No doubting the story of the day as the papers anticipate the end of the Blair era.

Today, the beginning of the end says the Guardian

Tony Blair will today return to Durham's Trimdon Labour Club, and the room where he launched his Labour leadership campaign on June 11 1994, to announce that he is standing down as party leader, before finally endorsing Gordon Brown as his successor tomorrow.
Mr Blair wants to bring down the curtain on his time in high office in the place where he began his fight to succeed John Smith and create the New Labour electoral success story.

Adding that

He will inform the cabinet this morning before flying to his Sedgefield constituency to announce his decision at noon amid the party workers who first selected him as their parliamentary candidate on May 20 1983 at the age of 30. He is expected to make a personal speech that will insist he is a product of Labour and that his government has left Britain stronger than he found it.

The Independent calls it THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT

Tony Blair will warn Labour not to retreat to the party's "comfort zone" by slowing down his reform programme as he announces his departure timetable today.
He will tell the Cabinet at its weekly meeting this morning that he is formally resigning as Labour leader, but will carry on as Prime Minister for another six or seven weeks while his successor is chosen. He will then travel to his Sedgefield constituency to make the public announcement.
Mr Blair's "long goodbye" provoked accusations that he is a "lame duck" Prime Minister. David Cameron, the Tory leader, taunted him in the Commons, branding his administration "a government of the living dead". He said there would be "another seven weeks of paralysis".

Whilst jointly leading with perhaps a defining moment of the 10 years

Two guilty of trying to leak details of Blair's talks with Bush

Tony Blair's ill-fated war with Iraq claimed two more victims yesterday when a civil servant and an MP's researcher were convicted of disclosing details of a secret conversation between the Prime Minister and President George Bush.
Last night, MPs, lawyers and civil rights groups described the prosecution as a "farce" and accused the Government of misusing the Official Secrets Act to cover up political embarrassment over the war.
David Keogh, 50, a Cabinet Office communications officer, and Leo O'Connor, 44, a political researcher who worked for an anti-war Labour MP, Anthony Clarke, face jail sentences of up to two years after an Old Bailey jury found them guilty of breaching Britain's secrecy laws.

The Telegraph says the stage is set for an emotional farewell

There will be little fanfare and some modest words as he applies the last rites during a speech at the Trimdon Labour Club. As always, the understatement will be carefully choreographed and the performance impeccably executed. By the Prime Minister's side will be a core of local officials who have been with him throughout his time as MP for Sedgefield. The audience will be made up of hand-picked activists with a record of unstinting loyalty. Looking on from the wings will be Jonathan Powell, his chief of staff for the past 13 years, and the only senior Downing Street official who has stayed with him through every up and down of an extraordinary decade in power.

According to the Times

World tour is PM’s way of bidding farewell

for much of his remaining six weeks in power Mr Blair will be absent from Downing Street, with at least five overseas trips planned for later this month and June. What aides are calling his farewell tour will begin tomorrow with a trip to Paris to see Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president-elect.
As he goes to the French capital Gordon Brown will be launching his campaign to succeed Mr Blair and will receive the long-expected formal endorsement from the outgoing leader.
Next week Mr Blair is likely to visit Washington for the last time as Prime Minister to see President Bush, the other half of the partnership that many Labour MPs and activists blame for bringing an earlier than necessary end to Mr Blair’s career because of the unpopularity of the war with Iraq.

DISPATCHED
Blair bashes Cameron in Commons And now, the end is near.. says the Mirror

BATTLING Tony Blair proved on the eve of his resignation announcement that he has lost none of his bite - by savaging David Cameron yesterday in a vintage Commons performance.
The smug Tory leader had accused the Prime Minister of "paralysing" his government by taking so long over his decision to quit No10.

But a confident Mr Blair slapped him down with a series of thrusts that had delighted Labour MPs cheering.
He said: "You can be as cocky as you like about the local elections. Come a general election it's policy that counts - and on policy we win and you lose."

Elsewhere the hunt for the missing girl in Portugal continues to dominate the tabloids

MADDY SPOTTED WITH WOMEN AT GARAGE says the Express front page

The Sun claims

THE hunt for abducted tot Madeleine McCann took on a grim new urgency last night as it emerged Portugal is a haven for paedophiles to prey on youngsters.
Portuguese police are now desperately trying to track down potential suspects from a blacklist provided by UK cops.
Their chief fear is that Maddie, three, was stolen to order by an international gang of perverts.

FAMILY RALLY ROUND MADDY'S MUM says the Mirror

ANGRY relatives yesterday defended distraught mum Kate McCann against growing criticism over the kidnapping of her three-year-old daughter Madeleine.
They are horrified by suggestions that the GP and her heart consultant husband Gerry were to blame for leaving the youngster and their two-year-old twins alone while they went out for dinner during their holiday in Portugal.
People are asking why they didn't make use of the creche at the Mark Warner resort in Praia da Luz - or take the kids with them.
There have even been claims that the professional couple, both 38, should face prosecution for neglect.

Madeleine's parents didn't want to leave her with a stranger

says the Mail

The parents of missing Madeleine McCann left their three children alone in their apartment every night of their holiday because they did not want a stranger to babysit, it has emerged.
But, tragically, the routine may have allowed whoever abducted their daughter the chance to build up a picture of their movements while he planned his crime.

The Telegraph leads with the story that

Cancer survival rates worst in western Europe

British cancer patients are substantially more likely to die of the disease than those in other western European countries because of poor access to the latest drugs, according to an authoritative report to be published today.

While more than half of patients in France, Spain, Germany and Italy have access to new treatments provided since 1985, the proportion in the UK is four out of 10.
French women with cancer are 34 per cent more likely than those in the UK to still be alive five years after being diagnosed, while French male patients have a 23 per cent higher survival rate after the same period.

Britain is sick man of Europe for providing cancer drugs says the Independent

The NHS's "penny-pinching" attitude to new treatments and "excessive bureaucracy" surrounding their assessment is condemning cancer sufferers in Britain to an early death, it says.
A review of the availability of 67 new cancer drugs in 25 countries has found that Britain languishes close to the bottom of the league. along with Poland, the Czech Republic, South Africa and New Zealand.

The Express looks at another aspect of health care

STROKE CARE LOTTERY IS KILLING HUNDREDS

HUNDREDS of stroke ­victims are dying needlessly because only one in 10 receive prompt treatment at a specialist unit.
Despite significant evidence that stroke units boost a patient’s chance of recovery, a third of victims are never taken to one at all.The shocking state of care for UK stroke patients was revealed yesterday in a report by the Royal College of Physicians.

The Times reports that

Divorcees may have assets taken to fund an ex-spouse’s debts

Thousands of divorcees risk seeing their assets plundered to meet their former spouses’ debts after a landmark ruling that they are no longer protected from his or her creditors when they split.
A High Court ruling released yesterday has closed the loophole protection that spouses enjoy over their share of assets ordered on divorce.
In future if a husband — or wife — goes bankrupt, their spouse will be exposed to creditors over assets won in a contested divorce. Bankruptcy trustees will be able to pursue the nonbankrupt spouse for up to five years. The ruling also applies retrospectively to divorce orders within the past five years.

Simon Mann, ex-Eton, ex-SAS. Now the nightmare of Black Beach prison reports the Guardian

After three years spent languishing in a Zimbabwean prison, the British mercenary Simon Mann was hoping to win his freedom this week, his sentence cut short for good behaviour.
Yesterday, however, the Old Etonian's predicament took a substantial turn for the worse.
A magistrate in Harare ruled that he should be extradited to Equatorial Guinea, the west African nation that was the focus of the alleged coup plotted by Mann and his team of armed conspirators.

Married teacher 'made pupil play xylophone during sex' is covered by a number of the papers.

The Mail reporting that

A science master embarked on a year-long affair with one of his pupils after having sex with her in a school store cupboard, a court has heard.
Michael Taylor - now a headmaster - began a secret relationship with the teenager days after she turned 15, the jury was told.
They allegedly met once a week for "music practice" - during which the girl, a talented percussionist, performed sex acts on him.
She was told to keep playing the xylophone during the incidents so anyone passing the classroom did not disturb the couple, the court heard.

KFC YOU INN COURT reports the Mirror

EACH year remote country pub The Tan Hill Inn serves up its traditional "Family Feast" for loyal customers on Christmas Day... but not for much longer if US fast food giant Kentucky Fried Chicken has its way.
KFC claims use of the name "Family Feast" breaches the registered trademark for its bucket of chicken, chips and extras.
And it has threatened the pub - which has been a hostelry for more than 400 years and stands on the site of an inn mentioned in the Domesday Book - over the matter.

'Rural terrorists' pull down 280ft tower reports the Telegraph

Unknown saboteurs felled the 279ft high device to measure wind strength, known as an anemometer, by cutting a steel supporting rope.
The incident has raised fears that opponents of the controversial renewable energy schemes, blamed for destroying property values as well as damaging health, could carry out copycat attacks elsewhere in the country. "This is rural terrorism - there is no question about it," said a spokesman for the Marshland St James wind farm consortium in Norfolk.

The predicted rise in the cost of borowing is well featured

Bank set to raise the cost of borrowing to 5.5% says the Times

The Bank of England is today expected to increase interest rates by a quarter of a point to 5.5 per cent, pushing the cost of borrowing to its highest level for six years.
The decision by the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee has been widely expected for weeks amid strong consumer demand which has pushed inflation at a 14-year high.
A quarter-point rise would slap an extra £31.25 a month on the typical cost of an interest-only mortgage for a house worth £150,000.
The Bank's action is designed to cut Inflation which rose to 3.1 per cent on the consumer price index in March, the highest it has been since the Bank gained independence in 1997.

The Guardian reports that

Record number of adverts attracting complaints

Stylised violence, same sex kisses and religous offence dominate a list of the 10 most complained about adverts of last year in the industry watchdog's annual report, due to be published today.
The Advertising Standards Authority said that while the total number of complaints fell by a sixth on the previous year, to 22,429, the number of ads complained about reached a record high at 12,842.
An advert placed by the Gay Police Association depicting a Bible and intending to highlight a supposed religious motivation for an increase in homophobic incidents was the most controversial advert of 2006, attracting 553 complaints

The Sun reveals that

£95 Final tickets go for £2,500

FED-UP fans are being asked to pay up to £2,500 for a ticket to the first FA Cup Final at the new Wembley Stadium.
The sky-high price is demanded on internet sites despite a pledge to clamp down on touts.
Tickets for the Manchester United v Chelsea clash a week on Saturday soon sold out at Stamford Bridge yesterday

One person probably wont baulk at the cost according to the same paper

Beckham gets biggest cut

DAVID Beckham shows off his second new haircut in TWO weeks — on the day it emerged he will be paid more than TWICE as much as the rest of LA Galaxy put together.
Becks, who sported a crew-cut while training with Real Madrid, will pocket £3.25million in his first season at the Californian club.
The wages of his team-mates add up to £1.32million, with the lowest paid — Lance Fritz — taking home a measly £6,500.