10,000 homes flooded, 50,000 without power and 150,000 have no water says the Times
Servicemen and firefighters were battling to protect the electricity supplies of half a million people last night as the highest flood waters in memory continued to rise.
The Government announced an independent inquiry as water levels in the Thames and the Severn exceeded those of the devastating floods of 1947 and were forecast to rise to 20ft (6m) higher than normal.
More than 10,000 families have been left homeless in the West Country and Thames Valley over the past four days and thousands of others have been told to leave their homes as a mass of water surges down river. Electricity supplies to 50,000 homes have been cut and 150,000 homes have been left without water.
Similar headlines in the Telegraph
Floods crisis hits one million Britons which describes it as
A humanitarian crisis in central and western England was deepening last night with up to one million people affected by the worst floods in modern history.Up to 350,000 people in Gloucestershire could be without running water for up to two weeks, authorities said yesterday as they warned that it could be a year before some evacuated families are able to move back to their devastated homes.
The heart of England has been paralysed, with scores of towns and villages submerged or cut off. Up to 10,000 homes are either flooded or at risk of flooding in seven counties - Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Herefordshire, Lincolnshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. Countless more are without running water, electricity or phone lines.
One million victims of the deluge but 'the worst is yet to come' says the Mail
In Oxford, there are fears that historic riverside colleges such as Christ Church and Magdalen could be swamped. Refugee families were bedding down at the city's football stadium last night.
According to the Guardian
Ministers warned three years ago over flood defence failings
The government was last night accused of failing to act on its own advice to overhaul UK flood defences and drainage systems which first highlighted deep-seated problems three years ago.
As large tracts of central and southern England remained under water, leaving tens of thousands of homes without power or drinking water, the environment minister, Hilary Benn, announced an independent review into what is being billed as the worst episode of flooding in modern British history.
The Independent calls it a
A 21st century catastrophe
Nothing in the past hundred years, in terms of flooding caused by rainfall, has been as bad. According to the Environment Agency, even the previous worst case, the extensive floods of spring 1947, which were aggravated by the vast snow melt that followed an exceptionally hard winter, has been surpassed.
"We have not seen flooding of this magnitude before," said the agency yesterday. "The benchmark was 1947, and this has already exceeded it." And the 1947 floods were said to have been the worst for 200 years.
FLODDY HELL says the Sun reporting that
THE Prime Minister today saw at first hand the devastation caused to large swathes of western England which have been deluged by flooding.
Gordon Brown flew by helicopter over the stricken county of Gloucestershire where thousands of people have been left without clean water.
He then arrived at Gloucestershire police headquarters to see how the emergency response is being co-ordinated.
FLOOD PANIC says the Express
Even as river levels across the Midlands and the South continued to rise, forcing mass evacuations, supermarkets were running out of staple foods. Emergency supplies were shipped into the worst-affected areas and people were being put up for the night in makeshift shelters. Food parcels, water, toiletries and bedding were being delivered to the sites.
Away from the floods and the Mirror reports on
THE MAIL PENSION ROBBERS
ROYAL Mail workers will have their pensions slashed unless they work five years longer under secret plans revealed by the Mirror today.
The move would cost staff members thousands of pounds a year. Some could see their retirement pay halved.
In addition the posties' final salary scheme would be closed to new members from next year.
Last night, on the eve of two weeks of pay strikes, union leaders vowed to fight the "hammer blow" proposals.
Cameron rejects criticism of aid trip to Africa reports the Telegraph
David Cameron yesterday dismissed critics who said he should have called off a trip to Africa and stayed home during the flooding crisis.
With much of his Witney, Oxon, constituency under water after torrential rain, the Conservative leader arrived in Rwanda facing fresh criticism over his leadership.
Mr Cameron brushed aside as a "non-story" reports that a handful of Conservative backbenchers had called for his resignation.
Dismissing the "tiny number" of anonymous critics, the Tory leader insisted that a Conservative aid project in the east African country reflected the party's values.
What about your constituents? asks the Mail
The Independent meanwhile reports that
Galloway expelled from Commons after clash with Speaker
George Galloway, the firebrand left-wing MP, was suspended from the Commons for 18 days last night after a stormy debate that saw him thrown out of the House amid angry clashes with the Speaker, Michael Martin.
Mr Martin took the highly unusual step of "naming" Mr Galloway and ordering him to leave the Commons chamber amid stormy scenes during a debate on the Respect MP's conduct.
Mr Galloway spoke for more than an hour as he tried defend himself against a move to suspend him for failing to disclose his links to Saddam Hussein's regime. But MPs agreed to suspend him for 18 sitting days without a vote. The suspension will start on 8 October.
In a fiery speech to MPs Mr Galloway was warned repeatedly by Mr Martin before the Speaker's patience snapped. Mr Galloway left the chamber vowing to give the speech outside for anyone who wanted to hear it.
Taking statins may increase cancer risk reports the Times
Lowering cholesterol with statins may slightly increase the risk of cancer, a study suggests.
It is not clear whether the cancer cases are caused by the drugs, or are a consequence of the low levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol produced by taking them.
The result, which amounts to one extra case of cancer for every 1,000 patients treated, surprised the researchers who discovered it. They were looking for new evidence on the known side-effects of statins on the liver and muscle wasting.
Fertility doctor not fit to run clinic, regulator says reports the Guardian
Mohamed Taranissi, the controversial fertility doctor who has the highest success rate in the UK, has been told by the regulator that he is not a fit person to have legal responsibility for his clinic.
His London clinic, the Assisted Reproduction and Gynaecology Centre, will have to close if Mr Taranissi cannot find somebody else who is acceptable to the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to become the "person responsible" in the eyes of the law within 21 days.
The HFEA move follows years of disputes between the regulator and the fertility doctor, culminating in a Panorama programme in January which accused Mr Taranissi of treating patients at an unlicensed second clinic, the Reproductive Genetics Institute (RGC).
DRINK RETHINK says the Mirror
GORDON Brown promised a shake-up of drinking laws yesterday amid fears that 24 hour opening has brought a rise in booze fuelled crime and disorder.
The Prime Minister told his first No10 press conference: "We have got a review which is looking at the effects because clearly there are strong feelings about what has happened.
"I have looked at the evidence and there is an increase in arrests between 3am and 6am and there are complaints about the social effects of the 24 hour drinking laws."
Tony Blair's new career is widely reported
Tony Blair urged to open channels to Hamas says the Telegraph
Tony Blair is facing pressure to consider talking to Hamas during his first visit to the Holy Land as international envoy to the Palestinians.While America, Israel and Europe all boycott the Islamist movement, Mr Blair will know that, unless he does something imaginative to deal with the Hamas issue, his mission can never amount to a great deal.
Hamas enjoys the most popular support among Palestinian voters and while their hardline stance towards Israel makes the group an anathema to the international community, to ignore Hamas means ignoring the will of millions of Palestinians.
Meanwhile the Independent reports
Baghdad brings US and Iran together in bid to end violence
Iranian and American officials meet in Baghdad today to discuss Iraqi security but wide differences are expected to prevent the real dialogue which may be essential to end the war in Iraq.
The Iraqi government has been trying to get the US and Iran to talk, pointing out that both support the Shia-Kurdish government in Baghdad. Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab states largely oppose it.
The talks will be led by the US and Iranian ambassadors but relations between the two countries have cooled since President George Bush identified Iran and Syria as America's main foreign opponents in Iraq in an address to the nation on 10 January.
Criticise me and you're out, Chávez warns foreigners says the Guardian
President Hugo Chávez has announced that foreigners who visit Venezuela and criticise his government will be escorted to the airport and expelled.
In a televised address the Venezuelan leader ordered cabinet ministers to monitor statements by visitors and deport them if they "denigrated" his leadership.
"How long are we going to allow a person - from any country in the world - to come to our own house to say there's a dictatorship here, that the president is a tyrant, and nobody does anything about it?" he said. "No foreigner, whoever he may be, can come here and attack us. Whoever comes, we must remove him from the country. Here is your bag, sir, go."
Shambo the bull must die, says judge reports the Telegraph
The court ruled that the decision to kill the animal was justified after it tested positive for bovine tuberculosis (BTB).
The six-year-old bull is revered by Hindu monks at the Skanda Vale Community in Llanpumsaint, west Wales.
Following last week's High Court decision to spare the animal, the Welsh Assembly, which served the slaughter order in May, decided to appeal.
This latest ruling could be the final death sentence for Shambo.
The Mail gets its teeth into its usual agenda
Jobless couple with 12 children are given a £500,000 home
It's the type of highly-desirable family home that is well beyond the reach of many middle-class professionals.
A detached period house, with eight bedrooms, a garden, its own driveway and all set in a leafy residential area of well-to-do Newbury, Berkshire.
But Carl and Samantha Gillespie - together with their 12 children - have been able to move in without paying the slightest heed to Britain's sky-rocketing house prices.
In fact the couple have been given the keys without lifting a finger in work. and reports that
Drunken yobs making town centres into no-go areas
Drunken thugs are turning town centres into no-go areas after dark, MPs warn.
They act like "an occupying army loose in the streets" and the mayhem they cause costs the country £3.4billion every year.
Now the Public Accounts Committee is demanding drastic action against the yobs who regard Asbos as "part and parcel of everyday life".
One offender breached the terms of his order 25 times while committing 271 criminal offences, according to a committee report.
Bedtime stories a problem for many parents reports the Guardian
One in 10 parents struggle to understand the bedtime stories they read to their children, a survey by adult learning organisation Learndirect has found. Almost a quarter (23%) skip passages they cannot read or invent words to get to the end of a sentence, the poll found. A third of parents also admit to difficulties in helping their children with their maths homework.
Despite the difficulties, the poll found that reading stories is enjoying a renaissance, with 73% of families preferring it to playing in the park or watching TV.
According to the Sun
Hotel chain in porn ban
A LEADING hotel chain is to scrap porn on its in-room televisions.
Travelodge said it was getting rid of pay-per-view adult channels to "appeal to the ever-growing number of families" staying in its budget hotels.
The pay-per-view content and conventional televisions will be replaced by a £10 million roll-out of new flat screen, digital TVs with 18 free, family-friendly channels.
Travelodge's chief operating officer Guy Parsons said: "We have an ever-increasing number of families staying with us and it's appropriate that we remove adult TV.
Finally the Independent reports that
World's heaviest flying bird lays its first egg on British soil for 175 years
Conservationists hailed the success of an ambitious scheme to reintroduce the world's heaviest flying bird to the UK yesterday after the announcement that a female had laid its first egg on British soil for more than 175 years. The great bustard, which weighs up to 40lbs with a wingspan of up to 8ft, disappeared from the UK in the early 19th century. A scheme to reintroduce chicks from Russia began nine years ago.
The eggs were infertile and will not hatch but conservationists said successful nesting on a remote spot of Salisbury Plain was a major achievement.
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