After claiming to be prepared for a "last stand", reports said that Fatah-aligned fighters simply laid down their weapons and walked out.
In a decree announced by one of his senior aides, Tayeb Abdel Rahim, in Ramallah and swiftly dismissed by Hamas officials in Gaza Mr Abbas declared a formal state of emergency, said he was dissolving the woefully ineffective Fatah-Hamas coalition brokered by Saudi Arabia three months ago and promised to form a new government in its place.
Fourteen years after the Oslo accords opened up the prospect of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, its putative territory was in danger of breaking into two warring entities as Hamas fighters routed Fatah gunmen at the end of a week of violence that has left almost 100 people, both gunmen and civilians, dead.
He spent the night in custody as cops probing the death of Stuart Lubbock studied taped interviews recorded for the fallen comic’s autobiography.
The Sun can reveal the tapes will form part of the police investigation into how Stuart, 31, was found dead in 2001 in Barrymore’s swimming pool at his former home in Roydon, Essex.
The scale of the task facing Tony Blair at his last summit became clear last night after Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, in a letter to fellow leaders — obtained by The Times — revealed that most countries want to keep the “substance” of the main changes agreed in the last attempt to push through a constitution.
Poland, meanwhile, threatened to derail the whole summit. President Kaczynski told The Times that he would reject the treaty unless Poland received more votes in Brussels.
Mark Francois, the Conservative Party spokesman on Europe, said last night: "The proposals show just how serious and far advanced negotiations now are. It shows what total rubbish the Foreign Secretary was talking when she told MPs last week that 'nothing is going on'.
"The Government were elected on a manifesto that pledged that the British people must have the final say. They must keep that pledge and let the British people decide for themselves in a referendum on any new Treaty that transfers powers from Britain to the EU."
Seven days to save Britain says the Sun as it
urges its army of readers to tell Tony Blair he has just seven days to stop a surrender of British power to Brussels.
The PM is preparing to back an EU Treaty — really a revamped EU constitution by the back door — in his last act as British leader.
And he has ruled OUT a referendum of the British people to get their permission.
Today The Sun urges every reader to take part in our own referendum to have their say.
The Mail's front page tells us
Speed camera-mad Britain losing road deaths battle
Britain is the speed camera capital of Europe but is fast losing the battle to reduce road deaths.
The number of roadside cameras has trebled in six years while mobile speed traps set up across the country have increased 14-fold.
Yet despite an unrelenting war on the motorist, Britain's record for saving lives and reducing accidents is much worse than other countries.
An over-reliance on cameras - at a time when fewer traffic police are patrolling the roads - has led to an alarming relative rise in drink-drive deaths.
As a result, Britain has plummeted in Europe's road-safety league table.
Drivers face big cut in drink limit and random tests reports the Guardian
Drivers face a drastic reduction in the drink-drive limit and the introduction of random roadside breath tests in a government crackdown on alcohol-related road deaths.
Stephen Ladyman, the roads minister, said a cut in the alcohol limit for motorists from 80mg to the European average of 50mg could be introduced, limiting drivers to a half pint of beer or small glass of wine.
Speaking after the publication of a Europe-wide study which showed the UK falling behind France and Sweden in reducing road deaths, Mr Ladyman said a public consultation this year would propose a reduction in the drink-drive limit.
The Telegraph meanwhile looks at another aspect of drink
Teenage sex crisis 'due to drink and drugs'
Teenagers are in the grip of a sexual health crisis fuelled by a "celebrity culture" that condones alcohol abuse, drug addiction and promiscuity, Government-funded advisers warn today. daily diet of celebrities in sexualised poses, taking drugs and getting drunk has led to increasing numbers of children "defining their lifestyle" around drugs, alcohol and sex in their early teens, with Britain now having the highest rate of teenage pregnancies and sexual infections in Europe, they say. Despite this, Government campaigns have failed to make the link between drugs, alcohol and sexual health - even though many drugs increase sexual desire, leading to more sex and more drinking, the Independent Advisory Group (IAG) on Sexual Health and HIV reports
TEENAGE SEXUAL HEALTH CRISIS FEARED reports the Express
The Independent Advisory Group (IAG) on Sexual Health and HIV, which published the report, called for more action to deal with the crisis facing Britain's teenagers.It said young people are exposed to conflicting messages, with "explicit or subliminal" advertising and coverage of "celebrity" behaviour being prevalent, while other information - such as advertising for condoms - is restricted.The report said young people engaging in risky sexual behaviour are at greater risk of contracting an STI, becoming young parents, failing at school, building up longer-term physical and mental health problems and becoming addicted to alcohol and drugs.
And the Guardian reports that it is not just this country that has problems
Cologne and antiseptic: Russia's killer drinks
Almost half of working-age men in Russia who die are killed by alcohol abuse, according to a new medical study which says the country's males die in excessive numbers not just because they drink lots of vodka but because they also consume products containing alcohol, such as eau de cologne, antiseptics and medicinal tinctures. Some products contain 95% alcohol by volume, equating to 200 proof.
An international group of scientists looked at a single city in the Urals to establish the effects of the drinking in Russia. Izhevsk was chosen for being a typical industrial city where life is much the same as elsewhere and where death rates match the Russian average.
Gordon Brown is being urged to intervene to stop the Home Office banning a British resident from returning home after more than four years at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.
Campaigners expressed fury after ministers said Jamil el-Banna's permission to stay in Britain had lapsed during the four-and-a-half years he has been held without charge at the US detention camp.
They warned that Mr Banna, a refugee whose wife and five children live in north London, could face detention or torture if he is sent back to his native Jordan when he is released.
THE parents of Madeleine McCann yesterday angrily played down claims that their daughter is buried near where she was snatched 43 days ago.
As Portuguese police tried to verify an anonymous letter which said the four-year-old was hidden nine miles from Praia da Luz, Kate and Gerry McCann said the report in a Dutch newspaper was "insensitive and cruel".
The couple from Rothley, Leics, said De Telegraaf should not have made the allegation public before detectives had a chance to examine its credibility or comb the area north of Oxiadere.
Madeleine 'grave' report angers McCanns reports the Guardian
"Although all information will be taken seriously, we were very upset that the credibility of this letter had not been examined and, more importantly, was published before the Portuguese police had an opportunity to investigate the claim and search the area without massive media attention," he wrote.
"We feel strongly that this was an irresponsible piece of journalism and, even if it were true, is insensitive and cruel. One can imagine how upsetting it is for Kate and I to hear of such claims through the media."
The Telegraph says
Mr Zuroff was referring to Mr Waldheim's service in the Balkans during the Second World War, when tens of thousands of Jews were being deported to their deaths just a few miles from his army base.
As flags flew at half-mast at the Austrian presidency, the Austrian far-Right Freedom party said Mr Waldheim had been vilified through decades of war crimes allegations. "Those responsible should be ashamed of themselves to this day," said the party's Heinz-Christian Strache.
The other person whose picture shares the front pages this morning is Lady Thatcher
Baroness Thatcher yesterday called on Britain and its Forces fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan to draw strength from the Falklands victory 25 years ago.
As the Ark Royal, the Royal Navy aircraft carrier, arrived in London to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the end of the Falklands conflict, Lady Thatcher made a radio broadcast, beamed to the people of the Falklands and to British Forces, saying that the victory was in a noble cause.
“The whole nation rejoiced at the success; and we should still rejoice,” she said. “Aggression was defeated and reversed. The wishes of local people were upheld as paramount. Britain’s honour and interests prevailed.”
The former Prime Minister, who ordered the task force to the South Atlantic after the invasion by Argentina, said: “Britain’s Armed Services are unmatched in their skill and professionalism.”
Finally the Independent reports
Deep in Cajun country, the mayor of the Louisiana town of Delcambre is about to sign into law a proposal that will make it a crime to wear trousers that show underwear. "If you expose your private parts, you'll get a fine [of up to $500 (£250)]," Mayor Carol Broussard said. Repeat offenders could land themselves a six-month stretch in jail.
From Baptist church halls to town halls, calls are being made for tough laws and regulations which populist politicians and god-fearing citizens say will restore dignity to their streets and shopping malls. Opponents say the measures are designed to harass young black males and other followers of hip-hop fashion. Civil liberties groups say they follow a long tradition of laws - many of them unenforceable - which are aimed squarely at the poor.
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