The Telegraph leads with the news that
UK faces bomb blitz after Rushdie Award
The threat - addressed directly to Gordon Brown - came in a 20-minute audio-tape posted on jihadi websites by Ayman al-Zawahiri.
He threatened ''a very precise response'' in retaliation against Britain for having knighted the controversial novelist in the Queen's Birthday Honours last month.
Intelligence agencies were last night checking the authenticity of the tape, picked up by a US-based group monitoring al-Qa'eda messages.
YOU WILL PAY FOR RUSHDIE 'INSULT' says the Mirror
Osama bin Laden's ranting deputy said of Britain's Middle East strategy: "I say to Blair's successor that the policy of your predecessor drew catastrophes in Afghanistan and Iraq and even in the centre of London.
"If you did not learn the lesson, then we are ready to repeat it, God willing, until we are sure you have fully understood."
The Guardian says that
Ayman al-Zawahiri, the number two in al-Qaida, made the threat in an audio tape produced by the organisation's media wing, as-Sahhab, and distributed to jihadi websites yesterday.
The Egyptian's 20-minute speech was entitled Malicious Britain and its Indian Slaves and was monitored by Site, a US-based group.
Zawahiri, deliverer of most recent al-Qaida messages, accused Britain of defying the Muslim world by honouring the author of The Satanic Verses, who was deemed to have insulted Islam.
Addressing the prime minister, he said: "The policy of your predecessor has brought tragedy and defeat upon you, not only in Afghanistan and Iraq but also in the centre of London.
"And if you did not understand, listen, we are ready to repeat it for you, with the permission of Allah. We are sure that you have quite understood it."
Its lead story is an exclusive
Labour's NHS plan: the end of the local general hospital
The most radical reform of NHS services since 1948 - designed to halve the number of patients needing hospital care - is revealed today by the newly-appointed health minister, Sir Ara Darzi, in an exclusive interview with the Guardian.
Giving the clearest signal yet that Gordon Brown wants to quicken the pace of NHS reform, he disclosed a 10-year programme to reshape health care in London. It will include far-reaching plans for a network of 150 "polyclinics" across the capital, providing a complete range of services to meet all routine health care needs.
Train fares to soar after ‘stealth deal’ headlines the Times
Rail passengers face fare rises of at least 30 per cent above inflation under a series of deals between the Government and train companies.
Ministers were accused yesterday of orchestrating the increases but leaving the operators to take the blame.
Three companies signing contracts in the past fortnight have announced almost identical fare increases. Stagecoach and Arriva are planning fare rises in the East Midlands and Cross Country franchises of 3.4 per cent a year in real terms. Go-Ahead intends to raise fares by 3 per cent a year on the London to Northampton route By the end of the eight-year franchises, fares will have risen by 30 per cent. However, the companies can impose the full increase much sooner if they choose.
Both the Indpendent and the Mail lead on the mortgage crisis
Mortgage madness,mortgage misery,mortgage meltdown says the former
Britain faces a mortgage crisis with payment arrears rising sharply as 18 million homeowners struggle to meet the fifth rise in interest rates in less than a year.
It is being predicted that high earners who have stretched themselves to buy a home will join less prosperous social groups in experiencing problems as they juggle finances to adjust to rises in monthly payments.
Research suggests that twice as many borrowers as last year have missed mortgage payments in the past six months. A website, MoneyExpert.com said that, while 36,000 borrowers a month fell into arrears last year, this year that figure will be 77,000.
Fears that homeowners are vulnerable to rate rises intensified when the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said yesterday that first-time buyers were borrowing a record 3.37 times their income and other buyers just over three times.
Crisis as mortgages approach crash rates says the Mail
Industry figures show the average loan taken out by young buyers has hit a record £117,000 - up by almost £10,000 in a year - compared with their average salary of £35,000. Banks and building societies have torn up prudent lending rules to allow some buyers to borrow five or six times their salary. As a result, there are fears that many will be unable to survive the 'payment shock' caused by recent increases in interest rates.
The problem is being fuelled by a sharp rise in the number of borrowers allowed to 'self- certify' their income. Mortgage brokers and lenders stand accused of turning a blind eye when customers have lied about their salary to get a bigger loan, in the confidence that the value of their property would rise.
These same people, who are now burdened with debts they cannot repay, are leading the rise in repossessions and bankruptcy. There are disturbing parallels with the U.S., where thousands of so-called sub-prime mortgage collapses have led to a property price crash over the last 18 months.
The ending of the siege in Islamabad is widely reported
Rebel cleric and followers killed as Pakistani police storm mosque says the Independent
A handful of Islamic militants were making a final stand inside Islamabad's Lal Masjid last night as troops started removing the bodies of their leader and more than 50 of his followers killed during a bitter and bloody day of fighting.
On a day in which intense violence erupted between Pakistan's secular and fundamentalist sides, Abdul Rashid Ghazi and about 50 of his followers were said to have been killed after troops launched a pre-dawn raid to take control of the complex following a week-long siege. Eight soldiers were killed and 29 wounded while 86 people women and children among them were rescued by the security forces. There are fears that the death toll could rise significantly: one relief agency said the military authorities had asked it to provide 400 funeral shrouds.
Rebel cleric shot dead as commandos storm mosque to end siege says the Guardian
Mr Ghazi, a university-educated cleric who tried to foist Sharia rule on the capital, was shot twice as commandos stormed his basement hideout. On refusing to answer calls to surrender, a second volley of bullets cut him down and killed him.
His death did not, as he had hoped, spark an Islamist revolution. Instead it marked the end of a week-long siege which had threatened General Pervez Musharraf's authority, turned part of Islamabad into a militarised zone, and captivated tens of millions of anxious Pakistanis.
Blunders that let 21/7 bombers go free reports the Telegraph
The extent of security failings over the July 21 bombers, their links to the July 7 bombers and a third al-Qa'eda plot can be revealed after the collapse of the trial of two remaining defendants.
MI5 investigated the ringleader, Muktar Ibrahim, when he travelled to Pakistan in 2005. He is believed to have attended a terror training camp alongside two of the 7/7 cell. MI5 said they conducted a "low-level, short-term investigation concerning the visit to Pakistan".
According to the Times
As new details emerge of apparent security failures that left Ibrahim free to carry out the attacks, there are growing demands for an explanation from the authorities.
Counter-terrorist sources have told The Times that Ibrahim was driven to Heathrow on December 11, 2004, by an Iraqi man who was a high-priority terrorist suspect. Their car was being followed.
The man, Rauf Mohammed, has been named in Home Office documents as being “actively engaged” in providing support to the insurgency in Iraq.
Why was 21/7 plot leader given a British passport? asks the Mail
The Times reports that
Madeleine suspect called back in by police
The chief suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann was questionned for a second time yesterday after detectives believed that they had discovered new evidence in the case.
Robert Murat, a British expatriate who lives less than 150 yards from where Madeleine disappeared, was ordered to attend a police station in the Algarve yesterday lunchtime. After eight hours he was released.
Police chief inspector Olegario de Sousa said last night: “He was released and remains a suspect in the case.”
Earlier, police sources said that they had discovered “new elements” in the investigation that they wanted to put to the only official suspect. It is thought that they uncovered discrepancies in his earlier statements about the night of Madeleine’s disappearance and his links to witnesses.
The story is the lead in the Express which says that
Madeleine suspect was quizzed for 10 hours adding
Police said several other people would be called in over the next few days. The expatriate property developer lives with his mother Jenny, 71, in a villa less than 100 yards from the holiday apartment in Praia da Luz where Madeleine was abducted on May 3.He was officially named as an “arguido” – a formal suspect – on May 14. The Briton has always insisted he spent the night of the abduction at home and only became involved in the search on the morning after her disappearance
YES, I'M STILL A SUSPECT reports the Mirror
ROBERT Murat walks from a police station yesterday after being quizzed again about Madeleine McCann's abduction - and admits: "I'm still a suspect."
Murat, who was first questioned shortly after the four-year-old went missing in May, was hauled back in by Portuguese detectives who wanted to ask him about a suspicious email found on his computer.
It is believed the email includes a reference to "an English child."
Its lead story announces
SMOKE ON TRENT
SMOKERS of the world ignite - and move to Stoke-on-Trent.
Thanks to blundering council bosses it is the only place in Britain where you can still light up in pubs and clubs.
Officials failed to get enforcement powers approved in time for the July 1 ban. It won't come in for another three weeks.
Yesterday hundreds of delighted ciggie-lovers were puffing away in the city's 400 pubs without fear of an on-the-spot £50 fine.
At the Smithfield Bar customers were greeted with the sign "Welcome to Smoke-on-Trent".
The Telegraph reports on its former owner
Lord Black fraud jury in deadlock drama
The jury in the trial of Lord Black of Crossharbour was ordered to continue its deliberations last night after the jury told the judge it was deadlocked and unable to reach a unanimous verdict on at least one of the charges.
Lord Black, 62, returned to the court in Chicago to learn that the jury, after deliberating for more than 40 hours over nine days, had sent a note to Judge Amy St Eve, saying: “We have discussed and deliberated on all the evidence and are still unable to reach a unanimous verdict on one or more counts. Please advise.”
According to the Guardian
In spite of pleas from Lord Black's lawyers to accept a partial verdict, Judge Amy St Eve ordered the nine men and three women to go back into the jury room and resume deliberating at Chicago's federal courthouse.
Under American law, nothing less than unanimity on each count is adequate. But if she feels that the jury can go no further, Judge St Eve has the discretion to accept verdicts on those counts which are agreed, while declaring a mistrial on the rest.
Labour and Tories at odds over using tax to support marriage says the Indy
Marriage and the family have become a central battleground between Labour and the Conservatives after David Cameron backed a report calling for married couples to be given tax breaks worth at least £1,000 a year.
The social justice policy group, chaired by the former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, called for reforms that would "send a clear and unambiguous signal about marriage."
The group's report called for tax allowances to be transferred between married people to encourage mothers or fathers to stay at home to look after their children. It called for marital status, and words like husband, wife, spouse and marriage to be included on official forms and said that marital status should be included in Government-sponsored research.
Labour began an immediate assault on the proposals, insisting that the proposed tax breaks would only help families where one person was in work, and would do nothing for families with two incomes or two people who were unemployed. Ed Miliband, the Cabinet Office minister, said: "What we should be doing is supporting children. We shouldn't be saying because of the decisions your parents have made, whether a spouse has left another, that children should lose out and, whatever Iain says, that is the implication."
TORIES PLEDGE TO BOOST MARRIAGE reports the Express
DAVID Cameron last night staked out his favoured battleground for the next election by pledging to end the “anti-marriage bias” in British society.
He promised to put the traditional family unit at the centre of his social policy, welcoming a plan to give married couples a £20-a-week tax cut.
Meanwhile the Telegraph reports that
Balls wants schools to be world class in decade
Ed Balls, the new Schools Secretary, paved the way for sweeping reforms in education yesterday by announcing a review of children's policy for the next 10 years.
Parents, teachers, universities and pupils will be consulted as part of plans to draw up a 10-year plan for children.
"Our task in the next decade is for our education system to become world class," Mr Balls told the Commons.
If it isn’t Roman Catholic then it’s not a proper Church, Pope tells Christians reports the Times
The Vatican has described the Protestant and Orthodox faiths as “not proper Churches” in a document issued with the full authority of the Pope.
Anglican leaders reacted with dismay, accusing the Roman Catholic Church of paradoxical behaviour. They said that the new 16-page document outling the “defects” of non-Catholic churches constituted a major obstacle to ecumenism.
The document said that the Orthodox church suffered from a “wound” because it did not recognise the primacy of the Pope. The wound was “still more profound” in Protestant denominations, it added.
It was “difficult to see how the title of ‘Church’ could possibly be attributed to them”, said the statement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Roman Catholicism was “the one true Church of Christ”.
The Indy reports on
The impossible task set for an embattled government
The benchmarks the Iraqi government is meant to achieve in exchange for US support were never realistic and have more to do with American than Iraqi politics.
The weak and embattled Iraqi government is supposed to make changes which the US at the height of its power in Iraq failed to make stick. At stake are policies deeply divisive among Iraqis that are to be introduced at the behest of a foreign power, the US, in a way that makes the Iraqi government look as if it is a client of America
Meanwhile the Guardian reports
Bush faces down own party as discontent over Iraq deepens
President George Bush was set for a collision with his own Republican party yesterday after ignoring demands for a new Iraq strategy that would bring US troops home.
In a speech on a visit to Cleveland, Ohio, Mr Bush shrugged aside Republican criticism over the last fortnight that his "surge" strategy is not working. He refused to offer any concessions to disenchanted Republicans and insisted it was too early to judge the "surge", his deployment of an extra 30,000 US troops.
The Sun headlines with the story that
Cheshire mum weds Bin Laden
MUM from Cheshire has married Osama bin Laden’s son, The Sun can reveal.
Jane Felix-Browne wed scrap metal merchant Omar bin Laden — 25 years her junior — at a Muslim ceremony in Egypt.
She fell in love with him after they met during a horseback tour at the Pyramids.
Besotted bride Jane told last night how she fell for the son of Bin Laden on holiday — and now has the perfect hubby except for his NAME.
The 51-year-old mum of three, from Cheshire, confessed: “I won’t be using it myself.
The BBC is in trouble in the Mail
Viewers' fury at BBC as £300,000 of licence money is lavished on coverage of Campbell's diaries
The BBC has been accused of pandering to Alastair Campbell by spending £300,000 of licence-fee payer's money on televising his diaries and giving his book hours of free publicity.
Its bosses have been condemned for helping to line the pockets of the former Labour spin doctor, who has caused huge damage to the corporation in the past.
Mr Campbell has already been handed a reported £1million advance for The Blair Years by his publishers, and will receive a fee for reading them out in a three-part series on BBC2 from tonight.
Finally two stories concerning height in the Telegraph
Big day for the bride of world's tallest man
When the world's tallest man says "I do" later this week, it will be a big day in every sense.
Bao Xishun, at 7ft 7in, is to marry Xia Shujuan, his 5ft 5in fiancée, at the Genghis Khan mausoleum in Inner Mongolia in a traditional ceremony.
Rehearsals for the wedding yesterday fell a little short, however, as Mr Bao, 56, was forced to stoop to fit into the wedding tent.
The couple had feared that they would be unable to live together because of a lack of suitable furniture.
However, their problems have been partly solved after a bed-making company agreed to donate a 9ft by 7ft bed as a wedding present.
Mr Bao said he has broken two smaller beds already.
And
Meet Samson, Britain's biggest dog
Standing 6ft 5in on its hind legs and tipping the scales at 19st 10lb, Samson is a giant in every sense of the word.
As Britain's biggest dog with a fearsome set of jaws to match, even the slightest growl is enough to make the bravest of postmen think twice before heading up the garden path.He boasts a 59in chest and a 29in neck, meaning he has to wear pony coats when it rains and has had to have an extra large collar fitted. The dog's paws are almost the size of dinner plates. While Samson's awesome build is impressive enough for a fully grown dog, this huge hound is only three years old and will grow even more.
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