The Media itself makes the headlines this morning,with the Independent's front page taken over by its editors comments on the PM's speach

Simon Kelner: Would you be saying this, Mr Blair, if we supported your war in Iraq?

Most days The Independent speaks for itself. We like to think that we do our little bit to make sense of an often bewildering world. But today is different: our editorial approach, and the values that underpin it, have come under attack from the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
In a wide-ranging speech on politics and the media, he singled out this newspaper as a metaphor for the corrosive relationship between the public and the body politic, and on behalf of our journalists, and more particularly our readers, we felt it would be wrong to let his assertions go unchallenged. The Independent, he said, "is absolutely entitled to print what it wants, on the Middle East or anything else. But it was started as an antidote to the idea of journalism as views, not news. That was why it was called The Independent. Today it is avowedly a viewspaper, not merely a newspaper. The final consequence of this is that it is rare today to find balance in the media."

Blair: media is feral beast obsessed with impact says the Guardian

British newspapers will and should be subject to some form of new external regulation, the outgoing prime minister, Tony Blair, said yesterday in a broadside that attacked the media for behaving like feral beasts and eschewing balance or proportion.
In a sweeping critique of the industry, Mr Blair claimed newspapers, locked into an increasingly bitter sales war in a 24-hour news environment, indulged in "impact journalism" in which truth and balance had become secondary to the desire for stories to boost sales and be taken up by other media outlets.

Media a feral beast, says PM who thrived on spin says the Mail

He claimed standards were being driven down by fierce competition and that this was affecting the ability of politicians to make the right decisions.
The Prime Minister argued that the relationship between public figures and the media had been so damaged that it was affecting the country's self-confidence.
And while saying a free media was vital, he raised the possibility of Europe-wide regulations to control how papers and television .

The Middle East gets a lot of the headlines

Hamas bids for total control reports the Telegraph


Hamas has been locked in a bloody power struggle with the rival Fatah party ever since it won a landslide parliamentary election in January last year. After months of on/off violence, the stalemate between the militant Islamists and the ousted Fatah moderates seemed destined to keep the Palestinian government paralysed.
Now, Hamas is pressing a fierce offensive in the Gaza Strip, systematically laying siege to the Fatah-dominated security services and looking at last for the decisive victory that could give it complete control of the Palestinian government.



The Independent reports

The fate of the increasingly powerless Palestinian national unity government was hanging by a thread last night after another day of brutal fighting between the two main factions in Gaza brought the two-day death toll to at least 36.
Hamas said it had seized control of the northern Gaza headquarters of the large Fatah-dominated national security force. A protracted and bloody battle was fought between 200 of its gunmen, firing mortars and grenades, and up to 500 security force members holed up inside left. At least 12 were killed and 30 injured. More than two dozen jeeps carrying Fatah reinforcements to the battle failed to get through roadblocks manned by Hamas gunmen.

Secret UN report condemns US for Middle East failures is the Guardian's headline

The highest ranking UN official in Israel has warned that American pressure has "pummelled into submission" the UN's role as an impartial Middle East negotiator in a damning confidential report.
The 53-page "End of Mission Report" by Alvaro de Soto, the UN's Middle East envoy, obtained by the Guardian, presents a devastating account of failed diplomacy and condemns the sweeping boycott of the Palestinian government. It is dated May 5 this year, just before Mr de Soto stepped down.

The Times leads with

Arthritis drugs offer fresh hope at a price

Tens of thousands of patients crippled by rheumatoid arthritis can expect dramatic improvements in their treatment with the arrival of a new class of “smart” drugs, scientists said today.
A study of three medications has shown that they can reduce the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, the debilitating joint disease, by about 50 per cent. Experts say the drugs will help liberate many sufferers with severe disease from pain and allow them to lead a near-normal life.
However, doubts remain over patients’ chances of getting the new drugs, which have yet to be approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the government watchdog, and could add around £250 million a year to the NHS drugs bill.


Ahead of today's announcement in the Commons,the same paper reports

'Chemical castration' option for sex crimes

Sex offenders are to be offered the opportunity for “chemical castration” as part of a series of measures to be published today to tackle child-sex offending.
Convicted child-sex attackers will be able to control their sexual urges by taking a course of the drug Leuproreline. It has the effect of reducing testosterone levels in men and is used in the treatment of sex offenders.
But the Home Office proposal will operate only on a voluntary basis and convicted child-sex attackers will not be forced to have treatment.

PAEDOS TO BE CHEMICALLY CASTRATED is the Mirror's front page

HOME Secretary John Reid will today unveil plans to give paedophiles jabs that suppress their twisted desires - after the huge success of similar schemes in the US and Scandinavia.
Studies show the rates of reoffending by those who had chemical castration have fallen from 43 per cent to just five per cent.
And the move to introduce the hormone injections here was welcomed last night by victims' groups. Norman Brennan, of the Victims of Crime Trust, said: "We would support anything that reduces the likelihood of children becoming victims of paedophiles.

The Mail has a picture of the murdered policeman on its front page repprting on his widow's comments

She called her 36-year-old husband "fun-loving, a true friend, a loyal and devoted husband and father, a caring person who always had time for others, a man with a fantastic sense of humour.
"First thing yesterday morning I said goodbye to the light of my life, not knowing that it would be the last time I would hear his voice, see his smile, feel his kiss.
"My husband, my world, my best friend. There are a million words and none."
Miss Henry-Brock spoke of her desperate sadness that a devoted husband and father would not live to see 11-month-old Maggie's first birthday.

Widow's tribute to stabbed cop says the Sun

THE wife of hero cop Jon Henry wept yesterday as she paid tribute to the man she called “the light of my life”.
Brave Mary Henry told of her heartbreak just a day after PC Henry, 36, was murdered by a crazed knifeman.
But she vowed to stay strong for the sake of their baby daughter Maggie.

It leads though with

WE THINK OF MUM EVERY DAY

PRINCES William and Harry have finally spoken out about their mother Diana’s death — and admitted they will NEVER stop wondering what happened.
The brothers speak candidly about the August 1997 accident which killed the Princess to a US television interviewer.
And Harry says: “Whatever happened in that tunnel — no one will ever know.”
Harry, 22, and William spoke to reporter Matt Lauer at Clarence House to publicise the Diana memorial concert at Wembley on July 1.

WE'LL NEVER KNOW WHAT HAPPENED is the lead in the Express

PRINCES William and Harry be­lieve the world will never know the truth about how their mother died.
Harry has admitted in a television interview that he will always be left wondering how Princess Diana’s car crashed into a pillar in a Paris tunnel that dreadful evening a decade ago.

ARUN DAD IS FOUND reports the Mirror following up on yesterday's news

THE body of a missing dad whose son died on a boat trip was found yesterday.
A surfer spotted Alan Watkins, 50, 400 metres from where they set off.
The body of Arun, two, and their empty dinghy were discovered on Sunday in the sea off Littlehampton, West Sussex.

We had to pursue murder inquiry, says police chief in Woolmer case reports the Indy

After nearly three months of diligent and costly investigation into theories ranging from assassination by a deranged fan to poisoning, the Jamaican police gave their final verdict on the "murder" of cricket coach Bob Woolmer: he died of natural causes.
Yesterday's declaration completed an embarrassing U-turn by the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) after stating unequivocally that the Pakistan coach was strangled on 18 March during cricket's World Cup. Mark Shields, a former Scotland Yard detective who is now second in command of the JCF, stated he was "100 per cent certain" that the 58-year-old former England batsman had been murdered in his hotel room.

Woolmer case ends with no match-fixing, no poison, no killers - and no resignations says the Guardian

After three months, acres of newsprint and rampant speculation, Mr Thomas announced that Woolmer, an overweight man in his 60s with diabetes and heart problems, had suffered what perhaps was always a far more likely fate: death by natural causes.




Staying with cricket and many of the papers have exclusive pictures of a drunken England captain,the Mail asks

could that really be Michael Vaughan looking decidedly the worse for wear after drinking for several hours? Sadly for the England captain, yes, it could. The player, who will have to lead his side into action on Friday, sat slumped and apparently asleep on a bench before being helped into a taxi. He had been celebrating his side's Test victory over the West Indies on Monday, which made him England's most successful captain of all time with 21 Test wins.

More drunken exploits this time on the other side of the Channel from the Times

Sarkozy’s teetotal image is blurred

France’s teetotal President appears to have fallen off the wagon during a bonding session with Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit.
A video showing the usually precise Nicolas Sarkozy in unsteady form at a press conference that came after his meeting with the Russian head of state.
Apparently trying to suppress a laugh, Mr Sarkozy excused himself for arriving late and seemed at a loss to know what to tell the assembled journalists.
“Would you prefer me to answer questions?” he said with a broad smile as he swayed behind the lectern at the summit in Heiligendamm, Germany. “Well then, are there any questions?”

The papers continue to take great interest in the trial of the judge accused of flashing

I can't be the flasher, says judge - check out my briefs says the Mail

As a senior judge he is certainly used to dealing with briefs.
But yesterday Lord Justice Richards found himself concentrating on a different kind as he defended his reputation in court.
The 56-year-old married father-of-three had to hold up a pair of Calvin Klein underpants as he denied accusations that he exposed himself to a young woman on a train.

Finally the papers are captivated by

President’s disappearing watch

When George W Bush began shaking hands with enthusiastic well-wishers in Albania he was wearing a watch. When he stopped a few minutes and dozens of hearty welcomes later, he was not. says the Telegraph

The Albanian media and websites, which carried video of the event in Fushe Kruje, 15 miles north of Tirana on Sunday, speculated that the best-protected man in the world had been fleeced.
Pictures show the president starting his walk along the crowd with the watch on his left wrist. In the next, a firm hand covers the relevant part of his arm, and in the last his wrist is bare and Mr Bush is gazing down as if searching for something.

MUGYA? BUSH LOSES WATCH TO CROWD says the Mirror

Bush, more used to being barracked by anti-war protesters, was clearly elated to be so popular for a change.
In fact he enjoyed it so much that after being rescued from the crowd's embraces he plunged back in for more backslapping, handshakes and kisses.
But when he finally emerged from the scrum in Fushe Kruje his £25 Timex, with a distinctive stars and stripes on its face, was missing. Within hours Albanian TV was screening footage showing the president wearing the watch as the visit began - but bare-wristed at the end.