The train crash in Cumbria came too late to make the early editions of the papers this morning.
All lead on differing themes.

Row as universities admit fewer state pupils is the Telegraph's lead.The paper reporting that

Elite universities were facing a showdown with ministers last night after new research showed they are admitting fewer state school pupils.
Bill Rammell, the higher education minister, said the top universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, should target schools in poor areas. This would reduce the number of places for independent school pupils.
His comments follow the publication of embarrassing figures showing that more than half of England's leading institutions recruited fewer children from state schools in the past two years. Almost all missed key Government targets to boost the number of students from maintained schools.

The Times goes with

Consumers hit by credit squeeze as debt spirals

High street banks are preparing to write off an unprecedented £6.6 billion as Britons default on a record amount of personal loans and credit card debt.
Rising interest rates and higher Council Tax and utility bills are taking their toll. Struggling borrowers who could previously find a fresh source of credit to tide them over are finding supplies cut off as banks tighten their lending criteria.
Lloyds TSB yesterday revealed that its personal customers in Britain defaulted on £1.24 billion in 2006, including £740 million of personal loans and £490 million of credit-card debt.

The Guardian leads with an Icm poll which claims

Worlds apart - poll finds parents out of touch

Teenagers drink, smoke, take more drugs and lose their virginity earlier than many of their parents believe, according to the results of the study. It shows that many parents are in the dark about the way their children cope with pressures that are often very different from those they faced in their own childhood.

The Mail's complete with fanfare as it reduces its price to 50p leads with

Dawn of the GM babies?

Scientists will be able to carry out genetic experiments on human embryos for the first time under controversial Government plans.
Ministers have given the green light to research that some doctors warn raises the disturbing prospect of "genetically modified babies".
Proposed legislation says researchers would be allowed to alter the genetic blueprint of an embryo up to two weeks old. Ethical campaigners fear this could herald an era of eugenics in which couples would engineer their children to be as perfect as possible.
Critics predicted the public would be "horrified" by any steps towards creating GM babies.

There is a lot of coverage on the increase in troops being sent to Afghanistan.The Mirror reporting

PM TO SEND 1,000 TROOPS TO AFGHANISTAN

BRITAIN is to send up to 1,000 more troops to Afghanistan after Tony Blair failed to persuade Nato allies to shoulder more of the burden.
They will go to bloody Helmand province, Defence Secretary Des Browne announced yesterday.
Two squadrons of the Household Cavalry - which is also sending Prince Harry's A Squadron to Iraq - are thought to be involved.
The news came two days after the Prime Minister boasted he was reducing the force in Iraq by 1,600.
Critics said he was allowing Mr Browne to announce failures while he heralded only successes.

PM criticised for dodging 'bad news' on Afghan troops says the Independent

Tony Blair was accused of ducking bad news last night after it emerged the Defence Secretary Des Browne will announce that more than 1,000 troops are to be sent to Afghanistan.
The Prime Minister made no mention of the plan to deploy more British forces to the front line when he told MPs on Wednesday that the historic withdrawal of British forces in Iraq would begin this summer with a cut of 1,600 troops.
He was seen as seeking to announce "good news" on a key legacy issue himself, leaving the Defence Secretary to announce the "bad" news on Monday. The Government has repeatedly denied the deployment of more troops to Afghanistan is tied to the withdrawal from Iraq, but many MPs will see the two are linked.

It though leads with the story

One woman, fighting to save her people from extinction

If Nobel Peace Prizes could refreeze the polar ice caps, then Sheila Watt-Cloutier would be a very happy woman indeed because her people are, "defending the right to be cold".
As it is, the Canadian activist, who lives in a remote community up above the Arctic circle, is thrilled to have her name put forward as one of the 181 nominees for this year's accolade from the Nobel committee, because it can only advance the cause for which she has been fighting for the past 12 years - protecting the Inuit peoples whose lives are directly and most immediately threatened by the change in the world's climate and raising awareness about global warming. As she said recently: "It's been a long haul and a daunting task to get the message out. When you're 155,000 people at the top of the world, there aren't very many people who even know who you are or what you're facing."
It is far too soon to say who will emerge as this year's Nobel Prize winner - the nominations were announced yesterday, and the peace prize is not awarded until October - but already the environment has emerged as this year's big theme and Ms Watt-Cloutier, as the tribune of a remote people living with the stark realities of global warming on a daily basis, is perhaps the closest thing the planet has to a beacon of hope for a better future.

Both the Mirror and the Sun headline more news on Britney,

BRITNEY SPEARS' BROLLY FURY says the Mirror reporting that

TROUBLED pop princess Britney Spears lost her cool after a bust up with her ex - and whacked a car with her brolly.
Britney, 25, lashed out in the street outside former hubby Kevin Federline's home after he refused to see her, repeatedly bashing the empty car with the furled umbrella.
Britney's mum Lynne managed to calm her down - and eventually persuaded her to return to the rehab clinic where she is staying.

The Sun carries two pages of pictures of the umbrella attack,it though leads with

Sugababe star's 'rape' agony

THE younger sister of Sugababe star Amelle Berrabah was allegedly date-raped in a bungalow on a travellers’ site.
Amelle’s gipsy lover Freddie Fuller and three pals have been quizzed after the alleged attack on Samiya Berrabah.
Samiya’s own ex-boyfriend is among those bailed over claims she was drugged and then sexually assaulted after a trip to a nightclub.
Samiya, 20, says she was encouraged to drink water laced with a date-rape drug which left her unable to speak or control her body. She then alleges she was subjected to a degrading sexual attack. As soon as she realised what had happened, she says she told her pop star sister and alerted police.

The paper also follows up on its front page yesterday

Cameron 'pistol' lad's boasts

THE gloating yob who pretended to shoot Tory leader David Cameron yesterday boasted of his life of drugs, guns and crime.
Hoodie thug Ryan Florence, 17, told how he smoked cannabis every day and spent months behind bars for a string of violent thefts.
His shameful claims came after he was snapped making the shooting action with his hand behind Mr Cameron, who was in Manchester to speak about youth gun culture.
Ryan, who was out walking his Staffordshire Bull Terrier with three pals yesterday, told of the sickening lifestyle of his 30-strong gang the Benchill Mad Dogs — whose chilling motto is ‘you live to die’.
The yobs — aged 14 to over 30 — boast about carrying ‘straps’ (slang for guns) and knives. They take drugs, paid for by theft, and have breached curfews and ASBOs.

Not suprisingly the Mail headlines

The truth about Cameron's hoodie

He is the sneering teenager pictured pretending to shoot David Cameron in a compelling portrait of a lawless, feral youth.
Clad in a black hooded top, one hand was inside his waistband while the other mimed firing a pistol while he apparently snarled the "f-word".
Now hoodie making the gun-toting gesture has been unmasked as 17-year-old Ryan Florence.

And staying on that theme the Telegraph reports that

Pregnant 14-year-old was told to help her expectant classmates

A pregnant girl of 14 revealed yesterday that she had been asked by teachers to give advice to four of her school friends who have fallen pregnant this term.
Kizzy Neal, of Torbay, Devon, who is due to give birth in May, spoke out as new figures showed that the seaside resort is one of the worst areas in the country for teenage pregnancy.
The teenager believes that getting pregnant is considered ''fashionable" by some schoolgirls and fears that her peers at Paignton Community College have seen the support her parents have given her, and think becoming pregnant is acceptable.

The Guardian reports

Can we join the Star Wars club? Blair lobbies for UK to be launching pad for defence system

Downing Street yesterday confirmed it had asked the US to consider Britain as a possible launching pad for US missile interceptors as part of the Bush administration's proposed "son of Star Wars" anti-ballistic defence scheme.
The government had previously played down such reports and the admission that talks were under way came only after The Economist reported that Tony Blair was lobbying the Bush administration
A Downing Street spokeswoman said: "Discussions with the US have taken place at various levels. Decisions on additional support for the missile defence system are at a very early stage and no decisions have been taken as to whether any element of that system would be based in the UK or where they might be based in the UK. We welcome plans to place further missile defence assets in Europe."

The Times reports the latest situation in Italian politics,

Prodi gets tough to rebuild coalition

A battered Romano Prodi appeared set to try to stay on as Italy’s Prime Minister yesterday by imposing stricter discipline on his unruly coalition and wooing centrists to bolster his slim majority.
As President Napolitano wound up talks aimed at resolving the political crisis Antonio Di Pietro, the centre-left senator, claimed that Mr Prodi had “the necessary numbers and the necessary political cohesion” to patch up and “relaunch” his Government.
If Mr Napolitano agrees to that — the President is due to announce his decision today — Mr Prodi is expected to hold a confidence vote in Parliament as soon as possible. He has already set out a 12-point “nonnegotiable” plan, telling his coalition partners to “take it or leave it”.
The points included “support for our foreign and defence commitments within the context of the UN and our membership of Nato and the EU” — a reference to troops in Afghanistan — economic liberalisation, public spending cuts, pension reform, infrastructure projects and investment in the south of the country.
Mr Prodi also insisted on obedience to his authority. In a victory for the Vatican and the Catholic Church Mr Prodi dropped a Bill giving legal status to cohabitation and gay partnerships.

Finally the Telegraph reports

Hello, Gordon here. Now start dishing the dirt

Rory Bremner, the television impressionist, tricked a Cabinet minister into making indiscreet remarks about his Government colleagues by pretending to be Gordon Brown.
Bremner said he telephoned the minister, whom he refused to name, during the recording of a series of his satirical show and pretended to be the Chancellor.
His victim was so convinced by Bremner's impersonation that he launched into a highly indiscreet discussion regarding his colleagues, not knowing that the conversation was being recorded on tape.
Bremner was astonished by the disclosures which included advice on who should be in the Cabinet and what jobs they should be given. The information was so remarkable that it was decided not to include it in the series as it may have broken broadcasting regulations.
It included the advice not to bring back the former transport and trade and industry minister Stephen Byers and the prospects of other Cabinet ministers.