Brown camp fear Miliband after challenge on policy.
According to the paper
Two of Gordon Brown's oldest political enemies have told the chancellor that there should be a public debate over the future direction of a Labour government before Tony Blair's exit this year.
Alan Milburn and Charles Clarke say they are only starting a policy debate within the party, but some of Mr Brown's allies are treating the move with suspicion. They fear that the real aim is to flush out a credible challenger to him for the leadership.
The Independent reports on Blair's latest initiative in policy
Dysfunctional families face 'tough measures'
Tony Blair tried yesterday to patch the cracks in his Cabinet over the Government's policies on marriage and single parents as he defended its record on tackling poverty.
At his monthly Downing Street press conference, the Prime Minister attempted to steer a heated political debate over family policy towards a hard core of "dysfunctional families" that he admitted had been left behind by Labour since 1997.
While marriage was a "good thing", he ruled out Tory plans to restore tax allowances for married couples.
Its front page returns to foreign policy,
How the war on terror made the world a more terrifying place
An authoritative US study of terrorist attacks after the invasion in 2003 contradicts the repeated denials of George Bush and Tony Blair that the war is not to blame for an upsurge in fundamentalist violence worldwide. The research is said to be the first to attempt to measure the "Iraq effect" on global terrorism. It found that the number killed in jihadist attacks around the world has risen dramatically since the Iraq war began in March 2003. The study compared the period between 11 September 2001 and the invasion of Iraq with the period since the invasion. The count - excluding the Arab-Israel conflict - shows the number of deaths due to terrorism rose from 729 to 5,420. As well as strikes in Europe, attacks have also increased in Chechnya and Kashmir since the invasion. The research was carried out by the Centre on Law and Security at the NYU Foundation for Mother Jones magazine.
The Telegraph meanwhile reports that
Bush to talk with Iran on future of Iraq
The US will attend a conference in Baghdad next month to discuss the "stabilisation" of Iraq with its six neighbours, including Iran which Mr Bush once described as part of an "axis of evil".
A second meeting is due to be held in April and the Americans last night held open the possibility of one-to-one talks with Iranian ministers, which the US has previously refused to do unless Teheran suspended its uranium enrichment programme.
Taliban target Cheney in suicide attack on US base in Afghanistan reports the Independent
The US Vice-President, Dick Cheney, found himself face to face with the reality of Afghanistan yesterday when a suicide bomber killed up to 20 people outside the base where he was staying, including an American soldier. The Taliban claimed responsibility and said the attack had directly targeted Mr Cheney.
The Vice-President was unhurt, but the attack was a potent symbolic blow. More than five years after the overthrow of the Taliban, the US cannot prevent a suicide attack on its most heavily guarded base when its second most senior leader is inside.
According to the lead in the Times
Medical backlash over health foods
Two of the most popular products in Britain’s vast health food industry come under attack today, as scientists cast doubts on the benefits of vitamin supplements and low-fat dairy products. Research published today suggests that regular consumption of a wide range of vitamin pills, taken by more than ten million people in the UK, may actually increase the risk of dying, while eating low-fat dairy products could make it harder for some women to conceive.
The vitamin study, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, overturns earlier research suggesting that vitamins A, E and beta carotene could protect against heart disease and cancer.
Staying with food and comments from Prince Charles about McDonalds are covered in a number of the papers,
BURGER OFF says the front page of the Mirror
STORM AS CHARLES CALLS FOR BIG MAC BAN
TOP celebrity chefs last night rallied behind Prince Charles's claim that McDonald's should be banned to encourage healthy eating.
TV favourite Antony Worrall Thompson said: "What he's basically saying is correct. We need to get back to cooking from scratch.
"But why didn't he mention Burger King and the other fast food outlets? It's a whole industry producing ready meals and fast food that is the problem."
But the Mail says
He immediately laid himself open to charges of hypocrisy after it was pointed out that the company's signature Big Mac contains fewer calories, fats and salt than some products in his own organic Duchy Originals food range.
His Cornish pasty contains 264 calories per 100g compared to the burger's 229 calories, and 5.5g of saturated fat as opposed to the Big Mac's 4.14g.
The prince's comments regarding McDonald's, the world's biggest fastfood chain, came during an event to promote better public health on the penultimate day of his tour of the Gulf.
The Sun finds another fat teenager on its front page
Sam, aged 9, is 14st and size 18
FOURTEEN-stone schoolgirl Samantha Hames shockingly admitted last night: “Chocolate is the only thing I’m interested in. It’s the only thing I live for.”
Samantha, nine, scoffs a 500g family-size bar of her favourite Galaxy chocolate every day — a staggering 3.5kg (half a stone) A WEEK.
She weighs nearly THREE times most girls her age — the equivalent of TWO Victoria Beckhams and more than beefy soccer star Wayne Rooney, who is 12 stone.
Three-quarters of NHS hospitals in England cannot guarantee the safety of children in their care, the government's health watchdog warned today in a "wake-up call" to shock doctors and managers into improving services.
The Healthcare Commission said nearly one in five NHS trusts did not provide effective life support for children brought in for emergency treatment at night last year. More than half of hospitals did not give staff adequate training in child protection, ignoring procedures put in place after the death of the child abuse victim Victoria Climbié in 2000. Many doctors in outpatient clinics and day surgery units knew little about pain relief for children, and the majority of NHS surgeons and anaesthetists lacked essential training in how to communicate with children.
Says the Guardian
The Telegraph leads with
200,000 miss out on first choice school
Amid unprecedented competition for the best schools, around a third of all applicants in some parts of the country will fail to get a preferred place.
Some schools report 10 pupils competing for every free desk.
Experts warned last night that the clamour for places will intensify under Government plans to give families more freedom to choose schools.
Since the Penny Black in 1840, everyone in Britain, from the Cornish coast to the Scottish Highlands, has paid the same price to post a letter.
But in a stark ultimatum, Royal Mail said the service was struggling for survival as the firm haemorrhages lucrative business contracts.
THE husband of murdered police woman Nisha Patel Nasri was yesterday arrested by officers investigating her death.
Detectives were last night quizzing Fadi Patel Nasri as police revealed they fear his 29-year-old special constable wife was killed by a hitman.
A senior Scotland Yard source said: "We are now considering the very real possibility that Nisha was not the victim of a random act of extreme violence but was deliberately targeted by paid assassins. We are investigating the possibility that she was the victim of a contract killing.
"Two men are in custody. One of them is her husband Fadi Nasri Patel."
A 37-year-old man was also being quizzed over the killing.
French left fears repeat of 2002 fiasco as Bayrou support grows reports the Independent
With just under eight weeks to go before the first round of the election on 22 April, more than half of the voters have still to choose a firm favourite.
The centrist candidate François Bayrou is within striking distance of an upset victory over the Socialist hopeful Ségolène Royal in the first round of the French presidential elections, according to an opinion poll published yesterday.
However, the surge of support for M. Bayrou is unusually "soft", according to pollsters. The French electorate is always difficult to poll and seems to be in an especially skittish mood this year. Other recent polls have suggested that support for Mme Royal is strengthening.
The Times reports from another election campaign
Panic on the Right as America’s Mayor takes lead in polls
A slew of polls show the former Mayor of New York opening a lead of up to 20 per cent over his declared rivals among likely Republican primary voters.
The phenomenon of a thrice-married supporter of abortion, gay rights and gun control creating such enthusiasm in a party dominated by Christian conservatives is a cause of puzzlement, bordering on panic, among Washington’s pundits
The Guardian reports on a day of falling stock markets around the world
Wall St suffers biggest fall since 9/11
Wall Street suffered its biggest one-day fall yesterday since the immediate aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, as a day of hefty stock market falls around the world culminated in a late panic sell-off in New York.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed more than 400 points down amid fears that the US and China - the twin locomotives for the global economy - were about to plunge into recession and that the White House might be preparing air strikes against Iran's nuclear capability.
Finally the Telegraph reports on Harry Potter's West end debut
Radcliffe's naked talent makes Equus a hit critic Charles Spencer reporting
And even I must concede that Equus, which I last saw as a trainee reviewer in the mid-70s, packs a terrific theatrical punch in Thea Sharrock's powerful revival, evocatively designed once again by John Napier.
Better yet, Daniel Radcliffe brilliantly succeeds in throwing off the mantle of Harry Potter, announcing himself as a thrilling stage actor of unexpected range and depth.
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