Big Brother's housemates,the McCanns meeting the Pope an Nhs cure for smoking,Big Brother and House Prices seem to dominate today.











Nearly all the papers carry front page pictures of the McCann family meeting the pope.











POPE TELLS MCCANNS TO 'HAVE FAITH' says the Mirror











THE Pope comforts the parents of missing Madeleine McCann in a meeting that gave them new hope their daughter would be found alive.
Devout Catholics Kate and Gerry McCann flew to Rome and stood tearfully in St Peter's Square as Benedict XVI held his weekly audience in front of 35,000 followers.
Then came their emotional meeting. The Pope held Kate by both hands as Gerry bowed his head and kissed the Pontiff's hand.
The couple, both in dark suits, talked with the Pope before he blessed a photograph of Madeleine.
Kate, with green and yellow ribbons in her hair, also showed him a picture of Madeleine with two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.
The Pope, clearly moved, then put his arm around Kate as light rain began to fall. He also gave her five rosary beads.





His touch, words and thoughts were more tender than we could have hoped’ says the Times








The parents of Madeleine McCann made an emotional and spiritual pilgrimage to the Vatican yesterday to pray with the Pope for the return of their missing daughter.
The four-year-old vanished 27 days ago at the holiday resort of Praia da Luz in the Algarve. Since then Kate and Gerry McCann have campaigned relentlessly to find her.
The Catholic couple from Rothley, Leicestershire, met the Pope after he addressed a crowd of 30,000 people at his regular Wednesday audience in St Peter’s Square.
The meeting was arranged through Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster.






Beauty and the Beasts is how the Sun headlines the latest Big Brother









THE Big Brother house was filled with babes last night as the new series launched with an ALL-FEMALE line-up.
BB bosses got series eight under way with a new twist, choosing 11 women contestants and NO men.
The sexiest line-up yet features four under-20s, a former lapdancer, Big Brother’s first twins and a Victoria Beckham wannabe.
But housemates also include a 53-year-old peace campaigner and a Women’s Institute member aged 60 — the oldest BB contestant yet.
As revealed exclusively in yesterday’s Sun, Manchester United star Kieran Richardson’s cousin is among this year’s wannabes.









SEXIEST BB EVER says the Star








THE terrible twins burst into the BB house last night vowing to offer the best-looking bloke a kinky “man sandwich”. Sexy Sam and Amanda Marchant, 18, said they wouldn’t fight over BBs No 1 hunk because they’d share him.The delicious duo were among 11 girls who went into the house last night – and got a shock to discover no men were there.What they don’t know is that a bloke will arrive tomorrow night – and he faces a mauling when he does.The sex-starved lasses have already admitted they are on the prowl.









BIG BROTHER 8: LADIES ONLY says the Mirror









BIG Brother's first identical twins caused a huge stir among waiting fans when they entered the all-female house last night.
Amanda and Sam Marchant were gutted to find no men in sight - but the 18-year-olds will have their wish granted when one guy goes in tomorrow.
But they could still barely contain their excitement as the doors closed behind them. Dressed in white waistcoats, skimpy pink skirts and stiletto sandals, the pair squealed: "Oh my God, Oh my God" and jumped up and down.












It leads though with








NHS PILL TO STOP SMOKING








A PILL to help smokers quit will be available on the NHS in weeks.
Champix got the go-ahead yesterday after trials showed that almost half of those who took it kicked the habit.
The twice-a-day pill fights the craving for nicotine and reduces the pleasure of lighting up.
The approval comes less than five weeks before the start of the smoking ban in England. Leading health psychologist Professor Robert West, of University College, London, said: "With support, smokers could significantly increase their odds of quitting for life."








As does the Independent




NHS given green light to hand out pill to beat smoking

One month before a nationwide ban on smoking comes in to force in England, the most effective treatment yet found to help people stop smoking has been approved for use on the NHS.
The twice-daily pill, Champix, blocks cravings and withdrawal symptoms by acting on the same brain receptors as nicotine. It also reduces the satisfaction a smoker will get from further cigarettes if they have a relapse.

And the Telegraph which says








NHS to pay for £163 drug to help smokers quit








The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) said the NHS should pay for twice daily doses of varenicline, sold as Champix, for those who want to quit.
The draft guidelines follow controversy over Nice's decision to reject the drugs Aricept, Exelon and Reminyl for those in the early stages of Alzheimer's. The institute ruled that at £2.50 per day per patient they were not cost-effective.
Champix costs £1.95 per patient per day. Anti-smoking campaigners welcomed Nice's provisional ruling, saying the £163.80 cost to the NHS for each 12-week course would be more than recouped from the NHS's £1.5 billion annual bill for treating diseases caused by smoking.








The Guardian also leads with health and a plug for the Hay festival








Winston: IVF clinics corrupt and greedy








Britain's leading fertility expert condemned the IVF industry yesterday, saying that it had been corrupted by money and that doctors were exploiting women who were desperate to get pregnant.
Speaking at the Guardian Hay festival, Robert Winston also accused the fertility watchdog, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, of failing to protect women and giving consistently poor information to couples.
"One of the major problems facing us in healthcare is that IVF has become a massive commercial industry," he said. "It's very easy to exploit people by the fact that they're desperate and you've got the technology which they want, which may not work."








The Times front page tells us








Security guards to frisk school pupils for knives











Security guards will be able to search pupils for knives at the school gates without their consent under government guidance to be published today. Schools will also be able to use security arches and metal detector wands when they search pupils for violent weapons.
Legislation passed last year giving teachers power to search pupils for knives and other offensive weapons without consent comes into effect today. But guidance to headteachers from the Department for Education and Skills, published for the first time today, shows how schools can use the new powers. It makes plain that screening and searching can be carried out by professionally trained security staff, as well as teachers. However, it adds that where there is any risk to safety, police should be called.








Contrasting headlines in the Mail and the Express








Is the house price boom over? asks the former








House prices are falling across wide areas of the country, it has been revealed.
This could signal the end of the 11-year property boom.
Alarm bells sounded after official figures from the Land Registry showed prices slipping in four of the ten regions into which it divides England and Wales.
It is the first time in seven years that prices have fallen in so many areas in a single month.
The overall national figure still shows a rise, but this is because the continuing boom in London is seriously distorting the picture.
In other parts of the country, the bubble appears to be bursting.








HOUSE PRICES STILL SOARING says the Express









HOUSE prices are continuing to soar in defiance of interest rate rises, official figures revealed yesterday.
The average home in England and Wales went up by more than £1,200 every month in the past year despite Bank of England attempts to dampen the market with hikes to the base rate.And in welcome news for homeowners, experts claim the possibility of a housing crash is becoming more and more remote.








More news on the same report from the Telegraph








A million debtors face court action








The number of people who had a county court judgment served on them for non payment of debts approached a 10-year high in the first three months of the year, figures from the Registry Trust showed yesterday.
A total of 247,187 debt-related judgments against individuals were issued in that time - a 9.5 per cent rise on the same period last year. That represents the highest quarterly total since the summer of 1997 when 247,991 judgments were issued, according to trust statistics.








Baghdad lockdown as troops hunt for Britons reports the Guardian on the second day of the abduction of 5 Brits.








Areas of Baghdad were under lockdown yesterday as American and Iraqi troops searched for the five British men who were kidnapped in the city on Tuesday. There was speculation that the four security guards and the financial consultant they were protecting were taken hostage as an act of revenge for the British army's help in the killing of a Mahdi army militia leader.
Iraq's foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, said Shia militia groups had taken the men, but a leading cleric with experience in hostage negotiation said he did not believe the Mahdi army was responsible. Sheikh Abdel al-Sattar al-Bahadli told the BBC Arab Service that Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi militia were not involved, and wanted to peacefully build a new Iraq.








US troops search Baghdad houses as fears grow for abducted Britons says the Times








No word has been heard from the gang more than 24 hours after it seized the computer analyst and four security guards, but Iraqi government officials pointed the finger at the Mahdi Army – the militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia cleric.
Militia members, however, rejected the allegation, saying that they thought a Sunni gang linked to al-Qaeda was behind the kidnappings. US and other Western officials speculated that a smaller group or even a criminal network may have been involved.





Which also reports from Afghanistan where








Nato troop casualties as Taleban claims it shot down helicopter








A Chinook helicopter from the Nato-led force in Afghanistan crashed yesterday, killing seven people on board, five of them Americans.
The Taleban claimed that it had shot down the aircraft in Helmand, the southern Afghanistan province patrolled by British and other Nato forces.
A Nato statement said: “The entire crew of five died in the incident. There were also two military passengers who died.” A US official said that five American troops had died on board the helicopter, which he said had probably been brought down by a rocket-propelled grenade. The two passengers were not Americans.








Sierra Leone makes Blair 'Chief of Peace' says the Telegraph








A ceremonial robe was draped over his shoulders and the Prime Minister, visibly moved, assumed the title of "Chief of Peace".
In theory, this makes Mr Blair entitled to sit in Sierra Leone's parliament. The ceremony confirmed his standing as national hero in the formerly war-torn country.








HAIL TO CHIEF TONY BLAIR reports the Mirror








During the celebrations, the PM was declared Shebora Matot - a Permanent Chief of Peace. And he was told wife Cherie was his Bonposseh, or first lady.
But Mr Blair looked a little flustered when excited villagers later told him he was now able to choose as many wives as he liked. He said: "It's wonderful to be with you here today in Sierra Leone and it's a particular honour to be made an honorary paramount chief."
Mr Blair, on the second day of his farewell tour of Africa, hopes this leg of the trip will highlight how vital it was for Britain and the UN to have intervened in Sierra Leone to end a civil war that claimed 75,000 lives.
The PM yesterday also finalised plans for a £25million fund to support a new African Union force - designed to help quash similar conflicts in future.








Which reports that back home a








TORY ROW OVER 'HEIR TO BLAIR' SPEECH











GEORGE Osborne sparked outrage in his own ranks yesterday when he claimed the Tories were the "heir to Blair".
The Shadow Chancellor said Labour would lurch to the left under Gordon Brown - and it would be the Conservatives who carried on the school and hospital reforms started by Tony Blair.
He told a London conference: "As the Prime Minister leaves office, there is agreement between him and ourselves on the essentials of the way forward."
This, he claimed, included developing Mr Blair's plan to give parents more choice over what school their child attends and expanding the city academies programme.
Tory grassroots activists branded the comments a "slap in the face".








Grammar rebel: Cameron blinded by Blairism reports the Telegraph








The Tory grammar school martyr Graham Brady stokes the row over his party's education policy today by accusing David Cameron of "refusing to listen to evidence" and being "blinded" by Blairite ideology.



Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Mr Brady, who resigned as Europe spokesman on Tuesday, says the Tory leader failed to act like most "rational" people when he ditched the party's traditional support for grammar schools.








No left turns for deputy PM reports the Sun











GORDON Brown last night warned the Labour deputy PM rivals against lurching to the Left.
All six candidates favour handing more power to the unions — and some want higher taxes.
They will appeal to Labour activists and union members starved of socialism under Tony Blair, but Mr Brown warned: “There will be no retreat.”
In a clear rebuke to the deputy leadership candidates, he insisted that New Labour would remain at the centre ground of UK politics.
















The Mail meanwhile keeps up the farewell tour pressure








Blairwell to £1m: The cost of Tony's farewell tour








The cost to the taxpayer of Tony Blair's globetrotting farewell tour has broken through the £1million barrier, it was claimed last night.
The Conservatives accused the Prime Minister of authorising a "self-indulgent" waste of public funds to shore up his reputation at home and abroad.
Mr Blair has scheduled at least nine official and political visits since announcing that he is to step down on June 27 - and there could be more.











according to the Sun








Doctor Who to get axe in 2008








HIT show Doctor Who will be EXTERMINATED next year — after the fourth series.
Boss Russell T. Davies has decided to axe the BBC1 sci-fi drama and concentrate on other projects.
He and senior staff have hatched a plot to hand in a group resignation in summer 2008.
A source said: “The heavy workload — nine months of 16-hour days every year — has started to take its toll.
“It was decided the best thing for the show was go out at the top next year.”









Finally reports the Telegraph

The Channel Tunnel has been voted one of the seven new wonders of the world in a new survey.

The longest undersea tunnel in the world, which opened in 1994, came seventh in an online poll conducted by Teletext Holidays, while the Sydney Opera House was hailed as the top new wonder of the world.
Second place was given to the Eiffel Tower, which has been visited by more than 200 million visitors since its opening in 1889