The Telegraph leads with the story that

Exodus of officers hits war on terror

The military's ability to fight global terrorism is being hampered by an exodus of officers from the Intelligence Corps, with 20 per cent departing in the past three years, defence sources have disclosed.The use of a key weapon in fighting the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, as well as Islamic terrorists, has been undermined by more than 100 officers being lured into highly paid private security jobs or becoming disillusioned at the way intelligence is handled, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.

Meanwhile the Times reports that

Britain’s frontline soldiers have 1 in 36 chance of dying on Afghan battlefield

The Ministry of Defence confirmed that a serviceman from the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment was killed on Saturday during an attack on a patrol base in Helmand province. His death brings to seven the number of British troops in Afghanistan killed in action or from wounds sustained in battle since July 12. This is compared with a monthly average of 0.7 since the conflict began in November 2001. All seven fatalities were members of a 1,500-strong frontline force primarily charged with fighting the Taleban.

Meanwhile the Guradian reports that

Anti-Mafia police uncover arms-to-Iraq plot

US loss of control over the flood of weapons into Iraq was highlighted again yesterday when it emerged that Italian anti-Mafia investigators had uncovered an alleged shipment of 105,000 rifles of which the American high command was unaware.
The Italian team, in an investigation codenamed Operation Parabellum, stopped the £20m sale and have made four arrests.
The consignment appears to have been ordered by the Iraqi interior ministry. The US high command in Baghdad admitted that it had no knowledge of any such order, even though the ministry is supposed to inform the Americans before making any arms purchases.

The paper leads though with

cover-up plan on energy target

Government officials have secretly briefed ministers that Britain has no hope of getting remotely near the new European Union renewable energy target that Tony Blair signed up to in the spring - and have suggested that they find ways of wriggling out of it.
In contrast to the government's claims to be leading the world on climate change, officials within the former Department of Trade and Industry have admitted that under current policies Britain would miss the EU's 2020 target of 20% energy from renewables by a long way. And their suggestion that "statistical interpretations of the target" be used rather than new ways to reach it has infuriated environmentalists.

The lead story in the Times concerns

Rail firm’s legal threat to silence passenger watchdog

Britain’s worst-performing train company tried to silence the official passenger watchdog by threatening to sue it for libel for making a complaint about its poor performance.
London TravelWatch had written to Tom Harris, the railways minister, to ask whether First Great Western (FGW) was in breach of its franchise agreement because almost a third of its commuter trains in the Thames Valley were late. adds the paper

FGW has a target in its contract of 92 per cent of trains on time but managed only 68.3 per cent on its peak services. Its long-distance services are also the least punctual in the industry, with only 75.6 per cent on time compared with a national average of 85.2 per cent.

Maddy continues to dominate the Tabloids

SHE MAY BE DEAD says the front page of the Sun

MISSING Madeleine McCann’s father told yesterday how he was having to consider “the worst possible scenario” — that his daughter may be dead.
Heart specialist Gerry McCann and his GP wife Kate have steadfastly remained adamant their girl is alive.
But for the first time they now acknowledge she may be gone.

The Mirror's front page reporting that

Kate McCann said yesterday she would rather know if daughter Madeleine was dead than live in the hell of uncertainty.
With Madeleine now missing 102 days, she said: "This is the worst kind of limbo.
"In our heart of hearts we'd both rather know - even if that means we have to face the terrible truth that Madeleine might be dead. But I can't prepare myself for bad news. I simply don't know how."

The Express rather changes the story

MADELEINE: SHE IS STILL ALIVE

THE distraught parents of Made­leine McCann ­have told how they are clinging to the hope that their daughter is still alive.
Kate and Gerry McCann insisted they would continue praying for a miracle after enduring their most traumatic week since the four-year-old vanished.
Consultant cardiologist Gerry, 39, vowed: “We will never give up looking for Madeleine.” He spoke out after detectives leading the search said publicly for the first time that they believed she is dead.

The same paper also reports that

LINDSAY FAMILY IN NEW EMAIL APPEAL

The family of a British girl found dead in Japan have launched a new campaign to track down the man suspected of her killing.Miss Hawker's parents are sending an email around the world which will carry a picture of their daughter and Mr Ichihashi.
The email is titled Don't forget Lindsay Hawker and asks the reader for help to catch her killer and to forward it to as many people as possible.


Most of the papers report on the shooting on the M40 yesterday

Police hunt Rover car after Hells Angel is killed says the Mirror

The leather-clad man of 33 was hit in the head by a shot allegedly fired from a vehicle that overtook him.
Shocked drivers told last night how they saw a motorcyclist swerve moments before he was gunned down.
Witness Alex Armstrong said: "I saw this motorcyclist swerving in and out of the traffic. I was gob-smacked."

The Mail reporting that

The unidentified man, thought to be from London, had been at the Bulldog Bash bikers' festival, which had just ended at the Shakespeare County Raceway at Long Marston airfield, 15 miles away.
The four-day festival, run by Hell's Angels, was headlined by veteran rock band Status Quo and attracted a 30,000 sell-out crowd.
Events included drag racing competitions, wet T-shirt competitions, topless bike washes and displays of exotic custom bikes and cars.

It leads with the news that

Babies on the beat: Two 16-year-olds are recruited as community bobbies

Two 16-year-olds have been recruited as police community support officers with the authority to detain and question suspects.
The pair, just out of school, will join foot patrols from a 'busy' police station.
The move by Thames Valley Police has triggered a row about public safety and allegations that forces - and the Government - are trying to "police on the cheap".
The teenagers are two years too young to join the regular police force. If they were offenders, they would be tried in juvenile rather than adult courts.

Meanwhile the Times says that

Police issue on-the-spot penalty fines once every three minutes

The number handed in England and Wales rose by almost 40 per cent in a year as police officers on the streets made use of a swift and economical way of dealing with offenders. But the surge in the use of penalty notices for disorder (PND) has also helped police to meet a key government target because they count towards a ministerial pledge to increase the number of crimes “brought to justice”.



The Independent's main story this morning is

AMNESTY V THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Amnesty International is set to defy the Vatican and risk the wrath of Catholics around the world over its decision to back abortion for rape victims.
Leaders of the international human rights group meeting in Mexico are expected to reaffirm the policy adopted by its executive board in April after two years of soul-searching within the organisation.
The decision, which will also cover women whose health is at risk from giving birth, follows the use of mass rape as a political weapon in the conflict in Darfur. But Amnesty has infuriated the Vatican by expanding its definition of human rights to include access to abortion, prompting leading Catholics to accuse the organisation of having "betrayed its mission". Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, has threatened that unless Amnesty's policy is reversed, the Vatican will call upon Catholics worldwide to boycott the organisation.

The papers cover the latest Tory initiative

Redwood's 'tax cut' plans reveal shift to the right, says Labour says the Guardian

Proposals by a Conservative policy group which would allow firms more freedom to make people redundant, repeal working time regulations, and restore Britain's opt-out from the European social chapter on employee rights were seized upon by ministers yesterday as evidence of a decisive lurch to the right by David Cameron


Redwood outlines 'cure' for Britain reports the Telegraph
Radical proposals to unleash the "benign forces of competition" and hand the private sector a pivotal new role in building roads, running railways and supplying water are unveiled today by the Conservatives.

Staying with politics the Indy reports that

Prescott signs memoirs deal 'worth £500,000'

John Prescott's discretion was legendary in his decade at the heart of government. But that could be about to change after the former deputy prime minister agreed a lucrative publishing deal for his memoirs.
It will tell the story of his extraordinary rise from a ship's steward to a crucial figure in the New Labour election-winning machine.
After acquiring a literary agent, Mr Prescott recently clinched a book deal with an unnamed publisher.

The Guardian reports from Kabul where

Cross-border meeting 'ushers in era of love' say Afghans and Pakistanis

They have bickered, traded insults and hurled bitter accusations at one another. But yesterday President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, came together for a surprisingly warm show of unity.
General Musharraf flew into Kabul for the closing ceremony of a cross-border jirga, or peace conference, to discuss the Taliban insurgency that threatens both their countries. After four days of talk, the language was at times more Woodstock than Waziristan.
"This will usher in a new era of love and understanding," said Pakistan's interior minister, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, adding that it would "send good vibes across the country and the region". Pakistani flags draped the streets and the two leaders repeatedly spoke of "brother nations".

The Telegraph reports that

US hopes to stop Noriega from being freed

Manuel Noriega, the drug-running former dictator captured after the American invasion of Panama in 1989, is days away from release from a Miami jail. But if the United States has its way, the veteran Latin American strongman will not taste freedom for a long time yet. reminding us that

General Noriega was a key ally of George Bush Snr in the covert wars against Central American communists, before he was vilified by Washington as a drugs baron. His planned release for good behaviour on Sept 9 after serving 15 years of a 40-year sentence is worrying the US, which fears his return to Panama could destabilise the country.

The Independent reveals that

Stasi had shoot-to-kill policy to deter Berlin Wall escapes

Germany's Stasi archive has revealed one of the last dark secrets of the former Communist east: the politburo order to shoot to kill anyone attempting to breach the Iron Curtain to freedom.
The former regime claimed throughout its history that no such order existed and that it was up to police and border guard units to decide what action to take when confronted with would-be escapers.
That big lie has been exposed in the yellowing files of the Stasi secret police. The Stasi directive went: "Do not hesitate with the use of a firearm, including when the border breakouts involve women and children, which the traitors have already frequently taken advantage of." Dated 1 October 1973, the document is described as "explosive" by Andreas Schulze, a spokesman for the Magdeburg-based archive where it was found.

Back to the Uk and the Mirror reports that

OAP killed by 'swallowing flood water'

Eddie Hopkins collapsed three weeks after nearly drowning in the deluge as he waited to be rescued off the roof of his house.
Doctors fear he may have picked up a deadly virus from the murky water.
AdvertisementA relative of the 66-year-old potter - who did not wish to be named - said: "They haven't done all the tests yet but they believe it was the effects of the bugs in the water that killed him."
His distraught wife Nicky added: "I understand his death may be due to the effects of the floodwater, but we don't know for sure yet."

The Mail reports that

Man dies after confronting teenage vandals in street

The victim had remonstrated with a group of youths who were throwing stones at his car.
Neighbours said he had been trying to set up a Neighbourhood Watch scheme in the area which has been blighted by antisocial behaviour in recent months.
The man, who has not been named, was discovered collapsed on the pavement on Friday evening by residents who tried to give him first aid. He died in hospital yesterday.

Who's got the £35m lott!? asks the Sun

A FRENZIED hunt for the richest lottery ticket in British history was under way last night as a £35.4million jackpot remained unclaimed.
One UK ticket won Friday’s EuroMillions draw — but the owner had not come forward after 48 hours.
Lotto chiefs said the winner may be on their holidays blissfully UNAWARE they were now in the ranks of the super-rich.

Finally after a few days of summer,the weather returns to the news pages

Just when you thought summer had finally arrived... more severe weather warnings this week says the Mail and the Express tells us

SO...THAT'S THE END OF SUMMER

BRITAIN is on storm warning from tonight amid fears that our brief summer is over already.
There are new fears of flash-flooding in areas still battling to recover from last month’s record downfalls.
The Met Office issued a severe weather warning for the whole of the country for tomorrow and Wednesday.