a knife and pills were lying nearby.

reports the Guardian

According to the Express

MILLIONS of families were given a dose of Christmas cheer last night after experts predicted that energy bills would be slashed by 30 per cent next year.
Combined gas and electricity charges could tumble by as much as £400 for the average household in 2009, finally bringing some relief to struggling home owners and pensioners.

The Guardian leads with the news that

Animal rights activists are continuing a campaign of threats and intimidation against scores of companies linked to the controversial animal research laboratory Huntingdon Life Sciences, despite a £3.5m police undercover sting which will put key extremists behind bars.
Four leading activists were convicted yesterday for a six-year campaign of blackmail against firms linked to HLS. Three others pleaded guilty before the trial.

The Mirror reports that

A postman had his arm nearly ripped off in a frenzied attack by two Rottweiler guard dogs as he delivered Christmas cards.
Keith Davies, 54, was savaged outside a £1.3million mansion in an exclusive area of Cambridge.
He was only saved when brave builder Anthony Lunn, 44, fought the dogs off with an iron bar – before they then turned on him.

Reading to children daily 'improves achievement and behaviour at school'says the Telegraph

The Institute of Education's study found a correlation between mothers who believe it is important to teach their toddler the alphabet, to count, and read to them regularly and the child's achievement at the age of five.
The Government-commissioned study looked at the foundation stage profile, a teacher's assessment of a child's achievement after one year at school, and assessed the cognitive abilities of just over 8,000 five-year-olds

Many of the papers report that

Pope angers campaigners with speech seen as attack on homosexuality

Speaking to the Curia, the Vatican's central administration, the pope said that the church viewed the distinction as central to human nature, and "asks that this order, set down by creation, be respected". The church, he said, "should protect man from the destruction of himself". He said a sort of ecology of man was needed, adding: "The tropical forests do deserve our protection; but man, as a creature, does not deserve any less." He attacked what he described as "gender" theories which "lead towards the self-emancipation of man from creation and the creator".

reports the Guardian

The Times adds that

Roman Catholic leaders in England, traditionally a liberal province, sought to distance themselves from the Pope’s remarks, claiming that he had been misrepresented because he never used the word “homosexual”.

Finally the Mail reports on the The liposuction fatmobile

Many report that Guinea in crisis after military coup

The West African nation of Guinea has sunk into political crisis after the army staged a coup on Tuesday following the death of the president

says the Telegraph adding that

Under Lansana Conte, the late dictator who seized power in 1984, Guinea became a crucial link in the global drugs trade. Every year, large quantities of South American cocaine are smuggled through Guinea to Western Europe, often with the connivance of the army and at least one senior member of the dead president's family.

The Independent says that

The President, who was famously so paranoid that he would not confirm his own age, had held power since leading a coup in 1984 and was believed to have been in his seventies

.

Finally the Mail reports that

If you're keen to establish your green credentials you can install solar panels or stick a wind turbine on your roof.
Or you could become a patient of Dr Alan Bittner.
The leading Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon claims to be saving the planet by using fat removed from clients in liposuction operations to power his 4x4 car.

2008-12-23T08:01:00.002Z

The Mail leads this morning with the story that

Police are failing to investigate almost four in every ten crimes, it was revealed last night.
The offences include sex attacks, violent robberies, harassment, burglary and drug incidents.
Instead of being pursued, the cases are simply filed away by officers who do not consider they can be solved.

the paper adds that

Victims' groups have condemned this practice of 'screening out' offences - but it is alarmingly widespread. The Met, the country's largest force, decided that 51 per cent of crimes were not worth full investigations as there was little chance of catching the culprit.

There is a police theme to many of the stories

The Times stays on the topic of the police,it says that

The appointment of Britain’s top policeman has been rushed forward to next month amid heightened concerns about a leadership crisis at Scotland Yard, The Times has learnt.
The choice of the new Metropolitan Police commissioner, which was not expected until March, is being fast-tracked after the antiTory outburst by the force’s antiterror chief, Bob Quick.

The Guardian says that

Britain's most senior counterterrorism police officer was under pressure last night to stand down from the investigation into the Conservative frontbencher Damian Green after he accused the Conservative party of a "corrupt" attempt to derail his inquiry.
As senior figures in the Metropolitan police said that Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick's outburst had left the force "shellshocked", the shadow home secretary, Dominic Grieve, called on Quick to reflect on whether he could credibly continue to head the Green investigation.

Whilst the same paper reports that

Police officers were called to deal with violence in schools more than 7,000 times in the last year, according to figures revealed by the Conservatives today.
The Tories asked each police force in England how many times they were called on to school premises for an attempted or actual violent crime.

There are a variety of headlines this morning

Voters revolt over taxes says the Independent

Voters are turning their back, for the first time in more than a decade, on Labour's promise to spend more on public services because of the prolonged economic downturn, a poll for The Independent suggests today.
Those polled reject the higher taxes planned by Labour and support the lower spending promised by the Conservatives, the ComRes poll finds.

Government buildings emit more CO2 than all of Kenya is the lead in the Guardian

Unpublished findings of an energy efficiency audit of 18,000 buildings including ministerial offices, police stations, museums and art galleries reveal that the 9,000 buildings audited so far produce 5.6m tonnes of CO2, with one in six receiving the lowest possible energy efficiency rating.

The Telegraph concentrates on the economy

Shops will embark on their biggest ever pre-Christmas sales in a desperate bid to raise cash in the last 48 hours before December 25.Retail experts have predicted that the discounts, which have already reached an unprecedented level this year, will hit a new peak as stores attempt to win over last minute shoppers.
Zavvi, the troubled music and books retailer, started its clearance sale on Monday, while Tesco announced another wave of discounts, cutting 70 per cent off some of its clothes.

and on the same theme,the Express leads with the news that

DEFIANT families are determined to turn their backs on their worries to beat the economic crisis.
They are still managing to splash out hard-earned money to go on a feel-good break away from it all.
Clever holidaymakers are increasingly making the great escape to more exotic locations because of the pound’s weak value against the euro. Figures released yesterday showed that bookings for traditional European hot spots such as Spain and Greece are dropping off rapidly.

An Xmas theme in the Mail which is not happy about the television over the festive season

If you expect festive cheer from your favourite soap this week, you'll be disappointed.
For TV writers have been doing their best to give us the bleakest Christmas on record.
A corpse in a lake, the attempted strangling of a pensioner, a baby abduction and the return of a notorious killer and drug addict, will feature in some of the most popular shows.

and the Independent reports that this could be Last rites for Christmas TV?

It's the biggest day of the year for television schedulers, but Thursday could be the last Christmas Day on which everyone in Britain watches the same programmes at the same time. As the boundaries increasingly blur between technology, telecommunication and media companies, and mobile phones and laptops can be used to watch videos, the television industry is preparing for unparalleled change.

We'll be parents again says the Sun

THE parents of tragic youngsters Arron and Ben Peak yesterday vowed to rebuild their shattered family — by adopting a child.
Phil and Amanda Peak lost Arron, ten, and Ben, eight, when drink-drive goalkeeper Luke McCormick rammed the family car off the M6. This is their first Christmas without the boys.
Amanda, who cannot have any more kids of her own following a hysterectomy, said: “Obviously nothing would replace the boys – they were my boys.

The Times reports that Britain gets ready for an Iraqi pullout

British commanders have been forced to plan for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq after the country’s parliament failed to vote on a resolution that would allow British troops to stay beyond the end of the year.
The Speaker of the Iraqi parliament suspended moves to approve the resolution after a group of MPs called for his resignation. The resolution failed to pass for a second time on Sunday and its passage after a third reading is now in doubt.

Meanwhile the Independent reports on a forgotten kidnapping

They have been held hostage in Iraq for nearly 19 months, largely forgotten in Britain because of an official government policy to discourage publicity.
But yesterday relatives and friends of five British men, who were kidnapped from the Iraqi finance ministry in Baghdad in May 2007, broke ranks with the Foreign Office in a bid to push the plight of their loved ones to “the top of the political agenda”.

Pope: Saving world from homosexuality like saving rainforests reports the Telegraph

In comments at the Vatican that are likely to provoke a furious reaction from homosexual groups, Benedict also warned that blurring the distinction between male and female could lead to the "self-destruction" of the human race.
In his address to the Curia, the Vatican's central administration, he described behaviour beyond traditional heterosexual relations as "a destruction of God's work" and said that the Roman Catholic Church had a duty to "protect man from the destruction of himself".

According to the Guardian

More than a quarter of science teachers in state schools believe that creationism should be taught alongside evolution in science lessons, according to a national poll of primary and secondary teachers.
The Ipsos/Mori poll of 923 primary and secondary teachers found that 29% of science specialists agreed with the statement: "Alongside the theory of evolution and the Big Bang theory, creationism should be TAUGHT in science lessons

The Mail reports on the

Sex film fears of Miss Asia model who 'leapt 150ft to death from married lover's luxury apartment'

A model is feared to have leapt to her death from her boyfriend's luxury apartment after discovering he was married.
Sahar Daftary, 23, suffered fatal injuries after falling from the 12th-floor balcony following an acrimonious break-up with her lover, a property developer.
Moments earlier he had made a desperate 999 call to say he needed help, but by the time police reached the waterfront building she had plunged 150ft.

Finally the Times reports that

A man who completely lost his sight after brain damage has astonished scientists by negotiating an obstacle course without his cane, in a powerful demonstration of an eerie phenomenon known as “blindsight”.
The man, known only as TN, was blinded by strokes on both sides of his brain which left him unable to see and devoid of any activity in the brain regions that control vision. He uses a stick to detect obstacles, and has to be guided around buildings. However, TN was known to exhibit blindsight, a strange ability some blind people have to detect things that they cannot see.

2008-12-22T07:55:00.003Z

The recession dominates the headlines this morning

The Independent leads with the headline,Britain's job 'bloodbath'

Britain faces an unemployment "bloodbath" in the new year with many tens of thousands of jobs axed in the public and private sectors, according to a cabinet minister. Senior government figures are braced for a dramatic lengthening in dole queues in the first quarter of 2009, as employers delay announcing redundancies until after Christmas.
Thousands of civil servants and town hall workers will share the pain as government efficiency savings bite, while struggling retailers and manufacturing industry are heading for heavy redundancies.

The Telegraph leads with

Archbishop of Canterbury warns recession Britain must learn lessons from Nazi Germany

Dr Rowan Williams risks causing a new controversy by inviting a comparison between Gordon Brown's response to the economic downturn and the Third Reich.
In an article for The Daily Telegraph, he claims Germany in the 1930s pursued a "principle" that worked consistently but only on the basis that "quite a lot of people that you might have thought mattered as human beings actually didn't".

According to the Times,

Gordon Brown puts millions on table to save car maker Jaguar Land Rover

Brown had decided to intervene to prevent the collapse of the carmaker and was preparing to announce a short-term bailout package today or tomorrow. But a combination of tough rhetoric in public and private reassurance appears to have helped the Tata Group to secure enough cash to postpone the bailout until after Christmas.

The Guardian though says that

A major government rescue package for Jaguar Land Rover is expected to be placed on hold amid signs that the company's Indian owners are prepared to make an emergency cash injection.
As Canada became the second G8 economy to bail out its motor industry, British government sources indicated that Tata is prepared to stave off an immediate crisis.

It leads with the news that

Funding gap puts maternity reform at risk

The government's plans for an overhaul of maternity services are in disarray because hospitals have not received tens of millions of pounds of extra funding for urgently needed improvements, the country's top midwife warns today.
Widespread failure to pass on the money means the NHS will not be able to honour ministerial pledges to give women in England world-class, personalised care – such as a dedicated midwife during pregnancy and labour, and the choice of having their baby at home instead of in hospital – by the deadline in a year's time, according to Professor Cathy Warwick

The Times reports that

Britain’s top antiterror police chief was at the centre of an extraordinary row last night after accusing the “Tory machinery” of seeking to undermine the Damian Green investigation.
Bob Quick, the Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner in charge of specialist operations and counter-terrorism, claimed that the Conservatives and their supporters were “mobilised” against the investigation “in a wholly corrupt way”.
Although Mr Quick later retracted the claim of corruption, the outburst led senior Conservatives to question the judgment of the man in charge of the Green inquiry.

Tories demand full retraction from Met anti-terrorism chief says the Telegraph

The Conservatives have demanded that Britain's anti-terrorrism police chief withdraw an accusation that they are seeking to undermine his investigation into Whitehall leaks.

According to the Telegraph

Britain's generous welfare system triggered baby boom

The changes in 1999 meant the worst-off families could claim £56.76 a week instead of £39, making it "economically much more attractive to have children".
An academic study claims that an extra 45,000 babies were born to mothers who left school at 16 in the year after the "unprecedented" increase in the value of child benefits introduced by Labour

The Mail stays with that theme as it reports that

A mother of four receives more than £90,000 a year from the taxpayer to live in a £2million townhouse in one of the country's most fashionable areas.
Francesca Walker is given £1,755 a week in benefits to pay the rent on the five-bedroom villa, which is a few hundred yards from David Cameron's home.
Kensington and Chelsea Council says under Labour's benefits rules it has no choice but to offer Miss Walker the home in Notting Hill, West London.

It leads with a breakthrough in medicine

Every GP is to be trained to diagnose dementia under an ambitious five-year plan that will revolutionise treatment for Alzheimer's sufferers.
Memory clinics will be set up in all major towns to give patients and their families support, up-to-date care and help on a scale never seen before.

According to the Express

THE worst flu outbreak in nearly 10 years is set to overwhelm hospitals over Christmas.
The epidemic will affect casualty departments already struggling with huge numbers of patients suffering from the norovirus vomiting bug.
And as GPs’ surgeries shut over Christmas, hospitals will break under the strain of yet more patients demanding treatment, doctors fear.

The Independent reports from Lockerbie: a town finally at peace with its tragedy

In the hauntingly beautiful hamlet of Tundergarth, four miles east of the town of Lockerbie, there is a picturesque little cottage which houses a memorial book dedicated to those who died in Britain's worst air disaster.
Yesterday, one message stood out for its heartbreaking solemnity. It was dedicated to a brother and his wife, just two of those who died when Pan Am Flight 103 hurtled into the Dumfriesshire town 20 years ago yesterday, killing 11 people on the ground and all 259 people aboard.

Companies blacklisted in US for allegedly backing Mugabe operate freely in UK reports the Times

Businessmen who have been accused by the US Treasury of financially supporting the Mugabe regime are operating freely in Britain, in spite of Gordon Brown's declaration that “enough is enough” in Zimbabwe.
Of 21 companies put on a US blacklist by President Bush last month, 14 are based in Britain, two in the Isle of Man, one in Jersey and one in the British Virgin Islands. The other three are based in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Florida and Zimbabwe itself.

Mugabe unleashes wave of terror with mass abductions says the Independent

Fears are mounting in Zimbabwe for the lives of more than 40 opposition officials and human rights activists who have been abducted as part of a renewed crackdown by the regime in Harare. At least two more members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change have disappeared in the past week, along with a freelance investigative reporter.

'Merchant of death' denies arms dealing reports the Guardian

The man dubbed the "Merchant of Death" for his alleged arms smuggling activities took the stand today for the first time to fight extradition to the United States and deny charges that he conspired to arm Colombian rebels.
Dressed in an orange prison uniform, Viktor Bout was shackled at the ankles but looked relaxed and spoke in mostly measured tones during his testimony at Bangkok's criminal court

The Sun reports that

X FACTOR winner Alexandra Burke landed the Christmas No1 yesterday — and shattered sales records.
Her cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah is the fastest-selling single by a female in UK chart history.
It outsold the rest of the Top 20 combined, shifting 576,000 copies.
And in another chart first, two versions of the same track occupied the number one and two positions — with Jeff Buckley’s 1994 interpretation of Hallelujah just behind Alexandra’s.

Finally the Guardian reports that Stampede for 'Bush shoe' creates 100 new jobs

Their deployment as a makeshift missile robbed President George Bush of his dignity and landed their owner in jail. But the world's most notorious pair of shoes have yielded an unexpected bonanza for a Turkish shoemaker.
Ramazan Baydan, owner of the Istanbul-based Baydan Shoe Company, has been swamped with orders from across the world, after insisting that his company produced the black leather shoes which the Iraqi journalist Muntazar al-Zaidi threw at Bush during a press conference in Baghdad last Sunday.

2008-12-21T05:56:00.002Z

According to the Telegraph this morning,Labour MPs back separation of state and Church of England

A growing chorus of voices is calling for the centuries-old link between Church and state to be broken after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, ignited the issue last week by saying that it was “by no means the end of the world if the Establishment disappears”.
Three former ministers openly backed the idea of a separation, with one claiming that the majority of backbenchers would vote to end the special position the Church has enjoyed since the Reformation.

On this last Sunday before Xmas,the Observer says that

In one of the most holy weeks in the Christian calendar, a report says that in just over a generation the number of people attending Church of England Sunday services will fall to less than a tenth of what they are now.
Christian Research, the statistical arm of the Bible Society, claimed that by 2050 Sunday attendance will fall below 88,000, compared with just under a million now

There are varied headlines in the papers though,The Times reports that

Detectives are investigating one of Britain’s biggest buy-to-let schemes in which large numbers of investors have seen their savings wiped out.
They fear thousands of people who sought to cash in on the buy-to-let dream during the boom years of 2004 to 2007 may turn out to have been victims of organised fraud

Both the Independent and the Observer report on Barack Obama,Obama cranks up the green revolution says the former

The move, which signals perhaps his sharpest break with the outgoing administration, makes it clear that he was going to put climate change and the environment among the most urgent priorities of his presidency.
And as if to emphasise the difference, President Bush is using his last weeks of power to push through a record number of last-minute rule changes to increase mining and oil drilling on public lands, and even to allow people to carry concealed, loaded guns into national parks.

Barack Obama ushered in a revolution in America's response to global warming yesterday when he appointed one of the world's leading climate change experts as his administration's chief scientist.
The president-elect's decision to make Harvard physicist John Holdren director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy reveals a new determination to draw a line under eight years of US policy that have seen George Bush steadfastly reject overwhelming evidence of climate change.

says the Observer

The Mail leads with Perk that lets Lords couples claim living allowance twice even if they share a home

A new row over politicians' perks erupted last night after it was revealed that peers who have formed relationships in the House of Lords are receiving tax-free 'double bubble' payouts of up to £117,000 a year.
They are getting double allowances of £330 per night - twice the £165 intended to subsidise an individual's living costs - even though they may share homes together.

The Times reports that

A mother with four children has been placed by her council in a £2m townhouse at a cost to the taxpayer of more than £91,000 a year.
The stucco-fronted three-storey property is in Kensington, west London, the country’s richest borough. It costs £1,755 a week to rent - a bill met by housing benefit - and has a front and back garden, five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a double reception room and roof terrace. The street is lined with sports cars.

Former Army chief General Sir Mike Jackson attacks US failures in Iraq says the Telegraph

Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, General Sir Mike Jackson, the former chief of the general staff, said that the violence in post-war Iraq was "much exacerbated by the security vacuum created by Washington's appalling decisions" to disband the Iraqi security forces.
Gen Sir Mike, who was head of the British Army at the time of the war, added that the US policy to "de-Baathify" Iraq doubled the time taken to reach the point where the coalition could consider a withdrawal from the country.

According to the Observer,Labour MPs plan Heathrow revolt

MPs opposed to construction of a third runway at Heathrow are planning a massive cross-party revolt in the new year in a final effort to halt the project, the Observer can reveal.
Plans are being formed to force a vote in parliament - against Prime Minister Gordon Brown's wishes - in which dozens of Labour rebels would join the Tories and Liberal Democrats to oppose the plan. A defeat for Brown in the Commons would not in itself kill off the proposals as they can be approved by the prime minister and his ministers without legislation. However, such a large "no" vote would send the clearest message that the expansion was being pushed through, despite huge public opposition and concern about potential damage to the environment.

The Times claims that

One of Gordon Brown’s closest political allies has publicly called for a general election to be held next year, sparking fresh speculation that the prime minister will exploit his bounce in the polls to call a snap ballot.
June 2009 would be an “ideal opportunity” to hold an election, according to Charlie Whelan, who was Brown’s press secretary when he was chancellor and is now political officer to Unite, Britain’s biggest trade union.

The Independent reports that

Unemployment is rising faster in Labour's most vulnerable seats and in the constituencies of nearly the entire Cabinet, new figures reveal today.
Scores of Labour marginals have suffered the fastest-rising unemployment levels over the past 12 months, fuelling fears in the party that the recession will cost Gordon Brown the next election.
Some 18 out of 23 cabinet ministers, including the Prime Minister, have also seen above-average increases in unemployment in their constituencies, compared with the rest of the country.

The News of the World has an exclsuive with the parents of Rhys Jones

THE heartbroken mother of murdered 11-year-old Rhys Jones today reveals the searing hatred she feels for the teenage lout who gunned down her little boy.
Speaking for the first time since 18-year-old Sean Mercer was sentenced to a minimum of 22 years in jail for the killing, tortured mum Melanie Jones says she prays he will NEVER be released.

The Express has an exclusive as well

SNEERING bankers have released a record mocking the economic misery facing millions of Britons.
The single, Credit Crunch Christmas, features the chorus: “Sorry we ****** up your Christmas, but really we don’t give a s***.”

Staying with the economy and the Telegraph says that

The high street sales war intensified on Saturday as experts warned that hundreds of retailers were now on the "critical list" and at risk of going bankrupt.

The News of the World reports that

shoppers can feast on a load of bargains on CHRISTMAS DAY as desperate stores launch their sales online.
Stores like Asda, Currys, PC World and Dixons are are all slashing prices as we tuck into turkey—24 hours ahead of the usual start of the sales on Boxing Day.
But John Lewis will be an even earlier bird, launching its online bargains on CHRISTMAS EVE, two days before the beginning of its sales in store.

Leading HSBC banker and father of two hangs himself says the Mail

A hotel worker found Danish-born Christen Schnor, 49, hanging by a belt, naked, in the wardrobe of his £500-a-night suite at the Jumeriah Carlton Tower Hotel in Knightsbridge, West London, on Wednesday.
Next to him was a suicide note written in Danish.

Meanwhile the Observer reports that

A combination of 'le credit crunch' and sterling's slide is causing nightmares for British families trying to live the French dream

Maddie returns to the papers

ENCHANTING pictures of Madeleine McCann enjoying a family Christmas are released today in a new attempt to solve the baffling mystery of her disappearance.
In the touching scenes a joyful and smiling Madeleine can be heard talking for the first time.
Home videos of Madeleine playing blissfully with her toddler twin brother and sister, Sean and Amelie, shot around the Christmas of 2006, show her in a relaxed mood at the family home in Rothley, Leics.

reports the Express

Finally many of the papers report that,Beer goggles last longer for women

Researchers found that women who drink even moderately develop a reduced ability to rate attractiveness in male faces, even when they are sober.
Those who drank were less able to detect male facial symmetry, a marker of attractiveness and good genes which is thought to play an important role in the choice of a partner.

reports the Telegraph

2008-12-20T04:17:00.003Z

The Times leads with the news that

Charities cut services as donations start to dry up

One in three organisations expects to lay off staff within months, with smaller charities fearing for their survival. Money held by the sector has fallen by 13 per cent over the past year.
The Wellcome Trust, Britain’s biggest charity, which supports medical research, invests heavily in property and hedge funds and has seen the value of its investments fall from £15 billion to £13 billion.

The Guardian reports that 500,000 firms to close for great festive shutdown

The Christmas break will also be the longest for 16 years for thousands of workers sent home by cash-strapped employers, with some staff not returning to work until 19 January. Car workers will be among those facing a month's enforced holiday, with Ford, Aston Martin and Vauxhall sending staff home early after closing down plants temporarily. The Federation of Small Businesses estimates that about 500,000 firms will close from Monday until 5 January: the longest hiatus since 1992.

The Mirror leads with that story,its headline the 16 days off Christmas

and recession is also on the front page of the Mail which reports that

A record number of stores will be trading around the clock next week in a desperate bid for Christmas sales.
Hundreds more will stay open until midnight.
Retailers are also bringing forward January sales - with savings of up to 75 per cent - amid fears that the High Street faces its worst Christmas for decades

The Independent reports that

Jaguar Land Rover could receive emergency state aid within days to protect tens of thousands of jobs at the luxury car-maker.
Ministers will continue talks with the company at the weekend in an attempt to reach agreement by Christmas, but have said that they will not be "bounced" into any decision, stressing the responsibility for the firm's future lies with its Indian owner, Tata.

The Times takes a different view

Gordon Brown ignored renewed calls from business leaders to save the car industry yesterday, just as America’s ailing automotive giants were offered a $17.4 billion (£11.6 billion) bailout.
The Prime Minister insisted that the responsibility to help carmakers lay with their owners, but Richard Lambert, the director-general of the CBI, said that the Government needed to provide emergency financial support.

Bush pledges $17.4bn to prevent collapse of US car industry says the Guardian

Throwing aside his usual free market orthodoxy, President Bush used taxpayers' money to provide a three-month financial reprieve for General Motors and Chrysler in return for swingeing wage cuts among factory workers which provoked immediate anguish among unions.

The Independent leads with the story that

Britain no longer has any stake in the production of its nuclear warheads after the Government secretly sold off its shares in the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston.
Ministers agreed to sell the remaining one-third ownership to a Californian engineering company. The announcement, which means that Americans will now produce and maintain Britain's independent nuclear deterrent, was slipped out on the eve of the parliamentary Christmas holiday. Officials refused to say how much the deal raised

Taleban ‘threaten British values like the Nazis’ reports the Times

John Hutton, the Defence Secretary, has compared the Taleban and al-Qaeda to the Nazis, saying that British forces in Afghanistan are defending the country’s values as they did in the Second World War.
In an interview in The Times today, Mr Hutton says that, like the war to defeat Hitler, the military campaign in Afghanistan is “a vital national security mission” and not just a matter of foreign affairs.

Mugabe defiant as Brown steps up pressure on African leaders to move against him reports the Guardian

Robert Mugabe told his ruling Zanu-PF party yesterday that his country was facing a war with Britain but he would never surrender, and "Zimbabwe is mine".
The Zimbabwe president's defiant comments came amid escalating pressure from London on Zimbabwe's neighbours to press Mugabe from office. Gordon Brown urged southern African leaders yesterday to distance themselves from Mugabe and described the situation in Zimbabwe as a tragedy.

The Independent says that 'Greek Syndrome' is catching

Europe exists, it appears. If Greek students sneeze, or catch a whiff of tear-gas, young people take to the streets in France and now Sweden. Yesterday, masked youths threw two firebombs at the French Institute in Athens. Windows were smashed but the building was not seriously damaged. Then youths spray-painted two slogans on the building. One said, "Spark in Athens. Fire in Paris. Insurrection is coming". The other read, "France, Greece, uprising everywhere".

The Sun claims that

A TOP Premier League footballer is the target of a sex tape blackmail plot, The Sun can reveal.
Our reporters have seen footage of the married international being pleasured by a mystery blonde.
A team of gangsters posing as businessmen are demanding £100,000 in cash for the clip.
And while the blackmailers were trying to broker a deal with The Sun they were also threatening the player in a bid to force cash from him.

Gangs are getting younger and more violent, reports the Guardian

The country's leading police officer on gang culture warns today that gang members are getting younger and that they are resorting to lethal violence much more swiftly for the most trivial slights.
In an interview with the Guardian, Commander Sue Akers of the Metropolitan police identified other trends, including the emergence of a small number of girl gangs, and how women are being used to carry and conceal weapons.

More Xmas news from the Mail which reports that

People are queuing out of the door at post offices across the country following the closure of thousands of branches.
Efforts to get gifts and cards into the Christmas post are being hampered by the long delays in reaching the remaining counters.
Outbreaks of flu among staff are also hitting services

The Express leads with MIRACLE BABY DESIGNED TO BEAT CANCER

A WOMAN will give birth to a designer baby in Britain next week – the first to be genetically created free of the breast cancer gene.
The unnamed woman and her husband wanted to eliminate the cancer gene after three generations of women in his family were diagnosed with the disease in their 20s.
The husband’s grandmother, mother, sister and cousin were all afflicted by breast cancer and any daughter the couple have would be at an 80 per cent risk of suffering from the disease.

Who is going to be the new Dr Who asks the Independent

This week, after an industry screening of the festive special, to be broadcast on Christmas day, the 34-year-old actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, known for performances in Kinky Boots, Love Actually and Children of Men, joined a slew of others vying become the next Doctor Who. The current Doctor, David Tennant, is set to depart from his role in the BBC1 sci-fi series late next year. According to William Hill, Ejiofor is currently second favourite behind Paterson Joseph. If either takes the part, it will be the first time a black actor has done so.

More TV speculation in the Sun which reports that

STRICTLY Come Dancing stars Rachel Stevens and Lisa Snowdon take on actor Tom Chambers in tonight’s telly final — vowing: “It’s every girl for herself.”
The talented trio go head-to-head in the BBC1 ballroom hit’s closest-ever climax.
But with backstage anger lingering over last week’s voting fiasco, Rachel and Lisa are said to be determined to defeat Holby City hunk Tom, the bookies’ favourite

2008-12-17T04:45:00.004Z

The teenage killer of Rhys Jones was jailed for a minimum of 22 years yesterday by a judge who expressed his disgust at the murderer’s “brutality” and “cowardice”.
Sean Mercer was only 16 when, hooded and on a mountain bike, he fired three shots across a crowded pub car park in an area of north Liverpool where gang turf wars are common. Rhys, who walked into the path of the second bullet while returning home from football practice, died in his mother’s arms.
Mercer, now 18, showed no remorse, merely pursing his lips in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court at the end of a ten-week trial.

reports the Times this morning

The Telegraph says that

The father of the 11-year-old schoolboy, murdered when he got caught in the cross-fire of a warring gang, said: "Finally justice has been done for Rhys." Mr Jones, accompanied by his wife Melanie, read a statement outside court expressing thanks for all the messages of support they have received.
He said: "From the day Rhys died, the kindness shown to us by the people of Liverpool has been immeasurable. For this, we will always thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

The Independent describes it as A life claimed by nihilistic violence and malign neglect

Like the murder of Baby P and the kidnap of Shannon Matthews, the killing of Rhys Jones has shone an unforgiving spotlight on parts of modern Britain. And what it reveals is not pretty.
The shooting of 11-year-old Rhys, as he cycled home from football practice near his home in Liverpool, in 2007, seemed to come out of a clear blue sky. Like the killing of the toddler, James Bulger, in the same part of the country in 1993, the death provoked national shock, as Rhys was named the youngest victim of gang violence in Britain. But the truth was that, unlike the Bulger killing, such a tragedy was long on the cards.

Meanwhile the Sun claims that

THE mum of Rhys Jones’s murderer worked as a £50-a-time hooker during his trial, The Sun can reveal.
Janette Mercer, 49, offered services as “Danielle” while evidence piled up against son Sean, 18.

Another trial came to an end yesterday,the Guardian reports that

An NHS doctor who was convicted yesterday of plotting massive car-bomb attacks in London and Glasgow had been on an MI5 watchlist before he launched the campaign, the Guardian has learned.
Bilal Abdulla, 29, who is due to be sentenced today for a series of plots including a failed attack on Glasgow airport last June, may have been on the list for 13 months.

The Mail reports that

After Bilal Abdulla was found guilty, Scotland Yard's anti-terror chief warned that a new breed of Islamic extremist is targeting Britain while working here in respectable professional jobs.

Glasgow bomber Bilal Abdulla was in Iraq terrorist cell says the Times

Bilal Abdulla came to Britain to open a “new front” in the Islamist jihad after he had been refused permission to carry out a suicide attack in Baghdad.
The car bombs he tried to detonate outside the Tiger, Tiger nightclub and at Glasgow airport were the first terrorist attacks in Britain to have been inspired – but not directed — by al-Qaeda in Iraq. Previous Islamist plots have had connections to al-Qaeda and Kashmiri extremists in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Guardian has the latest opinion poll,Tories' poll lead cut to five points as voters turn back to Labour

Today's poll is in line with other recent surveys, making it clear that the opposition has crashed back to reality after a triumphant summer, and David Cameron is not seen as the man to revive the economy. The results will inevitably fuel talk of an early election next February or in the spring, although Labour is still well short of the sort of support needed to retain its majority.

The Independent reports that

David Cameron will join rebel Labour MPs in opposing plans which would force single mothers to prepare for work when their youngest child reaches the age of one.
The Conservative leader yesterday denounced the Government's proposal as "shameful" and accused ministers of playing "macho" politics with vulnerable lone parents.

The papers carry the news that American interest rates have been slashed

America’s central bank has taken drastic steps to resuscitate the US economy out of its year-long recession, placing interest rates as low as zero - their lowest level in history - as it announced widespread plans to inject liquidity into the ailing financial markets.

says the Telegraph

The Guardian reports that

Unemployment is likely to rise above 3 million in the current recession, the Bank of England's labour market expert, David Blanchflower, warns today.
His comments come the morning after the US Federal Reserve slashed interest rates to 0.25%, their lowest ever, in a bid to lift the world's largest economy out of deepening recession

The Mail reports that As jobless toll soars, investment bank's bonuses for staff are cut to a MERE £4.3bn

Despite the financial crisis and the spectre of soaring unemployment, staff at the bank will get an average of £142,600 each.
The international group, which is estimated to have 5,400 employees in London, is already nicknamed ' Goldmine Sacks' for the large extra payouts it awards to its star performers.

The Independent reports that

The Premier League will "recession proof" its most important income stream – television money – by launching its own TV channel from the summer of 2010 if the value of bids for live rights plummets when the auction for 2010-13 opens in the next few weeks.

The Guardian is followibg the last days of Dick Cheney

The outgoing US vice-president, Dick Cheney, last night gave an unapologetic assessment of his eight years in office, defending the invasion of Iraq, the US prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, secret wiretapping and the extreme interrogation method known as waterboarding.

reports the paper

'Assassination attempt' on Mugabe henchman reports the Independent

President Robert Mugabe is planning to declare a state of emergency in Zimbabwe, the opposition said yesterday, after what the government claims was an assassination attempt on the head of the air force.
Perence Shiri, one of Mr Mugabe's inner circle, was shot in the arm on Saturday, claim state media reports that surfaced yesterday

Saved is the lead story in the Express

THE British pint, mile and ounce were saved yesterday as Brussels finally quit trying to kill them off.
Shops and pubs can now keep to imperial measures after Eurocrats were forced to accept that the British would never “go the extra kilometre” or “pop out for a quick litre”.

Many of the papers carry the story that

A PENSIONER was executed and decapitated on his doorstep — then his severed head was dumped in a wheelie bin.
Churchgoing Paddy McGee, 63, was yards from safety when the maniac lunged at him with a kitchen knife.

reports the Sun

Finally the Mail reports that

Scientists say they have discovered why London's wobbly bridge was so wobbly.
They believe the phenomenon - which forced the Millennium Bridge to close three days after it opened in 2000 - was not the result of pedestrians marching in step, as previously thought.
Instead, it was caused by users adjusting their balance subtly from left to right as the bridge was gently rocked by the wind and movement of people.

2008-12-14T07:19:00.002Z

As Gordon Brown pays a visit to Afghanistan,the papers continue to report on the deaths of four British marines.

Courage of Afghan bomb Marines says the Telegraph

Three of the Marines died when a 13-year-old suicide bomber pushing a wheelbarrow blew himself up in the Sangin area of Helmand province. A fourth was killed after his vehicle was blown up by a suspected improvised explosive device. During a visit to Afghanistan yesterday, Gordon Brown paid tribute to the Marines and condemned the suicide attack as a cowardly act. The Prime Minister warned that a “chain of terror” stretched from Afghanistan to Britain.

Brown horror says the Observer

The Prime Minister arrived for what was planned as a morale-boosting Christmas visit - highlighting the deployment of hundreds of fresh troops in Helmand province - to find the British base in mourning after one of its blackest days.

The Express reports that

TWELVE more children are being groomed to carry out suicide attacks against British forces in an escalation of the Taliban’s new dirty war.
As Gordon Brown, in Afghanistan yesterday, praised the bravery of three Royal Marines killed by a 13-year-old
suicide bomber, we disclose that the attack is just the start of a concerted campaign to drive out British troops.

The Times meanwhile reports on the next destination

Tensions rise between Pakistan and India as Gordon Brown visits

Tensions between India and Pakistan were running high on Sunday morning as Delhi denied Islamabad's accusation that Indian planes had "inadvertently" violated Pakistani airspace yesterday.
The new dispute between the nuclear-armed neighbours came as Gordon Brown held talks with Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minsiter, in Delhi before flying to Islamabad to meet Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan's President, later this morning.

Both the Independent and the Mail have the same lead

The head of the Government's exams watchdog dramatically quit his £180,000-a-year job last night – days before an official inquiry is due to deliver a damning report on how his organisation handled this summer's national curriculum tests fiasco says the former

How boss behind SATs fiasco enjoyed yacht club reports the Mail

The head of the Government exam agency behind the SATs marking fiasco resigned yesterday, hours after The Mail on Sunday uncovered details of his taxpayer-funded perks.The Mail on Sunday established that a clause in his employment contract promised that the authority would ‘pay for membership of your current yachting club’.

The Observer leads with the news that

The government is facing a growing backlash over its rescue package for the economy after the pound slumped to below parity with the euro on British high streets and at airports for the first time since the single European currency was launched a decade ago.Sterling's decline to a value of less than a euro, after commission charges, is seen by economists and opposition politicians as a pivotal 'psychological moment' - and evidence of declining faith in the British economy on global currency markets.

Cabinet split over proposed Heathrow third runway is the lead in the Times

Hilary Benn, the environment secretary, broke cabinet ranks yesterday to warn that Heathrow’s controversial expansion plans should be rejected unless noise and air pollution are dramatically cut.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Benn said Britain’s biggest airport had a “problem” with air quality even before the construction of the proposed third runway.

The Independent meanwhile reports that

Penny-pinching and red tape are suffocating government plans for a rapid increase in the amount of renewable energy used in Britain.
The plans – a cornerstone of ministers' strategy to combat climate change – set out to multiply the proportion of the country's energy provided by renewables by an ambitious five times in just 12 years. But they have yet to make headway because of official foot-dragging.

According to the Mail

it seems that David Cameron worries his Shadow Cabinet may have a just little too much bottom – and not in a good way.
For many of the frontbench Tories are thought to look too well fed and prosperous to connect with the nation’s cash-strapped voters.

The Indy has the latest opinion poll.Labour cuts Tories' poll lead to a single point

David Cameron's double-digit lead has been whittled down to a single point in the space of a month, despite the first significant criticisms last week of the Prime Minister's £20bn "fiscal stimulus" rescue plan.
The ComRes survey shows that 37 per cent of those polled said they planned to vote Tory at the next election. The level of Tory support is six points down on the figure recorded in a similar survey a month ago.

Hundreds of homes flooded after heavy rains reports the Telegraph

Families had to be evacuated from their houses and dozens of drivers and passengers were rescued from cars after heavy rainfall overnight.
The worst-hit area was the south west where downpours left homes in up to 4ft of water and dual carriageways covered by 18in.
A 22-year-old woman from Poole, Dorset, died when her Vauxhall Astra went off the road and crashed on the A35 at Upton, Poole, during heavy rain.

Missing activist was 'collecting evidence' on Mugabe crimes reports the Observer

A prominent Zimbabwean human rights activist abducted 12 days ago was working on case files to be used as possible prosecution evidence against members of President Robert Mugabe's regime, The Observer has learnt.
Jestina Mukoko, director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), is the most prominent among 20 political and civil society activists who have disappeared in the past six weeks

Greek riots spark fear of Europe in flames reports the Times

The protests continued yesterday and more demonstrations are planned. Some see a foretaste of the next phase of the global financial crisis, sensing in the tear gas and chants a warning to European leaders of what may unfold elsewhere if they do not take into account the frustrations of their people.
Sympathy protests from Moscow to Madrid helped to fuel such concerns, as did Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, who mentioned the Greek upheaval to justify his rejection of budget proposals that would have cushioned the wealthy from losses.

The Telegraph reports that

The City's “superwoman”, Nicola Horlick, has launched a scathing attack on US financial regulators following the emergence of a $50 billion (£33 billion) investment scam.The swindle allegedly perpetrated by one of Wall Street’s most celebrated traders is being called the biggest fraud in corporate history.
The roster of A-list victims of the scam allegedly run by Bernard Madoff, one of the most respected names on Wall Street until his arrest, reads like a Who’s Who of international business, high society and the philanthropic elite.

It was a busy night on the TV,Strictly disaster reports the News of the World

ALL three couples in Strictly Come Dancing will be in next week’s final—after reality TV’s biggest cock-up.
Viewers were left in confusion as the BBC1 show’s hosts Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly offered NO explanation after the dance-off was axed last night.
All yesterday’s millions of votes will be carried over to next week’s final—when Tom Chambers, Rachel Stevens and Lisa Snowdon and their pro dance partners will all compete in the final.

The winner of X factor is in many of the papers

Anadrenaline-charged three-hour final watched by 15million people, Alex – tears still streaming down her face – composed herself to belt out her debut single Hallelujah to a rapturous audience.
The star was mobbed by former contestants who hugged her as she sang – while proud mum Melissa Bell, 41, watched from the front row

reports the Mirror

More entertainment in the Mail which reports that

Today presenter Ed Stourton has lashed out at the BBC after he was sacked from the Radio 4 show – saying his family believe he has been treated worse than Jonathan Ross.
Stourton, who learned of his dismissal from a rival journalist, compared his ‘ten years’ unblemished service’ with that of Ross, who was suspended after making an obscene prank phone call.

Finally the News of the World reports that

Man United ace Cristiano is going Christmas crazy—turning his house into a GROTTO and dressing up as SANTA to hand out pressies.
The twinkle-toed star plans a lavish Christmas Day bash and has paid an events firm a whopping £6,000 to decorate his £4 million house — and provide a Father Christmas suit.

2008-12-13T07:08:00.004Z

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".

2008-12-12T05:29:00.002Z

There is a distinctly anti German feeling to this morning's papers.

Germans turn the screw on Brown is the lead in the Independent

Gordon Brown has been thrown on to the defensive over his economic strategy as his political opponents exploit a blistering German attack on his borrowing spree.
A furious Prime Minister hit back at Peer Steinbrück, Germany's Finance Minister, who accused him of making a spectacular U-turn since his years as a prudent chancellor by adopting a "crass" and "breathtaking" policy of "tossing around billions".

EU giant isolated as Merkel puts Germany first says the Guardian

The pastor's daughter from east Germany suddenly finds herself isolated on the biggest issues of the times - economic gloom and global warming. She is out of step with her partners on Nato expansion and Afghanistan. She disagrees with Gordon Brown over how to rescue economies facing recession. She is at odds with the French president Nicolas Sarkozy on everything from the EU's relations with non-Mediterranean countries to the single currency and the independence of the European Central Bank.

Don't mention the economy says the Mail

A blistering German attack on Gordon Brown plunged London and Berlin into a bitter diplomatic row last night.
The Prime Minister was publicly slated for his handling of the recession in an extraordinary outburst by a senior aide to chancellor Angela Merkel.
It was the second time in two days that a member of Germany's ruling coalition has broken with diplomatic convention to deliver a highly personal attack on Mr Brown's economic record.

The Times leads with the news that there are to be spending cuts in the armed servives

The Armed Forces yesterday became the first significant victims of government attempts to reduce spending in the face of the advancing recession.
Two programmes worth £20 billion will be cut and delayed after defence chiefs were told that there was not enough money to go ahead as planned.
The announcement throws into disarray the Army’s £16 billion update to armoured vehicles, while the Royal Navy’s £3.9 billion project for two new 65,000-tonne aircraft carriers is postponed for two years.

Cameron pledges support for elderly savers reports the Telegraph

Backing The Daily Telegraph's Justice for Pensioners campaign, the Conservative leader says elderly people who have saved for their retirement should be "rewarded", not "punished".
The campaign calls on the Treasury to suspend all taxes on the interest pensioners earn on their savings and on the cash dividends they are paid on their shares.

Many of the papers report the comments of Robert Mugabe who

has said the cholera crisis ravaging Zimbabwe has been stopped, even as the disease prompted South Africa to declare a disaster area on its northern border and the UN revealed that the death toll from the disease had risen again. In a televised address yesterday that showed the 83-year-old President to be in a complete state of denial over the epidemic, he said there was now "no cholera".

reports the Independent

The Guardian meanwhile reports that UK blocking European Congo force

Britain is refusing to take part in a proposed European armed intervention in eastern Congo despite a growing clamour for an EU force to help avoid a bigger humanitarian disaster.
At a summit of European leaders in Brussels last night, foreign ministers from the 27 countries discussed proposals to dispatch a force of up to 1,500 to North Kivu in eastern Congo.

The Telegraph reports that

Belgian police 'thwart imminent al-Qaeda attack'

The arrival of EU leaders and intelligence that a terror attack was on the way triggered a massive police operation, involving 242 officers, in overnight house raids in Brussels and Liege.
Police have arrested 14 suspects, three of whom, including the suspected suicide bomber, had just returned from Afghanistan, where it is thought they had received orders from al-Qaeda commanders.

There is much coverage of the economy,the Times reports that

Thousands of Britons face the unpalatable choice next year of taking a pay cut or losing their job.
Unions representing 25,000 steel-workers at the steelmaker Corus have offered, on their behalf, that they all take a 10 per cent pay cut. The move has been proposed as an alternative to the closure of the Llanwern steelworks at Newport, Gwent, where more than 1,000 people work.

50% off Bargain Britain reports the Express

Britain went bargain crazy yesterday as some of the High Street’s biggest names slashed 50 per cent off prices in a desperate attempt to boost trade.
Tesco sparked the unprecedented sales bonanza by announcing it was halving the price of 1,000 items, including food, drink, gifts and toys, until Christmas.

The Guardian maenwhile reports that

Hard-pressed staff behind the counters at Woolworths - had they a moment to spare from the lengthening queues - might have reflected that if their employer had generated such customer interest at any time over the last few years, the company might not have had to close down.
Yesterday, they served grimly on, well aware of their impending unemployment and under instructions not to share their views with the press.

The Sun leads with Mob kill Paedo

MURDERED pervert Andrew Cunningham was targeted by hate mobs who yelled “Die, paedo, die” at him.
And a police source said: “He was loathed by a large number of people so we have a lot of potential suspects.”
Cunningham, 52, died from multiple stab wounds to the head, neck and chest. And the source revealed: “Damage was caused to his genitals.”

Sark feels wrath of the Barclay brothers reports the Independent

Dismayed Sark islanders expressed their outrage last night after it emerged that the billionaire Barclay brothers had closed down all their business interests on the island, resulting in the loss of more than 100 jobs out of a total population of 600
Yesterday was supposed to have been a day of celebration as the islanders counted the results of their first fully democratic election. On Wednesday they went to the polls to turn Europe's last feudal state into a democracy.
Instead, more than 100 islanders face unemployment as a bitter feud between the billionaire newspaper magnates and the island's political establishment continued.

According to the Guardian

The global economic downturn has wiped at least £250m from the leading British universities' endowment funds, a Guardian survey has revealed.
The universities of Cambridge and Oxford, whose endowments were valued at £907m and £680m respectively in July, are understood to be the biggest losers

The Mail reports that

Thousands of air passengers faced chaos yesterday after airport operator BAA failed to anticipate cold weather in December.
More than a hundred planes were grounded and up to 2,000 passengers were left stranded after ice and light snow closed Gatwick's single runway for four hours in the morning.

Many of the papers report the case of

A mother of five died after drinking too much water three weeks after she had begun a water-based diet in an attempt to lose weight, an inquest was told.
Jacqueline Henson, 40, was determined to slim down from 14st (89kg) and was “over the moon” after losing nearly 12lb (5.4kg) in one week after starting the LighterLife diet plan, Huddersfield Coroner’s Court was told yesterday

reports the Times

Finally the face of Kate Winslett stares out from many of the papers,the Telegraph reports that she has been nominated for two golden globes

Winslet has two shots at glory: a best actress nomination for Revolutionary Road, the adaptation of Richard Yates' cult novel about a disaffected housewife in 1950s America, and a best supporting actress nomination for The Reader, in which she plays a Nazi concentration camp guard who embarks upon an affair with a teenage boy. She has been nominated for a Globe five times but never won.

2008-12-10T07:36:00.003Z

One story seems to dominate this morning,the Independent leads with

Mary Ewert: 'Why I want the world to see my husband die'

As the final moments of a terminally ill man who committed suicide in a Zurich clinic are shown on television, his widow explains the reasons why

The Mail also leads with the story

The harrowing moment a retired university professor dies in an 'assisted suicide' will be shown on television tonight.
Craig Ewert, 59, is filmed turning off his ventilator and taking a lethal dose of drugs washed down with apple juice.
Just minutes before his death, Mary, his wife of 37 years asks him: 'Can I give you a big kiss?'

Suicide documentary: Euthanasia debate or sick ratings boost? asks the Mirror

Craig, 59, travelled from his home in Yorkshire to a Swiss suicide clinic because he did not want to be trapped in a body he described as “a living tomb.”
But yesterday a row was raging over whether Sky TV’s decision to film and show the suicide was designed to encourage a debate about euthanasia – or ghoulishly boost its ratings.

The Times leads with the same topic reporting that Prosecutors have washed their hands of the laws on assisted dying
The Guardian adds that

The Crown Prosecution Service yesterday effectively ruled out the prosecution of relatives who assist the terminally ill to commit suicide after announcing it would take no action against the family of rugby player Daniel James, despite having sufficient evidence to do so.
In his first decision as director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC stated he would not prosecute the parents and a family friend of the 23-year-old, who was paralysed in a training ground accident, for assisting his death.

It leads with the report that

Britain's six-year occupation of south Iraq will begin drawing to a close in March, and the last troops will leave Basra by June, a senior defence source disclosed yesterday.
But instead of handing over to Iraqi authorities, the British will be replaced at their Basra airport base by a large force of US troops, who will set up their own headquarters there, the source revealed.

The Telegraph says that

With the Americans formulating their final exit plans with the Iraqi Government, that will be finalised once the President-elect, Barack Obama, takes power, the British are expected to conclude the final state of their forces in Iraq in the coming weeks.

It leads with the story that

Contraceptive Pill to be available without doctor's prescription

Pilot sites are being set up in areas of London with the highest teenage pregnancy rates to see if the programme is feasible before being rolled out nationally.
Ministers said the aim is to increase access to contraception and reduce the number of unintended pregnancies although critics were concerned that relying on the Pill does not protect against sexually transmitted infections which are at epidemic proportions.

The continued violence in Greece is covered in many of the papers,

The streets of Athens resembled a battleground last night after the funeral of a teenager shot dead by police triggered a fourth consecutive day of rioting and violent clashes.
Amid the worst civil unrest since the fall of the military junta in 1974, pressure grew on the government of Costas Karamanlis: trade unions rejected the Prime Minister's appeal to call off a general strike planned for today and the main opposition demanded the government's resignation. Mr Karamanlis began emergency meetings with the Greek President, Karolos Papoulias, and party political leaders to explore ways to lower the temperature as he struggled to contain the crisis.

reports the Independent

The Telegraph adds that

Protesters threw whatever came to hand, even grabbing oranges off ornamental trees in the main square and lobbing them at lines of police.
They taunted the police by clutching their crotches in the traditional Greek gesture of contempt.
"It's not just young people throwing rocks, older people are fed up with this government as well," said Zeus Stellas, 23.

Governor tried to auction Obama's old seat, says FBI reports the Guardian

The day before the historic day in November that would hand Barack Obama the keys to the White House, the Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, had a conversation with one of the candidate's advisers about who might replace Obama in the US Senate if he won the presidency.
Illinois law gives the governor sole authority to appoint a successor. Blagojevich left the aide in no doubt that his blessing would come at a price. A seat in the Senate, he explained, is "a fucking valuable thing, you just don't give it away for nothing".

The Times adds that

The arrest of Rod Blagojevich and John Harris, his chief of staff, cast a light on the home state of the President-elect, which has a history of endemic corruption.
The charges include allegations that the Democratic governor, who has served two-terms, conspired with Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a former friend and political donor of Mr Obama, in schemes requiring individuals and companies to pay kickbacks in return for state contracts.

Mumbai murderers are named reports the Independent

Police in Mumbai released what they said were the names of the nine men, along with images of eight of them. Several photographs were gruesome and apparently taken after death. One gunman had been so badly burnt no image was released. Officials said most of the attackers were from Punjab province and all were between 20 and 28. The sole surviving militant, 21-year-old Ajmal Amir Kasab, is also originally from a village in that province.

An exclusive in the Times

Teachers 'beat and abuse' Muslim children in British Koran classes

Students have been slapped, punched and had their ears twisted, according to an unpublished report by an imam based on interviews with victims in the north of England. One was “picked up by one leg and spun around” while another said a madrassa teacher was “kicking in my head - like a football”, says the report which was compiled by Irfan Chishti, a former government adviser on Islamic affairs.

The Mail reports on the case of Parents who locked up daughter and treated her like 'Dickensian slave' escape jail sentence

The 15-year-old was starved of food, love and attention and banned from playing with her younger siblings or reading books - her major passion.
For years, she was forced to use an outside toilet and her bedroom was regularly searched to make sure she had not hidden any school books, a court heard.

Meanwhile the Independent reports that

Hundreds of children have disappeared from council care homes without a trace during the past 10 years, a damning report into the plight of child "runaways" has found.
A survey of 172 local authorities in England and Wales who care for 28,000 children found between 376 and 389 young people were missing and councils did not know where they were. The true figure is probably higher because six authorities said they did not keep records of missing children.

Almost a billion people go hungry each day after food price rises pushed 40 million more people around the world into the ranks of the undernourished, the UN food agency reported yesterday.

reports the Guardian

According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), food prices have more than halved from their historic peaks a few months ago, but the cost of basic staples measured by an FAO index is still high: 28% higher on average than two years ago.

Freak out reports the Sun

BUG-EYED beast Michael Donovan gets a taste of his own medicine yesterday as he is restrained by handcuffs and a chain. The 40-year-old oddball, who tethered kidnap victim Shannon Matthews with a noose during her 24 days in captivity, was manacled to a guard for a hospital visit.
Donovan, uncle of nine-year-old Shannon’s stepdad Craig Meehan, was let out of jail to have treatment on the jaw broken by a fellow prisoner during his trial.

Cameron wants election to decide recovery plan reports the Independent

Britain is at a "fork in the road" with a choice between Labour's "borrowing binge" and a Tory government that would try to halt Labour's tax rises, David Cameron said yesterday.
The Conservative leader tried to regain the initiative amid jitters in his party that Labour's claims the Opposition would "do nothing" about the recession have hurt his opinion poll ratings

The Guardian meanwhile reports that

The EU should offer the incoming administration of the US president-elect, Barack Obama, a transatlantic economic pact to combat the global recession, José Manuel Barroso, European commission president, said yesterday.
Calling for a joint EU-US stimulus programme, Barroso said: "That would be a good objective. Why not, after the new administration comes in, articulate a common transatlantic response to the economic crisis, which could be the basis for a global response?"

The Express reports that cheaper home loans are on the way

Rock bottom interest rates have forced loans down to their lowest level for two years and even cheaper deals are on the way

Benefits to be paid only to those who show they are looking hard for work reports the Times

Unemployed people will have to prove that they are taking practical steps to return to work in return for state benefits, under changes to the welfare state to be announced by ministers today.
The only exceptions will be carers, parents of very young children and anyone who is severely disabled. All other claimants will have to show that they are preparing for work with activities ranging from updating a CV or finding out about childcare through to full-time training or work experience

Finally the Sun continues its persuit of Sharon Shoesmith reporting that the

AXED Baby P boss smirks in the street yesterday — before heading off to a swish Italian restaurant.
The 55-year-old former head of Haringey children’s services was fired on Monday after overseeing catastrophic failures which saw the death of the abused tot.
But that didn’t stop her giggling as she made her way to the diner from her luxury mansion flat in Holborn, central London, along with three pals.

2008-12-09T06:43:00.002Z

The Times leads with its latest opinion poll which shows that

Labour claws back over handling of economy

Labour’s natural supporters are returning to the fold, giving the party a nine-point lead over the Conservatives as the most trusted to deal with the recession, a poll for The Times reveals.
Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling are favoured over David Cameron and George Osborne by 40 per cent to 31 per cent — a six-point jump in their lead since the Pre-Budget Report was presented on November 24.
The boost has improved Labour’s position generally, with the overall Conservative poll lead narrowing to four points and the number of Labour voters who are considering switching to the Tories dropping markedly.

The Telegraph looks at the effects of the recession reporting that

Middle class professionals who lose their jobs during the recession will be helped with Government money to study for a Masters or business qualification while they are out of work.

The Express meanwhile tells us that a tank of petrol is now £18 cheaper

MILLIONS of motorists are now saving about £18 on every full tank of fuel thanks to plummeting pump prices since the summer.
Diesel crashed below the land landmark £1-a-litre price yesterday for the first time in a year, while the cost of unleaded petrol keeps on falling too.

Brown and Sarkozy nudge Germans towards fresh economic measures says the Guardian

Gordon Brown and the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, were yesterday holding out hopes of a fresh German economic package early next year to minimise the impact of the recession after an informal Franco-British summit in London again put the case for a European-wide reflation.

It leads though with the news that

Gordon Brown and the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, were yesterday holding out hopes of a fresh German economic package early next year to minimise the impact of the recession after an informal Franco-British summit in London again put the case for a European-wide reflation.

The Telegraph reports that the Alleged 9/11 mastermind wants to confess to plot

In an abrupt reversal of previous attempts to defend themselves, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-defendants indicated to a judge in Guantánamo Bay they want to plead guilty.
The move is being seen as an apparent attempt to push through their prosecution and execution for multiple murder charges.

Make us martyrs, 9/11 suspects dare President Bush says the Times

In a letter to the judge, the five described how a decision had been taken on November 4, the day Barack Obama was elected, to abandon all efforts at defence and instead ask that their confessions be accepted in full with immediate effect. The request appeared to be designed to accelerate their trials and dare the US Government to impose the death sentence before President Bush leaves office.

There is much coverage of yesterday's Commons debate,the Independent reports that

The Commons Speaker, Michael Martin, suffered another blow last night when his proposal for an inquiry into the Damian Green affair descended into farce. Tories and Liberal Democrats vowed to boycott his plan for an MPs' investigation into the police raid on the office of Mr Green, the Tory Immigration spokesman.

The raid on Stansted is also wdely reported,Heathrow next, warn activists who caused Stansted chaos says the Guardian

Environmental campaigners last night vowed to step up direct action against British airports after protesters breached the security fence at Stansted airport and closed its runway, resulting in scores of cancelled flights and disruption for thousands of passengers.
Members of a group called Plane Stupid, which campaigns against climate change and air travel, chained themselves to a makeshift barrier close to the airport's runway after cutting through the perimeter fence in the early hours of yesterday.

The Mail says that

A runway invasion by protesters yesterday left passengers at Stansted Airport facing three miserable days of uncertainty and delays.
Armed police were forced to restore order after check-in desks were surrounded by thousands of passengers demanding information about more than 150 disrupted flights.
Chiefly affected were Ryanair customers, who were advised to re-book online and told that services would be limited well into the week after the budget airline cancelled 52 flights. A further 100-plus flights were held up for hours as 30 other airlines were caught up in the disruption.

The Times reports that Carphone Warehouse founder David Ross quits in disgrace over secret share deals

David Ross failed to tell the company — run by his lifelong friend Charles Dunstone — that he had pledged the core of his fortune as collateral to support struggling commercial property investments.
The 43-year-old tycoon, who holds a 20 per cent stake in Carphone Warehouse, could face a criminal investigation by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) because he broke City rules on disclosure.
Mr Ross was also forced to disclose that he had covertly mortgaged shareholdings in three other companies.

The Sun is happy this morning,At Last is its headline as it reports that

SHAMELESS Baby P bungler Sharon Shoesmith was finally given the boot over a “fundamental loss of trust and confidence” in her ability, it was revealed last night.The decision to axe her as director of children’s services at Haringey, North London, was taken by councillors after she dug her heels in and refused to quit or apologise.

The Independent leads with a tirade against credit card companies

Credit card companies are facing an investigation by competition watchdogs after defying government warnings to improve their lending practices.
An analysis by The Independent has found that the cost of card borrowing has risen over the past three months despite three cuts to the Bank of England base rate. Cardholders are now facing average interest rates of 17.7 per cent on credit cards, up from 16.6 per cent 12 months ago.

Now Labour makes it even HARDER to sell your home is the lead in the Mail

In a move which triggered a furious backlash, Ministers have tightened the rules on the widely-condemned Home Information Packs.
They will now have to be available on the very first day a house goes on sale, rather than 28 days later.

The Guardian has the latest from the Greek rioting

Greek police are braced for more violence around the funeral today of a teenage boy shot dead by police, after rioting youths brought a third night of chaos to Greek cities.
The government denied reports it would declare a state of emergency, but last night the interior minister, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, signalled the authorities will take a firmer stance against rioters in the worst disturbances to hit the country since the collapse of military rule in 1974.

The Times reports that

International efforts to end Zimbabwe's misery by forcing President Mugabe out of office were blunted yesterday when a key African leader urged further mediation despite the power-sharing impasse in Harare.
As President Sarkozy of France called for a swift end to the Mugabe regime, Jacob Zuma, the head of South Africa's ruling ANC party, insisted that dialogue was still the best way forward.

The Independent reports that

Two die as Top Gun pilot crashes into San Diego suburbs

A US F-18 military jet crashed into a San Diego suburban neighbourhood yesterday, killing two people on the ground, while attempting to land at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.
Neighbours saw the jet wobble overhead before it crashed in a ball of fire. The pilot, who managed to eject before the crash, was seen wandering around in a daze. He parachuted out of the jet and came down in the baseball field of a school. The pilot was on a training mission and officials said he attempted to aim the plane at a deserted canyon to avoid coming down on houses or the 805 Freeway.

Mother arrested as 'yuppie-flu' daughter is found dead after 16 years in bed reports the Mail

A mother who nursed her daughter for 17 years with the disease ME has been arrested on suspicion of her murder following what is believed to have been a 'mercy killing'.
Police sources revealed that Lynn Gilderdale, 31, died from a massive overdose of morphine after attempting suicide with the same drug at least twice during her battle with the debilitating condition.
Detectives arrested her mother Kay, 54, over suspicions that she helped administer the fatal dose after watching her daughter suffer since she was 14.

Finally the Sun reports that

THE beach-sex Brit who dodged jail in Dubai makes a drunken t** of himself — at the SAME bar where the scandal began.
Romeo IT boss Vince Acors planted a smacker on a busty brunette and grinned gormlessly as he gave a scantily-clad blonde a lift in his arms

2008-12-08T05:13:00.002Z

The Hunt for Irish pork is uppermost on the thoughts of many papers this morning

Rush to get Irish pork off the shelves says the Times

The Telegraph reports that

Consumers across the UK have been warned not to eat Irish pork after contaminated animal feed was traced to farms in Northern Ireland. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) issued the advice after it emerged that nine farms in Northern Ireland have used the same feed substance that prompted a recall of all pork products processed in the Republic following its discovery in pig farms south of the border.

The Guardian leads with child labour used to make NHS instruments

British hospitals are buying surgical instruments produced in dangerous working conditions in Pakistan using child workers as young as eight, the NHS has admitted. In some workshops, products such as scalpels, clamps and scissors to be used in NHS operations are made by workers paid as little as 170 rupees (£1.40) a day

Schools told reading is top priority reports the Independent

A drive to improve reading standards which includes encouraging parents to read to children will be outlined today in the most far-reaching review of primary schooling in 20 years.
Evidence shows that children from the poorest homes hear only 13 million words by the time they are aged four, 32 million words less than children from affluent households.

The Guardian reports that

Traditional lessons in history, geography and science should be removed from the primary curriculum and children taught their essential content through cross-curricular themed classes, the biggest inquiry into primary schooling in a generation will report today

Straw to get tough and reform 'villains charter' is the lead in the Mail

Jack Straw plans to overhaul the Human Rights Act amidst concerns that it has become a charter for criminals.
The Justice Secretary wants to reflect complaints that the act protects rights but says nothing about responsibilities.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, he says he is 'frustrated' by the way the legislation he introduced ten years ago has sometimes been interpreted by the courts. He blames 'nervous' judges for refusing to deport extremists and terrorist suspects despite assurances by ministers that their removal is in the national interest.

There is much speculation about the speaker,the Telegraph reveals a plot by Labour MP's to remove him adding that

The position of the Commons Speaker Michael Martin is looking increasingly precarious after a poll of MPs found more than 30 backbenchers say they have lost confidence in him.

The Independent says that

Senior MPs expressed profound concerns about Mr Martin's position as some warned that backbenchers would move to block his reappointment if he attempted to carry on beyond the next election

Taliban destroy 100 trucks reports the Guardian

Gunmen mounted the biggest attack yet on Nato supplies going to Afghanistan yesterday, torching more than 100 trucks carrying equipment at a depot in north-west Pakistan, the main route for supplies to troops in land-locked Afghanistan.
Security guards at two depots in Peshawar were outnumbered by more than 200 militants at around 3am. About 70 Humvees, which were loaded on some of the trucks, were destroyed. Most of the vehicles were reduced to charred hulks of metal. "They fired rockets, hurled hand grenades and then set ablaze 96 trucks," said a senior police officer in Peshawar, Azeem Khan.

Pakistan to swoop on militant leaders reports the Independent

Pakistan's security forces were poised last night to arrest the leaders, dismantle the infrastructure and close the training camps of Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Islamic militant group held responsible by India for the killings of 171 people in Mumbai, government sources said

The Telegraph reports that

Thousands of protesters battled police in central Athens, smashing the windows of shops and banks with Molotov cocktails, and sending three officers to hospital, said police, who used tear gas to disperse the rioters.
Police said more than 34 people had been injured, including one woman with a serious head wound, while 20 were detained.

It follows

Two Greek police officers were arrested Sunday over the killing of a 15-year-old boy

According to the Mail

Jobless could hit 3.5m in two years as service sector tipped to slash hotel, travel and retail staff

The middle classes are facing a jobs bloodbath as the recession hits service industries, business leaders say.
Their warning comes after a leading economist predicted that around 3.5million people could be out of work by the end of 2010.
The Confederation of British Industry says hotels, restaurants, shops and travel firms are all predicted to slash their staff as consumers tighten their belts.

The Sun meanwhile reports

STORES are braced for a manic Monday — as Christmas shoppers flock to their computers in a £13BILLION online spree.
The scramble for bargains will begin around noon today — when office workers log on during their lunchbreaks.
Despite the credit crunch, experts were last night predicting a frenzy to top last year — when the second to last Monday before Christmas set a record for internet sales.

more questions for council that failed Baby P reports the Guardian

Police are investigating allegations of serious abuse of a five-year-old victim of child trafficking while he was in the care of Haringey, the London council that failed to prevent the death of Baby P.
The Metropolitan police child abuse team launched the investigation last month after claims that the child was being beaten while in the care of his adoptive family. Concerns were raised by Dr Hamish Cameron, a consultant child psychiatrist, after the boy was taken to hospital

First Briton to die at Swiss euthanasia clinic had fled Nazis reports the Independent

The 90-year-old Briton, who only wanted to be known in reports by his first name, Chris, died on Friday afternoon in the company of his wife and a close friend after being cleared by British and Swiss doctors to fly to Switzerland to take a lethal dose of barbiturates.

Now a tax on Tree Houses says the Express

HOME owners who put a tree house in their garden will see their council tax bills rocket under Labour’s latest stealth tax on struggling families.
In an attempt to squeeze households for ever more cash, the Government will classify a tree house as a home improvement which adds value to a property.

The Sun leads with Vinnie's rage

RAGING Vinnie Jones rains punches on a 26-stone pool player — after being glassed in the face in a bar brawl.
The soccer hardman turned Hollywood star — captured on CCTV — was later arrested in hospital. He faces up to a year in jail if convicted of assault.
The shocked drinker told last night how he emerged from a bar’s loo — and was beaten up by a crazed Jones, his face pouring with blood.

Finally the Independent reports that

A collection of letters and manuscripts by Oscar Wilde, seemingly lost for more than 50 years have been rediscovered by academics.
The nine manuscripts and four letters that illuminate the life and work of the celebrated writer, dramatist, wit, and self-proclaimed "lord of language", were donated to The Morgan Library in New York. Among the pages is the earliest surviving letter from Wilde to his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, whom he called Bosie, which documents the start of his doomed gay relationship with the Magdalen College undergraduate in the early 1890s

2008-12-07T07:09:00.002Z

The Sunday Times leads with the news that the Speaker is to seek a third term in office.

The paper reports that

MICHAEL MARTIN, the Commons Speaker, is preparing to defy his critics by seeking to stand for a third term.
The Glasgow MP has made it clear that he hopes to continue in the £78,575 post after the next general election, despite the furore over his handling of the police raid on the offices of Damian Green, the shadow immigration minister. With his MP’s salary Martin earns a total of £141,866.

The Independent says that

The vow by Commons Speaker Michael Martin to prevent "unauthorised" raids on MPs' offices in the wake of the Damian Green affair was seriously undermined last night as it emerged that the Government is preparing new laws to allow investigators to mount parliamentary searches without a warrant.

The Observer reports that

A formal complaint about Boris Johnson's involvement in the controversial Scotland Yard raid on the Houses of Parliament could lead to his suspension or removal as Mayor of London. He is accused of 'potentially corrupting' the Metropolitan Police investigation into leaks from the Home Office, which led to the arrest of the shadow immigration minister, Damian Green

Meanwhile the Mail says that

The Queen has dropped the wife of Commons Speaker Michael Martin from Buckingham Palace’s invitation list after she repeatedly failed to accept offers to attend State banquets.
Mary Martin has not accompanied her husband on any of the nine State banquets he has attended since becoming Speaker eight years ago.
Mrs Martin’s snub has led the Queen to take the extraordinary step of removing her from her invitation list.

The Observer leads with Mugabe must be toppled now - Archbishop of York

In an extraordinary and passionate outburst, the Archbishop of York is calling for President Robert Mugabe to be toppled from power and face trial for crimes against humanity,
Dr John Sentamu, writing in The Observer, said the world must recognise that the time for talks was over and Mugabe should be forced out. 'The time has come for Robert Mugabe to answer for his crimes against humanity, against his countrymen and women and for justice to be done. The winds of change that once brought hope to Zimbabwe and its neighbours have become a hurricane of destruction, with the outbreak of cholera, destitution, starvation and systemic abuse of power by the state,' he says.

The Independent feports that

Half a million people in Zimbabwe will go without food handouts this month, the UN agency responsible for feeding more than two-fifths of the country's population warned yesterday, as shortages of funds force further cuts in rations.

It leads with the story that London doctor is held as forced marriage hostage

British lawyers were this weekend working frantically to rescue a London doctor who has been beaten and held captive in Bangladesh in an attempt to force her into marriage. Dr Humayra Abedin, known as Dorothy to her friends, this weekend faces being forced to marry a complete stranger, unless efforts by lawyers to free her, using new powers, succeed.

Ministers fight to keep late abortions secret is the lead in the Telegraph

The Information Commissioner has ordered the release of the figures, but the Department of Health is resisting, claiming that disclosing the data could lead to women who have late abortions being identified.
While abortion is only legal in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy if carried out on social grounds, "Ground E" of the 1967 Abortion Act makes it legal to abort a foetus which has a serious risk of physical or mental abnormality, right up to birth. There are continuing concerns that the law is being flouted to weed out "less than perfect" babies.

The Times meanwhile reports that

ALMOST all benefit claimants will be forced either to look for a job or prepare for work if they want to continue to receive state handouts, under a shake-up of the welfare state.
Single mothers of children as young as one and people registered unfit for work will be compelled to go on training courses and work experience or risk cuts to their benefits.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, James Purnell, the work and pensions secretary, said: “Virtually everyone will be doing something in return for their benefits.”

Hit squads tackle high-risk hospitals says the Observer

As the first healthcare system in the world to operate such a system, investigators from the Healthcare Commission, the NHS watchdog for England, will monitor hospitals using official data and 'soft intelligence' from complainants and whistleblowers. If high readings are determined they will send in the rapid intervention teams

The Telegraph says that

Ministers will this week launch a radical shake-up of social services across the country in the wake of the death of Baby P.

The lead story in the Mail concerns Northern Rock,reporting that

The bank that precipitated the credit collapse and was taken over by the Government has been accused of selling off job lots of repossessed homes at knockdown prices.
Northern Rock properties are being offered for sale with ‘get rich quick’ profits for fat-cat property developers based on exactly the same deals that triggered the banking system meltdown in the first place.

According to the front of the Express

SHOPPERS went on a recession-busting spending spree yesterday to lift the economic gloom.
Stores across the country took more than £1billion and sales figures in the run-up to Christmas now look set to top last year’s £13billion total.
Millions of families decided to take advantage of the reduction in VAT, lower interest rates and dramatic High Street price cuts to spend, spend spend. In London, two million shoppers flocked to the West End and shopping malls elsewhere reported frenetic trading.

Mumbai terrorist came from Pakistan, local villagers confirm reports the Observer

An Observer investigation has established that the lone surviving gunman caught by Indian police during last week's terrorist attacks on Mumbai came from a village in the Okara district of the Pakistani Punjab.
Ajmal Amir Kasab, interrogated in custody after last month's attacks, which killed 163 people, reportedly told Indian security officials that he came from a place called Faridkot in the Punjab province. His father was named as Mohammed Amir, married to a woman named Noor. During the past week, Pakistani sources have cast doubt on the authenticity of the leaked information, which has had a predictably explosive impact on relations between the two countries

The Times says that

THE 10 terrorist commandos who shot dead more than 160 people in Mumbai last month were among 500 trained to elite standards by Pakistan army and navy instructors, according to an Indian intelligence report seen by The Sunday Times.
Details were leaked as Indian officials accused Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) of directly supporting the attack. They claimed to have the names of the gunmen’s ISI trainers and handlers and to have intercepted internet phone calls between them.

Pakistan on full military alert after hoax call says the Independent

The call, to the Pakistani President, Asif Ali Zardari, was purportedly from India's Foreign Minister, Pranab Mukherjee. Made late on 28 November, at the height of the crisis between the two countries over Mumbai, the call was put through by Mr Zardari's staff without the usual checks on its authenticity. During the conversation Mr Mukherjee appeared to threaten Pakistan with war unless it acted against those who attacked Mumbai.

The Telegraph reports that

George W Bush would not have ordered the invasion of Iraq if the intelligence had shown that Saddam Hussein did not possess weapons of mass destruction, according to his former chief adviser and closest confidant.Karl Rove made the claim as the president's inner circle launched an unofficial "Bush legacy project", with their old boss preparing to leave the White House next month.

Many of the papers carry the story that Deadly contaminant found in Irish pork

CONSUMERS were warned last night to check the origin of all pork products after high levels of toxins were found in pigs slaughtered in Ireland. Last night the Irish government advised the public to destroy all pork products bought since September 1 and ordered an emergency recall

reports the Times

Another story that features is Sunny von Bulow dies after years in coma

After almost three decades in a coma, the wife of British society figure Claus von Bulow died yesterday aged 76. The heiress Martha von Bulow, who was also known as 'Sunny', died at a nursing home in New York.
Her estranged husband, who currently lives in London and writes arts reviews, was accused of inducing his late wife's vegetative state 28 years ago with two unsuccessful murder attempts

The Telegraph adds that

Despite strains in their marriage, the von Bulow's had been celebrating the start of Christmas on Dec 21, 1980, with relatives at her mansion in Newport, Rhode Island, when she was put to bed in an apparently confused and uncoordinated state.

The News of the World reports that

EVIL Karen Matthews had a sick SECRET AFFAIR with the misfit who helped kidnap her daughter Shannon, we can reveal today.
The twisted mum seduced sinister Michael Donovan at the FUNERAL of her pervert partner Craig Meehan’s dad.

Hardman Vinnie Jones's nose is 'cut to the bone' in bar brawl reports the Mail

Former football hardman Vinnie Jones had his nose ‘cut down to the bone’ in a vicious bar-room brawl that erupted after he was taunted about being a tough guy.
Jones, 43, who has starred in films such as Snatch, Gone In 60 Seconds and Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, was smashed in the face with a beer glass during the fight late on Thursday night at Wiley’s Tavern in remote Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
He was arrested and charged with simple assault.

It's official: Men really are the weaker sex reports the Independent

The male gender is in danger, with incalculable consequences for both humans and wildlife, startling scientific research from around the world reveals.
The research – to be detailed tomorrow in the most comprehensive report yet published – shows that a host of common chemicals is feminising males of every class of vertebrate animals, from fish to mammals, including people

Finally the papers were rushing to the opening of the 2nd Lapland experience,the Times reports that

THERE should have been huskies, real snow and an ice rink, but yesterday the families turning up to the opening of a Lapland theme park were met by empty marquees, a muddy field and trading standards officers.
Lapland West Midlands, based in a field close to one of Britain’s busiest motorway junctions, had been abandoned not just by Santa and his elves but by its organisers, too.
It was the second such debacle in the space of a few days, following the collapse of a similar venture in the New Forest in Hampshire

2008-12-06T07:50:00.002Z

The front page of the Times this morning reveals that Vauxhall in secret cash plea to save 5,000 jobs

The paper

has learnt that the vehicle manufacturer, which employs around 5,000 workers at plants in Merseyside and Luton, approached Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, last week along with other carmakers, to urge the Government to give guarantees offering financial comfort to its car-part suppliers and dealerships. The move marks the first time that a company outside the banking sector has approached the Government for financial help since the credit crisis erupted 18 months ago.

The Telegraph leads with the news that premium bonds are the new victims of the crisis

More than 20 million savers have seen their chances of making money on Premium Bonds drastically reduced as interest rate cuts hit Britain's most popular investment.

Fleeced by the power giants: Gas, electricity and oil prices plunge - but your energy bills are STILL higher than ever says the Mail

Power companies are under increasing pressure to pass on the benefit of the plummeting price of oil.
Watchdogs are angry that domestic energy bills have continued to rise sharply since the summer even though wholesale prices have nearly halved.
Millions of families are desperate for gas, electricity and heating oil bills to fall as their household incomes are squeezed elsewhere.

OJ Simpson is pictured in many of the papers.The Independent leads with

O J finally goes to jail

A career that had touched the heights of Hollywood fame and sporting stardom ended in all-American disgrace yesterday, with O J Simpson sobbing uncontrollably in a Las Vegas court as he was sentenced to up to 33 years behind bars for organising a bungled armed robbery at a casino hotel.

The Guardian reports that

Dressed in blue prison fatigues, his hands bound in chains, Simpson visibly sagged as Judge Jackie Glass handed down the sentence.
Behind him, his daughter stared at the ground, while Ron and Kim Goldman, the father and sister of one of the people Simpson was cleared of murdering in the 1995 "trial of the century", wiped their eyes.

The Mail reports that

The father of Ronald Goldman, who has accused Simpson of murdering his son in June 1994, said he was thrilled with the verdict although it was a bittersweet occasion.
Fred Goldman said: 'There's never closure. Ron is always gone.
'What we have is satisfaction that this monster is where he belongs, behind bars. That SOB is going to be in jail for a very long time.'

The Guardian leads with the Ofsted report into Haringey

The head of Ofsted has acknowledged that local councils whose child protection agencies have been rated "good" by the agency could in fact be systematically failing children because the assessment method used by inspectors was open to manipulation.
In her first major interview since the verdict on Baby P's death was returned, Christine Gilbert admitted to failings in Ofsted's oversight of Haringey council, acknowledging that officials in the local authority where Baby P died were able to "hide behind" false data last year to earn themselves a good rating from inspectors just weeks after his death.

According to the Times

Security on the River Thames has been stepped up to try to prevent a Mumbai-style terrorist attack on London, Boris Johnson says in an interview with The Times today.
The Mayor of London says that the Royal Navy and the Special Boat Service are guarding the capital against the threat of an assault from the river.
The Times has also been told that measures are already being intensified in readiness for the London Olympics in 2012 and are being studied further as part of the review of strategy that has followed the attacks in India.

The Telegraph reports that

John Hutton, the Defence Secretary, is ready to pull UK troops out of Iraq at the end of this month unless the Iraqi government agrees a new immunity deal for British soldiers who shoot to kill, A legal wrangle between the Ministry of Defence and the Baghdad governments means British involvement in Iraq could end sooner than expected.

and adds

Mr Hutton is privately furious that Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, has not yet agreed a deal to give British troops "copper-bottomed" legal protection from prosecution when their existing United Nations mandate expires at midnight on 31 December

The Guardian returmns to an old theme BAE accused of £100m secret payments to seal South Africa arms deal

More than £ 100m was secretly paid by the arms company BAE to sell warplanes to South Africa, according to allegations in a detailed police dossier seen by the Guardian yesterday.
The leaked evidence from South African police and the British Serious Fraud Office quotes a BAE agent recommending "financially incentivising" politicians

The Sun reports on a scrounger sensation

EVIL mum Karen Matthews has her first ever job — as a cleaner in prison.
The benefits-scrounging slob kidnapped her daughter Shannon to claim reward money — and had never done a day’s work before in her life.

The Mirror leads on the same topic reporting that

The sister of evil mum Karen Matthews said last night: “I hope she rots in jail.”
Outraged Julie Poskitt said she could never forgive the mother of seven for putting daughter Shannon, nine, through her traumatic ordeal.
Julie, 37, said: “What my sister did shocked me. It shocked my family and it shocked the whole country. Words cannot begin to describe my anger.

The Telegraph meanwhile reports that

Kirklees Council said the independent review would study social workers' involvement with the family and look at why Shannon Matthews was removed from the at-risk register five years before her kidnapping against the recommendations of experts

There is plenty of celebrity in the papers

Boy George faces jail term after guilty verdict in escort case reports the Independent

The eighties pop icon Boy George has been told to expect a prison sentence after being found guilty of falsely imprisoning a male escort.
The former Culture Club singer handcuffed the Norwegian Audun Carlsen to a wall before beating him with a metal chain when he tried to escape after a naked photo shoot.

Selina Scott wins £250,000 in Channel Five ageism row reports the Telegraph

The 57-year-old accused the broadcaster of ageism after it offered her a high-profile role but then gave the job to two younger broadcasters.
In a victory for older female stars, many of whom have complained that they are treated unfairly by the television industry, she has now received an apology from Channel Five and a financial settlement estimated at up to £250,000.

The Express leads with the story adding that

The veteran presenter had expected to be taking over from Five’s news anchorwoman Natasha Kaplinsky when she went on maternity leave earlier this year but was overlooked for younger presenters.
Natasha – who gave birth to a boy in September – was eventually replaced by the much younger Isla Traquair, 28, and Matt Barbet, 32.

The Guardian reports that

Armed men in wigs pull off £70m robbery at top Paris jewellery store

Four men, some wearing wigs and female clothing, made a rapid getaway from the exclusive Harry Winston store in Paris after stealing almost every piece of jewellery on display and emptying two backdoor storage cases.
Police put the estimated total value of the haul at €80m (£70m), making it by far the largest jewel robbery carried out in France. "This is certainly a record," said Doron Levy, a spokesman for the French union of jewellers. "It exceeds anything we've seen here going back years."

One of the running stories of the week is updated in the Sun

FAMILIES were last night warned to beware of a SECOND dodgy Lapland — 24 hours after the one where fuming punters attacked Santa shut in shame.
The new theme park — due to open at noon today — remained little more than a few tents in a muddy field last night.
Its website, parts of which are identical to the Lapland New Forest rip-off, makes the same promise of “Christmas magic for everyone.”

A different Xmas theme in the Mail which reports

Panic in the High Street as every shop starts a sale

Stores are delivering a half-price Christmas amid a desperate High Street 'battle of the bargains'.
Woolworths yesterday launched the biggest closing down sale ever seen, promising to slash prices by up to 50 per cent across 813 outlets.
A few prices came down by more than 80 per cent.

Formula one heading for a crash reports the Independent

the snows of Formula One's winter of discontent deepened yesterday, amid fears that Honda may not be the only team in trouble in the economic blizzard.
As the Japanese team outlined in Tokyo the reasons for their shock withdrawal, fears increased of a scenario from Agatha Christie's novel, Ten Little Indians, and a domino effect sweeping through the sport.

Finally the Guardian reveals Bushes to swap White House for Dallas pad

As their eight years at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue come to a close, George and Laura Bush have revealed their plans to move on, with the announcement that they have bought a house back home in Texas.
The post-presidential house, a single-storey red-brick building, is in the Preston Hollow section of Dallas, the same neighbourhood where the family lived before Bush entered politics. It is one of the wealthiest sections of the city.

2008-12-05T08:02:00.001Z

Two topics dominate the front pages this morning,the conviction of Karen Matthews and the economy.

Pure Evil says the front of the Sun

VILE Karen Matthews was branded the world’s worst mother yesterday — by her own family.
The fathers of her children also queued up to condemn her as a foul-mouthed drunken slob unfit to look after kids.
She cared so little about them she even FORGOT how many she had.

Mother of Pure Evil

says the Mirror which says that

Little Shannon Matthews may have been just minutes from being murdered when she was rescued, senior detectives revealed last night.
They believe Michael Donovan was poised to kill her and flee when officers burst into the flat where he had been holding the nine-year-old captive for 24 days.
Supt Andy Brennan, who led the massive hunt for the youngster said: “I am convinced Donovan was planning to take Shannon’s life rather than face justice.”

There is much coverage in the broadsheets too,the Telegraph reports that

Social workers wrote a report about Karen Matthews highlighting her "inability to successfully place the children's needs above her own" three years before Shannon went missing.For at least 20 months before she disappeared in February, Shannon was being secretly doped with at least five different drugs, including sedatives, painkillers and antidepressants

The Times says that

Shannon was removed from the at-risk register even though social workers knew of reports that the Matthews children were being left alone at night, were not attending school and that there were problems with violence, alcohol and drug abuse in the home.

The Guardian reports

Outside court, neighbours and police condemned the cruelty and waste of resources caused by a scam aimed at stealing £50,000 in reward money for finding Shannon. Julie Bushby, chair of the residents and tenants association on the Moorside estate where Matthews lived with her partner, Craig Meehan, said: "She's let us down. The tears she cried when she did those appeals on TV and when she gave evidence in court were crocodile tears. As for Michael Donovan, he's just weird."

The economy though takes many of the headlines following the drop in interest rates yesterday

Rates cut again as recession deepens says the Times

The economy is plunging deeper into recession despite emergency tax cuts and the multibillion-pound bank bailout, the Bank of England said yesterday.
Cutting the base rate to its lowest level in more than 50 years, the Bank said the outlook now was worse than a month ago, with manufacturing and consumer spending in sharp decline.

The Independent says that

Despite intense pressure from the Government and the Bank of England to pass on cuts in the cost of borrowing in full, many mortgage lenders were slow to respond yesterday to the Bank's latest dramatic move.
Only four lenders said they would pass on the 1 percentage point reduction by the Bank in full to their standard variable rate borrowers. HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Woolwich (owned by Barclays) and Bristol & West (a brand of Bank of Ireland) all said they would be reducing SVR by at least the full 1 per cent, while other lenders continued to keep their rates under review.

The Telegraph reports that

Lenders defied Gordon Brown on Thursday by failing to pass on the full one percentage point cut, which left the Bank's rate at two per cent - as low as at any time in its 300-year history.
Halifax, the country's biggest mortgage lender - which recently received £11.5 billion in taxpayers' money in a Government bail-out - said its customers would only enjoy a quarter-point cut to its standard variable rate.
Nationwide, the biggest building society, said it would only pass on two-thirds of the cut. Of Britain's eight biggest banks, just three promised to pass on the cut in full to their customers.

Savers sacrificed as interest rates are slashed to lowest level since 1939 says the Mail

Millions of savers are staring at a desperate future after the Bank of England slashed interest rates yesterday for the third time in three months.
The biggest losers will be the elderly who rely on income from their savings to top up their measly pensions.
Terrifyingly, they could get as little as £4 a year for every £5,000 they have put aside.

Zero interest rates are on the way says the Express

....But don’t expect cheaper loans, just less for savers
Interest rates were slashed to the lowest level in banking history yesterday amid warnings they could plunge to zero per cent.
After months of cautious inactivity, the Bank of England followed last month’s surprise 1.5 per cent cut with a further one per cent reduction yesterday to leave the base rate at two per cent.

17 judges, one ruling - and 857,000 records must be now wiped clear reports the Guardian

The fingerprints and DNA samples of more than 857,000 innocent citizens who have been arrested or charged but never convicted of a criminal offence now face deletion from the national DNA database after a landmark ruling by the European court of human rights in Strasbourg.
In one of their most strongly worded judgments in recent years, the unanimous ruling from the 17 judges, including a British judge, Nicolas Bratza, condemned the "blanket and indiscriminate" nature of the powers given to the police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to retain the DNA samples and fingerprints of suspects who have been released or cleared.

The Mail adds that

Nearly a million innocent citizens could see their profiles deleted from the DNA database following a landmark court ruling.
European judges said it was unlawful for police to store swabs and fingerprints from suspects later cleared of wrongdoing.
In a damning verdict, the 17-strong panel said keeping the records 'could not be regarded as necessary in a democracy'.

The Damien Green affair continues to rumble on,the Telegraph says that

The position of Michael Martin as Speaker of the House of Commons looked increasingly untenable after the Metropolitan Police contradicted his official account of the raid on Damian Green's Parliamentary office

The end for Mr Speaker? says the Mail

The future of Commons Speaker Michael Martin is in growing doubt today after a war of words broke out between him and Scotland Yard over the arrest of senior Tory MP Damian Green.
A poll suggested two-thirds of MPs think Mr Martin should quit after police were allowed to trample centuries of Parliamentary privilege by raiding the Commons without even being asked for a search warrant.

The Independent reports that

Police mole hunts have begun into other Whitehall leaks in addition to the Damian Green investigation, the Home Office disclosed yesterday as in-fighting intensified between Scotland Yard and the Commons authorities over the raid on the Tory MP's office.
Jacqui Smith, who was forced to make an emergency statement to MPs on the affair, suffered the embarrassment of hearing her predecessor as Home Secretary criticising her handling of Mr Green's arrest

School accused of Mumbai terror role opens its doors reports the Guardian

At first sight, they could be the grounds of an English public school, with neatly trimmed lawns and earnest young pupils walking between classes. But this is the site that India believes is the headquarters of the terrorist group responsible for last week's Mumbai attacks.
Boarding houses provide spartan accommodation, and orderly rows of trees line the sprawling site, just outside the eastern city of Lahore. Smartly turned-out pupils perform science experiments in the classrooms, peering into microscopes and connecting electric circuits. There is a farm, a swimming pool and a hospital.

Indian operative 'helped Pakistani militants' says the Telegraph

The discovery is a blow to Indian officials who have blamed the deadly attacks entirely on Pakistani extremists.
As investigators sought to unravel the attack on Mumbai, stepping up questioning of the lone captured gunman, airports across India were put on high alert amid fresh warnings that terrorists planned to hijack an aircraft.

Israeli forces drag illegal settlers from Hebron house reports the Independent

Furious Jewish settlers went on a violent rampage last night after security forces unexpectedly stormed and evacuated a house the settlers had commandeered in the West Bank city of Hebron.
Fire officers said that three Palestinian houses and nine cars were alight, while the Israeli human rights organisation Btselem released a video apparently showing a settler shooting and wounding a Palestinian at close range and other Palestinians retaliating by pelting the gunman with stones.

Meanwhile the Times reports that

Robert Mugabe’s regime declared a national emergency and appealed for international help to combat rampant cholera yesterday in an unprecedented acknowledgement of its failings.
With the official death toll from the cholera epidemic reaching 570 and 13,000 people infected, the Government admitted that Zimbabwe’s once-proud medical system had collapsed and appealed for help even from Britain, which Mr Mugabe has blamed repeatedly for his country’s many problems.

The Telegraph reports that

British missionaries held in Gambia on sedition charge

David and Fiona Fulton, originally from Troon, Scotland, appeared in court accused of attempting the undermine the country's government.
The Christian couple, who are connected with a pentecostal church in Bolton, moved to Africa 12 years ago and have a two-year-old adopted daughter who is also being detained

The Mail reports that

A gifted teenager killed himself with an overdose of painkillers after his comprehensive school sidelined Christianity in favour of 'alternative religions', an inquest heard today.
Tragic Harry Tucker, 15, read the Bible at home because he believed his religious studies teachers focused on the teaching of Islam and Sikhism.
Straight-A student Harry, was also troubled by his own sexuality and what he saw as unfair detentions.

The Sun reports that

A BOSS earning £70k at disgraced Haringey Council worked for the body that ignored warnings of bad practice before Baby P’s death.
MPs were furious last night after ‘independent’ Margaret Allen got a £20,000 pay rise to leave the Commission for Social Care Inspection to take the role.
Whistleblower Nevres Kemal wrote to the CSCI to say out-of-control social workers were putting lives of Haringey kids at risk — six months before tortured Baby P died.

Many of the papers report on the return of JK Rowling

Booksellers hoping Beedle the Bard will bail them out says the Times

J.K. Rowling has returned to sprinkle much-needed magic over Christmas book sales. Year-on-year book sales registered a decline for the first time in seven years last week and a report from the Booksellers Association in November cautioned that its British members were locked in a “vicious circle” of discounting, shrinking growth and smaller profits.
The publication of The Tales of Beedle The Bard yesterday offers a gleam of hope. A year and a half on from the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and last book in the series, bookshops all over the world opened from midnight as Harry Potter mania enjoyed a revival

Finally the Independent reports how

In the US they are going to party like it's 1933

In selected watering holes across America, it's party time tonight. In Washington, the festivities will centre on the venerable City Tavern in Georgetown; for $90 (£61), you can taste the cocktail offerings of the capital's most expert bartenders (or "mixologists" as they like to term themselves), listen to a jazz band and, in the words of the invitation, "party like it's 1933".By now the reason for these goings-on will be plain. Tonight is the 75th anniversary of the end of Prohibition – of 5 December 1933 when Utah became the deciding 36th state to ratify the 21st amendment to the constitution, and restore to the country's citizens the basic human right to go out and have a drink.

2008-12-03T07:47:00.000Z

Many of the papers preview what is goig to be in the Queen's speech this afternoon although they choose differing themes

Hit the banks where it hurts says the Independent

Banks will face huge fines if they do not treat their customers fairly, under a crackdown to be announced by the Government today.
Ministers have decided to turn the voluntary code of practice operated by the banks into a legally-binding one, amid mounting concern that they are flouting their own rules during the credit crunch. The move follows claims that small businesses and individual customers have had the terms and conditions of their loans and overdrafts changed overnight by their banks.

Lie detector test to catch benefit cheats says the Guardian

Benefit claimants will face lie detector tests and will lose benefits for a month if found guilty of fiddling the system under proposals unveiled by Gordon Brown on the eve of today's Queen's speech.
The "one strike and you're out" proposal is contained in a tough summary of the speech released yesterday by the Cabinet Office. The government is also proposing to give the public clearer information, mainly via the internet, on how criminals are sentenced in local courts. Communities are to be given a bigger role in deciding what form of community punishment local criminals should be forced to undertake

Millions of parents to be able to request family-friendly flexible working says the Telegraph

It had been suggested that the move would be delayed or shelved altogether in order to ease the pressure on small businesses struggling to cope with the recession.
Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, last month ordered a review of the proposal to extend flexible working rights from the parents of under-sixes to the 4.5 million with children up to the age of 16, hinting that he was sympathetic to the concerns of employers.

The Mail reports that

State officials are to be given powers previously reserved for times of war to demand a person's proof of identity at any time.
Anybody who refuses the Big Brother demand could face arrest and a possible prison sentence.

The Times chooses not to lead with this afternoo events instead focusing on the decision of De Menezes coroner to rule out unlawful killing verdict

Sir Michael Wright, QC, ruled yesterday that jurors would not be allowed to consider a verdict of unlawful killing. In the closing stages of the 11-week inquest, which has involved 100 witnesses and is estimated to have cost £3 million, Sir Michael said that the evidence did not justify such a conclusion.

But back to events in Parliament

Michael Martin, the Commons Speaker, faces an unprecedented revolt from some of Britain's most senior politicians as the row over the arrest of Damian Green threatens to overshadow one of the great ceremonies of state today.
The affair was set to eclipse Gordon Brown's announcement of his plans for the new parliamentary year with senior opposition figures making clear they would demand an emergency debate into the police raids which have left MPs furious. says the Independent

The Guardian says that

The Metropolitan police conducted a search of Damian Green's parliamentary office last week after being told by the Cabinet Office that a series of leaks to the shadow minister could have posed a threat to national security.
Minutes after the Tories intensified the pressure on the police last night by releasing a short video showing the "rigorous" search, the Met hit back by highlighting the seriousness of the operation

Peter Tobin found guilty of Vicky Hamilton murder is the news in many of the papers

A man already serving a life sentence for rape and murder was convicted yesterday of killing a schoolgirl in what a judge said “must rank among the most evil and horrific acts that any human being could commit”.
Peter Tobin abducted and murdered Vicky Hamilton, 15, as she made her way home from visiting her sister in February 1991. He then cut her body in two. says the Times

The Mail says that

Peter Tobin, 62, abducted, sexually assaulted and killed 15-year-old Vicky Hamilton, before cutting up her body and hiding it.
A month later he drove the remains hundreds of miles from Scotland in his van and buried them in the garden of his new home in Kent.
Today a judge told Tobin he was unfit to live in decent society.

Meanwhile it reports that

School run mother hit and left for dead by car thief 'without morals' as she scraped frost from windscreen

A mother was fighting for her life last night after being ambushed by a car-jacker who pounced as she scraped ice from the windscreen.
The attacker ran down Caroline Johnson, 46, with her own car as he fled.
Miss Johnson, a receptionist, had been preparing to take her 13-year-old son Jason on the school run and had left her engine running just yards from her front door.

One in 10 children suffer abuse, say experts reports the Guardian

The true scale of the maltreatment of children in the UK is revealed by child abuse experts today who say that one in 10 suffers physical, sexual, emotional abuse or neglect.
Unlike Baby P, who died in Haringey, north London, while on the at-risk register after months of abuse and neglect, most maltreated children are not even referred to the authorities

Terrorist triggers alert for 'sister' who guided him reports the Telegraph

A Mumbai terrorist captured by police has confirmed to interrogators that a woman in Islamic dress guided him around the city before and after the attackers went on a shooting spree.Investigators said that an urgent alert had been issued to officers to find the woman referred to by Azam Amir Qasab as "sister."
Eyewitnesses had seen Qasab buying dried fruit with the burqa-wearing woman near Mumbai's main train just minutes before the attack was launched.

Fear of Mumbai-style attack prompts UK security review says the Independent

MPs are to carry out a review of national security policy amid fears that Britain is exposed to a Mumbai-style attack, The Independent has learnt.
Security agencies are aware that home-grown Muslim extremists may attempt to carry out copycat assaults on "soft targets" in the UK, modelled on what took place in India

The Guardian reports that

US warned India of attack by Islamist militants,

a revelation that will add to public anger over apparent security lapses and missed chances to stop the attack on Mumbai.
Although the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined yesterday to comment on intelligence shared with allies round the world, a serving intelligence source confirmed to the Guardian that a warning had been passed to Indian counterparts.

The Times reports that

Thailand airports re-open as week long siege ends

As the militants from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) brought their crippling seven day siege of Bangkok's airports to an end and began their exodus, the international airport opened early this morning and the first flight arrived from Phuket, in Southern Thailand

The events at the British Lapland continue to get reported,the Sun leads with

SCARED elves at a grotty Christmas grotto have been pulled out after Santa and three of his little helpers were attacked by angry parents.
Twenty-five staff were told by their temping agency to quit Lapland New Forest, while a gate worker fled after being assaulted.
The park has been blasted for charging a “rip-off” £30 entrance fee – despite being branded a “glorified car-boot sale” in a muddy field.

Knut bears brunt of financial crisis reports the Indy

The world's most famous polar bear is to be banished from Berlin zoo because of lack of cash – the first ursine victim of the credit crunch.
Knut the polar bear, who now weighs 210kg, turns two on Friday. But Berlin zoo will not be holding a party for its famous inmate, who has lived there since birth, announcing plans for his imminent eviction instead.

2008-12-02T04:38:00.004Z

Following yesterday's independent report into events in Haringay's child protection policy,Baby P returns to the headlines in many of the papers this morning.

Devastating report reveals Baby P failings says the Guardian

The head of children's services in the London borough where Baby P died after months of persistent injury and neglect was dismissed from her post yesterday as the government responded to a damning report into the council's failings.
On a day which saw two senior figures on Haringey council resign within hours of the report hitting ministers' desks, Ed Balls, the children's secretary, removed Sharon Shoesmith from control of the borough's children's department. He described the findings of the review as "devastating

The Times reports that

Social workers will face annual spot checks as part of sweeping changes to children’s care after the tragedy

Thousands more children at risk says the Independent

Thousands of Britain's most vulnerable children are at risk because councils are failing to move swiftly enough to protect them from abuse, it emerged last night.
Dozens of local authorities are taking inadequate action to avoid repetition of serious abuse cases, warned the head of the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted).

It's not enough says the Sun

BOSSES finally took action against six council bunglers in the Baby P tragedy last night, but stopped short of firing them — and all are still on full pay.
Shamed Sharon Shoesmith was suspended after a report on the scandal was handed to Children’s Secretary Ed Balls.
Yet she continues to receive the £110,000 salary paid to her as head of children’s services in Haringey, North London.

The Telegraph leads with Cabinet in secret meeting over raid on Tory

The Independent says that

The Home Office mole who leaked secret papers to the Tory MP Damian Green broke cover yesterday to insist that he was acting in the public interest and to accuse police of a massive overreaction.
Christopher Galley admitted being in regular contact with the shadow Immigration minister, whose arrest has provoked a constitutional uproar over the freedom of MPs

The Guardian reports that

Galley's appearance came as Ken Jones, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, defended the Metropolitan police action in arresting Green, a shadow Home Office spokesman, saying that no person, regardless of their station, should be given the opportunity to influence an inquiry in their favour.
David Cameron is expected to ask two Conservative heavyweights, Ken Clarke and Michael Howard, to lead his party's assault on Gordon Brown and the Commons Speaker over Green's arrest when MPs return to Westminster tomorrow

According to the Mail

Labour was accused of plotting a political 'stitch up' with the Speaker as the furore over the arrest of Tory MP Damian Green raged on.
Plans for a secret ministerial meeting were revealed when an email from Harriet Harman, the leader of the Commons, fell into Tory hands.

There is much coverage of Hillary Clinton being confirmed as Secretary of State

President-Elect Barack Obama has declared that the United States should maintain the "strongest military on the planet", while aiming to restore his country's global moral leadership.

says the Telegraph

The Guardian reports that

A naive and irresponsible politician, prone to distorting the facts, awarded a crucial role in his cabinet yesterday to a deeply flawed has-been who is neither honest nor trustworthy - or so you might have imagined had you relied on the character judgments that each had previously made of the other.
But all that nastiness belonged to another, long-vanished era, the prehistoric period geologists refer to as "last spring". Barack Obama's much-anticipated announcement that Hillary Clinton would be his secretary of state, by contrast, dwelt almost exclusively on the future. Which left only a few hundred lingering questions.

The Mail leads with

How NHS betrayed Alzheimer's patients

The scandal of widespread cutbacks in NHS care affecting thousands of Alzheimer's patients is exposed today.
Almost one in three health trusts admits axing vital services such as district nurses and day centres, leaving desperate families to struggle alone.
Fewer than half are running clinics to spot early signs of Alzheimer's despite soaring numbers of patients.

12 years to halve UK CO2 says the Independent

Britain should adopt the world's toughest climate change target and slash nearly half of its greenhouse gas emissions in the next 12 years, the Government's new climate advisory committee said yesterday in its first report.
Emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases causing global warming should be cut by 42 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020, as long as there is a new global climate deal in a UN meeting in Copenhagen a year from now, said the Committee on Climate Change

Another day of bad economic news

Hundreds of job losses have been announced by Aston Martin and HSBC, as the gloom engulfing the banking and motor industries hit some of its highest profile companies.

reports the Telegraph adding that

Nearly a third of Aston Martin's workforce is set to be laid off as the car maker became the latest victim of the global economic crisis.
HSBC, which is making 500 staff redundant across the UK, is the latest bank to announce cutbacks

Shoppers paying less at checkout as VAT is cut says the Guardian

Many shoppers found yesterday that the price at the till was less than the one on the label, as the cut in VAT came into effect.
Alistair Darling announced last week that standard value added tax would be cut from 17.5% to 15% for 13 months, to raise consumer confidence. The reduction would cost the government £12.5bn in lost revenue and retailers £200m as they reprice items.

The Express meanwhile believes there is a secret plot to join the Euro

MINISTERS are secretly plotting to scrap the pound and force Britain into adopting the euro, the top bureaucrat in Brussels revealed yesterday.
The President of the European Commission admitted holding talks with “the people who matter in Britain” about the country joining the European single currency.
He claimed senior figures in the Government felt that the move could prevent a sterling crisis and help to ease the effects of recession.

The Independent reports that

The world's stock markets suffered another round of falls yesterday as the body regarded as the arbiter of US recessions said the American economy's 73-month economic expansion ended in December 2007.
The news came as surveys of business confidence across continents displayed further catastrophic declines. The US economy decreased at an annualised rate of 0.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2008, having grown by an annualised 2.8 per cent in the second quarter

The Guardian claims that

The government will announce further stringent welfare reforms today which would force lone parents with children aged one or more to prepare themselves for work or face benefit sanctions.
The proposals, likely to provoke a confrontation in tomorrow's Queen's speech, represent a further extension of the government's responsibilities agenda. Ministers already faced a backlash over aspects of the planned welfare reform bill as lobbyists argued plans to tighten sanctions and give private contractors a bigger role in job placement, should be shelved in view of the recession.

The news from India is relegated to the inside pages but there is still much coverage

Western governments are trying to prevent a breakdown in relations between Asia's two nuclear powers after India accused Pakistan of allowing terrorists to mount the attacks on Mumbai

says the Telegraph

The Guardian reports that

Condoleezza Rice yesterday called on full Pakistani cooperation with the investigation into the Mumbai attacks, saying they represented a "critical moment" in the new civilian government's efforts to wrest control of Pakistan's security services.
The outgoing US secretary of state said she did not want to "jump to conclusions", but made it clear during a visit to London yesterday that she expected Islamabad would have to answer for the attacks which left nearly 200 people dead last week.

Meanwhile the Sun reports that

THE blood and the bodies had gone. But the bullet holes and fear remained as Mumbai stirred anxiously from its terrorist nightmare yesterday.
Travellers once more bustled around Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station just five days after it ran red with the blood of dozens of innocents.
And the iconic Leopold Cafe bar — where eight died in a hail of bullets and grenade shrapnel — was packed with customers bravely refusing to be daunted by the outrage, feared to have claimed 172 lives.

The Mirror reports on the new jackets that those doing community service have to wear

A group of workers chopping down weeds around a quiet playing field wouldn’t normally attract much attention.
But this isn’t any group of workers.
As of yesterday, offenders carrying out community service in your area now have to wear a “vest of shame” – a high-visibility jacket emblazoned with the words “community payback”.
On the scheme’s first day the Mirror joined a group of offenders clearing up weeds and shrubs.
The vests – orange to differentiate them from the yellow outfits of construction or council workers – will soon become a common sight as convicts wear them while doing manual labour on Britain’s streets.

The Mail reports on more problems for the BBC

Days after the BBC promised to clean up its act following the Andrew Sachs debacle, it has been forced into a fresh apology over lewd behaviour.
Doctor Who actor John Barrowman exposed himself during a live broadcast at 8.15pm on Sunday.
Although the programme was on Radio 1, pictures were also relayed to online listeners via a webcam.

Finally many of the papers report from Santa's Grotty

KIDS were left in tears after parents spent up to £30 each to visit this bleak, muddy Santa’s grotto.
Visitors were promised an entrancing nativity scene, a magical tunnel of light and a spectacular ice rink.
But hundreds of punters found a few strings of fairy lights which were switched off, a sprinkling of fake snow – and no rink as the generator was broken.

reports the Sun

The Mail adds that

Last night, more than 250 families who visited the event at Matchams Leisure Park on the Hampshire/Dorset border were venting their fury on the Facebook social networking website.
They renamed it 'crapland' and 'winter blunderland'.
Some have also contacted the RSPCA to report concerns about the animals.

2008-11-28T06:38:00.003Z

The attacks in India continue to dominate the newspapers this morning

Indian soldiers stormed the last hideouts of Islamist militants in Mumbai yesterday after a day of bloody confrontation that left 120 dead, hundreds injured and the country's prime minister pointing the finger of blame at "external forces".
Over 24 hours, gangs of heavily armed young men had attacked two luxury hotels, a hospital, a popular restaurant and a railway station. Trapped by gunfire and explosions were bankers, businessmen and women, actors and members of an ultra-orthodox Jewish group - many of whom were freed by security forces.

reports the Guardian

The Independent reports that

Confusion swirled as reports of the sieges being over were swiftly followed by reports of fresh gunfire and new explosions, and the Israeli and Italian authorities said their nationals were still being held hostage more than 24 hours after the ordeal began. But there were hopes the violent drama might be drawing to a close as police appeared to be gaining the upper hand.

The Times meanwhile reports that

The only Briton confirmed to have died in the terror attacks in Bombay gave a harrowing account of the unfolding drama just moments before he was shot dead.
Andreas Liveras, 73, a British yachting tycoon who emigrated from Cyprus to London in 1963, telephoned the BBC from a locked room in the Taj Mahal Palace hotel as terrorists fired AK47 automatic rifles and set off grenades outside.
“The hotel is shaking every time a bomb goes off,” he said. “Everybody is just living on their nerves.”
Hours later, at 9.30pm local time, Mr Liveras was pronounced dead by doctors at St George’s hospital. The circumstances of his death remain unclear, but a hospital spokesman said that he had been shot “multiple times”.

The Telegraph tells how A British man told how he escaped gunfire from Mumbai's (formerly Bombay) Taj Mahal hotel.

Mark Coutts-Smith described how he saw terrorists roam through the hotel setting off bombs and starting fires after fleeing along with other guests.
He explained the panic as desperate people tried to escape. Those that fled then watched the terror unfold from the nearby Gateway to India.
"It was dreadful to be so powerless and imagine what was happening to people still inside. There were just five of us foreigners who got out early, but gradually groups of people who had hidden in various locations around the hotel came dashing out and we gradually pieced together the events," the fifty-three-year-old from Hertfordshire said.

Boy from Hell says the Sun reporting how

A BABY-FACED gunman coolly walks through the hellish carnage in Mumbai after terrorists unleashed an attack that killed at least 119 people.
One Briton was last night known to be dead in the horror in India which shocked the world. He was Cyprus-born tycoon Andreas Liveras, 73, of Newark, Notts.

Home-grown militants are prime suspects says the Guardian

The Mumbai attacks are unique in the history of recent violent militancy, Islamist or otherwise. As Indian security agencies race to work out who was behind them they will be negotiating a maze of conflicting clues.
A group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen claimed the operation. The name indicates a local group - the Deccan is the central Indian plateau - and a probable link to the Indian Mujahideen who started a bloody bombing campaign a year ago.

The Independent adds that

Two questions hang over the massacres, for which Indian security forces appear to have been completely unprepared: who did it, and why?
Security analysts said yesterday that, while the involvement of al-Qa'ida could not be ruled out after foreigners were targeted for the first time in a major Indian attack, initial suspicions focus on home-grown Islamic militant groups which have become a major concern for authorities.

Away from India and the main news at home is that Terror police seize Tory MP Damian Green over 'immigration leaks to the media'

A senior Conservative frontbencher was sensationally arrested by anti-terror police yesterday.
Shadow immigration minister Damian Green also had his home, his Commons and constituency offices searched over claims that he leaked confidential Government documents.
The arrest, in an operation described by Mr Green's colleagues as ' Stalinesque', plunged the Tories into an unprecedented row with the police and the Government.

The Times reports that

The Metropolitan Police denied any ministerial involvement in the decision to arrest Mr Green. “A 52-year-old man . . . has been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office and aiding and abetting, counselling or procuring misconduct in a public office,” it said.

The Telegraph reports that

Thai protesters brace for raids on Bangkok

after Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat declared a limited state of emergency authorizing police to take back the terminals. Mr Wongsawat's elected government is struggling for survival amid mounting rumours of a military coup.
The city's second airport, Don Muang, which carries mostly domestic traffic, was closed on Thursday morning after being overrun by anti-government protesters, severing the last air-link between the city of 8 million people and the outside world.

The Mail continues to probe the case of the British Fritzl

A single doctor examined the pregnant daughters of the 'British Fritzl' for two decades and never suspected anything sinister within the 'peculiar' family.
Dr Thakur Singh could not say why, incredibly, he never spotted the vile incest before him when he saw the pregnant daughters on dozens of occasions when they were being kept as sex slaves by their father.
Battered and raped almost weekly, the girls were made pregnant 19 times during 28 years, but the family's long-serving GP said he did not realise they were being abused.
Over a 20-year period, Dr Singh tended to the girls countless times – first for childhood ailments and later for various issues and complications

The Sun meanwhile has an exclusive

TWO sisters who had nine children by their rapist father have told The Sun how they even pretended to their MOTHER that other men were to blame for their pregnancies. Last night the sisters told how they had begged their father to stop the torture.
One said she even began PAYING the benefits-obsessed 56-year-old not to abuse her.

Baby P 'could have ended up a parasite' reports the Independent

The head of one of the country's leading charities provoked anger yesterday after he suggested that Baby P could have grown up to be "feral, a parasite, helping to infest our streets".
Martin Narey, the chief executive of Barnardo's, was accused of being "insensitive and provocative" after focusing on the case of the little boy who died in a blood-splattered cot after months of abuse. Charities and MPs insisted he should have steered clear of focusing on an individual case, particularly one that had engendered such an outpouring of sympathy.

Shannon's mother sobs as she denies involvement in kidnap conspiracy reports the Guardian

Matthews' trial was adjourned to allow her to recover after an hour of gulping and choking back sobs, as she claimed she was told to take the blame for the failed plot - to claim a £50,000 reward for finding the schoolgirl - because she was a woman without convictions who "would get off lightly".
More than 50 times in two hours she denied involvement in the kidnap, after walking the few yards to the witness box from the dock at Leeds crown court where she has sat silently for a fortnight. She repeatedly answered "I did not" and "no" as barristers asked her about alleged bullying, threats and lies surrounding the nine-year-old's disappearance from her home in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, for 24 days in February and March.

The Times reports that

Support for Gordon Brown plummets over economic rescue

according to a special Populus poll for The Times. This shows that only just over a third of voters think that the Government’s measures to boost the economy will make things better in either the short or long term.
As many people think that the package announced on Monday by Alistair Darling will “make no real difference to the economy”. But fewer than a fifth believe that the measures will make things worse in the short term, over the next few months, and a quarter say that they will get worse in the long term, over the next few years.

The Independent says that

A Conservative Government would start to dismantle the generous pensions schemes enjoyed by 4.5 million public sector workers, David Cameron has said.
But the Tory leader will not spell out his plans in detail before the next general election for fear of provoking a backlash from workers and their families, which could harm his party's prospects on polling day. His move will put pressure on Labour to reconsider its support for the inflation-proof final salary schemes for civil servants, teachers, NHS workers, local government staff, the police and armed forces.

The Mail reports that

With nearly 900 Facebook ‘friends’, schools minister Jim Knight is an enthusiastic participant in the social networking craze sweeping the country.
Which is why a lecture to parents about the long hours their children spend on the addictive site has laid him open to accusations of hypocrisy.
Yesterday, Mr Knight told them it was their responsibility to stop youngsters from obsessively ‘cultivating their empire of Facebook friends’.

The Express reports that

The number of criminals jailed each year has plunged to the lowest level since Labour came to power, it was revealed last night.
Fewer than 96,000 offenders were given prison sentences by the courts in 2007, the lowest number since 1997.

Finally the Telegraph reports that

The Vatican has warned that our obsession with modern technology, such as the internet and mobile phones, is not leaving people enough time for spiritual pursuits.Father Federico Lombardi, the Pope’s spokesman, said that without a spiritual life, people risked losing their souls.
“In the age of the cell phone and the internet it is probably more difficult than before to protect silence and to nourish the interior dimension of life,” Father Lombardi told the Vatican television show Octavia Dies. “It is difficult but necessary.”

2008-11-27T07:38:00.004Z

Massacre at Mumbai is the headline on the front of the Independent

Suspected Islamist gunmen launched waves of attacks in the heart of India's financial capital, taking many foreigners hostage in two of the city's plushest hotels, police said today.
The late-night attacks sent shockwaves through an economy already under strain. Authorities closed stock, bond and foreign exchanges as commandos and armed police laid siege to the gunmen.
At least 101 people were killed, including six foreigners, police said. Another 287 people were wounded in the attacks, which were claimed by the little-known Deccan Mujahideen group.

The Guardian reports that

At least 80 people were believed killed, with 10 shot dead at Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus, formerly known as Victoria terminus, one of the two big stations in central Mumbai. Shots and explosions were reported in eight locations across India's financial capital including the crowded CST railway station, and two five-star hotels, the Taj Mahal and Oberoi Trident , leaving hundreds injured. At least 11 police officers including Maharashtra's anti-terrorism squad chief, Hemant Karkare, were killed in the attacks. Karakare was killed in a bomb blast at the Oberoi Trident.

The Times says that

Police with loudspeakers declared a curfew around the Taj Mahal hotel, where at least two gunmen are still holding a number of hostages, many of them British and American.
Green uniformed soldiers were seen entering the Taj hotel and the Oberoi. Ambulances were moved close to the Taj in what might signal the start of a police assault on the building and its occupiers

The atrocities in India moved yesterday's other big story off many of the front pages but the Telegraph leads with the news that 30,000 staff at Woolworths face the axe

Tens of thousands of retail jobs were at risk last night after the collapse of both Woolworths and MFI.
The board of Woolworths appointed Deloitte as administrators to its retail business and specialist distributor EUK after crisis negotiations with its lenders broke down following a week of talks. The talks collapsed despite a last minute intervention by the Government

The Express leads with the story

As new figures revealed that retail spending has plunged at its fastest rate in 13 years, both famous chains were forced to call in administrators.
Stunned analysts described the joint collapse as a “bloodbath on the High Street” and warned of mass redundancies of Woolies’ 30,000 staff and the closure of many of its 815 stores.

The Independent pays its respects to the High Street chain

Let's pause to consider the colossal significance of that. Despite its American roots, Woolworths managed, from the moment it arrived on our shores, to assume a quintessentially British identity. Unlike McDonald's incongruous golden arches or GAP's preppy khakis, "Woolies" seemed to be the perfect fit for the British high street. Its enduring contribution to our national consumer culture could be the pick'n'mix counter, which still dominates the front of every branch. To stand on the store's peeling linoleum beneath strip lighting and scoop jelly babies into a paper bag is to enjoy an experience familiar to every generation since 1945. The chain survived the austerity of the post-war years, the Winter of Discontent, the boom and bust of the Eighties and Nineties

Meanwhile the political battle over the economy continues,Parties clash on claims of VAT rises says the Guardian

Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling faced Conservative claims yesterday, which they failed to deny, that the government had considered pushing VAT up to 20% in 2012 and not just the 18.5% leaked on a government website on Tuesday night.
During exchanges in the Commons, Brown was challenged by David Cameron, the Tory leader, and Darling by George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, to deny that they had ever considered increasing VAT to 20% as the best way of fixing the hole in the government's finances. But Brown and Darling said a range of options had been considered.

The Times says that

The Chancellor was forced to backtrack on a key element of his Pre-Budget Report (PBR) on Wednesday after he admitted that the Treasury had got its sums wrong and raised the duty on spirits by too much.
The proposed duty rise of 8 per cent announced on Monday, part of a package of duty increases designed to offset the cut in VAT from 17.5 per cent to 15 per cent, has been halved to 4 per cent to leave the cost to the consumer broadly unchanged

'British Fritzl' got sex slave daughters pregnant 19 times to milk thousands in child support

says the Mail

The extraordinary allegations were made by the man's sister-in-law, who also revealed the full horror of her nieces' 28-year ordeal.
Care officials squandered a staggering 150 chances to save the two sisters who were kept as sex slaves by their father.
He repeatedly impregnated them - under the noses of social workers and other professionals who repeatedly failed to halt the abuse.

The Independent reporting that

Social services conceded yesterday that there were systematic shortcomings in the handling of the case of two women repeatedly raped and made pregnant 19 times by their tyrannical father over 27 years.
And the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown said everyone in the UK would be "utterly appalled" by the "unspeakable" plight of the sisters who now have seven children between them as a result of the incestuous attacks

The Sun meanwhile leads with

SIX Sun journalists carry sacks bulging with signatures to No10 Downing Street yesterday — spelling out a nation’s fury over tortured Baby P.
It took 100 bags to hold our petition containing 1.2MILLION names, all telling PM Gordon Brown that social workers who let the tragic lad die must go.

Climate change watchdog backs expansion of Heathrow reports the Guardian

The UK could meet its ambitious pledge to slash greenhouse gas pollution even if ministers give the go-ahead to expanding Heathrow airport, the government's leading climate change adviser has signalled.
This week the chairman of the government's Environment Agency, Lord Smith of Finsbury, joined critics who say that adding a third runway at Britain's biggest airport would destroy the government's promise to tackle climate change, and increase local air and noise pollution to intolerable levels.

According to the Telegraph, Obama plans 20,000 troop surge to boost Afghan effort

The President-Elect's intention to shift the focus of the fight against terrorism to Afghanistan has been bolstered by Robert Gates agreement to stay on as Defence Secretary.
Mr Gates is a strong believer in an Afghan surge, which would not only put thousands more boots on the ground but involve negotiations with malleable branches of the Taliban.

Bangkok completely closed off by protesters reports the Times

Thai anti-government protesters have shut down Bangkok's second airport, effectively isolating the city from the rest of the world.
A day after they forced the closure of the main international airport, stranding thousands of passengers including British holidaymakers, supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) surrounded the Don Mueang airport, from where many of the country's domestic flights depart.

According to the Mail,Teenage muggers to be let off if they say sorry under new plans

First-time offenders given a Youth Restorative Disposal will receive no formal record provided they do not break the law again.
The architects of the YRD, to be tested in eight counties, say it will give 10 to 17-year-olds who commit 'low-level crimes' a chance to 'take responsibility' for their actions.

The Independent reports that

A lesbian soldier whose career in the Army collapsed after she was sexually harassed by a male sergeant who claimed he could "turn her straight" won nearly £190,000 compensation yesterday. The Ministry of Defence was ordered to make the payout to Lance Bombardier Kerry Fletcher after she was routinely pestered for sex during her time at an Army stables in RAF Topcliffe in North Yorkshire.

Finally it is amonth until Xmas and the Guardian reports that

A Santa Claus was removed from his grotto after a woman complained that he asked if she wanted to sit on his lap, despite warnings about his behaviour by his helper elf.
Andrew Mondia, 32, who says he was sacked from the central London Selfridges store after only three days on Monday, said: "I had no intention of offending her, I just wanted to include her in the moment. Christmas is for adults too.
"I was just being my innocent usual self. I was shocked when they told me. I couldn't believe I've been sacked for being too friendly."

2008-11-26T07:37:00.001Z

Both the Guardian and the Telegraph share the same story this morning

David Cameron accused the Government of "planning a secret tax bombshell" after official documents disclosed that ministers prepared to increase VAT to 18.5 per cent after the next election says the Telegraph adding that

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, announced on Monday in his pre-Budget report that VAT would be cut by 2 per cent from 17.5 per cent for 13 months. In January 2010 the rate of VAT will revert to 17.5 per cent.
However, a legal document laid before Parliament states that VAT will "subsequently increase to 18.5 per cent in 2011-12". It is signed by Stephen Timms, a junior Treasury Minister.

The Guardian says that

The Treasury was last night forced to deny that Alistair Darling was drawing up secret plans to raise VAT to 18.5% in the next parliament in an attempt to fill the black hole in the government's finances created by the recession and the massive stimulus package announced on Monday.
Officials insisted that a document outlining an intention to raise VAT to a record rate had been put on a website by mistake, and the chancellor had rejected the idea before Monday's pre-budget report.

The Express also leads with the story

Secret plans for swingeing rises in council tax and VAT were exposed in Treasury documents last night.
Budget details revealed that ministers expect council tax to rocket by an inflation-busting 10 per cent over the next two years

Meanwhile the Mail reports on a cut-throat Christmas

Stores are going head to head in a savage Christmas price war.
Desperate to get families to open their wallets, supermarkets and retailers are falling over each other to offer discounts.
From today, Tesco is cutting prices by up to 50 per cent on 1,000 lines including bicycles, cameras and digital music players.

Price-cut frenzy in sales war says the Telegraph adding that

Synovate Retail Performance, a market research company, predicted that the number of shopping trips across Britain would fall by 7.3 per cent next month compared with last December. Tim Denison, a spokesman, said: "Lack of confidence and heightened concerns over job security seem to be uppermost in influencing attitudes and behaviour, taking precedence over falls in energy and fuel prices, interest rates and VAT.

The Guardian reports that

US pumps another $800bn into mortgage and credit markets

US authorities escalated their economic firefighting programme yesterday by pumping $800bn (£500bn) into the mortgage and consumer credit markets, amid further confirmation of a rapidly deteriorating outlook.
The latest move exceeds the $700bn troubled asset relief programme, or Tarp, that performed a taxpayer-backed rescue on the US banking system and, according to economists, underlines how the credit crisis has spread from the corporate to the consumer sphere

Both the Times and the Independent also have the same lead story

A major investigation has been launched into the failings of police and social services in two counties after a man was jailed for raping his two daughters and fathering nine of his own grandchildren.
The 56-year-old businessman from Sheffield held his daughters virtual prisoners for 25 years, moving them around houses in South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire to avoid detection. reorts the former

The Independent says that

An urgent review is under way into how it was that 10 of the children conceived by the women – who had been repeatedly beaten, abused and raped since the age of eight and 10 – were miscarried or terminated, yet their mothers' plight failed to come to the attention of welfare workers.
Judge Alan Goldsack QC said: "As a result of this case, questions will inevitably be asked about what professionals, social and medical workers, have been doing for the last 20 years."

On a similar subject the Sun says Thanks a Million to its readers

THE Sun’s petition demanding justice for Baby P rocketed past a MILLION signatures last night.
A record 1,146,000 share our outrage and back our crusade for those who failed the tortured tot to be fired.The message to Gordon Brown could not be clearer as The Sun today delivers its million-plus petition for Baby P’s social workers to be sacked: The PEOPLE have spoken.

Many of the papers report on the protests at Bangkok airport

British holidaymakers trying to return home have been stranded in Bangkok after the country's main airport was occupied by anti-government protesters.
With all flights in and out of the Thai capital cancelled, around 3,000 passengers are crowding the $4 billion terminal, a regional hub and the gateway for 40 million passengers a year.
Amid scenes of chaos, tourists camped on the airport floors complained they'd had nothing to eat or drink since the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) stormed the airport late night. Today, the protesters took over the control tower and said airlines would have to ask permission from them to land says the Times

According to the Independent

Tribal chiefs offered UK 'bribes' to fight Taliban

Britain plans to pay tribal elders in Helmand province monthly cash "bribes" as part of a controversial "Afghan Awakening" scheme to raise the tribes against the Taliban.
British officials in Kabul are bankrolling an Afghan initiative to pay community leaders monthly wages to get them talking to the government.

The Sun reports that

THE father of murdered 17-year-old Hannah Foster yesterday said her killer should DIE in jail.
Heartbroken Trevor Foster, who believes in the death penalty, spoke out after sex beast Maninder Pal Singh Kohli was given a 24-year sentence.

'We were a normal family. Then he ripped out my heart'reports the Guardian

Maninder Pal Singh Kohli was sentenced to life yesterday for the kidnap, murder and rape of 17-year-old Hannah Foster, five and a half years after her death. Yesterday in court her aunt, Jill Lewis, read this powerful victim impact statement written by Hannah's mother, Hilary.

Pubs and clubs told to bring an end to happy hours reports the Times

The Government is considering the introduction of cigarette-style health warnings on bottles and cans containing alcoholic drinks. Ministers also want television adverts for alcohol to carry warnings of the danger of drinking to excess.
The new regulations to deal with excessive drinking and to tackle alcohol-prompted violence and disorder are contained in a code of practice to be imposed on the drinks industry. Whitehall has recommended that the code be mandatory but a final decision has yet to be taken by the Prime Minister, The Times has learnt

According to the Express

Britain's first NHS clinic for gambling addicts opened yesterday – close to three casinos.
The National Problem Gambling Clinic will treat some of Britain’s 250,000 addicts.
But its location in London’s Soho and about 300 yards from three big casinos raised eyebrows

Many of the papers carry the story of the Primary school teacher 'spent up to four hours on Facebook and eBay during lessons'

Sian Mediana, 40, was surfing the internet on the class computer for up to four hours a day while her pupils sat feet away.
The disciplinary hearing was told that during lessons she bought and sold goods on eBay, went to social networking sites such as Facebook and did her online banking. reports the Mail

Finally the Telegraph reports that

Stress of modern life cuts attention spans to five minutes

The pressures of modern life are affecting our ability to focus on the task in hand, with work stress cited as the major distraction, it said.
Declining attention spans are causing household accidents such as pans being left to boil over on the hob, baths allowed to overflow, and freezer doors left open, the survey suggests.
A quarter of people polled said they regularly forget the names of close friends or relatives, and seven per cent even admitted to momentarily forgetting their own birthdays.

2008-11-25T07:27:00.002Z

The front pages are dominated by the Pre Budget report this morning.

The Mail says that it marks the day that New Labour died

Old Labour came roaring back yesterday as Gordon Brown gambled his future on a high-tax, high-borrowing £20billion giveaway.
The Premier sounded the death knell for New Labour by promising to hit the middle classes and target the rich if he wins another term.
His Chancellor Alistair Darling told the Commons: 'We should all share fairly in the burdens of the future

Into the Red says the Times

In a Robin Hood-style budget statement of breathtaking scope, the Chancellor asked 800,000 people who earn more than £100,000 to bear the brunt of a package of deferred tax rises designed to bring down borrowing in 2010, when it will reach a record peak of £118 billion, or 8 per cent of national income

The Independent says Brown goes for broke

His landmark mini-Budget was a pivotal moment which will shape British politics for years ahead and presents voters with a stark choice between two very different futures: a European-style social democracy under Labour, in which the better off pay higher taxes to maintain public services, or a nation of lower taxes and state spending under the Tories

The £21bn tax gamble says the Guardian

Darling promised to kick-start the economy by bringing forward both consumer and public spending, but admitted that it would take the government the length of the next parliament and more to restore the public finances to health through a much tougher than planned clampdown on public spending growth and increases in taxes.

The Telegraph reports that

Millions of higher rate taxpayers - those earning more than £40,000 - will be worse off after the Chancellor unveiled plans to raise the level of National Insurance payments.
People with salaries of more than £150,000 will see a further 5p rise in their income tax rate - a decision that brings to an end Gordon Brown's 11-year-old commitment to not raise the top rate of tax.

The Express has the same lead,Middle Britain bashed says its front page

ALISTAIR Darling last night clobbered the country with a brutal £40billion tax bill.
Middle Britain was left to count the cost as Labour’s “giveaway” mini-budget turned out to be the biggest tax raid in living memory.
Tax cuts now will be paid for by tax rises for years to come

The Sun reports that

ALISTAIR Darling launched a new Thunderbirds-style rescue mission yesterday to help Britain survive the slump — but gambled Britain’s future on massive borrowing.
Last month The Sun depicted the Chancellor as an International Rescue hero tackling the banking crisis.
Now he is the puppet master behind a NATIONAL rescue. But there are massive strings attached.

Fiscal recovery is not confined to Britain

Team Obama promises huge jolt to economy reports the Guardian

President-elect Barack Obama yesterday promised an extraordinary multibillion-dollar economic package to deliver a jolt to the US and stave off what he described as a "crisis of historic proportions".
Obama, introducing his new economic team of Tim Geithner as treasury secretary and Larry Summers as his White House economics adviser, stressed that the scale of the recession required action by the US in tandem with other governments. His team will reach out to other countries to coordinate efforts, he said.

The Telegraph adds

He refused to put an estimate of the cost, but Larry Summers, the new chairman of the national economic council, has suggested it would need to be as large as $700 billion – in addition to the bail-out of the same amount agreed by Congress last month.

'Outlaws' guilty of killing Hell's Angel reports the Independent

Two members of the Outlaws biker gang have been found guilty of murdering a rival Hell's Angel who was shot dead on the M40 after a biker festival last year.
Simon Turner, 41, from Nuneaton, and Dane Garside, 42, from Coventry, were convicted of shooting Gerry Tobin as he rode home from the Bulldog Bash event near Stratford-Upon-Avon last August. The two men were also found guilty of a firearms charge.

The Times reports that more dentists will quit NHS as thousands billed over missed targets

Dentists will be required to refund £120 million to the health service because they failed to treat enough NHS patients last year, The Times has learnt.
About half of dental practices have fallen short of targets for NHS treatment agreed with local health authorities, meaning dentists will have to pay back tens of thousands of pounds each.

Zimbabwe on brink of collapse reports the Guardian

The situation in Zimbabwe may soon "implode" as a cholera outbreak spreads and basic services collapse, South African leaders and a group of international statesmen warned yesterday.
On the eve of talks in South Africa between Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and opposition rivals, South African leaders sharply upgraded their crisis assessment and warned of Zimbabwe's imminent collapse if urgent action was not taken

Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change should enter a unity government with Robert Mugabe to protect the country from a humanitarian disaster, the global statesmen of the Elders and the South African government have said

reports the Telegraph and the paper adds

Since the power-sharing agreement was signed in September it has been hamstrung by disputes over the distribution of ministries, which Mr Mugabe allocated unilaterally, leading to fears he will dominate the new structure.
In the meantime, the country's implosion has continued, with hyperinflation independently estimated in the sextillions, millions in need of food aid, and hundreds dying of cholera.

The Independent reports that

A woman hiding a bomb under her long robe blew herself up yesterday among Iraqis waiting to enter the US-protected Green Zone, where lawmakers plan to vote this week on a pact that would let American forces stay in Iraq for up to three more years.
The morning attack in central Baghdad killed seven people, by an Iraqi count, and came about 45 minutes after a bomb destroyed a minibus carrying Trade Ministry employees in the eastern part of the capital.

A top al-Qaeda explosives expert was the main target of the US spy-drone attack in Pakistan last weekend and not the British terrorism suspect who also apparently died in the strike, .
Abu Zubair al-Masri, an Egyptian described as being “high up in the al-Qaeda pecking order”, was understood to have been holding an operational meeting with four other key figures, including Rashid Rauf, the British-Pakistani terror suspect, when three Hellfire missiles were fired at their thick-walled compound in the village of Ali Khel, about ten miles from the Afghan-Pakistan border.

intelligence sources have told The Times

Christmas comes too soon nowadays reports the Telegraph

Dr Rowan Williams said many people are unwilling to wait for Christmas Day to enjoy themselves because of the culture of instant gratification, and so spend the whole of December shopping and eating chocolates from their Advent Calendars.
He pointed out that Advent is a separate, significant part of the Christian year but complained that this message is often drowned out by the shopping frenzy and by carols that are piped through stores.

According to the Guardian

US intelligence officials kept a file on former prime minister Tony Blair's "private life", a former US navy communications operator claimed today.
David Murfee Faulk, who worked at a listening post in Fort Gordon, Georgia, told ABCNews.com he saw the file on Blair in 2006.
But he refused to provide details of what the file, held in an intelligence database called Anchory, contained, other than to say it was a file on his "private life" and included information of a personal nature

The Sun keeps up the pressure on Gordon Ramsey reporting that he

treated Sarah Symonds to a slap-up meal after he is reported to have bedded her.
Blonde Symonds turned up with a pal at the TV chef’s Maze restaurant in London’s Mayfair to be told he would pay for everything.

The Mail reports that

A mother shocked by seeing two half-naked men having sex while out walking the dogs with her daughter was told by police to take a different route in future.
Marie Cragg, 44, spoke of her disgust at the officers' reaction and said she feared the woodland beauty spot would be turned into a no-go area for ordinary members of the public.
The men seen by Miss Cragg and her 18-year-old daughter Jessica were stripped from the waist

Finally the Independent reports that

British tourists who decide to take a late night stroll on Benidorm beach – or perhaps engage in a steamy romantic encounter – might soon be surprised to find their revelry interrupted by a patrolman handing out €750 (£640) fines.
Benidorm, Spain's capital of package tourism and its sex-and-sangria culture, is cracking down on the low-budget debauchery that won it a place in the hearts of thousands of pasty, nose-peeling travellers.
In an uncharacteristic quest for decorum, the city has drafted a strict new beach ordinance that, if passed this week, would regulate everything from sandcastle-building to those past-midnight copulation sessions that have become so popular in recent years thanks to the possibility of instant fame on an internet video.

2008-11-24T08:43:00.002Z

The Pre Budget report dominates the headlines again this morning

High earners to pay 45% tax as borrowing soars says the Times

Top earners face higher taxes as Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling reduce a borrowing bill that will hit nearly £120 billion next year.
The Chancellor is expected to announce a new top rate of tax of 45 per cent that will apply to those earning more than £150,000.

Labour's tax cut gamble says the Independent

In his crucial mini-Budget, the Chancellor Alistair Darling will say that the higher rate would be introduced after the next general election – so as not to break Labour's manifesto pledges since 1997 not to raise income tax rates. The proposed new top rate is expected to apply on incomes above £150,000.
Mr Darling will that "fair" tax increases will be needed to bring the public finances back into balance in the medium term.

The Telegraph calls it a £16b gamble

Mr Darling and Gordon Brown will be forced to admit that in order to pay for the package, Government borrowing is set to move to an unprecedented £117billion within the next two years.
The Conservatives are warning that this is the equivalent of £4,000 for every taxpayer, and will see taxes raised after the downturn. Some are saying today's report will amount to nothing more than a "boomerang budget".

The Mail calls it a £20b giveaway

The measures will either save Britain from recession or propel us into a debt-ridden downturn, and the result will almost certainly be the key to who wins the next General Election.

Meanwhile across the Atlantic the Guardian reports that

The US government last night took a $20bn (£13.4bn) stake in Citigroup, the tottering US banking behemoth, to shore up confidence in the American financial system.
The move boosted confidence in the markets, with shares moving ahead throughout Europe. The FTSE 100 index, which suffered its third worst week ever last week, jumped 81.41 points to 3862.37, a gain of just over 2% in early trading.

Away from the economy and the Indepedent reports that

A secret meeting on board an American aircraft carrier between the US General David Petraeus and the head of the Pakistani military laid the foundation for the killing of Britain's most wanted terrorist.
The Independent learnt that talks held on board the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Persian Gulf three months ago led to General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani pledging to provide information on "high-value" targets such as Rashid Rauf, who died in a missile strike inside Pakistan on Saturday.

The Times reports that

Two senior MPs yesterday demanded to know whether the British Government had been given notice of the planned attack, which was a CIA operation controlled from a US military base in Nevada.
Patrick Mercer, Tory MP for Newark, said the attack had “ultimately led to the execution of a British subject”. He called for a clear statement from the Government to explain what was known about the planned attack. Andrew Dismore, Labour chairman of the parliamentary Human Rights Committee, wanted to know whether British intelligence services had been consulted by the Americans.

Accordong to the Guardian,Only five out of 51 hospitals pass hygiene test

Nearly all hospitals are failing to meet hygiene and cleanliness standards set by the government to prevent superbug outbreaks, inspectors say today. Most of the breaches are not serious, but the Healthcare Commission warns that only consistent and comprehensive controls in all NHS trusts will ensure that infection rates for MRSA, Clostridium difficile and other hospital-acquired infections continue to fall

Many of the papers report that

Down’s births increase in a caring Britain

More babies are being born with Down’s syndrome as parents feel increasingly that society is a more welcoming place for children with the condition.
Widespread screening was introduced in 1989, and led to a steady fall in new instances of Down’s syndrome. From 717 babies born with Down’s that year, the total decreased each year, to 594 in 2000.

reports the Times

Staying with health,the Telegraph reports that

Arthritis patients won a landmark victory today as the NHS drugs rationing body Nice agreed to review restrictions on drugs that could benefit 40,000 people

According to the Mail

Regular blackouts to hit Britain within three years

Families face regular blackouts within three years because Britain has not built enough new power stations, it has been claimed.
Consumers will be hit by an 'energy gap' when a number of existing stations are shut down, a study suggests.
Nine oil and coal-fired power plants are to close by 2015 because of an EU directive designed to limit pollution and associated acid rain.

The tabloids are trailing Gordon Ramsey

Don't mention the F word says the Sun reporting that

CELEBRITY chef Gordon Ramsay shrugged off claims of a seven-year affair yesterday as pals insisted his marriage is NOT at risk.
After he spent the morning Christmas shopping at posh London store Harrods, a spokesman said: “Everything is fine.

The Mirror says that

Hot-tempered Gordon Ramsay is never short of a colourful word or two as he spits out home truths on TV.
But yesterday the F-Word star was unusually tight-lipped over the sensational affair claims that threaten his 12-year marriage.
Loyal wife Tana, 33, put her arms around him yesterday in a defiant show of unity.
However, the stern-faced dad-of-four – who takes pride in his image as devoted family man – refused to deny lurid reports of a seven-year fling with glamorous blonde Sarah Symonds, 38.

More celeb news in many of the papers who report that

Controversial pop icon Michael Jackson has reached a last-minute out-of-court settlement with an Arab sheikh as he was due to fly to London to defend himself over a multi-million-pound court action.

says the Telegraph

The Guardian reports that Watchdog calls on public to boycott charities' face-to-face fundraisers

With their bright jackets emblazoned with the names of Britain's worthiest charities and their voluble youthful optimism, chuggers, a conflation of charity and mugger, have become a high street fixture with the power to inspire a pang of guilt in the hardest-hearted shopper.
But a survey of their tactics has found that some face-to-face fundraisers are not as good as the causes they represent. They have been caught out misleading the public about how they are paid, harassing shoppers who say they are not interested, and asking donors to lie on direct debit forms to help them meet their targets

The Independent reports that

The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has called on the Government to provide an amnesty for illegal immigrants who have been resident in the UK for several years – backing an outspoken call at the weekend by the London Mayor Boris Johnson which puts him at odds with his party leader, David Cameron.
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor said large numbers of migrants who live below the radar are easily exploited because they have no official status, and that more should be done to "appreciate the gifts" they bring.

Finally the Times reports how Jockey nearly waves goodbye to first win in 28 years

For 28 years Anthony Knott has been racing horses as an amateur jockey. And for 28 years, with a soul-destroying regularity that would have seen a lesser man quit, he has been losing. He enjoyed fifth place a couple of times, but otherwise his natural position has been at the back of the field.
Now, after what must be one of the longest losing streaks, he has finally won a race – despite doing his best to throw it all away when he started his victory celebrations half a furlong short of the winning post.

2008-11-23T07:13:00.002Z

Widespread speculation in the Sunday's that there will be a cut in VAT.

Cuts in Vat are to form a key plank of Gordon Brown’s emergency economic rescue package to be unveiled tomorrow.
The temporary reduction in sales tax, currently at 17.5%, will be one of a range of measures designed to stimulate consumer spending.
The Treasury refused to confirm the scale of the cut, to be in force by Christmas. However, under European Union (EU) regulations, Vat cannot be lowered below 15%.
A 2.5% Vat cut would cost £12.5 billion a year, making it by far the biggest element of Brown’s £15 billion-plus “fiscal stimulus”. It will be the first time that any government has cut the sales tax.

says the Sunday Times

Brown and Darling slash VAT in £18bn tax gamble says the Independent

This would take £10 off the average Christmas present bill of £384 and bring welcome respite to the beleaguered high street, where stores have been forced to bring forward the season's sales to get people spending.

The Observer says that

The move by the Chancellor and Gordon Brown won the support last night of Charles Clarke, one of the Prime Minister's most high-profile critics, a sign that the economic crisis is at last uniting Labour and focusing minds on the battle against the Tories. With high-street stores slashing prices to attract customers, Darling will offer help with his pre-Christmas price cut in an attempt to limit the collateral damage from the global financial crisis

The Mail though reports

David Cameron has revived the notorious ‘tax bombshell’ poster campaign credited with handing the Tories their last General Election win.
Conservative strategists have repackaged the iconic image – adding a Christmas ribbon – to ram home the party’s claim that Gordon Brown’s anti-recessionary policies will have to be funded by a sharp hike in taxes.
Conservative strategists have repackaged the iconic image – adding a Christmas ribbon – to ram home the party’s claim that Gordon Brown’s anti-recessionary policies will have to be funded by a sharp hike in taxes.

Many of the papers report that

Drone missile strike kills British 'liquid-bomb plotter'

The alleged British mastermind of an audacious terrorist plot was killed yesterday by a missile strike in Pakistan

says the Telegraph

Rashid Rauf, 27, who was brought up in Birmingham, was killed along with at least four other alleged militants in the attack on the house in the North Waziristan area.
Rauf, who had been on the run after escaping from Pakistani custody last year, had been accused of playing a key role in a liquid-bomb plot allegedly targeting transatlantic airliners in 2006. He had been arrested in Pakistan in August 2006.

The Independent adds

British diplomats in Pakistan said they were awaiting news about yesterday's incident, and Mr Rauf's Pakistani lawyer also said he was unable to confirm or deny the reports of his death. "If the body is not handed over I cannot do that," said Hashmat Ali Habib. Mr Rauf's family declined to comment

The Observer reports that

Somalia sinks deeper into a state of total disintegration

Millions have fled their homes in terror; a raped 13-year-old has been stoned to death for 'adultery'; aid workers have been murdered by Islamist militias. While the world's attention is on the pirates off its coast, the failed African state is being ripped apart by violence.

how minister cashed in on contacts reports the Times

The former transport minister Stephen Ladyman has been using his parliamentary office to lobby officials for contracts for a private company.
Documents obtained under freedom of information laws show that the Labour MP touted for the business on behalf of ITIS Holdings, a transport company that pays him £1,000 a month.
Ladyman used his House of Commons address and e-mail when requesting meetings with officials on behalf of ITIS, which is chaired by a former Labour donor.

The news of the World leads with a Baby P story

THE teenage girl who watched the horrifying torture of tragic Baby P today confesses how her guilt over his plight left her wishing SHE was dead too.
In a moving exclusive interview with the News of the World the devastated 16-year-old bravely confessed: “I’ve felt suicidal. It’s difficult. Part of me wants to suffer. I deserve it.”

The Independent reports that

The number of applications for children to be taken into care has increased dramatically as a result of what experts are calling the "Baby P effect". Legal care proceedings involving vulnerable children being brought to court have risen by nearly a third since details of the tragic case emerged.

Ofsted's child abuse report was misleading reports the Observer

A 'misleading' figure included in a major government watchdog report has led to a false and vastly inflated picture of the numbers of children who die from abuse in England

The Mail leads with an exclusive

A teenager is set to make medical history this week by becoming the world's youngest mother of Siamese twins.
Laura Williams, 18, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, defied medical advice to abort the girls early in her pregnancy, and will now give birth to Faith and Hope by caesarean section this week.
Only about five per cent of conjoined twins survive the first 24 hours, but because they are joined at the front, doctors say the chances are good in this case

.

Another exclusive in the News of the World

CELEBRITY chef Gordon Ramsay had a 75-minute tryst with his blonde mistress three days ago at a London hotel.
Just hours earlier he had sent lover Sarah Symonds to London’s Soho to buy the sex drug amyl nitrate.
The liaison was the latest in an affair spanning seven years which flies in the face of his carefully constructed family man image.

Police to get 10,000 Taser guns reports the Times

Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, is to arm police with 10,000 Taser stun guns in an escalation of the government's fight against violent crime.
Smith will unveil plans tomorrow that will enable all 30,000 front-line response officers to be trained in firing the electric guns at knife-wielding thugs and other violent suspects.
Smith said yesterday that £8m will be made available to all 43 police forces in England and Wales to buy the new 50,000-volt weapons.

The Independent reports that

The number of recruits from ethnic minorities to British police forces has almost halved in the past five years, amid concern about discrimination in the service.
Official figures obtained by the Tories have revealed that the total of black and ethnic minority (BME) entrants into the 43 forces in England and Wales fell from 795 in 2003-04 to 430 in the last financial year, despite concerted efforts to improve relations between the police and minority communities.

The Telegraph reports that

Schools fined for expelling violent pupils

An investigation has revealed that at least £4.4 million in financial penalties have been imposed on schools this year.
Nearly a third of local authorities in England are issuing the fines, ranging from £1,500 to £10,000 per expelled pupil.
Some councils, including Essex, Nottinghamshire, Oldham and Somerset, have collected in excess of a quarter of a million pounds from their schools this year.

Heavy snow causes chaos on roads reports the same paper

Police were called to 68 crashes in the north east as snow and black ice brought treacherous conditions.
Fifty of the crashes occurred between 9pm and midnight on Friday and there were 18 more incidents yesterday.
Other cars were reported to be stuck in the snow that blanketed parts of Scotland and northern England in the first prolonged cold snap of the winter.

Finally the story of the week comes to an end

An estimated 10 million people tuned in last night to witness the end of an infatuation. Unlikely screen idol John Sergeant waltzed off Strictly Come Dancing to the strain of Norah Jones's "Come Away With Me", bringing to an almost elegant end a drama that has seen the BBC bombarded with viewer complaints

reports the Independent

2008-11-22T10:13:00.004Z

For the Mail this morning it is the Final insult

The taxpayer faces a multimillion-pound bill to give the evil mother of Baby P a new identity when she leaves prison.
Amid the widespread public revulsion at the case, lawyers will use human rights legislation to claim that the 27-year-old's life is at risk.
They are believed to be already drawing up a list of demands to ensure that she receives permanent 'protection' from the public.

The Sun also leads with Baby P

TRAGIC Baby P DID have a proper funeral — with 150 mourners and Eric Clapton’s moving Tears In Heaven playing.
The 17-month-old lad’s emotional service in North London was revealed by relatives, angered by claims his ashes were uncaringly scattered in an unmarked plot after he died from horrific abuse.
And relatives said his natural father played a pivotal role in arranging a touching farewell to the 17-month-old, whose suffering has broken the nation’s hearts.

The Mirror leads with

Outrage as Jonathan Ross escapes axe over Manuelgate row

The foul-mouthed TV and radio presenter - currently suspended without pay for three months - was lambasted over his "grossly offensive" actions.
But he was let off the hook without further punishment and will be allowed to return to work on January 24.

Most of the papers feature that story prominently,the Guardian describing how

It took a single word - "yes" - and a click of her BlackBerry. With that Lesley Douglas, Radio 2 controller, triggered a row that led to the resignation of Russell Brand and the suspension of Jonathan Ross, and ended her own 22-year career at the BBC.
Her one-word message sanctioned the controversial broadcast of Brand and Ross abusing the elderly actor

The Telegraph meanwhile reports that

Ministers are facing new calls to break the BBC's monopoly over the TV licence fee, in the wake of a damning report into the "Sachsgate" scandal.The report, published by the BBC Trust, laid bare a litany of errors and misjudgements by executives at the corporation that allowed obscene voicemail messages, left by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand on the actor Andrew Sachs's voicemail, to be aired on Mr Brand's Radio 2 show.

The economy is still in the headlines,

Nationalisation threat to banks is the lead in the Independent

The Government is using the threat of a wholesale nationalisation of banks in an attempt to force institutions to lend billions to small companies struggling to survive as Britain slips into recession.
Downing Street yesterday made plain its fury over high street banks which refuse to use the massive injection of taxpayers' money they have received to come to the rescue of businesses hit by the credit crisis. Lenders have also faced criticism over interest rates charged to homeowners and for stepping up repossessions.

Only drastic action now will save us, says Gordon Brown says the Times

Britain would face an even more severe recession without the multi-billion-pound tax cut and spending package that will be unveiled on Monday, Gordon Brown said yesterday.
In a dramatic attempt to raise the political stakes before the most important Pre-Budget Report since Labour came to power, he said that if he did not act now Britain would pay later.

Darling plans £15bn lifeline in tax-cutting 'spectacular'says the Mail

The Chancellor has decided that the fastest way to help hard-pressed consumers and businesses is with straightforward changes to tax rates and thresholds.
There is increasing speculation that he will offer households a pre-Christmas boost by unveiling substantial VAT relief to encourage spending.

The Guardian reports that

More than 30,000 retail jobs were at risk last night as Woolworths fought to avoid collapse and the fashion discount chain MK One crashed into administration for the second time in a year.
Woolworths' future was hanging in the balance after its bankers objected to a management rescue plan to sell the loss-making 800-store chain to Hilco, which specialises in restructuring distressed companies.

Rail price rise misery for commuters reports the Independent

Rail companies are facing calls to change the way they calculate fare increases, after a loophole in the law allowed them to introduce price rises well above the rate of inflation.
The fare increases, the biggest to hit rail passengers since the railways were privatised 15 years ago, will come into force at the start of next year, with the economy looking set to nosedive into sharp recession. Regulated fares, which include season tickets and fares bought for off-peak trains, will rise by an average of 6 per cent at most train operators, though some will rise by even more.

The Guardian leads with

Rise of BNP is politicians' fault - Blears

The British National party has made advances because mainstream political parties, including Labour, have abandoned sections of the white working class, ignoring people's needs while taking their votes for granted, a government minister admits today.
Writing in the Guardian, the communities and local government secretary, Hazel Blears, warns that politicians must work hard at grassroots level to win back the trust and confidence of people alienated from mainstream political life.

Clinton signs for Obama's dream team says the Independent

Hillary Clinton has finally agreed to become President-elect Barack Obama’s Secretary of State and spearhead efforts to restore America’s credibility in the world.
Once confirmed, Mrs Clinton will be the highest-ranking cabinet official in the next administration and she is expected to become a powerful diplomatic force, dealing with some of the international community’s most intractable problems, including terrorism and climate change.

The Telegraph reports on a Controversial food scraps bin scheme for all households

Every household in the country could soon be required to keep a separate bin for food scraps as a new scheme to reduce landfill is rolled out across the country.Councils claim it will enable them to recycle millions of tonnes of biodegradable rubbish, but critics say it is a costly waste of time which will be used as an excuse to end weekly bin collections once and for all.

Colder than Siberia reports the Express

Britain will be plunged into the grip of an Arctic blast for up to a week, forecasters warned last night.
Temperatures are set to plummet lower than Siberia and Iceland as blizzards sweep the country.
The big freeze will start this weekend, with a bitterly cold east wind sending daytime temperatures plummeting to minus 5C (23F) because of the wind-chill factor.

Many of the papers report on the end of Madonna's marriage,the Sun reporting that

MADONNA takes the stage as her “quickie” divorce from GUY RITCHIE goes through — and appears to send him a sign.
She flicked her middle fingers at yesterday’s Philadelphia gig on her Sticky & Sweet world tour.
The singer also laughed and cavorted in basque and fishnets with dancers as, across the Atlantic, her marriage formerly ended in a small, drab courtroom.

TALES OF THE UNLUCKIEST SAILOR reports the Express

Vivid letters written by the world’s unluckiest sailor, who survived the Titanic disaster and the sinking of a sister ship, the Britannic, only to die in a torpedo attack, have been uncovered.
Archie Jewell was a 23-year-old lookout on the Titanic when it hit an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic in 1912, killing 1,523 people.

Gallas stripped of Arsenal captaincy says the Guardian

William Gallas' hold on the Arsenal captaincy was over last night and his very future at the club in jeopardy after he did not travel with the rest of the squad to the north-west for today's Premier League fixture against Manchester City.
The controversial Frenchman had followed his attack on an unnamed team-mate on Wednesday — that player is known to be Robin van Persie — with further outspoken comments about another of them yesterday. Once again he did not name the player, identifying him only as "S" and saying that he played in midfield, but it is understood he was referring to Samir Nasri, his France team-mate who joined Arsenal from Marseille in the summer.

Finally the Independent reports on a success story

Bottom of the pile to the top of the league

You have made history. Whatever happens no-one can take this away from you." The words are spoken quietly but fervently by Bob Munro, a 72-year-old Canadian and the lone old man in a room full of young athletes. The chairman is speaking to the players of Mathare United.
Today they play the Red Berets in the final match of the Kenyan Premier League season and barring a freak loss by nine or more goals they will be crowned champions of Kenya for the first time. This is not an ordinary group of players and Mathare United is a team like no other. Drawn exclusively from the boys of one of Africa's largest and harshest slums, Mathare United has had to remake Kenyan football in its own image, conquer poverty and prejudice and overcome chronic corruption to reach the summit.

2008-11-21T07:42:00.006Z

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.

2008-11-20T07:29:00.002Z

Amid economic gloom,pictures of John Sergeant announcing his quitting of strictly come dancing this morning.

The Guardian leads with Bloodbath on the high street as the paper reports that

The scale of the crisis facing Britain's high streets was underlined in dramatic fashion yesterday as Woolworths revealed it was seeking a rescue takeover of its stores and Marks & Spencer slashed its prices by 20% in an attempt to pull in shoppers and shift unsold stock.
Woolworths is likely to get just £1 for its loss-making 800-store chain. The decision to seek a buyer for the shops in mid-November reveals that the chain is dangerously close to bankruptcy. It makes 90% of its profits in the six weeks before Christmas and should be raking in cash at this time of the year, selling Christmas goods and toys

The Express reports that

PRICES are being slashed on the high street today as shops start the sales season early.
Marks & Spencer has cut 20 per cent off most goods at its stores across Britain in a one-day event.
It comes as Debenhams holds a three-day sale and other high street favourites rush to offer early Christmas discounts.

Meanwhile the Independent reports that

Darling cuts costs to upstage Tories

A new front in the political battle over the economy will be opened today when Labour tries to trump David Cameron's plans for finding big savings in government spending to keep down taxes.
The Treasury's drive to reduce Whitehall waste has found between £4bn and £5bn more than the £30bn it has already announced. The efficiency savings will be used to limit the hike in borrowing needed to fund the tax cuts to be announced in Monday's pre-Budget report by the Chancellor, Alistair Darling

According to the Times

Schools and hospitals are likely to benefit from Gordon Brown’s decision to spend his way out of a recession but most departments still face a tight squeeze in the next two years.
On Monday Alistair Darling will fast-track a range of small and medium-sized capital projects in an attempt to rescue the construction industry. This will lead to more schools being refurbished, one-stop health centres being built, social housing accelerated and roads repaired. Bigger projects take too much time to plan, commission and design and are less likely.

The Mail leads with the story that

Speed twice and face a ban, drivers are told

Motorists could be banned from the road after just two speeding tickets.
Ministers are doubling the penalty for the worst offences, in a crackdown on Britain's most dangerous drivers.
Those caught significantly over the limit would be hit automatically with six points on their licence.
If this happens twice in three years they reach the total for a six-month ban.

The Telegraph adds that

The proposals would see motorists given six penalty points for breaking the speed limit by a significant margin. A driver with 12 points on their licence is disqualified automatically.The excessive speeds could be defined as more than 50mph in a 30mph zone, 70mph in a 50mph zone or 90mph on a motorway. Ministers will consult, however, before determining the exact thresholds.

According to the Times

Four at-risk children die from abuse every week

The damning report by Ofsted makes clear that the death of Baby P was far from an isolated tragedy. It found that 282 vulnerable children – many of them already known to social services – died in the 17-month period to the end of August. A further 136 suffered serious harm or injury.
Two thirds of those killed or hurt were babies less than a year old

The Guardian says that

Councils have systematically failed to learn from the mistakes made in dozens of the most serious cases of child abuse, while too many frontline staff in schools and health centres are still unable to recognise signs of abuse, Ofsted said in a report yesterday. Its verdict comes amid public concern after the death of 17-month-old Baby P in Haringey, north London, who died from 50 injuries despite being in regular contact with child protection officers and medics.

There is much fall out from the release of the BNP membership details,

The wide array of jobs held by BNP supporters – exposed in a leaked internal document – brought demands last night for a ban on BNP membership in public sector professions.
The disclosure of the membership list, containing 12,000 names, phone numbers and addresses, prompted an investigation into the activities of a Merseyside police officer and a presenter's departure from a talk radio station. Several people named on the list denied ever having been members of the far-right organisation and called police after receiving death threats.

reports the Independent

The Mail reports that

A servant of the Queen was last night 'outed' as an alleged member of the BNP.
Buckingham Palace storeman Paul Murray's name was on a leaked copy of the far-right party's confidential membership list.
The 41-year-old, who until earlier this year lived in a £1million grace-and-favour apartment, was allegedly a paid-up member along with his wife, Jennifer, 44.

And the Times reports that

The second-in-command of the British National Party is employed at public expense by the Greater London Authority, The Times has learnt.
Simon Darby admitted to The Times yesterday that he regularly used his City Hall office to work in his capacity as the BNP’s media spokesman, a job that is unrelated to his publicly funded position.

Obama brings US in from the cold is the lead in the Independent

Prospects for success in the world's struggle to combat global warming have been transformed at a stroke after US President-elect Barack Obama made it clear that America would play its full part in renewing the Kyoto Protocol climate-change treaty.
His words, in effect, brought an end to eight years of wilful climate obstructionism by the administration of George Bush, who withdrew the US from Kyoto in March 2001, thus doing incalculable damage to the efforts of the international community to construct a unified response to the threat.

The Telegraph meanwhile reports that

Animals and plants in danger of extinction could lose the protection of government experts who make sure that infrastructure projects don't pose a threat, under regulations outgoing US president George W Bush is set to put in place before he leaves office.

It has an interview with the subject of yesterday's headlines

The first woman to have a transplant of an organ grown from stem cells has spoken of the moment she opened her eyes following the pioneering surgery and knew that her life had changed forever. In an exclusive interview with the Daily Telegraph Claudia Castillo said she feared she would never be able to take her two children to the park, read her youngest a bed time story or take them to visit family in Colombia.
"The moment I woke after the procedure, I looked up at the doctor and he smiled and told me it had been successful - it was the best moment ever," she said. "I knew then that I had a life and a future."

The Sun leads with the news that

THE drunken goalkeeper who killed two little boys in a motorway smash is to become a father, The Sun can reveal.
Jailed Luke McCormick’s fiancée Naomi Richards is about five months pregnant.

reminding us that

The ex-Plymouth Argyle keeper, 25, raced along the M6 after a boozy wedding and rammed a car carrying Arron Peak, ten, and brother Ben, eight.
And last night the mother of the tragic youngsters told of her heartbreak after she learned their killer is to be a dad.

Indian frigate destroys 'mothership' as raids off Somalia continue reporst the Guardian

Somali bandits terrorising the busy shipping routes around the Horn of Africa suffered a rare setback when an Indian warship destroyed a pirate "mothership" after coming under fire in the Gulf of Aden.
The Indian Navy said that its frigate, one of the numerous international warships dispatched to patrol the waters around the Horn of Africa, had approached a suspicious vessel on Tuesday evening. It turned out to be a previously captured ship being used by pirates as a base to launch their speedboats far out to sea.

The Times adds that

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said yesterday that the Royal Navy was coordinating the European response to the supertanker’s seizure from its warship in the region, HMS Cumberland. Saudi Arabia has also pledged to join the international task force operating under a UN mandate, along with new pledges of ships from Sweden and South Korea.

And so to that story

'Dancing pig in Cuban heels' quits while ahead says the Independent

John Sergeant, the rotund 64-year-old who became one of the favourites to win this year's Strictly Come Dancing, despite being labelled "a dancing pig in Cuban heels" by one of the judges, has quit the show, sparking yet another debate about television phone-in shows.

It might have pleased the judges, but John Sergeant's surprise decision to waltz off Strictly Come Dancing has sparked a furious backlash against the BBC.
Some fans accused the judges of hounding the leaden-footed former political journalist off the hugely popular Saturday night show.
Many threatened to boycott the programme and others demanded - and were promised - a refund of money spent on phone calls supporting the unlikeliest star on the dance floor.

reports the Mail

Denying he was bullied out, he said he wanted to avoid a “bloody battle” and was going back to his “rather quiet life”.
John — partnered by Russian dancer Kristina Rihanoff — said it was a “frightening thought” he might have won, adding: “I didn’t want that to happen because it would have been a very bittersweet victory.”

says the Sun

The Mirror though claims that

Jolly John Sergeant quit Strictly Come Dancing yesterday just in time for an all-expenses paid Caribbean cruise.
John said he made his shock decision to waltz away from Strictly Come Dancing because he feared he might win it – and that would take the joke too far.

Britain 'not ready' for outright ban on men paying for sex says the Times

Ministers have been prevented from introducing an outright ban on paying for sex because they found that prostitution was too big a business and commanded too much public support.
A Home Office study released yesterday revealed a £1 billion market with 80,000 sex workers. It estimated that as many as 10 per cent of men had used a prostitute at some point.

Finally the Guardian reports that

Joe the Plumber becomes Joe the Writer after signing book deal

The book is being co-written with little-known novelist, Thomas Tabback. Joe the Plumber, real name Samuel Wurzelbacher, said he chose to turn his back on lucrative offers from the big publishers to go with a smaller firm to help "spread the wealth". PearlGate Publishing has previously published one book, says its website: Tabback's debut novel, Things Forgotten.

2008-11-19T07:33:00.003Z

A medical breakthrough makes the front of many of the papers tis morning,the Independent is one that leads with the news that

A 30-year-old Spanish woman has made medical history by becoming the first patient to receive a whole organ transplant grown using her own cells.
Experts said the development opened a new era in surgery in which the repair of worn-out body parts would be carried out with personally customised replacements

As does the Telegraph which says that

Surgeons replaced the damaged windpipe of Claudia Castillo, a 30-year-old mother of two, with one created from stem cells grown in a laboratory at Bristol University.
Because the new windpipe was made from cells taken from Ms Castillo's own body, using a process called "tissue engineering", she has not needed powerful drugs to prevent her body rejecting the organ.

Mother's life transformed says the Mail

The breakthrough is thanks to the pioneering work of British scientists, who are hailing a new dawn in transplant surgery which they believe could revolutionise the lives of millions.
They have won an international race to be the first to use adult stem cells to grow an entire organ and implant it successfully.

There was a transformation in British politics yesterday

Tories ditch spending promise as poll shows lead collapsing reports the Guardian

Labour backbenchers last night began to forecast a general election next summer after a day when the effects of the economic crisis slashed the Tory poll lead to three points and led David Cameron to abandon his commitment to match Labour spending plans if the Tories win power.
Cameron's move liberates him to offer tax or spending cuts, but left him isolated in opposition to the government's plans to use short-term financial help to boost consumer spending and help the economy

The Times says that

e Mr Cameron said that Labour’s “economic mismanagement” meant that Britain could already not afford planned increases in spending on public services beyond 2010. Mr Brown’s package of tax cuts and increased spending, expected next week, would worsen an already “unsustainable” budget deficit and saddle households with tax rises years into the future, he said.

The leak of the membership list of the BNP is widely covered,the same paper says that

Soldiers, police officers, teachers and doctors were in fear for their jobs last night after the entire membership list of the far-Right British National Party was posted on the internet.
More than 12,000 names, home addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail contact details were included in a major breach of data protection. The names and ages of schoolchildren with family memberships were disclosed. Some supporters were listed with comments such as “discretion required — employment concerns”. A number had their hobbies recorded.

The Telegraph reports that

Nick Griffin, the party leader, described the move as "a disgraceful act of treachery" by disgruntled former staff.
He said: "We'll be asking the police to investigate. Having spent a lot of money to secure our members' privacy we are disappointed that it's been breached."
Mr Griffin said that he had lodged a complaint with Dyfed-Powys Police on the grounds that the publication breached the members' human rights as well as data protection laws.

The Sun continues to focus on Baby P

BRAVE Baby P looks out trustingly at the camera dressed as a 1920s street urchin in a seemingly innocent and charming photo.
The sepia tint of the adorable studio portrait almost hides the horrific abuse he was already suffering, just weeks before his first birthday.

but the paper reports

Looked at in detail the picture — from the treasured photo album of Baby P’s grieving gran — shows:
BRUISING around his left eye, the swelling from a brutal punch to his delicate face.
A LINE of dots, perhaps scratches, below.
MARKS, which are almost certainly more bruising from another blow, next to his mouth

Child protection stifled by £30m computer system reports the Guardian

A government computer system intended to improve the handling of child abuse cases has led to social workers having to spend more than 100 hours for every case filling out forms, cutting the time they have to make visits.
Reports by two universities have revealed that the Integrated Children's System (ICS), launched in 2005 following the death of Victoria Climbié, is so laborious it typically takes more than 10 hours to fill in initial assessment forms for a child considered to be at risk

The same paper reports that

Police who discovered the missing schoolgirl Shannon Matthews after a 24-day search told a jury yesterday that she whimpered and burst into tears on her release from inside a bed drawer, while her suspected kidnapper screamed at officers and tried to bite them.
Detective Constable Paul Kettlewell said that a child's voice sobbing "stop it, you're frightening me" had alerted a search party to what they found in what was initially thought to be an empty flat just over a mile from the nine-year-old schoolgirl's home

The Telegraph reports that

Prostitute clients to face hefty fines in law change

New laws will make it illegal to pay for sex with women "controlled for another person's gain" such as a pimp, trafficker or brothel owner.
They will receive a criminal record and a large fine and will have no defence by claiming they did not know the woman was controlled.
But the plans will stop short of a blanket ban on paying for sex

The Independent adds that

An estimated 100,000 men pay for sex in Britain every year, the vast majority of whom will be targeted by legislation being announced today by the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. At least 80,000 women work in the vice trade – most foreign nationals – and the numbers are thought to be growing.

According to the Times

Deflation is the new bogey word as crunch sends prices tumbling

The spectre of 1930s-style deflation in the British economy loomed yesterday after figures showed that prices of many goods slumped last month as recession tightened its grip.
Consumer price inflation posted its biggest drop since records began in 1992, falling to 4.5 per cent last month from a 16-year peak of 5.2 per cent in September.

The Express says

Families were given a double dose of joy yesterday as official figures showed that food and petrol prices are finally falling.
The statistics revealed that consumer price inflation has plunged by its biggest monthly amount for 16 years.

Many of the papers report that

The most spectacular prize in maritime history was anchored off Somalia last night with a rag-tag army of pirates holding the world's largest oil producer to ransom.
Despite a day of loud condemnation from international leaders and a multinational fleet of warships on patrol, the pirates showed they were able to strike at will by seizing two more vessels while the hijacked Saudi supertanker was parked off Haradheere on the Somali coast.

says the Independent

The Times says that

The Somali pirates who hijacked the Saudi oil super-tanker Sirius Star have demanded a ransom, according to a purported mastermind of the daring heist.
"Negotiators are located on board the ship and on land. Once they have agreed on the ransom, it will be taken in cash to the oil tanker," said a man identified as Farah Abd Jameh on Al-Jazeera television, who did not indicate the amount to be paid.

£50m reward for the 'greedy' bank bosses reports the Mail

Banking chiefs have been accused of bringing the economy to the edge of collapse through their 'excessive greed'.
The top executives of just five banking giants were paid more than £50million in five years, according to a think-tank report.
And the authors say this is a conservative estimate, as it only includes their basic pay and bonuses.

According to the Sun

AN extraordinary account from a German army medic has finally confirmed what the world long suspected: Hitler only had one ball.
War veteran Johan Jambor made the revelation to a priest in the 1960s, who wrote it down.
The priest’s document has now come to light – 23 years after Johan’s death.
The war tyrant’s medical condition has been mocked for years in a British song

Finally the Independent reveals that

the Houses of Parliament really are full of vermin

Records obtained by The Independent under the Freedom of Information Act show that £60,000 was spent last year on eradicating unwanted visitors from Westminster, including foxes from the gardens of No 10 and the adjoining Cabinet Office and the "hygienic removal" of two dead pigeons from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).

2008-11-16T03:52:00.002Z

Plenty on Baby P,news of tax cuts before Xmas and much more in the Sunday papers.

Nasty, brutish and short: The horrific life of Baby P reports the Independent

There was nothing in the circumstances of Baby P's birth on 1 March 2006, at the North Middlesex Hospital in Edmonton, north London, to suggest his life was destined to be brutal and tragically short.
The North Mid, as it is known, had long since cast off its workhouse origins. Its children's facilities, run as they are by specialists from the world renowned Great Ormond Street Hospital, are first rate. He was born, at least, in good hands.

The News of the World has the untold story

TODAY the News of the World finally reveals the COMPLETE and UNTOLD horror of what really happened to tragic abuse victim Baby P.
Our chilling dossier, froma 15-year-old girl who WITNESSED the stepdad's sickening torture, damns bungling social workers who failed to step in.
The terrified teenager said: "What went on was sadistic. Social Services have blood on their hands."

The Times reports that

A sister of Baby P, the 17-month-old boy killed while under the protection of Haringey social services, was allegedly seriously abused despite also being on the council’s “at risk” register.
The girl and Baby P, who died in August last year at the hands of his mother, stepfather and a lodger, had both become subjects of child protection plans eight months earlier.

Baby P council falsely accused me of abusing a child says the Mail

In a devastating interview, the social worker who blew the whistle on Haringey’s dire treatment of children before Baby P's death tells how the council tried to destroy her life - for telling the truth.

Baby P sparks call to put more in care says the Observer

Judges and social workers should review the traditional doctrine that children at risk are usually better off with their parents than in care, the independent childen's watchdog warns today.
Sue Berelowitz, the new deputy children's commissioner and a former social worker, said the 'received wisdom' that it was better to keep families together wherever possible was based on assuming that children did not thrive in care homes. But it was time to consider whether taking children away earlier, before they had become damaged by years of neglect, might produce better outcomes, she said.

All the papers choose different lead stories.

Ministers tell councils to push contraceptive jabs and implants says the Telegraph

Ministers have ordered council and health chief executives to increase the uptake of "long-acting" contraception in teen pregnancy "hot spots".
The government also wants more school-based clinics to administer the jabs, which can make girls infertile for up to three months.
Teenagers can receive the injections or implants without their parents' knowledge.

The Express claims that

Prince Charles will become King at 65 in five years’ time, according to senior Palace sources.
The Queen, now 82, has apparently said she is willing to stand aside when she reaches 87 and allow Charles to take over.
Senior courtiers were openly discussing the arrangement at a private function to toast Charles’s 60th birthday last week.

Charles will speak out as king reports the Times

The Prince of Wales, who celebrated his 60th birthday on Friday, has told confidants he would like his role to “evolve” so that his knowledge and experience are not wasted once he inherits the crown, Jonathan Dimbleby, his friend and biographer, reveals today.

Osborne faces storm over warning of run on pound is the main story in the Observer which says that

The shadow Chancellor was forced to defend himself after Labour aides and small business organisations accused him of talking down sterling despite a convention that politicians do not predict currency collapses. Kenneth Clarke, the man some MPs now want to replace Osborne, had to ride to his rescue, insisting his words were 'perfectly sensible'.

Brown prepares to unveil tax cuts for Christmas says the Telegraph

He will make changes to the tax credits regime and target extra help at less well-off families "as quickly as possible" to meet what he said was the government's "fairness agenda."
The better off are not expected to be among the winners from the package, to be announced by Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, in the Pre Budget Report (PBR) next week.

Brown looks to tax cuts by Christmas as Tories’ poll lead dives says the Times

Speaking at a G20 financial summit in Washington, which endorsed action to ease the economic pain caused by the credit crunch, the prime minister said the case for tax cuts was now “unanswerable” and they would “show results as quickly as possible”.

adding that

It comes as an opinion poll for The Sunday Times, carried out by YouGov, shows that the Conservative lead over Labour has slumped to just five points, its lowest in a comparable poll this year, mainly as a result of Brown’s handling of the financial crisis. The Conservatives are down two on 41%, while Labour is up three on 36%. The Conservative lead has halved from 10 points in the space of a month. In September, when the financial panic erupted, the Tories were 19 points ahead

The Observer meanwhile reports that

The Prime Minister was last night struggling to win over world leaders with his ambitious and much-trumpeted global anti-recession package involving tax and interest rate cuts. Many countries indicated they were not ready to sign up to Gordon Brown's 'fiscal stimulus' solution

Second G20 summit planned for London says the Independent

The heads of 20 countries, meeting in Washington, endorsed a series of broad goals to fend off future economic calamities and to revive economic growth. They are expected to reconvene in London in April, with the incoming US President, Barack Obama, to decide on longer-term measures. “We must lay the foundation for reform to help ensure that a global crisis, such as this one, does not happen again,” the leaders said in a joint communiqué issued after the conclusion of the G20’s emergency two-day economic summit.

Political intrigues on the front of the Mail which reports on the traitor in the headscarf

Labour was rocked by a Cold War spy scandal last night over allegations that a Party activist linked to two members of Tony Blair's Cabinet spied for the Czech Government when the country was controlled by the Soviet Union.
Left-wing activist Cynthia Roberts, who stood as a Labour Parliamentary candidate, worked for the Communists under the codename Agent Hammer, according to documents obtained by The Mail on Sunday.
The files, held by the Czech security service, state that she wrote secret dossiers for the communist regime on Tory politicians including Margaret Thatcher and ex-Cabinet Minister David Mellor after moving to Prague in 1985. She also gave the Czechs details of a British arms factory.

According to the Telegraph

Iraqis accused of murdering British troops get thousands of pounds in legal aid

Faisal Al-Saadoon and Khalaf Mufdhi are accused of killing Staff Sergeant Simon Cullingworth and Sapper Luke Allsopp in cold blood during the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003.
The British government wants to hand the two Iraqis over to the Iraqi government for trial. But their British lawyer has launched a High Court legal challenge saying such a trial would breach his clients' human rights.

Friends fight for ‘forgotten’ hostage says the Times

Friends of a motorcycle- loving computer consultant who was kidnapped with his bodyguards as he worked in Iraq’s finance ministry 18 months ago are launching a campaign to increase pressure for the men’s release.
They say Peter Moore, 32, who took a lucrative job in Baghdad to pay off his student loan after years of Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) on an allowance of £140 a month, is strong-willed and will not be defeated by his ordeal.

Chief medical officer condemns organ donor decision reports the Observer

The government's chief medical officer last night lashed out at the decision to ditch planned reforms for organ donations, warning that dying patients had been left on a 'knife-edge of despair'.
A review commissioned by the government will tomorrow conclude the public is not ready for a change to the system of presumed consent where patients' organs would be made available for transplant after death unless they had explicitly opted out or their families objected. Currently people have to sign up as donors, unlike the system in European countries such as Spain.

According to the Independent

One in 10 Army recruits 'bullied and intimidated'

A series of previously unpublicised reports obtained by this newspaper highlight growing concern surrounding the issue this weekend. They include a new annual survey of recruits by the Ministry of Defence that reveals that hundreds report having been beaten or intimidated by their superiors. More than one in 10 of all trainee soldiers – what the report describes as a "notable minority" – claimed to have been unfairly or badly treated and, of these, more than one in five said they had been picked on continually.

says the paper

The Mail reports that

Speaker fights Harman plan for big increase in gay MPs

Controversial Government backed plans for a massive increase in the number of gay MPs are being opposed by Commons Speaker Michael Martin, it was revealed last night.
Ministers are likely to support a demand by gay-rights campaigners for a target of electing 39 openly gay MPs - nearly four times the present number.

BULLIES STILL WINNING says the News of the World

SHOCK figures have revealed the government is LOSING its battle to curb school bullying.
More than HALF of all pupils say they have been bullied—but the new statistics prove most thugs get off SCOT-FREE.

The Independent reports how The Canine credit crunch starts to bite

They are the forgotten victims of the credit crunch. As money becomes tight in millions of homes throughout the country, it is the four-legged members of the household that are most likely to feel the chill wind of recession.
Thousands of families are giving up their pets as they count the cost of their day-to-day upkeep, soaring insurance premiums and vets' bills. Animal shelters across Britain report a steep increase in pets being left with them over recent months, as well as a decline in the numbers of people willing to take on their abandoned dogs and cats.

Finally many of the papers report on the £1m find by BBC's antiques expert

Expect an upsurge in attendances at car boot sales across the UK after Antiques Roadshow, the long-running BBC TV programme, values an item brought in by a member of the public at £1m for the very first time.
The nature of the item that has been found and valued is a closely guarded secret until the show is broadcast tonight. The estimate was made by fine art expert Philip Mould, whose specialism will be known to diehard Roadshow fans, but to reveal it might give away the surprise. Mould broke the news to the item's lucky owners during the recording of the show at The Sage music and conference centre in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear last August. Although the owners knew it as valuable they were still left shocked. The owners are said to have 'gone a bit silent' when they were given the valuation, though they later insisted that they would not be parting with the object in question, which has been described as 'delicate'.

2008-11-15T11:57:00.003Z

Baby P and the whole issue of social welfare continues to make the news this morning.

The Mail leads with

FIRST PICTURES: The chocolate smile that hid the terrible scars of abuse on tragic blue-eyed Baby P

He reaches out towards an unseen figure behind the camera, and the start of a smile lifts his chubby cheeks, exposing his first baby teeth.
This is one of the unbearably poignant photographs showing for the first time the dreadful and swift transformation Baby P suffered in the last months of his tragically short life.
The picture here was taken when he was 12 months old. It shows a youngster with bright blue eyes and white-blond hair.
That was before his stepfather set about seriously abusing him over the next few months under the nose of social workers

The Sun tells how it

convinced a judge the ban on showing the 17-month-old’s face deprived him of dignity and humanity.

and adds that

By last night 145,000 Sun readers had signed our petition to sack the child protection officials who failed the toddler

The Guardian meanwhile reports that

More than 80% of children who are killed or seriously injured as a result of abuse or neglect are missed by the national child protection register, the Guardian can reveal.
In the week that social workers from Haringey in London were lambasted over the horrific killing of a 17-month-old known as Baby P, and Manchester social services staff faced questions over the deaths of three-month-old Delayno Mullings-Sewell and his two-year-old brother, Romario, the findings show that scores of children who die at the hands of relatives are not on the radar of social services departments, even though in some cases injured babies have had medical treatment

The Independent says that

Ministers were last night under pressure to disclose the full details of their response to a whistleblower who raised grave concerns about child protection in Haringey just months before the violent death of Baby P.
The Conservative leader David Cameron yesterday demanded that Ed Balls, the Children's Secretary, release all internal memos about warnings from a senior social worker about apparent failings in the authority's social services department.

The Telegraph leads with the story that

Ovary transplant mother speaks of her "indescribable" joy after giving birth

Maja, appropriately named after the Roman goddess of fertility, is a symbol of hope to millions of infertile women around the world who could benefit from the same pioneering procedure which enabled her mother Susanne to conceive naturally.
Mrs Butscher, 39, who went through an early menopause, fell pregnant a year after being given an ovary by her identical twin sister.

The Front page of the Times carries the other story of the morning

Britain is heading for a “collapse of sterling” if Gordon Brown persists with trying to borrow his way out of trouble, George Osborne says in an interview with The Times today.
Risking accusations that he is talking down the pound, the Shadow Chancellor mounts a ferocious attack on the Prime Minister, accusing him of following a deliberate “scorched-earth policy” that would leave the economy in a mess for the Tories to inherit.

The Guardian meanwhile says that

Doubts raised over prospects of success for 'hasty summit'

More than 20 of the world's leaders gathered at the White House last night at the start of a two-day emergency summit on the global financial crisis that will continue in five hours of policy discussions.
But even as participants began to assemble in what is the largest collection of presidents and prime ministers in almost a decade, doubts were raised that it would achieve anything beyond immediate moves to stimulate the world economy and an agreement to meet again

Many of the papers report that

Hillary Clinton is in line for top job

Mrs Clinton flew to Chicago for a meeting to discuss the prospect of serving as leader of his foreign policy team and America's top diplomat.
The talks remained undercover until the former First Lady's Secret Service armoured motorcade was spotted leaving the president-elect's headquarters.
US media reports quoting Obama transition officials suggested the job was Mrs Clinton's if she wanted it.

The Guardian adds that

Clinton's visit to Obama's office on Thursday was not on her official schedule, and her Senate staff had previously said she was in Chicago for personal reasons.
She gave little away about her future yesterday, telling a conference in Albany, New York: "I'm not going to speculate or address anything about the president-elect's incoming administration."

According to the Times

Obama is warned to beware of a ‘huge threat’ from al-Qaeda

General Michael Hayden, director of the CIA, this week acknowledged that there were dangers during a presidential transition when new officials were coming in and getting accustomed to the challenges. But he added that no “real or artificial spike” in intercepted transmissions from terror suspects had been detected.

Insecticide! (An ecological disaster that will affect us all) reports the Independent

It is a realisation that may be dawning at last: the importance of the little things that rule the world. The great American biologist, E O Wilson, said insects were world-rulers, but although they play a central role in maintaining ecosystems and the whole web of life, most insects have long been viewed with distaste or even revulsion as creepie-crawlies (apart from butterflies, which have been viewed as something akin to honorary mini-birds).
But the recent alarms in Britain, Europe and America about the fate of the honey bee – colonies have been crashing in increasing numbers – have started to open people's eyes to insects' importance in a more general way, says Matt Shardlow, director of Buglife, the Invertebrate Conservation Trust

Petrol Rip Off claims the Express

PETROL stations were last night under growing pressure to slash prices at the pumps.
They were accused of ripping off drivers as forecourt prices failed to fall in line with the tumbling wholesale cost of crude oil.
Unleaded and diesel are down just 20 per cent from the record prices charged in the summer despite wholesale costs crashing by 60 per cent. The price of unleaded should have come down to 88.32p a litre, said the AA, and it ought to fall lower still if crude oil stays around the 50 dollars-a-barrel mark.

The Times reports that

sexual violence erupts in DRC and adds that

More than a quarter of a million people have been displaced during the past three months of fighting as the Democratic Republic of Congo’s messy, forgotten war flares once again.
Rebels loyal to the renegade army general Laurent Nkunda have closed to within a few miles of Goma, the regional capital. Their front line is now only about 600 yards from the closest government positions.

The Sun reports that

TWO hundred rare silverback mountain gorillas are facing slaughter in the Congo after rangers protecting them fled the civil war.
The endangered great apes — one of man’s closest relatives — live in the Virunga National Park.

How could the man who 'raped' me be cleared because he was sleepwalking? asks the Mail

A rape victim has hit out at the law after the man accused of attacking her was cleared because he was sleepwalking.
Jane McKenna, 33, was asleep at home when a friend's husband, who had been a guest at a barbecue, walked into the bedroom and started having sex with her.
Jason Jeal, a 37-year-old roofer with no medical history of sleepwalking, admitted sex had taken place. But he was cleared of rape after he insisted he had been asleep and had no idea what he was doing

The Mirror reports that

Michael Donovan's niece told a court yesterday that he was a "bit creepy" and a "fantasist".
Caroline Meehan said Michael Donovan, 40 - accused with Karen Matthews of kidnapping her daughter Shannon, nine - was a loner.
She agreed with Frances Oldham QC, counsel for Matthews, that he was "a loner, a strange character, a bit creepy and a fantasist?"

Troops' beer allowance a headache for Germans reports the Guardian

If the German defence ministry's figures are anything to go by, being a soldier in Afghanistan is clearly thirsty work.
According to military sources, around 1m litres (1.8m pints) of beer were shipped to German troops stationed in Afghanistan last year, as well as almost 70,000 litres of wine and sekt, a German sparkling wine.
The admission has shocked a country that has never had much time for the Afghan mission. Newspaper reports under headlines such as Drink for the Fatherland and Bundeswehr Boozers have suggested that alcohol is the only way of keeping soldiers onside at a time when it is becoming ever harder to recruit them

Many of the papers report on Prince Charles 60th,the Express reports

PRINCE Charles was treated to a stolen kiss on his 60th birthday yesterday. And he seemed to find it a huge joke that a cake he was presented with had no candles.
The heir to the throne, who is now entitled to a bus pass, also jokingly complained that his wife Camilla had given him only one present instead of a rumoured 60, although he didn’t say what the present was.

Finally the Telegraph says that

Top of the Pops looks set for a return to television screens, just two years after it was axed for falling ratings. BBC executives have hinted that the show could be revived, with music industry insiders suggesting that it could be revamped for the YouTube generation with more populist acts and exclusive songs that viewers could share online.

2008-11-13T07:43:00.002Z

Middle classes face job disaster is the lead in the Telegraph,the paper reports that

The middle classes are facing a "white collar recession" of falling living standards and unemployment as the economy suffers its worst year since 1980, the Bank of England has warned.Mervyn King, the Bank's governor, said the economy would shrink by 2 per cent next year, with the downturn hitting those working in the managerial, services and financial sectors.
He said "the world had changed" in the wake of the global financial crisis and that "people should be concerned" about the difficult times ahead

The papers are full of gloomy economic news this morning,Shape of Things to come says the Guardian

The City was bracing itself last night for interest rates to be cut to a record low of 1% next year, as the Bank of England seeks to prevent a deepening recession from pushing the UK economy into deflation.
Sterling fell sharply yesterday after Mervyn King, the Bank's governor, said that in "exceptional and difficult times" the nine members of the monetary policy committee would do "what was needed" to prevent a period of falling prices.
Financial markets believe the prospect of sharply lower growth and weakening inflation may prompt the MPC to follow last week's 1.5 percentage point cut with a further 1 point reduction in December, and that the bank rate may drop to 1% early in the new year.

The Independent has an interview with the Chancellor

Alistair Darling will forecast a short, sharp recession in his crucial pre-Budget report in 11 days' time, with the economy contracting by more than 1 per cent next year but bouncing back strongly in 2010.
In an exclusive interview, the Chancellor told The Independent yesterday: "We are going into recession. I remain confident that we will get through it." It was his clearest admission yet that a recession is inevitable.

Economy faces sharpest downturn for 30 years says the Times reporting that

Unemployment rose by 140,000 to 1.82 million in the three months to September and is predicted to exceed two million early next year. The Bank raised the spectre of deflation, reviving fears of a downturn on the scale of the Great Depression of the Thirties

The economy shares top billing with the opening of the trial of those accused of Kidnapping Shannon Matthews

Shannon Matthews was drugged and tethered by a noose for 24 days in a plot devised by her mother to claim a £50,000 reward, a court heard yesterday.
The nine-year-old was the innocent pawn in a 'dishonest and wicked'
scheme carried out by mother-of-seven Karen Matthews and her partner's uncle Michael Donovan, it was alleged.
While a £3.2million police hunt was under way, Matthews played the part of the grief-stricken mother, 'conjuring up tears' in televised appeals for the girl's return.

report the Mail

The Express reporting that

THE full ordeal of vanished schoolgirl Shannon Matthews was revealed to a court yesterday.
She was allegedly fed a cocktail of drugs and bound with an elastic noose for 24 days as her mother, Karen, faked her kidnap

Meanwhile the Sun continues to focus on the death of Baby P

Have you no shame? asks the paper

THE Sun today demands justice for Baby P — and vows not to rest until those disgracefully ducking blame for failing the tot are SACKED.
Four social workers and the doctor who could not spot the 17-month-old had a broken back are named and shamed on the right.
As ALL defiantly carry on working today — and with still NO apology over the horror that shocked the nation — we call on our army of outraged readers to join our crusade.

Politicians call for action over Baby P case says the Independent

Amid a growing political storm over the abuse and killing of a 17-month-old baby boy on an "at-risk" register, Haringey Council's director of children's services, Sharon Shoesmith, appeared determined to remain in her job last night, as yet another inquiry into the authority's apparent failings was ordered – this time by the Secretary of State for Children, Ed Balls.

The Mail reports the comments

'I'll be out of jail by Christmas': Baby P mother's shock claim

a police source was quoted as saying: 'None of them appear to be worried or sorry about what happened to the baby. They all feel very sorry for themselves but have not shown any remorse at all. The mother thinks she will be home in time for Christmas.'

Many of the papers report that

Baby and toddler stabbed to death

The children were found with fatal stab wounds to the chest shortly after 5.45pm on Wednesday afternoon.
A 21-year-old woman was arrested at the scene on Kilmington Drive, Cheetham Hill, and was being questioned by detectives on suspicion of murder.
Forensic experts were carrying out a detailed examination of the property.
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: "Police were called to Kilmington Drive, in Cheetham Hill, Greater Manchester, shortly before 5.45pm on Wednesday 12 November following reports of concern for welfare

reports the Telegraph

Police rule out any murder at care home says the Guardian

Jersey's most senior police officer was suspended yesterday as detectives concluded that no children had been murdered in the former care home at the centre of a £4.5m investigation into child abuse.
Graham Power, Jersey's chief of police, oversaw the historic abuse inquiry into the Haut de la Garenne children's home. In February police announced that they had found the "potential remains of a child" buried under the Victorian building and about £1.5m was spent on excavations

The Independent reports that

Karzai to brief PM on secret Taliban talks

The Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, will today brief Gordon Brown on talks being held with the Taliban with the aim of ending the conflict in his country, The Independent has learnt.
Mr Karzai is due to meet the Prime Minister after flying in from New York, where he discussed the matter with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and the Pakistani President, Asif Ali Zardari

The Times reports on a Power supergrid plan to protect Europe from Russian threat to choke off energy

The building blocks of the proposed supergrid would be new cables linking North Sea wind farms, and a network patching together the disparate electricity grids of the Baltic region and the countries bordering the Mediterranean, according to a blueprint drawn up by the European Commission and seen by The Times.
EU states will also be asked to pay for at least two ambitious gas pipelines to bring in supplies from Central Asia and Africa. The plans also call for a Community Gas Ring, or a network allowing EU countries to share supplies if Russia turns off the taps

British commandos kill two pirates in stand-off says the Guardian

British commandos killed two suspected pirates who tried to seize a Danish ship in the Gulf of Aden during an unprecedented operation involving a Royal Navy and a Russian warship, it was revealed yesterday.
The suspected pirates were shot after the Royal Marine commandos, in rigid inflatable boats launched from the frigate HMS Cumberland, were fired at from a Yemeni flagged dhow, the Ministry of Defence said.

The Telegraph reports that

Criminals ordered to work for their community should be forced to wear uniforms, Sir Ian Blair has said.The Metropolitan Police Commissioner insisted that visible punishment is the only way to convince the public the criminal justice system works.
He said offenders wearing high visibility vests is "unpalatable" but could help restore confidence in the courts.

End of the first-class degree in student reforms says the Times

Universities face the prospect of being overhauled with changes to the traditional academic year and the scrapping of the current degree grading system after a radical review ordered by the Government.
Year-round enrolment at universities, instead of recruiting students only in October, was another of the more radical suggestions contained in one of the nine papers written by vice-chancellors and leading academics which were published yesterday.

The Guardian reports on the £1bn contract will save 3,000 post offices from closure

Ministers are expected to give a reprieve today to 3,000 post offices threatened by closure when the government announces that the Post Office can retain its £1bn five- year contract to distribute benefits to 4.3 million claimants.
The announcement, a fortnight earlier than expected, will delight Labour backbenchers who had thought the government was gearing up to hand the contract to the private company PayPoint.

FinallyThe Express is happy

CURVY cucumbers and wonky carrots will return to shop shelves after Eurocrats scrapped the ban on odd-shaped fruit and veg.
The EU “came to its senses” yesterday by ending controversial marketing standards for popular fresh produce.
Europe’s agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel hailed the decision as a “new dawn for the curvy cucumber and the nobbly carrot”.

2008-11-12T07:46:00.004Z

The story of Baby P dominates the front pages this morning

Ministers last night ordered an urgent nationwide review of child protection procedures in the wake of the death of a 17-month-old boy at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and another man.
The three were convicted at the Old Bailey in a case that has many echoes of the terrible death of Victoria Climbié, whose murder eight years ago, in the same north London borough, Haringey, led to widespread changes in child protection.

says the Guardian

Blood on their hands says the Sun

TORTURED Baby P was seen SIXTY times by health or social workers during the eight months in which he was brutally abused.
The 17-month-old tot had more than FIFTY injuries or bruises.
When he was seen by a doctor two days before he died, he had a broken back, eight fractured ribs and was paralysed from the waist down.

The Times reports that

Baby P was sullen and shaven-headed and covered in bruises and scabs when he died in the dirty, flea-ridden house in August last year. His fingernails and the tips of his fingers had been torn off and he had been hit so hard in the face that one of his teeth was found in his stomach

Once again, no one's to blame: says the Mail which reports that

But not a single social worker will lose their job over the blunders which let the little boy suffer 50 injuries including a broken back, eight fractured ribs and ripped fingernails.

The Independent leads with the recession under the headline the Domino effect,it reports how

It began with the banks. Then house prices began to tumble. In the months that followed, the shock waves spread, engulfing first high streets, then factories – and thousands of jobs. In this gripping account, Paul Vallely travels across Britain to meet the people whose lives – and livelihoods – have fallen victim to the domino effect that left a nation broken

4,000 jobs go in a day as recession bites says the Times

The recession took a firm grip on Britain last night as well over 4,000 jobs were slashed in a day, fuelling fears that the total will be more than two million by early next year.
With figures today expected to show the highest number of people out of work since 1998, a roll call of household names in the pharmaceutical, technology and media sectors announced swingeing cuts.
The figures heightened fears that employment in all sectors of the economy will be hit. Until now, the bulk of job losses have been among manufacturers, housebuilders, hotels and restaurants and financial services

The Guardian says that Brown tax cuts to help 10p rate losers

Tax cuts set out by the government in next week's pre-budget report will be aimed at the 1.1 million people who did not receive emergency compensation when the controversial 10p tax rate was abolished earlier this year, the Guardian has learned.
But concerns about the scale of public borrowing mean that the changes will be modest and will be followed soon afterwards by tax rises to reduce national debt towards sustainable levels.

BROWN WILL PUT UP TAXES says the Express

MASSIVE tax rises will fund Gordon Brown’s multi-billion-pound economic rescue package, a senior Labour minister let slip yesterday.
The new burden could equate to at least an extra 4p on income tax, the Tories claimed, raising the average annual household tax bill by £500

The Telegraph meanwhile reports that

Borrowers taking out popular tracker mortgages in the wake of the global credit crisis are paying the highest rates in more than seven years, official figures have revealed.

Stop fleecing us, Brown warns credit card giants says the Mail

Credit card companies were ordered by Gordon Brown last night to stop fleecing customers.
He said they should behave 'responsibly' to help households through the difficult times.
The Prime Minister had been 'appalled' by complaints that interest rates remain sky-high despite the falling cost of borrowing.

Meanwhile the Independent reports that

Handover turns ugly as car industry bailout row flares

An ideological battle has erupted between George Bush and Barack Obama, with the outgoing President baulking at proposals to prop up General Motors, once the world's largest car maker, which could go bust by Christmas.
Despite the smiles for the cameras at the White House on Monday, a tense stand-off is flaring between the two. It is testing Mr Obama's assertion that "we only have one president at a time" and his desire to stay out of Mr Bush's way in the remaining two and a half months of his presidency. With car sales collapsing in a steadily worsening economy, the President-elect wants to avoid the prospect of tens of thousands of Democrat-voting union workers being thrown out of work just as he starts his term of office.

UN Security Council delays sending more troops to Congo reports the Telegraph

The head of UN Peacekeeping operations Alain Le Roy said it was unlikely the council would arrive at a decision on the UN mission, known as MONUC, before the end of the month.
"A report of the Secretary-General will be issued next week, for a decision by the end of the month," he said.

Cholera spreads among Congo refugees reports the Guardian

A cholera outbreak in a refugee camp has spread to eastern Congo's provincial capital of Goma, as humanitarian groups called for more UN peacekeepers to protect civilians caught up in the fighting between government forces and rebel troops.
Human Rights Watch said the UN security council should bolster the 17,000-strong UN force in Congo - the world's biggest UN peacekeeping mission - by 3,000 soldiers and police

Many of the papers report from the Cenotaph

Determined spirit of Henry Allingham, Great War veteran, stirs crowd at Cenotaph says the Times

It is the spontaneous gestures that tell the story behind the ceremony, the moments of real emotion that cut through it all to lay bare our innermost thoughts — and yesterday, as Henry Allingham struggled in vain against the infirmities of old age to rise to his feet, it told a powerful story of remembrance and loss.

The Independent reports

Of all the millions of men who made up the vast military machines fielded by Great Britain, Germany, France and the Empire in a war that ended 90 years ago yesterday, only four remain. Three were at the Cenotaph in Whitehall yesterday, to observe two minutes' silence for their fallen comrades.
The baby of the bunch was Bill Stone, born in Devon in September 1900, the tenth of 14 children, who was prevented by his father from joining the Royal Navy at the age of 15, but signed up on his 18th birthday. He was still in training when the the Great War ended but saw action during the invasion of Sicily in 1943, and stayed in the senior service until 1945.

Carnage UK: The company cynically turning student binge drinking into big business reports the Mail

An intoxicated young woman in hot pants is bending over to retch and simultaneously be groped by a male undergraduate, who she may well not know. Others are simply in a state of alcoholic collapse. Police, stewards and a medical team lurk nearby.
A cold Monday night in November would normally see central Norwich all but deserted.
But Carnage UK is in town. And as many as 2,000 local students, mostly teenagers, are taking part in what the 'UK's number one student event promoter' has billed as a 'Dirty Porn Star' fancy dress party.
For £10 each, the undergraduates are given a souvenir T-shirt and exclusive entry to six city centre nightspots. Each venue is printed on the T-shirts and is supposed to be ticked off with marker pens as the evening progresses.

Man due in court after murder of teenage model says the Telegraph

A man charged with the murder of teenage model Amy Leigh Barnes is due to appear in court today.Miss Barnes, 19, was taken to hospital with stab wounds after police were called to her home in Farnworth, Bolton on Saturday. She died later from her injuries.
Ricardo Morrison, 21, formerly of Birmingham, is due to appear before Bolton Magistrates' Court today, having been charged with her murder by Greater Manchester Police.

Shipwrecked in the sand reports the Indy

The closest Southampton Port's Brambles sandbank normally comes to catching anyone out is during the annual cricket match held on its surface by two rival sailing clubs. Yesterday, the sticky tidal mud patch in the middle of the Solent claimed an altogether bigger prize: the 70,000-tonne Queen Elizabeth 2.
The majestic vessel had planned to make a dramatic entrance to Southampton Water at dawn, to mark its final visit to its home port before it sails for Dubai and a new life as a luxury floating hotel. Unfortunately, the QE2's arrival was marked by drama of a slightly less regal kind when the ship ran aground on the sandbar and had to be towed free by a flotilla of tugs.

The Sun reports on the case of

A FEMALE vicar who went on swingers’ holidays and rolled up drunk to services was yesterday banned from the clergy for 12 years.
Church bosses branded the behaviour of Teresa Davies “scandalous”.
The motorbike-riding mum, 37, boasted of her sordid exploits to two colleagues after a boozy Christmas lunch.

Finally the Guardian reports

Sorry, you're on hold. All of our workers are off sick

Perhaps it is the stress of dealing with cranky members of the public. Or maybe they are just bunking off to escape the sheer boredom of sitting in front of a computer screen, day in, day out. But whatever the reason, it emerged yesterday that people who work in customer services, including call centre operators, are more likely to call in sick than any other workers in Britain.

2008-11-11T04:55:00.002Z

The Times leads with the story that

Gordon Brown bounce fuelled by fears of recession

Days after Labour’s surprise win in the Glenrothes by-election, the Populus poll cuts the Conservative lead to six points, its lowest for months.Labour is on 35 per cent, up five points since early October. The Conservatives are down four points at 41 per cent, the smallest Tory lead since the March Budget. The Liberal Democrats are up one point at 16 per cent.
More than half the public thinks that Mr Brown is the right leader to deal with the economy in recession, against a third for Mr Cameron. Mr Brown’s personal rating is also at its highest since July 2007, when he became Prime Minister. However, Mr Cameron is seen as better able to lead Britain forward after the next election.

Politics dominates many of the papers

Labour U-turn on car tax rises says the Telegraph

Plans to charge millions of motorists increased vehicle duty will be delayed as part of the Government's tax-cutting package to revive the ailing economy, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.Changes announced in the Budget would have meant that from next year, all cars that had been on the road since 2001 would face above-inflation rises in Vehicle Excise Duty (VED).

Meanwhile the Guardian reports that

Lord Mandelson is urging the prime minister to save the Post Office network by allowing it to provide government services and financial products, according to a leaked letter seen by the Guardian.
Mandelson suggests that the current economic downturn and "recent events in the financial services" present an opportunity for the Post Office to take on a new range of tasks

The papers carry pictures of Barack Obama at the White House,

Less than than a week after he was elected the next president, Barack Obama and wife Michelle were welcomed to the White House yesterday by George and Laura Bush – a political rite of passage that has happened unusually early because of the economic crisis, the war in Iraq, and the general consensus that this will be one of the most important transitions in recent US history.

reports the Independent

The Telegraph reportng that

Posing side by side briefly for the cameras after a cordial handshake, the two couples brought into focus the dramatic change that Americans have voted for. A white, Southern couple in their 60s are making way for a young, big-city, black couple with children still in primary school.
In a sign of his supreme confidence it was Mr Obama, the visitor, who patted his host on the back as the two men began the short walk along the Rose Garden to the Oval Office.

According to the Independent

Banks have increased interest rates on credit and debit cards held by tens of millions of shoppers despite the cost of borrowing falling to its lowest level for more than 50 years, research for The Independent reveals today.
The Bank of England has almost halved its base rate from 5 to 3 per cent since May, but during the same period the average annual percentage rate for credit cards has climbed from 17.2 to 17.6 per cent. Store cards – already in the spotlight after being accused of carrying excessive rates – have hit a peak of 25 per cent, and the high street chains Principles, Karen Millen and Oasis have raised charges for their in-store cards by 4 percentage points – almost a sixth – to 28.9 per cent

Many of the papers carry the story of Captain David Hicks who

was hit by a Taliban rocket, he should have been evacuated straight to a field hospital. But despite excruciating injuries which would soon kill him, he demanded to be sent back into battle to continue leading his unit, an inquest heard yesterday.
A large piece of rocket shrapnel tore into his chest while he was directing the defence of his base in Helmand province, Afghanistan, on August 11 2007, as it faced a hail of rockets, mortar shells and small arms fire reports the Guardian

The Mail adds that

This year Sandhurst-trained Captain Hicks was posthumously awarded the Military Cross - the second highest award for military bravery - for the 'inspirational' manner in which he led his men in Helmand Province.
He was mortally wounded after he climbed on to an observation platform, known as a sangar, to locate enemy firing positions.
Yesterday his fellow soldiers paid tribute to the captain as they recalled the explosion that killed him

Dying girl Hannah Jones wins fight to turn down transplant reports the Times

At an age when most teenage girls are thinking about school, boys and pop music, Hannah Jones is hoping only to be allowed to die with dignity. Hannah, who is 13 and terminally ill, has persuaded a hospital to withdraw a High Court action that would have forced her to have a risky heart transplant against her will.
Although the operation should prolong her life, it would only provide temporary respite. Instead, Hannah said she would prefer to spend her remaining days in the care of her family rather than take the chance of dying in hospital. The decision to drop the action was taken after Hannah was interviewed by a child protection officer.

Pay the obese to take a walk is the lead in the Mail

Overweight parents will be paid to walk their children to school under plans to tackle the obesity epidemic.
Those who attend keep-fit classes, weight-loss clubs or even go for a run in the park would also be eligible for rewards.
They will collect points on supermarket-style loyalty cards which would be redeemed against healthy food, sports equipment or gym sessions.

The Express meanwhile reports on the story of the

A SINGLE mother of five on benefits is living in a £1million five-bedroom detached house – paid for by taxpayers.
The house, with two sitting rooms, a conservatory and a double garage, has an annual rent of £25,000 and is beyond the dreams of most hard-working families.

scientists discover gene for cocaine addiction reports the Guardian

It has become commonplace for people who are overweight to attribute their waistline to their DNA. Now, celebrities caught snorting cocaine might also be able to blame their parents.
Scientists reported yesterday the discovery of a gene that increases the chances of becoming hooked on the drug. Addicts were 25% more likely to carry the gene variant than people who did not use cocaine, a study found

The Sun meanwhile leads with how

THIRTY of the Premier League’s top footballers are to be placed on a new “hit-list” in a bid to combat drug-taking in the game.
A host of household names – including a number of England internationals – will be checked FIVE times a year in addition to existing post-match tests.
And they will be forced to provide details of their whereabouts for one hour of EVERY day, including during end-of-season holidays.

To the recession and the Telegraph reports that

Estate agents struggling to sell even one home a week

The financial crisis, which has led to mortgages drying up, coupled with mounting fears about unemployment have left the property market "virtually paralysed", the leading trade body for chartered surveyors and estate agents said.
Houses are changing hands at their lowest rate since the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors started their respected monthly survey in 1978.
Sales per surveyor over the last three months fell from 11.5 to 10.9, compared with a month ago.

The Independent reports that

Abu Qatada back in jail 'after plotting to flee to Middle East'

Abu Qatada, 47, is due before an immigration court tomorrow morning after being arrested on suspicion of breaking his bail conditions. The latest development comes just five months after the fundamentalist preacher was controversially released from prison. The Palestinian-Jordanian, who was jailed in a clampdown on terror suspects in 2002 but not charged during six years in custody, was granted bail under a strict 22-hour curfew

The Guardian reports that

Top aide to Rwandan president agrees to stand trial in France over genocide claims

Rose Kabuye, Kagame's chief of protocol and a former officer in the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which ended the killing of about 800,000 Tutsis by Hutu extremists, was arrested Sunday at a German airport on a French warrant.
Kabuye is one of nine senior Rwandan officials indicted two years ago by France's leading anti-terrorism judge, Jean-Louis Bruguière. He accused them of assassinating the then Hutu president, Juvénal Habyarimana, thus marking the start of the systematic slaughter of Tutsis. A more widely accepted version is that it was Hutu extremists who killed Habyarimana prior to seizing power and overseeing the genocide

and the Times tells us that

A former SS trooper accused of being a concentration camp guard known as “Ivan the Terrible” may finally face justice as Germany prepares to stage what would probably be its last Nazi war crimes trial.
State prosecutors say that they can finally conduct the trial of John Demjanjuk, 88, who was for decades one of the world’s most wanted war crime suspects. “There is sufficient evidence from our point of view,” Kurt Schrimm, head of the Ludwigsburg Central Office for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes, said. A dossier has been handed to the state prosecutor in Munich, where Mr Demjanjuk had his last known address in Germany, who can then recommend his extradition from the United States.

Nine schoolboy rapists facing jail for punishment attack says the Mail

Nine schoolboys are facing years behind bars for a 'punishment' gang-rape on a 14-year-old girl who had 'disrespected' the gang's leader.
The boys were aged as young as 13 when they took it in turns to attack their victim.
The youngster was walking home when she was confronted by the gang in Hackney, East London.
The group's 16-year-old leader started an argument with her over a comment she had apparently made to his girlfriend.

Lawyers' riposte to Mail editor: this act protects everybody reports the Guardian

Senior lawyers hit back yesterday at the editor of the Daily Mail, Paul Dacre, after he railed against the "wretched" Human Rights Act and a high court judge whose judgments he described as "arrogant and amoral".
In a speech on Sunday night, also published in yesterday's Guardian, Dacre said that, "inexorably and insidiously", the British press was having a privacy law imposed upon it. He blamed in particular the successive rulings of Mr Justice Eady, a high court judge who frequently presides over privacy disputes.

Financier 'robbed from the rich to pay the Liberal Democrats' reports the Independent

A Scottish financier who was the single biggest donor to the Liberal Democrats after giving the party £2.3m used money fraudulently obtained from a former chief executive of Manchester United, a court heard yesterday.
Michael Brown, 42, promised annual returns of up to 50 per cent to rich clients who invested in his bond-trading business based in Mayfair, London. Instead, it is alleged, their money was used to fund the lavish lifestyle of a multimillionaire – and Britain's third largest political party.

According to the Times

Drivers who spot hidden speed cameras will be able to alert other vehicles within three seconds with the help of a dashboard gadget. They will no longer need to flash their headlights to oncoming drivers but will simply press a button on a satellite-positioning device.
The device, which exploits a loophole in the law, transmits the location of the speedtrap to a processing centre. The information is relayed to other drivers who have installed the same equipment. A car travelling 300 yards behind the driver who first spots the trap would receive the warning in time to slow down before the camera.

Finally the Telegraph reports that

Half of Britons struggle with the apostrophe

The apostrophe has emerged in an independent poll of nearly 2,000 people as the punctuation mark that causes the most problems. Nearly half of UK adults tested were unable to use it properly.
The most common mistake was not knowing how to punctuate a possessive plural.
Nearly half (46 per cent) of those that sat the test thought that, in the context set, "people's choice" was wrong – whereas it is, of course, correct

2008-11-10T07:30:00.005Z

The papers have differing headlines this morning.

The Guardian leads with the story that

Barack Obama will move swiftly to unpick many of what he sees as the most egregious acts of the Bush administration when he enters the White House in January, including restrictions on stem cell research and moves to allow oil drilling in wilderness areas, a leading member of his transition team said yesterday

The Independent adds that

The President-elect and Mr Bush will begin substantive discussions on the handover today when the Obamas visit the White House. While Laura Bush takes Michelle Obama on a tour of the first floor residential areas of her new home, Mr Bush will host his successor for talks in the Oval office

The Telegraph adds that

Tony Blair lead public pleas for Barack Obama, the incoming US president, to take strong role in the Middle East peace process as soon as he enters office in January

. adding that

Mr Blair and other mediators between Israel and the Palestinians marked the 19th and probably final visit to the region by Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, at a summit at Sharm al-Sheikh.

It leads with

Families and small businesses to receive billions in tax cuts in Pre-Budget Report

Alistair Darling will announce measures worth several hundred pounds to every family struggling to cope in the downturn. The measures will include an increase in tax credits and more help with fuel bills for the elderly.
Downing Street sources said that Gordon Brown had been convinced of the case for substantial borrowing to fund a programme of tax cuts and to maintain high public spending to revive Britain’s ailing economy.

Brown's 5-point plan reports the Guardian

The international financial system is in a "night of uncertainty" Gordon Brown will say today when he uses his annual foreign policy speech to set out the five-point economic recovery plan he will put to other world leaders in Washington this weekend.
Brown's speech will be delivered amid speculation that the government is considering announcing tax cuts in the forthcoming pre-budget report (PBR). Experts at the Institute for Fiscal Studies have said that any effective fiscal stimulus package has to be in the order of 1% of national income - or £15 billion - to have any effect.

The Times though says that

The Government moved to dampen expectations over the scale of forthcoming tax cuts yesterday, as the Bank of England prepared to ditch its forecasts and confirm that Britain is entering a recession.
The Treasury and No 10 played down suggestions that the value of tax cuts could reach £15 billion - the level some economists say is needed to kickstart the economy - and called weekend briefings unhelpful.

It leads with

Council homes for life ‘to be scrapped’

People living in council houses will no longer be entitled to a subsidised tenancy for life under Whitehall proposals to address waiting lists.
New tenants would have fixed-term contracts under the plans, with regular reviews every few years, The Times has learnt. If a tenant’s financial position improved he or she would be encouraged to take an equity share or to move to the private sector. If they refused they could face higher rents. The right to a council home is also likely to be tied to a requirement to have or be actively looking for a job.

Both the Mail and the Express have the same lead

The new statin drug that cuts the risk of heart attacks and strokes for EVERYONE says the Mail

A new statin drug dramatically cuts the number of heart attacks and strokes, even for people without high cholesterol.
In a major trial, daily treatment with Crestor slashed the rate of heart problems and deaths by 44 per cent.
Crucially, the U.S. study involved those who would not normally be considered at risk of heart problems.

A new cholesterol-lowering drug has proved so successful in trials that doctors want to speed it on to the market.
The statin was found to dramatically cut illness and death rates in one of the largest studies ever conducted

says the Express

The Independent reports that

Russian navy investigates worst tragedy since 'Kursk'

Investigators are trying to discover why 20 people died of suffocation on a Russian nuclear submarine after a fire extinguishing system released a poisonous gas into part of the vessel.
Three submariners and 17 civilian workers suffocated and 21 others were injured in the Akula II attack class submarine, which was on trials in the Japanese Sea on Saturday evening.

Warning to British travellers as Bali bombers are buried reports the Guardian

Al-Qaida supporters in Indonesia may launch attacks against foreigners in retaliation for the firing-squad execution of three of the Bali bombers, the Foreign Office warned travellers yesterday.
The department's travel advice website was updated after protests spread when the prisoners were taken from their death-row cells on the prison island of Nusakambagan shortly before midnight on Saturday

The Times reports that

Pentagon 'used secret authority for al-Qaeda attacks'

The Pentagon was given secret authority by President Bush to carry out about 12 controversial attacks against al-Qaeda and other militants in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere since 2004, it has been reported.
Quoting what it said were more than six unnamed military and intelligence officials and senior Bush administration policy makers, the newspaper said the military operations were authorised by a classified order signed by Donald Rumsfeld, former Defence Secretary, with the approval of the President.

Ofsted highlights nurseries divide reports the Guardian

The number of failing nurseries in the poorest areas of England has nearly doubled in the past year, while there has been a marked improvement in the wealthiest districts, figures show.
The likelihood of a child in the most deprived postcodes attending a nursery judged inadequate by inspectors is more than twice that of children in the most privileged neighbourhoods, according to figures obtained by the Conservatives.

The Sun reports that

A FURIOUS Deputy Head last night blasted exam chiefs who recommended a Gary Glitter song to kids – calling it “completely inappropriate”.
The Assessment and Qualification Alliance, Britain’s biggest exam board, listed the paedophile’s 1970s smash I’m The Leader Of The Gang as “related listening” for GCSE music coursework.
But parents and child abuse campaigners insisted vulnerable students should not have been directed towards the pop pervert’s songs.

The Independent leads with an exclusive

Britain's security agencies and police would be given unprecedented and legally binding powers to ban the media from reporting matters of national security, under proposals being discussed in Whitehall.
The Intelligence and Security Committee, the parliamentary watchdog of the intelligence and security agencies which has a cross-party membership from both Houses, wants to press ministers to introduce legislation that would prevent news outlets from reporting stories deemed by the Government to be against the interests of national security.

The Mail reports that

RBS throws SECRET £300,000 champagne party... weeks after £20bn taxpayer bail-out

The Royal Bank of Scotland has blown £300,000 on a secret champagne junket for executives - less than a month after being given a £20billion handout by the taxpayer.
Bankers and their partners enjoyed the lavish party to mark their 'success' after a year in which the collapse of the banking industry led to global financial meltdown.
The supposedly stricken bank laid on the celebration amid extraordinary secrecy to try to prevent details reaching the public, even cancelling the original venue, a top hotel in Hampshire, and transferring the party 350 miles north to Edinburgh.

The Express reports that

Fresh doubt was last night cast over the legality of Charles’s marriage to Camilla after Whitehall papers revealed that royals are banned from register office weddings.
Constitutional experts have argued that the Government was wrong to allow the couple their civil wedding in Windsor three and a half years ago.

Finally many of the papers report that

Maldives seek to buy a new homeland

The Maldives will begin to divert a portion of the country's billion-dollar annual tourist revenue into buying a new homeland - as an insurance policy against climate change that threatens to turn the 300,000 islanders into environmental refugees, the country's first democratically elected president has told the Guardian.

2008-11-08T07:27:00.001Z

The ramification sof the rate cut continue to dominate the papers

Banks cave in on home rates loans says the Mail as it reports that

Banking giants were shamed into slashing their mortgage rates yesterday following a direct order from the Prime Minister.
The move will be cheered by more than a million homeowners whose monthly bills will drop by around £135 on an average £150,000 loan, and many more should benefit soon.
It comes after banking chiefs were summoned to an emergency meeting at the Treasury yesterday morning and read the riot act.

The Telegraph says that

The Prime Minister said this morning: "We are determined to get banks to resume lending." The rest have refused to say when or by how much they might lower their rates. Their average standard variable rate is 6.79 per cent, according to researchers at MoneyFacts. This is more than double the base rate. The gap between base rates and mortgage rates has not been so high since the end of the Second World War

Meanwhile according to the Guardian

Tesco boss put pressure on Bank to cut rate

Sir Terry Leahy, the chief executive of Tesco, outlined his concerns about the economy and argued for a big cut in the cost of borrowing to help restore consumer confidence. Details of the breakfast-time meeting in Threadneedle Street emerged as the chancellor, Alistair Darling, ordered Britain's major high street banks and mortgage lenders to slash their borrowing costs by the full 1.5 points - and most of the banks complied

Give savers a fair deal says the Express

Banks were shamed into passing interest rate cuts on to borrowers yesterday – but it came at the expense of millions of savers.
After an emergency meeting with the Chancellor yesterday, bank bosses caved in to demands to pass on Thursday’s 1.5 per cent Bank of England base rate cut to their mortgage customers.

The Independent leads with,First the rate cut. Now for tax cuts

Ministers said a combination of targeted tax cuts and a speeding up of government building projects – to be financed by higher borrowing – would complement the interest rate reductions in a three-pronged strategy that would hopefully allow Britain to bounce back as quickly as possible from the looming recession. "We have got to use all the levers at our disposal," one said

Puppies and economy fill winner's first day reports the Guardian

Barack Obama set the tone for his presidency yesterday in his first public appearance since being elected when he displayed authority, humour and panache seldom evident in George Bush.
Taking questions at a press conference in his hometown of Chicago, he showed the same sense of cool that he had on the campaign trail as he dealt with questions ranging from the economic crisis and the nuclear stand-off with Iran to the choice of puppy for the White House

The Times says that

A sombre Barack Obama sought yesterday to bring America’s soaring expectations back to earth after meeting a team of economic experts, as the storm clouds of recession gathered.
“Some of the choices that we make are going to be difficult,” he said. “It is not going to be quick and it is not going to be easy for us to dig ourselves out of the hole that we are in.”

Speaking with 17 of his economic advisers arranged behind him, he added: "We cannot afford to wait on moving forward on the key priorities that I identified during the campaign, including clean energy, health care, education and tax relief for middle-class families."
His question and answer session with reporters in Chicago began more than 20 minutes late and came after he and Vice President-elect Joe Biden held talks with the 17 members of their transition economic advisory board.

says the Telegraph

There is much coverage of the Glenrothes result,and according to the Mail

Sarah Brown was hailed as the Prime Minister's secret weapon yesterday after Labour pulled off a decisive by-election win in Glenrothes.
A buoyant Gordon Brown welcomed the result as a 'vote of confidence' in his leadership and his handling of the economic crisis.
But his wife attracted her own share of the plaudits after she spent days knocking on doors to plead with the voters on behalf of her husband.

Salmond blames himself as PM celebrates victory says the Independent

as the Prime Minister basked in the warm glow of victory in London, at his headquarters in Edinburgh an uncharacteristically subdued Alex Salmond was feeling the bitter chill of defeat. He said he was responsible for the SNP's inability to overturn the 10,664 majority at Glenrothes and capitalise on its runaway popularity.
"The failure is of the campaign leadership, which is me effectively, for not recognising that we should have changed our campaign to face down a scaremongering campaign," Mr Salmond said. "That's my fault for not having my finger on the political temperature in the constituency."

Labour ‘racism’ would block British Obama, says Trevor Phillips reports the Times

Barack Obama would never have been elected prime minister in this country because of “institutional racism” in the Labour Party, the head of Britain’s equality watchdog has told The Times.
Trevor Phillips says in an interview today that the public would be happy to vote for a black leader, but the political system would prevent an ethnic minority candidate getting to the top.

The Sun's front page reports that Poppies are banned at the Palace

ROYAL staff are furious over an amazing ban on poppies at full state banquets at Buckingham Palace.
Flunkies were ordered not to wear the flower in remembrance of Britain’s war dead at a bash for foreign diplomats. Some claim Foreign Office officials warned they could be FIRED if they did.
Staff said they were told the poignant symbol might offend ambassadors at last Thursday’s dinner — hosted by the Queen.

BBC under fire over hip-hop slant on Obama win says the Guardian

Pitting hip-hop star Dizzee Rascal against Jeremy Paxman in a Newsnight special was probably designed to up the "yoof" factor in the heavyweight debate about the consequences of Barack Obama's election victory.
But rather than receiving plaudits for making the programme less stuffy, the BBC has been criticised for its unorthodox choice of guest, with Paxman accused of conducting a "patronising" and "crass" interview with the London-born rapper.Critics say the 58-year-old journalist asked questions that he would not have put to a young white musician - such as "Mr Rascal, do you feel yourself to be British?"

Meanwhile the latest installment in the Ross-Brand fall out is reported in the Telegraph

Radio 2 executive resigns over Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand prank

Dave Barber, who headed the compliance department at the BBC station and cleared the offending material for broadcast, has resigned from his job.
His departure follows those of Lesley Douglas, the Radio 2 controller, and Russell Brand, who joined Ross in making the prank calls to the Fawlty Towers star.

reports the Telegraph

50 children die in Haiti school collapse reports the Telegraph

A hillside school in Haiti, where 500 students crowded into several floors, collapsed during classes on Friday, killing at least 50 people and injuring many more.More children were believed buried in the rubble of the concrete building, and the death toll was likely to go higher, officials said.
Neighbours suspected the building was poorly rebuilt after it partially collapsed eight years ago, said Jinny Germain, a French teacher at the school.
She said people who lived just downhill abandoned their land out of fear that the building would tumble onto them, and that the school's owner tried to buy up their vacated properties

Maoris prepare to wield power reports the Times

The views of the Maori population of New Zealand have never been as important as they are now. Today, the country goes to the polls, with neither Labour nor the National Party expected to gain an outright victory under the proportional voting system. It is likely that the Maori Party will hold the balance of power.
“Our time has come,” Whatarangi Winiata, the president of the Maori Party told The Times yesterday

Many of the papers report the story of the

Pilot lands without a scratch after going blind at 15,000ft

When the instruments on Jim O'Neill's four-seater Cessna aircraft became difficult to read, he assumed it was the glare of the sunlight as he flew over north England at 15,000ft. It was only when the dials blurred completely that he realised the full horror of his predicament: he was a solo pilot who had suddenly gone blind.
Struggling with the aftermath of a mid-flight stroke – which had put pressure on his optical nerve and robbed him of his sight in one eye and left him with very limited sight in the other – Mr O'Neill found himself unable to follow instructions from civilian air trafficcontrollers attempting to guide him to the nearest airstrip. Instead, an extraordinary rescue was launched when RAF staff, overhearing the emergency, offered to send a military plane to fly alongside Mr O'Neill and shepherd him in to land, issuing instructions to him over the radio

Staying with aviation and the Express reports that

Two Russian pilots caught drunk as they were about to fly a jet out of a British airport were sacked yesterday.
They had four pints of lager each but because it tasted “very watery” compared to Russian beer they did not think it would be a problem, a court heard

The Times reports that

British criminals believed to be behind Ireland cocaine seizure worth £500m

Cocaine worth more than £500 million – one of Europe’s largest hauls – has been seized off the southwest coast of the Irish Republic in an operation that is thought to have targeted a British criminal gang.
A 60ft yacht once registered as British was being examined yesterday and three men – two of whom were described by Irish police as English and aged between 44 and 52 – were under arrest after the international operation. The third man was believed to be from Dublin.

The Mail reports that

Woman stabbed by teenager survives after knife snags on her £6 Asda bra

When a teenage thug demanding money lunged at Vicky Parsons with a knife she feared she was about to be stabbed to death.
But as the blade pierced her chest she was miraculously saved - by the wiring in her white £6 supermarket bra.
Further examinations revealed that whilst the knife had punctured her skin the wire had stopped it travelling any further.
Last night, the 26-year-old barmaid from Hull said: 'Thankfully the underwire in the bra took all the shock – it saved my life.'

The Mirror leads with the story of

A pensioner told yesterday how X Factor star Rachel Hylton mugged his wife in their home.
Rachel, an 18-year-old crack addict at the time, barged into 61-year-old Marjorie Mair’s house and tried to wrench her bag from her shoulder after following her
in North London. Husband Hepburne, 68, said: “I heard Marjorie screaming and sprinted downstairs to see her wrestling with this girl. It was terrible.”
Rachel, now 26, has already told X Factor bosses she was jailed after a string of offences.

Adlington: I should win BBC award, not Hamilton reports the Independent

Lewis Hamilton earned the nation's admiration and sporting adulation when he became Formula One's youngest ever champion last weekend. And his dramatic victory in the rain in Brazil apparently made him a racing certainty to be voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
But another young champion says Hamilton should not walk off with the prize at next month's award ceremony. Rebecca Adlington says an Olympic victor and not the F1 driver should win the prize. And the 19-year-old swimmer, who won two golds at this summer's games in Beijing, even suggested that she should take the accolade.

Finally the Sun has much to gloat about this morning as its Page three ammii kops a Hubby

Page 3 girl Amii Grove proving she’s a big fan — after getting engaged to Liverpool star Jermaine Pennant. Brummie Amii, 23, exclaimed “Yes!” when the 25-year-old winger, who she has dated for nearly two years, got down on one knee and presented her with a diamond ring.

2008-11-07T07:58:00.003Z

The banks come under fire on the front pages of most of the newspapers this morning as they are accused of not passing on yesterday's interest rate cut.

Shame of the banks says the Mail

Banks were accused of profiteering last night after failing to pass on yesterday's historic 1.5 per cent interest rate cut.
Within hours of the Bank of England cutting its base rate to just 3 per cent, lending giants turned the screw by axing their best mortgage offers.
They included three banks – Halifax, RBS and Lloyds – which received £37billion of taxpayers' money in last month's bail-out. The Bank of England's base rate is now the lowest since January 1955.

Banks ordered to pass on rate cut says the Independent as it reports that

Signs of continuing weakness among Britain's banks and in the wider economy were behind both the Bank's historic decision and the IMF's forecast. Implementing one of the largest reductions in borrowing during its 314-year history, the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee warned: "Since mid-September, the global banking system has experienced its most serious disruption for almost a century. While the measures taken on bank capital, funding and liquidity... have begun to ease the situation, the availability of credit to households and businesses is likely to remain restricted for some time." The cut follows the "emergency" international co-ordinated cut of 0.5 percentage points last month.

The banks great gamble says the Guardian

Ministers and opposition politicians piled moral and political pressure on banks to pass on yesterday's stunning 1.5% cut in interest rates to borrowers, as fears over the deepening recession prompted drastic action to stimulate the economy.

The Telegraph says

After the Bank's decision –prompted by the severity of the economic downturn – Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, and Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, added to the growing political pressure on lenders to pass the reduction on to home owners and small businesses. However, by last night, all but two of Britain's biggest banks – Lloyds TSB and Abbey – had failed to say how much, if any, of the cut would be passed on.

The Express describes how

Britain's financial system was in meltdown last night after the biggest interest rate cut in decades sparked chaos throughout the banking and housing markets.

The other tabloids are less friendly,now pass it on you bankers says the Sun whilst the Mirror calls them simply rats

Meanwhile the Guardian reports that

No 10 signalled yesterday that Gordon Brown may be willing to follow the cuts in interest rates by sanctioning tax reductions in the UK, as part of an internationally coordinated effort to give world economies a boost.
The prime minister's spokesman referred to action already taken in Britain to cut personal taxes in the wake of the abolition of the 10p tax band, and appeared to suggest fresh measures are under active consideration to stave off recession.

According to the Times

There were more than 4,000 suspensions of children aged 5 and under in England last year, prompting calls for teachers to have greater powers of restraint over violent and disruptive pupils.
Of the 400 suspensions of children aged 2 and 3 from nursery last year, 310 involved accusations of physical assault or threatening behaviour against a child or an adult, government figures show. They highlight the difficulties that some schools have in controlling troubled children who, in their distress or anger, may throw chairs or bite, hit and shout abuse at teachers and classmates.

Obama chooses 'Rahmbo' as chief of staff reports the Independent

Rahm Emanuel, an aggressive member of the Democratic leadership, yesterday agreed to become President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff, a key position for the success of the new administration, after struggling with family and political considerations.
The choice of Mr Emanuel, a US Congressman, was one of Mr Obama's first decisions after becoming President-elect on Tuesday. Known as "Rahmbo" to insiders, he has a reputation as one of Washington's most ferocious political operators.

The Gaurdian speculates that

will the Terminator star in Obama's next act?

Speculation is swirling that Schwarzenegger will be offered the role of energy czar in the incoming Obama administration. There has been Beltway chatter about the prospect ever since he was named as a contender for the job by the authoritative politico.com website.

Meanwhile the Mail says that

Italy's outspoken premier Silvio Berlusconi got off to a good start with the President-elect - by praising his suntan.
Media tycoon Berlusconi, 72, famous for putting his foot in his mouth, made the remark while visiting Moscow, saying Obama was 'young, handsome and tanned'.
Last night as he was condemned from all sides for his apparently racist remark, Berlusconi (right) snapped: 'What's the problem ? It was a compliment. If these people don't have a sense of humour, it's their problem.'

Rebels consolidate before Congo peace summit reports the Times

Rebel General Laurent Nkunda seized towns in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, consolidating his grip on the eve of a regional peace summit to be held in Nairobi tomorrow.
Sporadic shooting and shelling occurred for two days around the town of Kiwanja, 50 miles north of the provincial capital Goma, as General Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) rebel army fought off attacks by pro-government Mai Mai militias.

The Independent adds that

UN peacekeepers who reached the rebel-held village of Kiwanja yesterday found burnt huts and the bodies of at least a dozen men in civilian clothes. They appeared to have been shot or blown apart by grenades. Gen Nkunda's forces had stormed Kiwanja the night before in response to what they claimed were attacks by government-backed militia. Some 30,000 people fled and many slept out in the open. Fighting flared in at least two other locations in North Kivu province, with the notoriously ineffective Congolese army once more abandoning its positions, this time in Nyanzale

Most of the papers report that

Putin could reclaim Russian presidency within months

Dropping the clearest hint yet that Mr Putin, now prime minister, plans a swift return, senior government sources told the respected newspaper Vedomosti that Dmitry Medvedev could step down next year.
Mr Medvedev is first expected to usher through constitutional changes that would allow Mr Putin to return to his old job for 12 more years.

says the Telegraph

The Guardian reports that

Dmitri Medvedev is to go to Washington next week for the first time as Russian president, with the chances of a meeting with president-elect Barack Obama clouded by his decision to station missiles in the heart of Europe.
Medvedev's military announcement, in a speech delayed by a month in order to coincide with the election of the new White House occupant, sent a hostile message towards an Obama administration, aimed to sow friction between European capitals and a new-look Washington, and sought to intimidate the Poles and the Czechs, who are to host the bases for the Pentagon's missile defence project

The Times reports that Bloody Sunday inquiry delays report again, four years after hearing evidence

The chairman of the Bloody Sunday inquiry caused a storm of anger yesterday when he said that he would not deliver his report until next year – more than a decade after it began.
Lord Saville of Newdigate faced demands for a meeting with victims’ families to explain why the tribunal, already Britain’s costliest, was taking so long.
The 14 people fatally injured on Bloody Sunday, all innocent Roman Catholic civilians, were killed in January 1972, when paratroopers opened fire during an illegal civil rights march

Your chance to be one of the first to carry an ID card says the Independent

IT IS a system familiar to anyone wanting rare tickets to see a superstar such as Madonna, or avid festival-goers hoping to bag tickets for Glastonbury, registering their interest online along with thousands of others in the hope that they will be among the lucky few to be selected. Now the Government says that popular demand has convinced it to adopt the system for one of its own schemes: ID cards.
People will be able to register their interest in having a card early by entering their details on a pre-registration website at the start of next year. A lucky few will then be issued with their cards as soon as next autumn. It will mean that some people will have an ID card in less than a year, about two years ahead of the Government's original plans.

The Telegraph reports that

Young people brought up with the internet are not used to listening for long periods and would not make good jurors, according to the most senior judge in England and Wales.In a speech, Lord Judge of Draycote, the Lord Chief Justice, said it might be better to present information for young jurors on screens because that is how they were used to digesting information.
He said: "Most are technologically proficient. Many get much information from the internet. They consult and refer to it. They are not listening. They are reading. "One potential problem is whether, learning as they do in this way, they will be accustomed, as we were, to listening for prolonged periods.

According to the Mail,Britain is now official drugs capital of Europe

Drug abuse in Britain is worse than anywhere else in Europe, a devastating analysis showed yesterday. Young people in the UK are more likely to take cocaine, Ecstasy and amphetamine than those in any other country on the Continent, it said.
They are using cocaine in quantities and with a frequency unmatched anywhere else in the world apart from the U.S., the report found.

The Sun reports that

THREE elderly British Legion poppy sellers were left humiliated after being kicked out of a shopping centre.
World War Two Royal Navy veteran Leslie Downard, 80, his wife Phyllis, 76, and former TA soldier Joan Anderson, 78, were shaken when confronted by security guards.
The guards claimed – falsely – the three only had the right to collect in the shopping centre for four days and not the 14 they intended.

The Guardian claims that

Twenty-nine per cent of teachers believe that creationism and intelligent design should be taught as science, according to an online survey of attitudes to teaching evolution in the UK. Nearly 50% of the respondents said they believed that excluding alternatives to evolution was counter-productive and would alienate pupils from science.
The survey, by the website and TV station Teachers TV, also found strong support for the views of Prof Michael Reiss, the former director of education at the Royal Society, who resigned in September over comments about including creationism in science lessons

Finally the Independent reports that

light is shed on secrets of dark matter

It is one of the biggest mysteries in science which has baffled scholars for more than 75 years, but now a team of cosmologists believes it has found a way of discovering what the universe is made of. About 85 per cent is neither stars nor planets but some form of mysterious matter. It cannot be seen or detected by conventional scientific instruments, which is why the precise nature of this "dark matter" has eluded the finest minds in science.
Now cosmologists believe the problem will be solved within two years, thanks to the results of a vast computer simulation of the Milky Way galaxy that has provided the first cosmic map of where dark matter can be found and how find it.

2008-11-06T07:30:00.002Z

The Telegraph says the Dream comes True,Change has come says the Mail,An American Dream says the Independent,Obama's new America says the Guardian and the Earth moves says the Sun as all the papers have one story only on their front pages

The most striking thing about Barack Obama is not his youth, his oratory, or even the colour of his skin. It's simply that he knows what he's about. The vast crowd spread out before him in Chicago late on Tuesday night was transported with joy. America and most of the rest of the world hailed the moment as if it were the Second Coming.
But there in the midst of the frenzy, at this moment of supreme accomplishment, stood Mr Obama – cool, collected and already focused not on the historic victory he had just won in defeating the Republican John McCain and becoming America's first black president, but on the monumental problems he will confront, and that will not await his inauguration on 20 January 2009

. says Rupert Cornwell in the Independent

Barack Obama will pay homage to Abraham Lincoln when he takes the oath of office as America's next president in January, urging his fellow citizens to unite in "a new birth of freedom".
Obama, who chose to launch his election campaign last year at the spot in Illinois where Lincoln began his, will express a hope that as the 44th president he too will usher in a new American era

reports the Guardian

The Mail says

His historic victory was widely welcomed as a promise of a better future. It bridged the chasm of racism that has stained U.S. history and offered the prospect of restoring the country's reputation around the world, tarnished by a Bush presidency that brought two wars

The Sun reports that

BARACK Obama showed he will be fit for office yesterday — by celebrating his presidential election triumph with a workout at the gym.
An aide said he was “letting off steam” after his marathon campaign to win the keys to the White House.

The Times reports that

he was assembling key components of his administration. Rahm Emanuel, a congressman and former adviser to President Clinton, was offered the post of White House Chief of Staff. Mr Obama also set up a 15-member advisory board for the 76-day transition, headed by John Podesta, who served as chief of staff under Mr Clinton, and his long-standing aides Pete Rouse and Valerie Jarrett.

Meanwhile the Express has the headline Target Obama reporting that

A MILITARY-style operation to keep Barack Obama alive was under way yesterday within hours of his victory.
Even as the US President-elect celebrated with more than 160,000 supporters in Grant Park, Chicago, he did so from behind bullet-proof glass 12ft high and 3ins thick.

The Telegraph reports that

The Kremlin gave Barack Obama a glacial welcome to the world stage when Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, ordered the deployment of nuclear-capable missiles on Nato's borders for the first time since the Cold War.

and staying on the same theme,the Guardian reports that

President Dmitry Medvedev moved yesterday to entrench the current Russian leadership's grip on power by proposing a presidential term that would extend the stint in office from four to six years.
Medvedev said the extension was necessary to guarantee stability and help Russia deal with massive global challenges. But critics said the proposal was further evidence of Russia's alarming and rapid drift towards authoritarianism.

There is an election going on in Britain today and the Times reports that

Alex Salmond underlined his confidence that the SNP would pull off another “by-election earthquake” today with a bullish prediction of victory on the eve of the Glenrothes poll.
Scotland’s First Minister staked his reputation on an SNP victory in the seat, despite predictions of a tight result from all parties as they entered the final hours of the campaign.

Gordon Brown braces himself for defeat says the Telegraph

Despite a last-minute campaign stop by John Prescott, the former Deputy Prime Minister, Labour is increasingly gloomy about its chances of holding the another former safe seat.
Defeat to the Scottish National Party would represent a personal rejection for Mr Brown, who has broken with prime ministerial convention by twice campaigning and whose own constituency of Kirkcaldy and Cowden Beath is next door.

Economic gloom piles pressure on Bank for 1% rate cut reports the Guardian

The Bank of England's monetary policy committee (MPC) looks likely to make the biggest rate cut in its 11-year history today after a mass of poor economic data yesterday indicated that Britain was in for a long and deep recession.
City analysts believe the MPC could cut as much as 100 basis points off rates today - a full 1% - taking them to a five-year low of 3.5%, the lowest since the 1950s. Speculation about a big rate cut has been mounting all week but reached a new pitch yesterday after the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (Cips) said activity in services sector last month shrank - at its fastest pace in at least 12 years - while other figures showed manufacturing in its longest slump for 28 years

The Mail meanwhile reports that

'It's awful - Why did nobody see it coming?': The Queen gives her verdict on global credit crunch

The Queen spoke for the nation yesterday when she asked how the credit crunch could have taken so many economics experts by surprise.
She described the financial crisis as 'awful' and inquired that, since the meltdown was so massive, 'Why did nobody notice it?'
The royal concern was revealed at the London School of Economics, where she opened its £71 million New Academic Building

.

British interpreter Daniel James found guilty of spying for Iran reports the Times

An Iranian-born British Army interpreter who had a reputation for being a fantasist with ideas above his station was found guilty yesterday of spying for Iran while serving with the senior military commander in Afghanistan.
Corporal Daniel James, 45, who had been in the Territorial Army for 18 years, was convicted at the Old Bailey of one offence under Section 1 of the 1911 Official Secrets Act, of communicating with a military attache at the Iranian Embassy in Kabul in 2006. The maximum sentence is seven years in prison.

The Telegraph reports that

A Kosovan man shot in the jaw by a British soldier has been awarded £2.4 million compensation after suing the Ministry of Defence.The sum is more than eight times the maximum damages available to UK troops seriously injured abroad, and has been criticised by the relatives of disabled veterans

Many of the papers report that

The US author, Michael Crichton, best known for the novel Jurassic Park has died of cancer it was reported today.
The 66-year-old died in Los Angeles, according to a statement on his website.
Crichton's books, including Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World, which were adapted into successful films, have sold more than 150 million copies.

I'll find a minister for healthy eating, says Jamie Oliver reports the Independent

Britain needs a dedicated minister for food to prevent an obesity "horror show" from enveloping the country, Jamie Oliver has warned MPs reports the Independent
.

While he would be "touched" to be offered the job, the celebrity chef said, he would not take it but would act as a headhunter for the Government.
The star of the hit television shows Jamie's School Dinners and Ministry of Food shared a bleak view of Britain's eating habits during his 90-minute grilling by the Commons Health Select Committee, describing the rise in obesity as a "bloody emergency".

According to the Times

Thousands of tonnes of rubbish collected from household recycling bins may have to be stored in warehouses and former military bases to save them from being dumped after a collapse in prices.

the paper adds that

Collection companies and councils are running out of space to store paper, plastic bottles and steel cans because prices are so low that the materials cannot be shifted. Collections of mixed plastics, mixed paper and steel reached record levels in the summer but the “bottom fell out of the market” and they are now worthless. The plunge in prices was caused by a sudden fall in demand for recycled materials, especially from China, as manufacturers reduced their output in line with the global economc downturn.

Outrage over the computer game which glorifies suicide bombing reports the Mail

A computer game in which players assume the role of a suicide bomber and try to kill as many men, women and children as possible has provoked outrage.
A senior Labour MP said Kaboom: The Suicide Bombing Game, which is freely available to all age groups on the internet, ‘devalues human life’ and should be banned.
Players move a terrorist of Arab appearance along a busy street to get as close as possible to the most civilians.

The Express reports that

HARD-pressed families were handed some welcome relief from the credit crunch last night as food inflation fell sharply.
The price of a basket of everyday products has risen at its lowest rate since May, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium.
It is a strong signal that food price inflation, which has rocketed over the past 12 months, has finally peaked.

Five pound notes to be given to drivers by campaigners

reports the Telegraph

Wearing Geoff Hoon masks and holding a briefcase full of money, environmentalists will entice drivers at a central London petrol station with five pound notes.
Drivers will then be asked to sign postcards to Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon, asking him to remain committed to reducing emissions targets.
Organised by Futureproof, green campaigners who helped found the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s, they want to highlight how the Government could save drivers money on fuel bills, in addition to cutting CO2 emissions

Finally the Sun reports that

AMY WINEHOUSE’s husband tasted freedom for the first time in a year yesterday and declared: “I’m gonna see my wife and take her knickers down.” Junkie BLAKE FIELDER-CIVIL made his boast in an exclusive interview at a service station near the prison.
But his saucy hopes were soon dashed as he was then driven to a rehab clinic for treatment for drug addiction

2008-11-05T07:31:00.002Z

It is one of those days when the print versions cannot keep up with the breaking news as Barack Obama is declared winner of the Presidential race

Obama wins his place in history says the Independent

Barack Obama, the young Senator from Illinois, achieved a historic win in the American presidential election last night, with victories for the Democrat over his Republican rival John McCain in key battleground states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida.
The losses blocked any remaining path to victory for Mr McCain while opening the doors to the Oval Office for Mr Obama, who for 20 months has campaigned on a message of hope in a bid to become the first African-American elected to the highest office in the land

The Guardian says

Barack Obama emerged onto the stage at Chicago's Grant Park as President-Elect to greet a crowd that had waited for several hours to see him — and for decades to witness such a moment. There had been tears all evening, as one key state after another fell — first Pennsylvania, then Ohio — turning the hope of victory into a certainty. But for many it was the sight of the man himself that finally made reality sink in. There he was: an African-American man who from today will be addressed as Mr President.

Projected wins in the traditional battlegrounds of Ohio and Florida - as well as Pennsylvania, on which John McCain's pencil-thin path to the White House had depended - were easily enough to give Mr Obama the Electoral College votes he needs.
A clutch of other once-Republican states, including Colorado, New Mexico, Iowa, Nevada and Virginia, also fell to the Democrat. North Carolina, Missouri, Indiana and even Montana are still deemed too close to call.

reports the Times

Obama promises new dawn of American leadership says the Telegraph repeating his words

It's been a long time coming. But tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America."
"We have proved that the true strength of our nation comes not from the scale of our wealth but from the power of our ideals - opportunity, democracy, liberty and hope."

Change has come to America says the Sun

BARACK Obama was sensationally crowned as America's first black President this morning.
In his first speech as President Elect he told a mass rally in Chicago: "Change has come to America".

The rookie Senator smashed Republican rival John McCain as he made history with a landslide victory.

A new world dawns says the Express

Other news from the papers and the Times leads with

National road toll devices to be tested by drivers next year

Hundreds of drivers are being recruited to take part in government-funded road-pricing trials that could result in charges of up to £1.30 a mile on the most congested roads.
The test runs will start early next year in four locations and will involve fitting a satellite-tracking device to the vehicles of volunteers. An on-board unit will automatically deduct payments from a shadow account set up in the driver’s name.

The Guardian reports that

Patients are to be allowed to pay privately for treatment with expensive drugs without losing their entitlement to NHS care, the health secretary, Alan Johnson, announced yesterday.
But he denied that the government was presiding over a dilution of the founding principles of the NHS, which promises healthcare for all, free at the point of delivery. Any patient who wants to pay for drugs the NHS does not provide must get their course of treatment privately.

Jowell under attack for £10,000 trip to Brazil reports the Mail

Tessa Jowell rescheduled a £10,000 trip to Brazil so she could bag free tickets to watch Lewis Hamilton' s record-breaking Formula One triumph.
The Olympics Minister brought forward an official taxpayer-funded visit after securing tickets for the Grand Prix at the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo, where the 23-year-old Briton became the youngest world champion.

According to the Independent

Afghan veterans more likely to suffer from mental illness

British forces who served in Afghanistan are nine times more likely to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder than comrades who have not been sent to war, a report from the Ministry of Defence shows. Iraq veterans are six and half times more likely to be affected by the condition than others who were not there.

The Telegraph meanwhile reports that there are

Calls for minister to resign over SAS blunder

SAS commanders pleaded with defence officials not to be sent to Afghanistan in poorly protected Snatch Land Rovers following the deaths of four of their soldiers in a roadside bomb attack, it has been disclosed .

DNA hunt could identify killer who struck in 1946 reports the Times

The investigation into the death of Muriel Drinkwater, 12, a Swansea grammar school pupil, is believed to be the world’s oldest cold case review.
Colin Dark, of the Forensic Science Service (FSS), said that if Muriel’s killer was still alive he was likely to be in his eighties.

PUPILS 'TOO HEAVY' FOR SCHOOL CHAIRS reports the Express

Former Cabinet “heavyweight” Charles Clarke, nicknamed “two pizzas” for his appetite, has called for classrooms to be issued with sturdier chairs and higher tables to curb a rise in the numbers suffering from bad backs.

The Mail reports that

Abbey hikes cost of tracker mortgages two days before Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates

Britain's second biggest mortgage lender raised its rate by half a point yesterday, just 48 hours before an expected 1 per cent cut in the Bank of England rate.
The cynical move by the Abbey - killing off the benefit of the imminent cut - came after Business Secretary Lord Mandelson admitted he is powerless to force banks to bring down the cost of borrowing despite a £37billion nationalisation bail-out.
It is part of a wider drive by lenders to increase their profit margins on home loans without passing on the benefits to hard-pressed customers. The developments, seen as a slap in the face to the Government and the public, triggered condemnation of both the Government and the banks.

The Independent says that Rebels threaten Kinshasa if bid for talks fails

The Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda said yesterday he would extend his eastern guerrilla war to the capital, Kinshasa, 1,500km (950 miles) away unless the government agreed to political negotiations with him.
"If they refuse to negotiate, it will mean they will be ready to only fight and we will fight them because we have to fight for our freedom," General Nkunda said at his hilltop headquarters in Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern North Kivu province. He said his next offensive would not stop at the North Kivu capital, Goma, but would aim west for Kinshasa.

Meanwhile the Guardian says that

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, is to travel to Congo in the coming days to press for an end to the "catastrophic" conflict in the east of the country as the Tutsi rebel leader, Laurent Nkunda, threatened to attack Goma and then march across the country after the government rejected direct peace negotiations.

Many of the papers report that

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, suffered a serious blow today when Iran's parliament sacked his interior minister after he was caught out with a badly faked law degree from Oxford University.
Ali Kordan, a powerful figure on Iran's complex political scene, was told by the Iranian parliament, the Majlis, that he must face impeachment after he also admitted trying to bribe MPs not to proceed against him.

Finally the Telegraph reports that

Tattooed pigs banned from modern art exhibition

The pigs with the trademark LV symbol were to form part of an exhibition at the Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, together with eight other tattooed pigs.
Created by Wim Delvoye, a 43-year-old Belgian conceptual artist, they were part of an exhibit called "Art Farm".

Mr Delvoye had tattooed the designs on the animals when they were piglets and tracked the "canvases" as they grew.
However, gallery owners felt they were in poor taste after a string of complaints

2008-11-04T01:15:00.004Z

America's moment of truth says the Guardian

Election officials are braced for the biggest turnout in US history today as voters finally deliver their verdict on Barack Obama and John McCain to bring to an end a gripping, two-year campaign.
Although officials expressed confidence that polling booths would cope, campaigners and analysts expressed fears that the strain could see long queues and stations having to extend opening hours into the night. The effect would be a delay in declaring results in key states.
With all the main polls putting Obama well ahead, political analysts from right and left said they expected him to easily reach the 270 of 538 electoral votes needed to win the presidency, and many predicted a landslide, with him taking 350 or more electoral seats

The last lap says the Independent

The longest and most expensive presidential race in history drew at last to a frantic, frenzied close last night, with Barack Obama and John McCain hopscotching across America, panning for the final errant votes in key battleground states and trading eleventh-hour attacks on the economy, jobs and environmental policy.

However the paper adds that

in a final twist to the story Barack Obama last night announced that his 86-year-old grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, had died after a battle with cancer. He said he learnt of her death yesterday morning while he was campaigning in Jacksonville, Florida, but planned to go ahead with campaign appearances. In a joint statement with his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, Mr Obama paid tribute to the woman who had shaped his life. He said: "She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility. She was the person who encouraged and allowed us to take chances."

The Times says that

Before the storm, there was calm. Having travelled to almost every corner of his country in a 21-month campaign, one of the longest, hardest fought, certainly most expensive in history, Barack Obama pronounced himself content yesterday with whatever destiny has in store.
“You know, I feel pretty peaceful,” he said. “Because my attitude is if we’ve done everything we can do, then it’s up to the people to decide. And the question is going to be who wants it more. I hope that our supporters want it bad, because I think the country needs it.”

World matters dominate this morning,Congo ceasefire under threat says the Telegraph

A fragile ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of Congo is hanging in the balance after the rebel leader whose forces have inflicted much of the recent bloodshed threatened to resume fighting

The Independent reports that

The first UN aid convoy to reach the heart of rebel-held territory in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo arrived yesterday to find refugee camps that had housed tens of thousands of people last week now standing empty.
Stunned aid workers described the camps around Rutshuru that had been sheltering as many as 50,000 people displaced by the relentless fighting, as levelled with all signs of building materials and people gone

According to the Guardian

Gordon Brown's attempts to promote himself as the man to lead Britain through the economic crisis suffered a double setback yesterday as banks warned they would not pass interest rate cuts on to customers and the EU said the recession would hit the UK harder than any other country in Europe.
The prime minister had hoped to use the keynote speech of his trip to the Gulf states to restate calls on banks to ease lending conditions for families and businesses after it intervened to save three of the UK's biggest financial institutions with £37bn of public money. Brown said: "Having helped to strengthen the global banking system through recapitalisation, governments must ensure that the money is used to enable a resumption of lending to families and businesses."

The Express leads with the story

BANKS were last night accused of profiteering by failing to pass on interest rate cuts to their customers.
Struggling home owners had been hoping for some relief later this week with the Bank of England expected to slash the base rate.
But some banks and building societies – including those bailed out with taxpayers’ cash – are already warning that they will not pass on the full cut.

Britain's recession will be deeper and longer than rest of EU, warns European Commission says the Mail

The Times reports that

Thousands of patients will learn today that they can pay for the latest drugs to “top up” care from the NHS.
Ministers are expected to announce that there is no legal reason why patients should forfeit their free NHS treatment if they pay for extra drugs, despite accusations that this contradicts the founding principles of a publicly funded health service

One official disciplined over data loss every day says the Telegraph

Parliamentary answers from three Government Departments reveal that up to 260 officials were disciplined or dismissed "for alleged breaches of data protection requirements and inappropriate use of personal or sensitive data" in the past year.
Most of the people - 192 - were disciplined or dismissed at HM Revenue and Customs, which last November admitted losing personal details of 25 million people from the child benefit database

Caring, loving and a decent lady' - millionaire pleads for woman who sent hitman to kill him reports the Guardian

An Irishwoman who hired a hitman on the internet was sentenced to six years in jail yesterday for attempting to murder her wealthy ex-partner and his two sons, even though her former lover forgave her in court and pleaded for her freedom.
The case of 45-year-old Sharon Collins gripped Ireland as details emerged during the seven-week trial of her attempt to get an Egyptian-born Las Vegas poker player to murder her former partner PJ Howard and his sons.

The Independent reports on the news that

Restaurants will soon be required to tell diners whether their tips go straight to staff, in a victory for The Independent's "fair tips, fair pay" campaign.
The move follows diners' concerns that their gratuities do not go to the staff who serve them, with restaurants often "creaming off" some or using tips to top up low pay rates

A Muslim doctor and head of the Islamic Medical Association has been suspended from medical practice for 12 months after sending an "offensive and homophobic" letter to a magazine for GPs.

says the Telegraph adding that

Dr Muhammad Siddiq wrote gay people needed the "stick of law to put them on the right path" and were "the root cause of many sexually transmitted diseases" in a letter to Pulse magazine last July, the General Medical Council heard

The Mail leads with the news that

Scientists have created clones of a mouse that had been dead and frozen for 16 years.
It is the first time they have been able to clone a frozen animal.
The Japanese researchers say their work will benefit mankind - and could be used to bring back extinct animals such as the woolly mammoth or sabre tooth tiger.

STORM OF HATE SHOCKS LEWIS AFTER TRIUMPH reports the Express

STUNNED Lewis Hamilton endured a vicious backlash yesterday after becoming the youngest driver to take the Formula One crown.
The BBC helped heap criticism on Britain’s newest sporting hero with a phone-in encouraging callers to vent their dislike of the Grand Prix ace

The Sun also follows up on the story

LEWIS HAMILTON’S dad last night revealed he considered pulling his son out of Formula One after a vicious hate campaign against the family.
Anthony Hamilton, who saw his son crowned the youngest F1 champion in history on Sunday, admitted: “I was beginning to think maybe this was not the place for my family.

Finally the Telegraph reports that

A bookmaker has slashed its odds on proof being found of God's existence to just 4-1.Since opening its book just two months ago, punters hoping to have their faith rewarded have placed £5,000 with Paddy Power.
It began taking bets on the question that has plagued thinkers for centuries in September, to coincide with the switching on of the Large Hadron Collider that physicists hope may lead to the discovery of an elusive sub-atomic object called the "God particle".