9th November

The Republican meltdown and the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld continues to dominate the papers this morning

The Indie simply has a picture of the President on its front cover with the headline,”It’s the War stupid”

Followed by

Democrat 'thumping' hastens exit of Rumsfeld

Donald Rumsfeld, the beleaguered US Defence Secretary, resigned yesterday, hours after a sweeping Democratic victory in midterm elections that redraw the balance of political power in Washington and could presage major changes in policy over Iraq.

The announcement was made from the White House in a presential briefing which the Guardian reports on

"In his first appearance since the Democrats won the House of Representatives with a projected gain of nearly 30 seats, the president admitted that his party had been given "a thumping" in Tuesday's elections, and acknowledged that Iraq was at least part of the cause.
Bush now has to work with the Democrats in both of the houses,a prospect that he adhered to
Mr Bush pledged to work together with the victorious Democrats in Congress, saying: "I believe that the leaders of both political parties must try to work through our differences." Today, he is due to meet Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco congresswoman who is poised to become the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Both have said they are committed to bipartisanship, but it was far from clear yesterday that they would be able to agree on the conduct of the Iraq war."

The Mirror is far more to the point

AMERICAN ZERO

At last, US wakes up and boots idiot Bush

"MILLIONS of Americans turned on President Bush yesterday as he suffered a crushing election defeat.

And in a report by Christopher Hitchens on the Bush press conference:
"PRESIDENT Bush made two extraordinary admissions in his bombshell press conference yesterday. The first was that he had chosen Donald Rumsfeld's successor several days ago, at a weekend meeting at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
The second was that, when he expressed full confidence in Mr Rumsfeld in a statement just last week, he did so in order to prevent the subject from coming up just before the vote. This confession of trying to manage the news is either alarmingly honest, or alarmingly dishonest, according to your taste.

Whereas the Sun proclaims

Rumsfeld pays price for Iraq


Elsewhere the News of the killing of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza strip is reported in the Guardian

Hamas says death of 18 civilians will be avenged

"The leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas called on his fighters yesterday to "activate resistance" hours after an Israeli artillery strike killed 18 civilians, mostly women and children, from a single family in Gaza.
Khaled Meshaal, who lives in exile in Damascus, promised retaliation after a wave of artillery shells landed before dawn on a residential street in Beit Hanoun. Several homes were hit, all belonging to one family.
The attack sparked international condemnation and came a day after the Israeli military ended a six-day operation in Beit Hanoun that claimed more than 50 lives. More than 350 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military in the past five months. "Our condemnation will not be in words but in deeds," Mr Meshaal said. "All Palestinian groups are urged to activate resistance ."

Also highlighted in the Indie

Gaza children cannot escape as Israel mounts its bloodiest attack in months

The Times has a serious take on the nursery rhyme three blind mice

Blind mice treated with stem cells regain sight

“British scientists have managed to make blind mice see, a breakthrough that could open the way to treating millions of people who lose their sight.

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A team successfully transplanted retinal cells into mice that were blind as a result of a genetic defect, the effects of which are very similar to the human disease retinitis pigmentosa. “

Amongst the Red Tops the Sun leads on the conclusion of the race attack trial in Glasgow
Race hate killers get 70 years

“THE mum of race-hate murder victim Kriss Donald yelled ‘you b*******’ at his “barbaric” killers yesterday as they were jailed for a total of 70 years.
Weeping Angela Donald, 43, screamed out after the jury found the three Asian men guilty of racially aggravated abduction and murder.
Kriss’s sister Samantha also yelled: “You f****** scum. You f****** scum. You are animals. I hate you. I hate you” as guards led the killers from the courtroom.
Her slightly-built brother Kriss, 15 — who hated racists — was dragged off a street, attacked and killed simply because he was WHITE.
He was taken on a 200-mile terror drive from Glasgow to Dundee and back before being stabbed repeatedly, doused in petrol and set alight while STILL ALIVE.
His killers — ringleader Imran Shahid, 29, his brother Zeeshan Shahid, 28, and Mohammed Faisal Mushtaq, 27 — fled to Pakistan but were brought back 19 months later.”

The Star meanwhile leads on another story widely reported,

Boozy Gazza's racist brawl

FALLEN football idol Paul Gascoigne was locked in a police cell for almost nine hours after allegedly hurling racist abuse at a photographer.The former England ace was accused of calling him a “black c***” and hitting another cameraman in a drunken rage.Boozed-up Gazza, 39, was also alleged to have punched another snapper in the face moments earlier outside a trendy west London nightclub.

Both the Express and the Sun pick up on the story of the White Poppies

The Express reports that

Church group: 'Wear a white poppy'

A RELIGIOUS group has sparked anger by calling for red poppies to be replaced by pacifist white ones.It claimed the white emblems sold by peace campaigners were more Christian, while the red ones promoted and glorified war.

The Sun meanwhile announces that

White poppies 'more Christian'

A RELIGIOUS think tank risked the wrath of war veterans today after it labelled the wearing of red poppies as "politically correct" and less Christian than the white variety.
Public figures in Britain are urged to wear the red poppy almost as an "article of faith" while simultaneously being told not to wear items such as the crucifix, the director of Ekklesia, Jonathan Bartley, has claimed.