According to the Telegraph

British forces are set to suffer more deaths in Iraq this year than during the invasion of 2003.The paper says that

Two soldiers died yesterday in a roadside bomb attack, taking the toll of British troops killed in the country to 41 in eight months.

If the casualty rate continues, deaths by the end of the year will exceed the 53 killed during the invasion and subsequent anarchic months of 2003. Yet almost four times as many troops were involved in the campaign that toppled Saddam Hussein than are stationed in Iraq at present.

British losses soar as they prepare to leave Basra city says the Independent

British losses have increased as they prepare to abandon their last base in Basra city and retreat to their frequently attacked air base on the outskirts of the city. Here the contingent of 5,500 troops has been hit by mortars and rockets more than 600 times in the past four months.
"Basra's residents and militiamen view this not as an orderly withdrawal but rather as an ignominious defeat," according to a report by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) on Basra published in June. "Today, the city is controlled by militias, seemingly more powerful and unconstrained than before."

Whilst the Guradian reports that

UK officer calls for US special forces to quit Afghan hotspot

Tension between British and American commanders in southern Afghanistan erupted into the open yesterday as a senior UK military officer said he had asked the US to withdraw its special forces from a volatile area that was crucial in the battle against the Taliban.
British and Nato defence officials have consistently expressed concern about US tactics, notably air strikes, which kill civilians, sabotaging the battle for "hearts and minds" and infuriating Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president.

Staying with Afghanistan the Times reports that

Record crop of heroin poppies hits anti-drug effort in Afghanistan

Britain’s multimillion-pound counter-narcotics operation in Afghanistan was exposed as a failure yesterday, as the country was poised to report a record poppy crop this year.
Britain is leading international efforts against opium production in Afghanistan. Lord Malloch-Brown, the Foreign Office minister responsible for the region, said that he was extremely disappointed with the latest results. The United Nations is expected to reveal this month that Afghanistan broke its own record for poppy production last year, when 165,000 hectares were cultivated.


The Guardian leads with an exclusive on a military topic

MoD issues gag order on armed forces

Sweeping new guidelines barring military personnel from speaking about their service publicly have been quietly introduced by the Ministry of Defence, the Guardian has learned.
Soldiers, sailors and airforce personnel will not be able to blog, take part in surveys, speak in public, post on bulletin boards, play in multi-player computer games or send text messages or photographs without the permission of a superior if the information they use concerns matters of defence.

The Times deals with the latest foot and mouth developments

Fresh outbreak of virus suspected as scientists point to sabotage as cause

Hopes that the foot-and-mouth outbreak had been contained were dealt a blow late last night when a new suspected case of the virulent virus was discovered.
A 3km temporary control zone was set up around undisclosed premises in Surrey, outside the surveillance area, after an “inconclusive assessment” of symptoms in cattle, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said.
Debby Reynolds, the Chief Veterinary Officer, said: “This is a developing disease situation and we have moved swiftly to put in place a temporary control zone while we investigate.

Adding that

The suspected new outbreak came as a scientist called in to investigate whether the virus had escaped from an animal health research plant said yesterday that sabotage was fast becoming the only explanation.

Legionnaires' is found at centre linked to outbreak of foot and mouth reports the Mail

Officials have taken samples from air conditioning units, which are often associated with Legionnaires'.
The discovery of the potentially deadly bacteria will reinforce doubts about the safety of the site's rundown facilities.
The state-funded institute and a neighbouring facility run by U.S. drugs firm Merial are considered the most likely source of the foot and mouth outbreak.

The paper leads though with the story that

Gambling ads on TV 'will fuel addiction', warns top doctors

Doctors warned of a surge in gambling addiction last night as ministers prepared to allow the first TV ads for casinos, bookmakers and betting websites.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists attacked the "crazy" decision to lift restrictions on gaming commercials.
They said planned safeguards went nowhere near far enough and called on ministers to think again.

The Independent dedicates its front page to

A President in denial, a ravaged nation denied hope

The fight against Aids in South Africa, the epicentre of the global pandemic, has been dealt a devastating blow.
President Thabo Mbeki stunned and outraged campaigners yesterday by sacking the country's deputy health minister, the woman credited with ending a decade of Aids denialism at the heart of the South African political leadership.

According to the lead in the Times

Foreign doctors face competence inquiry

Britain’s medical regulator has launched a major inquiry into the competence of foreign doctors after it emerged that they are now twice as likely to face disciplinary hearings as UK medical graduates.
Figures seen by The Times also reveal that triple the number of doctors who trained abroad were struck off the UK medical register last year compared with 2005.
The findings, part of a report compiled by the General Medical Council, have prompted the profession’s regulator to commission seven research projects, which will cover issues including the competence of foreign doctors and whether they are subject to institutional racism within the health service.

Nearly half of early breast cancers missed by mammograms, research suggests says the Guardian

Cancer screening programmes are failing to detect nearly half of the earliest cases of breast cancer according to research which suggests women's lives could be saved if all were offered hi-tech MRI scans.
The study in the Lancet medical journal found that x-ray based mammograms detect only 56% of early lesions in high risk women compared with 92% when magnetic resonance imaging scans (MRI), more commonly used for brain scans, are used


Musharraf retracts emergency rule in Pakistan reports the Telegraph

General Musharraf ultimately resisted the calls from some within his close circle, but speculation is mounting over the future of his eight-year rule.He cancelled a visit to Kabul yesterday and instead met senior advisers to discuss the possible measure.
However, by the mid-afternoon, Mohammad Ali Durrani, the information minister, was attempting to quash the rumours of an imminent emergency by claiming that the general had personally faced down his aides.

Musharraf's woes spark fears of state of emergency in Pakistan says the Independent

Whether General Musharraf ever actually intended to impose a state of emergency is unclear; there has been talk for months that he might pursue such a move as a means to stave off the political problems he faces. But at the very least, the way in which the reports were readily seized upon and the need felt by the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, to telephone General Musharraf late in the night - presumably to warn him against such a move - underscores the vulnerable position he is in just months away from elections.

MADDY LAWYER-Why don't those Bloody McCanns go home is the lead in the Express,

We won't be bullied out says the Mirror

Madeleine McCann's parents vowed last night they would not be forced into quitting Portugal as a smear campaign against them gathered strength.
Mum Kate, 38, declared: "I'm not prepared to be bullied into doing something I don't want to. We will not be leaving.
"This speculation has been hurtful, intrusive and disrespectful. The last week has been particularly difficult. But we can cope with a lot and still have a lot of strength."

SANDHURST SEX SCANDAL is the lead in the Sun this morning

AN Army officer cadet at Sandhurst was being held last night on suspicion of the attempted murder of a female colleague.
Pretty Amii Calway, 22, was fighting for life after plunging through a third-floor window at the world-famous military academy.
Sources said she was in a love triangle with two male cadets — one of whom is to be honoured at a passing-out ceremony due to take place today.
She was found lying unconscious and surrounded by shards of glass outside Sandhurst’s New College — where Princes William and Harry were billeted in their time at the military academy.

The Mirror goes with

Mel B's new hubby is wife beater

Film producer Belafonte admitted lashing out at Nicole Contreras, the mum of his young daughter, at her Beverly Hills home.
Nicole was left with visible injuries - and Belafonte was so overcome with rage he was accused of spitting in her mobile phone.
AdvertisementHe was spared a jail term - but was given probation and forced to take part in a "Domestic Violence Batterers' Programme".

The accident in the Artic circle is covered in many of the papers

British cruise tourists hit by glacier ice fall says the Telegraph

Seventeen British tourists were injured, four of them seriously, when large chunks of ice sheared off a glacier and smashed into their luxury sightseeing ship during an Arctic cruise. Passengers suffered broken arms and legs, fractured ribs and head injuries as their vessel listed violently in the sea off the Svalbard Islands, north of Norway.
Ice blocks crashed onto the deck of the ship while other chunks collapsed into the sea, causing a huge wave that rocked the boat from side to side, tossing the tourists about.

The Times reports that

Internet is becoming as lawless as the Wild West, report peers

The internet has become a playground for criminals in which highly specialised gangs steal money from bank accounts, according to a Parliamentary report published today.
A huge underground economy is making a living from e-crime, which fuels the perception of the internet as a lawless “Wild West”, the peers report said.
Millions of pounds are being lost by banks around the world as a result of online banking fraud, including £33.5 million lost by British banks last year.
Today’s report criticises the complacency of the Government, banks and software firms towards the threat posed by the increasingly lawless internet. It said that those profiting from the web must now take a greater share of the responsibility for security or risk confidence in the internet being destroyed.

Americans face the earliest race for President in history reports the Indy

Vote early for Christmas" could become the mantra of the upcoming primary season, following South Carolina's move yesterday to bring its Republican primary forward by a fortnight, a decision that may mean the first 2008 votes are cast in mid-December of 2007.
The announcement, by the state's Republican Party chairman Katon Dawson in Concord, capital of New Hampshire, the traditional home of the first primary, means that Americans could be inflicted with the earliest starting and most compressed presidential primary campaign in history - a prospect that dismays voters and candidates' campaign managers alike.

According to the Telegraph

Global warming forecast predicts rise in 2014

This is the prediction of the first computer model of the global climate designed to make forecasts over a timescale of around a decade, developed by scientists at the Met Office.
The new model developed at the Met's Hadley Centre in Exeter, and described in the journal Science, predicts that warming will slow during the next few years but then speed up again, and that at least half of the years after 2009 will be warmer than 1998, the warmest year on record.

The Sun reports that

Bawding party probes brothel

POLICE are hunting a couple who have set up a brothel — on a SPEEDBOAT.
The pair drop anchor off a popular nudist beach before the man swims ashore to round up clients.
The men all swim back to the boat, sometimes two or three at a time, to have sex with the woman.
The punters then return to Studland beach, near posh Poole in Dorset.
Cops are now stepping up daylight patrols and the police marine unit is on the lookout.

Finally the Independent reports

An upper-class accent? A military bearing? It has to be Lord Lucan


Reports that Lord Lucan is alive and well, and living in a clapped-out Land Rover with a cat and a pet possum, sparked a media frenzy in New Zealand yesterday.BUT

the man in question, while saying that he was English and had emigrated to New Zealand in 1974, denied any connection with the fugitive aristocrat. He said he was Roger Woodgate, aged 62 - 10 years younger than Lucan would be if he was still alive. Mr Woodgate told local media that while Lucan, born Richard Bingham, vanished in November 1974, he had moved to New Zealand in June of that year. "Oh, and I'm also five inches shorter than Richard Bingham," he added.