The Guardian leads on its front page with another scandal relating to Bae.

Arms deal investigators probe BAE payments to South African

According to the paper

The Serious Fraud Office is investigating "substantial payments" made by BAE Systems to a senior South African defence ministry official who had influence over a £1.5bn contract won by the arms company to supply planes at nearly twice the price of a rival bidder.
Last night it emerged that South Africa's organised crime unit, the Scorpions, was handling a "mutual legal assistance" request from the SFO to investigate the financial accounts of Fana Hlongwane, a politically well-connected businessman, in relation to the 1999 deal. Mr Hlongwane is a former special adviser to the then South African defence minister, Joe Modise, who died in 2001.

The Telegraph meanwhile leads with the story that broke yesterday spelling more controversy for the Home Office.

'We don't know how many are missing'

A new system is to be introduced to keep track of the number of inmates on the run from open prisons.
The move comes after the director general of the Prison Service, Phil Wheatley, admitted he did not know the figure.
Mr Wheatley insisted the information would be of no use to the Prison Service, but said he was ready to divert cash to setting up the new computer database in order to be able to respond to queries from the public and media.

The Mail pours scorn on the same department

Wanted: for crimes against common sense

A Chief constable was accused of 'madness' last night after refusing to release pictures of two escaped murderers amid fears it might breach their human rights.
Derbyshire's top policeman David Coleman claimed the killers posed 'no risk' to locals, while the force said it had to consider the Human Rights Act and data protection laws when asked to publish 'wanted' photographs of the two men.

The retrurn f ire from Ryan Air Chief after comments made about his company by junior minister is covered in a number of the papers

Dogfight between pollution minister and Ryanair

reports the Telegraph

whilst the Times reports

A government minister who called Ryanair the “irresponsible face of capitalism” was given a sharp dressing down by David Miliband, the Environment Secretary.
Ian Pearson, climate change minister in Mr Miliband’s department, was told to “get back in your box and stay there” after accusing the airline industry of failing to take climate change seriously.

The Guardiam reports that

Bush shuffles diplomats and generals ahead of last big push for victory

Administration officials confirmed that Mr Bush would replace his two top generals in Iraq, both of whom have expressed unease about proposals to boost the number of troops in the country. Their places will be taken by generals whose track record points to a further hardening of the president's strategy in favour of combat, rather than withdrawal, as preferred by the newly resurgent Democrats.

The Independent is staunchly supporting its own solutions published yesterday

From all corners, support grows for Iraq peace plan

Senior Labour figures joined opposition MPs in welcoming the plan, set out by Iraq's former defence minister Ali Allawi, for Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey to be given a role in helping to end the increasingly bitter sectarian divisions in Iraq that have helped push the country towards civil war. Senior military figures and foreign affairs analysts also backed the intervention of Mr Allawi, a senior adviser to the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, whose blueprint was revealed in yesterday's Independent.

The Sun headlines with a spin off from the Iraq crisis,under the headline DAD'S ARMY it reveals

SQUADDIES could still be serving in the trenches at the age of FIFTY-FIVE under the Army’s new recruitment limit.
Top brass have raised the top age for recruits by seven years to 33 to counter their desperate shortage of personnel.
The last time the limit was that high was during the last days of the British Empire 59 years ago in the aftermath of World War Two.
Amazingly it means soldiers who join up on a normal 22-year engagement could be fighting just five years ahead of their 60th birthday.

The conviction of a man over inciting racial hatred is covered in a number of the papers,The Times tells us

Court 'cursed' as cartoon protester is convicted of incitement

Extremists screamed insults at an Old Bailey judge yesterday as a British Muslim was convicted of inciting murder during protests against the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
Umran Javed, 27, had shouted “Bomb, bomb USA” and “Jihad is the path to Allah” as he led a 300-strong crowd in chants during a demonstration in London last year.

The Mirror reports that

THOUSANDS of council workers will be called on to be the "ears and eyes of police" and stop another 7/7 outrage.
Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly will give 50 local authorities £5million to keep a lookout for Islamic extremists in our big cities.
They will use the cash to set up organisations to root out groups brainwashing young Muslims.
Their staff will be asked to "establish systems to share potential risks or concerns at the local level with councils and staff acting as the eyes and ears for police in countering threats".

England's whitewash in Australia is well covered.

First whitewash, now hogwash says the Sun

Ian Botham writing in the Mirror says

TIME TO GET TOUGH ON OUR WHITEWASHED FLOPS

Geoffrey Boycott writing in the Telegraph says

This tour has been a shambles from first to last and it is about time that certain people admitted that. The first thing I want to see is the coach, Duncan Fletcher, taking responsibility for his mistakes and announcing that he will retire after the World Cup.

The Guardian asks

Miserable about the Ashes result? Imagine how the sponsors feel

Executives from Vodafone, which signed a four-year deal worth £20m to be team sponsor in 2005, may have watched the sorry final act in Sydney with dismay. The same might be said of those from Toyota, the ECB's motoring partner, Ask.com, the official search engine, or Hugo Boss, supplier of grooming products to the defeated squad. The marketing teams from Citizen, which provides watches to Kevin Pietersen, Volkswagen, official car of Pietersen, Flintoff and Team England, and Barclay's Capital, which sponsors the bat manufactured for the captain by Woodworm, are unlikely to have been turning cartwheels in the early hours either.