Massacre on Campus
A gunman rampaged across the campus of a large technical college in rural Virginia yesterday, killing at least 32 people in two separate locations before shooting himself in what criminologists said was the worst mass killing of its kind in American history.
The man, who was not immediately identified, began shooting at a dormitory in the early hours of the morning in what authorities at first assumed was a limited domestic dispute. Two hours later, he opened fire again, in a building housing Virginia Tech's engineering school, and this time he created carnage.
"All I saw was blood in the hallways," said Gene Cole, a cleaner at the building who saw a man with a hat on and holding a gun before fleeing along a corridor and down a flight of stairs.
Eyewitness reports suggested the gunman went from room to room, opening fire, seemingly at random. Several students and staff members jumped out of windows to escape. At least two faculty members were shot, one seriously, along with several dozen students. The number of injured is in double figures.
Both the Mail and the Sun report on the possible motives
A lovers' tiff in the dormitory... then the university killer began his rampage says the Mail
Terrified students lined up against the wall of their classroom and shot, execution-style.
Doors chained shut by the killer to keep his victims in and police out. Blood-soaked bodies piled on top of each other.
These were the scenes of almost inconceivable horror at Virginia Tech University yesterday as a gunman claimed at least 32 lives before killing himself.
He was said to have quarrelled in a dormitory with his girlfriend, whom he believed had been seeing another man. A student adviser was called to sort out the row. But the killer produced a gun and shot dead both his girlfriend and the adviser.
The Sun reports
32 KILLED BY LOVE ROW STUDENT
Last night he was said to be a 24-year-old Chinese man who arrived in the US a year ago on a student visa. A JILTED boyfriend killed 32 people on a US college campus yesterday.
In the country’s worst ever school massacre, the maniac — who also shot himself dead — burst in brandishing two 9mm automatic handguns and an “ungodly” amount of ammunition.
Students said he first killed his ex and her new lover at Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg. The slaughter began at 7.15am when the gunman opened fire in a dormitory.
Pupils were ordered to remain indoors as cops swarmed in.
But two hours later the killer re-emerged in the university’s engineering building and began firing indiscriminately into classrooms.
The Times says
University authorities and police struggled to explain why they had allowed students on to the campus after the first shootings and failed to issue proper warnings.
The internet was also buzzing with postings of survivors’ tales, including a dramatic description of students barricading themselves inside a classroom while the killer tried to shoot his way in.
Speaking from the White House President Bush told a press conference: “Our nation is shocked and horrified.” The Queen said that she was “shocked and saddened “by the shooting.
The Independent reflects in its leading article Multiple shootings and permissive gun laws
The mass shooting at Virginia Tech, one of the most respected universities in the eastern United States, is a shocking reminder of the violence that lies so relatively close to the surface of American society. There will, of course, be much soul-searching in the US in the coming days; much insistence, too, that such tragedies are rare and should not brand a whole country or system. And it is true that the particular juxtaposition of the university's reputation for excellence, a campus that exemplified the peaceful groves of academe, and the prolific brutality shown by this gunman make the crime seem especially horrific. It is a tragedy that will mark the university for years to come.
Elsewhere The Times reports that
Blair prepares for final test as polls plunge to new low
Tony Blair is heading towards his final electoral test with Labour on 29 per cent, its lowest rating since he became leader 13 years ago and its most lowly position in the run-up to local elections for more than 20 years.
Today’s Populus poll for The Times suggests that Mr Blair will depart office after ten years as Prime Minister with one of his party’s worst-ever drubbings behind him.
Labour’s rating has sunk to a level previously seen in the early 1980s during Michael Foot’s troubled leadership.
But although the Conservatives have led for a year the survey suggests that their leader, David Cameron, has still not made the breakthrough to give him an overall majority at the next general election.
More trouble for the government accordin to the Telegraph which reports
Brown faces vote on pensions crisis
Gordon Brown faces an unprecedented vote of no confidence in the Commons today over his handling of the pensions crisis.
While the Conservative motion is certain to be voted down by Labour MPs, the Tories said it would be the first time in nearly a decade as Chancellor that Mr Brown had been forced to the Commons to defend his actions.
He faces further embarrassment tomorrow when the Government faces possible defeat over a cross-party attempt to secure improved compensation for the victims of collapsed occupational pension schemes.
Browne: Sorry but I'm staying put reports the Mail
Des Browne faced Tory calls for his resignation last night after he was forced to say 'sorry' for his botched handling of the Iran prisoner fiasco.
A lacklustre Commons performance by the Defence Secretary raised fresh questions about the crisis that left Britain humiliated on the international stage
Whilst the Guardian reflects on yesterday in the Commons
Browne survives after apologising to MPs for allowing sale of stories
The defence secretary, Des Browne, yesterday admitted to MPs that he had damaged the hard-won reputation of Britain's armed forces and that he was "happy to say sorry", and announced two inquiries into how the Ministry of Defence let 15 British sailors be seized by Iranians and then permitted some of them to sell their stories to the press.
Mr Browne's apology, his reputation for integrity and the support given yesterday by the defence chiefs and key cabinet colleagues ensured his cabinet job is safe for the moment. The probable next Labour leader, Gordon Brown, has been supportive, but may shift him when he conducts his first reshuffle. The shadow defence secretary, Liam Fox, sensed the political mood in the Commons yesterday by drawing back from calling explicitly for Mr Browne's resignation, saying instead his position was "becoming untenable".
The same paper reports on a worrying trend
Worst child abuse images quadruple online in three years, says watchdog
The number of images of serious child abuse online has quadrupled over three years, according to figures from Britain's internet watchdog published today.
The Internet Watch Foundation says the most distressing grade of images account for nearly a third of all reports of child pornography it receives.
The statistics paint a disturbing picture of growth in hardcore child abuse pictures for sale online. In 2003, just 7% of the web pages investigated by the group included the highest levels of abuse. Last year the group says that 29% of all the images that its officers investigated fell under the same classification, marking a fourfold rise in the most disturbing cases.
The Mirror reports on the
TRAINEE NURSES LEFT ON WARDS ALONE
NEARLY 50 per cent of student nurses have been left on their own to care for patients, it was claimed yesterday.
The Royal College of Nursing, which uncovered the scandal in a poll, blamed cost-cutting in cash-strapped hospitals and said patients were being put at risk.
Some unqualified staff found themselves on their own after just eight weeks' training. Almost half of trainee nurses had been left alone "without any warning and without a registered doctor or nurse present".
According to the Times
MoD official accepted £217,000 in bribes
A senior official at the Ministry of Defence bought himself a luxury villa in Spain after taking more than £217,000 in payments to ensure that an American company won a lucrative contract.
Michael Hale, 58, who was in charge of contracts for gas supplies and equipment, received nine payments over four years, Southwark Crown Court was told. He was given concurrent sentences of two years on each corruption charge.
Meanwhile the Telegraph reports that
Patients 'won't benefit from £12bn IT project'
Millions of patients are "unlikely" to see any "significant clinical benefits" from the National Health Service's £12.4 billion national computer system by the time all of the money has been spent in 2014, MPs warn today.
The Commons public accounts committee found that pilot projects on the National Programme for IT were already two years late and there were fears that the project would cost £20 billion - more than three times the original contract cost.
Pacific Consolidated Industries, which is based in California, was awarded a £4.5 million contract by the MoD to supply the British Armed Forces with gas containers after Hale had provided vital information.
Hale used the £217,766 to buy a five-bedroom villa with a swimming pool in Benidorm and also bought two houses in Cambridgeshire.
The Kate Middleton story is still alive,the Sun reports
Kate: New balls please!
BRAVE Kate Middleton rallied yesterday after her shock split from Prince William — by facing the world with a TENNIS RACKET.
The beauty, whose break-up from the 24-year-old future King was revealed exclusively by The Sun on Saturday, carried the bat as she emerged beaming from her London flat.
The stunt — seen as a copy of a tactic used by Wills’ late mum Diana — was designed to send out the clear message: “I’m still smiling.”
The Mirror reports the same story
SAD KATE WON'T LET SPLIT DRAG HER DOWN.
Back to the Sun which gives some attention to another celebratory as it captures
Jade Goody's fire brigade
TERRIFIED Jade Goody battles a bush fire that swept up to her holiday villa.
The Celebrity Big Brother star threw buckets of water at the flames — as her two sons hid in the building.
Jade, 25, and her family escaped but the Caribbean villa was wrecked by smoke damage. She was reduced to tears as her luxury break turned into a nightmare.
The holiday was meant to help her recover from the Shilpa Shetty racism row and a miserable year when her career nose-dived.
The latest lottery winner is covered in the Express which reveals
£8M LOTTO WINNER TOPS IT WITH PIZZA
LUCKY Jennifer Southall didn’t bother with any of that nonsense about not letting her £8.3million lottery win change her life.
For a start, she walked straight across the road, quit her £5.85-an-hour cinema job and ordered a takeaway pizza to celebrate.The mother of three’s new life as a lady of leisure had started dramatically enough – the supermarket girl who checked her ticket promptly fainted with shock.
Finally the Mail reports that
Britons are the grumpiest in Europe
Britain is one of the most unhappy countries in Europe. The reason is our wavering trust in the Government, the police and authority, according to a high-powered academic report.
Our level of happiness fell in the bottom half of a table of Western European nations while our level of satisfaction with life was even lower down the rankings.
The findings - based on 20,000 interviews across the continent - suggest the last 15 years of continuous economic success and rising wealth have not produced corresponding increase in general well-being.
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