Both the Telegraph and the Times lead with the latest opinion polls on the weekend that Gordon Brown is decided on calling an election.

Tories defiant despite new poll setback says the former.

The Conservatives are now trailing Labour by 11 points, a new Daily Telegraph poll shows, leaving David Cameron on the brink of a landslide defeat if an early election is called.

But says the paper

But amid the gloom of the poll findings, George Osborne vowed to wage war against Labour, as supporters urged decisive action to halt the party's recent decline.
On the eve of the Tory gathering in Blackpool, the shadow chancellor pledged to expose Mr Brown's claims to be changing Britain. The Tories are preparing to unveil a series of policy announcements aimed at countering proposals outlined by Labour at their conference this week.

November poll alert as Gordon Brown rides high says the Times

A special Populus survey for The Times gives Labour a double-digit lead, meaning that the Conservatives will arrive in Blackpool tomorrow for their make-or-break conference more convinced than ever that an election is imminent.

However the paper goes onto say

But Mr Brown suffered a setback last night when one of his newest Cabinet ministers was accused of helping to fake a photograph.
James Purnell, the 37-year-old Culture Secretary, who lectured the media recently about the importance of trust, was pictured in a doctored photograph that suggested, falsely, that he had attended an event with other MPs to promote a hospital building programme.

It's make or break for Cameron in Blackpool says the Guardian

David Cameron likes Blackpool. Two years ago he went there as the outsider in a contest dominated by more experienced, heavyweight politicians. By the end of the week he was the frontrunner. Whatever the seaside air did for him, his allies hope it can have the same galvanising effect when he becomes the Tory general election contestant.

The Mail tries to boost the Tories with its front page story

Cameron promises tax breaks to give families extra £2,000 a year

David Cameron has put families at the heart of Tory policy by announcing a tax break for couples bringing up children.
The Tory leader's radical plan is designed to end the benefits anomaly which penalises parents who stay together.
An estimated 1.8million families would be up to £2,000 a year better off under the proposals, to be announced formally next week.
And the £3billion cost would be met by a crackdown on workshy benefit claimants, including "aggressive" penalties for those who turn down jobs and the privatisation of welfare-to-work programmes.

Burma is not far away from the headlines,the Independent has a black front cover with the words

Hundreds may be dead, as junta tries to keep brutality unseen

Locked inside their monasteries, or banished from the city, the cinnamon-robed monks who have formed the backbone to the dignified protest of the past week were largely gone. In their place were civilians, less disciplined and more angry, some with bandanas around their faces. Shouting, jeering groups moved quickly around the city in an attempt to gather in large numbers. But the military, with soldiers packed in the back of trucks, raced after them, quickly breaking up gatherings with threats and force.

The Times reports from Rangoon where

democracy takes a beating as uneasy calm returns to streets

The Burmese democracy movement may have died yesterday. Or it could just be regrouping.
It was a loose, ragged, frustrating day in Rangoon, a day of baton charges, beatings and many rumours of much worse. I saw soldiers levelling guns, firing volleys of hard rubber pellets, as well as chases and arrests.
But something like normality is returning to Burma: which is to say that, just as they have been for much of the past 40 years, people are afraid again.
The democracy leaders have already been arrested, the monks are locked down in their monasteries and, yesterday, it was ordinary people who were the most prominent — by their absence.

The Mirror describes it as

A very Buddhist coup

Burma's brutal dictators yesterday froze email and phone contacts with their oppressed country as it was feared 200 have died in protests.
The links were shut down to stem the flow of damaging reports and images spreading around the world.

Brown calls for sanctions amid fear of rising death toll says the Guardian

Gordon Brown demanded tougher sanctions against the Burmese military regime yesterday, as soldiers and police in Rangoon appeared to gain the upper hand against demonstrators after a violent crackdown the previous day.Mr Brown expressed Britain's outrage over the response, saying he feared the loss of life was greater than had been confirmed. "I condemn the violence that has been used against the unarmed Burmese protesters who have been exercising, with great bravery, their right to peaceful protest," he said in a statement.

Both the Express and the Mirror come up with new Maddy theories on their front pages

New Madeleine suspect seen in stairwell reports the Mirror

A british tourist seen "hiding" in a stairwell outside Madeleine McCann's apartment on the night she disappeared was being investigated last night.
The new suspect, stocky and wearing two-tone glasses, was spotted by an Ocean Club worker just 12 metres from the flat. The employee, who did not want to be named, exclusively told the Mirror: "I'll never forget him.

The Express meanwhile suggests that

MADELEINE: STOLEN BY PEOPLE SMUGGLERS

MISSING Madeleine McCann may be in the hands of North African people smugglers. Police in Morocco, investigating a reported sighting, believe they have identified a link with a ruthless gang of traffickers.
A nationwide hunt has been launched for the smugglers who operate between North Africa and Spain, ferrying people – and tons of marijuana – into Europe each year. The breakthrough came a few weeks after Madeleine went missing when a Spanish tourist reported seeing a blonde girl matching her description being dragged along by a scruffy, Arab-looking woman in the town of Zaio.

Gag bars McCanns from answering new Madeleine body dumping claim says the Mail

Police in Portugal believe Kate McCann killed her daughter Madeleine in a 90-minute "gap" while her husband played tennis, it has been claimed.
Detectives think the child's body was stored in a fridge and moved to "various locations" around the family's holiday resort of Praia da Luz before it was placed in the boot of her parents' hire car and dumped, sources told a Portuguese newspaper.

'Maddie's body kept in fridge' says the Sun

PORTUGUESE cops came up with their sickest slur yet against the McCanns yesterday — claiming little Maddie’s body may have been kept in a FRIDGE before being dumped.
They are working on the extraordinary theory that Kate killed her daughter accidentally and that dad Gerry helped her cover up.

The paper though leads with

Huntley's third time unlucky

SOHAM monster Ian Huntley was rushed to hospital yesterday after his THIRD suicide bid.
He took a huge overdose of pills but was found in his cell by guards. Earlier Huntley had a row with staff after they took him off suicide watch. He had been monitored around the clock after giving up a hunger strike and vowing: “I’m not doing a Shipman.”

The paper also turns its attention to the killer of Rhys Jones in an exclusive

Rhys suspect is Mummy's boy

THE prime suspect in the killing of Rhys Jones is said to be a tearaway “mummy’s boy”.

Twelve people identified the teenager after seeing CCTV footage on Wednesday’s BBC Crimewatch show about the shooting of Rhys, 11.
It showed a hoodie-wearing youth on a bike at the murder scene on the night Rhys was shot in Liverpool.
The suspect, pictured today for the first time, cannot be identified for legal reasons.
He is a football-mad youngster — just as Everton fan Rhys was.

Detectives still a long way from solving Rhys case, experts say reports the Guardian

Experts in murder investigations yesterday warned that detectives hunting the killer of Rhys Jones may still have a long way to go to secure the crucial evidence from witnesses fearful of reprisals.
Police have a strong suspicion as to who the killer is and are trying to convert intelligence into evidence to have a watertight case to take to court and secure a conviction. The 11-year-old was shot dead as he walked home from playing football last month.

The Financial Times leads with the story that

Second homes face price fall

According to the paper

The price of second homes in the Mediterranean and eastern Europe could fall as a result of the credit crisis, a leading property expert has warned.
Michael Ball, a professor of property at Reading ­University, England, and an adviser to the UK government, said holiday homes in many parts of Europe were exposed to a correction.
Not only had prices risen fast amid speculative interest and the easy availability of credit, but the supply of new flats had been increasing at a prolific rate.
Prof Ball pinpointed the Mediterranean and central and eastern Europe as being particularly “vulnerable” to falling prices.

Meanwhile the Express reports that

HOUSE PRICES DRIVING BRITISH WEALTH

Britons collectively had assets worth £6.336 trillion at the end of last year, after outstanding debt was taken into account, up from £2.795 trillion at the end of 1996, according to Halifax Financial Services.
The group said the total value of people's assets rose by £4.343 billion during the past decade, massively outstripping the £802 billion rise in debt during the same period. Unsurprisingly, a large part of the gain in household wealth was driven by booming house prices, with rises in the value of property accounting for more than half of the gain.

Farmers warned of surge in bluetongue cases reports the Telegraph

Farmers have been warned to expect "significant numbers" of new cases of bluetongue disease as the deputy chief veterinary officer declared an outbreak of the virus in the UK.Fred Landeg confirmed that the virus was "circulating" between livestock and midges, and admitted that with no cure and no vaccination available farmers faced months of disruption from livestock movement restrictions.

Thames Water fined £12m for poor service says the Times

Thames Water faces a fine of £12.5million for failing to compensate customers for poor service and loss of water supplies. The fine covers the period between July 2005 and July 2006, but the company has admitted that it failed to deal properly with its customers for the preceding five years.
It is to appeal against the decision made by the regulator, Ofwat, and claims that paying the fine will divert cash from essential repairs.

The Guardian leads with

Cost of UK's gambling habit: £10bn

The money lost by British gamblers will exceed £10bn annually next year - a rise of 50% in nine years, and the biggest jump since the 1960s.
The losses have been driven by abolition of betting duty, the emergence of online betting, poker and casino sites, and a steady unwinding of regulatory constraints. But the biggest single drain comes from a new type of slot machine, offering video roulette in betting shops.

The paper also concentrates on the climate change summit

Europeans angry after Bush climate speech 'charade'says the paper

George Bush was castigated by European diplomats and found himself isolated yesterday after a special conference on climate change ended without any progress.
European ministers, diplomats and officials attending the Washington conference were scathing, particularly in private, over Mr Bush's failure once again to commit to binding action on climate change.
Although the US and Britain have been at odds over the environment since the early days of the Bush administration, the gap has never been as wide as yesterday.

Bush's voluntary targets for emissions fail to win support says the Independent

Defiant as ever, President Bush remained isolated on global warming when he refused to accept the need for specific limits on emissions from the world's biggest polluting nations.
Mr Bush instead called on the world's largest producers of CO2 to set a voluntary goal for reducing the gasses that are causing the planet to heat up. If there was progress, it was that he didn't exempt the US from the list.

The Telegraph reports on the

Taliban unveils hardline Afghan constitution

The 23-page document envisages a country where women would remain veiled and uneducated, "un-Islamic thought" would be banned and human rights would be ignored if "contrary with the teachings of Islam".
The Constitution of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, comes days after the Defence Secretary, Des Browne, said that the Taliban will need to take a role in the peace process in Afghanistan.

Staying in the ame area of the world the Indy reports on the

Fury as Musharraf clears way to stand for election

General Pervez Musharraf has secured a major victory after Pakistan's Supreme Court opened the way for him to again run as president while retaining his position as head of the armed forces.
In a controversial decision, the court ruled 6-3 against a series of constitutional challenges to the general's plans to stand. "These petitions are held to be non-maintainable," said presiding Judge Rana Bhagwandas, as lawyers inside the court howled in protest.

Lethal injection review may halt US executions reports the Guardian

America, which has some 3,350 prisoners on death row, yesterday seemed to be moving towards an unofficial moratorium on executions after the supreme court granted a rare last-minute reprieve to a condemned man in Texas.
The supreme court stay for Carlton Turner Jr, who was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection for killing his adoptive parents, arrived hours after a death row inmate in Alabama was granted a 45-day reprieve by the state's governor.

Cleared of rape and fraud and set to be South Africa’s next president reports the Times

All eyes are on Jacob Zuma, the deputy president of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC), and champion of the masses. Acquitted of rape and fraud, and on course to be the country’s next president, he strikes fear into the hearts of many South Africans.

Staying with the paper and back in the Uk,it reports

Prisoners may be given 20 per cent cut in sentences to ease crowding

Ministers are investigating reducing the length of time that prisoners spend in jail by 20 per cent as an emergency measure to cut the total number of inmates, which yesterday reached a record 81,135.
Thousands of prisoners would be released early after serving only 40 per cent of their sentence instead of the present 50 per cent, The Times has learnt. Another possible solution is to increase the present emergency early-release scheme from 18 to 23 days.

The Mail is concerned with fakery this morning.

New Nigella fake: She takes us all for a ride with bogus bus trip to the shops

First her kitchen turned out not to be her kitchen.
Now it seems Nigella Lawson's trip to the shops on a London bus for her cookery show wasn't quite what it seemed either.
Questions are also being asked about the "friends" who gather to taste her recipes at the end of each programme.
Producers have admitted that they hired the bus Miss Lawson rode on, filling it with extras pretending to read the newspapers as normal passengers.

And of course castigates the culture secretary over what is calls

The cut-and-paste minister

He is a stickler for accuracy and honesty when dealing with the public - and not shy of broadcasting his views on integrity.
So it must have been a total misunderstanding that led Culture Secretary James Purnell to be accused of giving the go-ahead for his photograph to be inserted into a "faked" publicity shot.
The Labour star, tipped by some as a future party leader, was meant to be part of a photocall with other local MPs earlier this month at Tameside General Hospital, near Manchester, to celebrate approval for a redevelopment project.

Boom in Britons reaching age of 100 reports the Telegraph

A boom in life expectancy shows the number of centenarians has increased 90-fold since 1911 and many young children are now expected to live to 100 or beyond.
People are now reaching old age in much better health and have a far better standard of living than previous generations.
The longest life on record is that of a French woman who died in 1997 at 122.

Finally the Independent reports

How 'bush tucker' became flavour of the month for foodies

As Aboriginal people have done for perhaps 60,000 years, Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Bauman catches long-necked turtles by hand in the billabongs of the Daly river. But while her ancestors roasted turtles in hot coals, or baked them in a hole in the ground, Ms Bauman serves them up to her family stir-fried or in the form of turtle liver risotto.
Ms Bauman, an elder of the Nauiyu Nambiyu community, south of Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory, is one of a growing number of Aboriginal women learning new culinary skills – thanks to a "whitefella".