The Independent continues to lead on the demonstrations in Burma

Inside the saffron revolution says the paper as it reports on the crackdown by the military regime

The inevitable happened sometime before noon.
Close to the Shwedagon pagoda, the golden gleaming monument in central Rangoon that has been the focus of protest for nine days, at least 10 monks were beaten up by police as thousands once again defied the authorities and tried to enter the holy shrine. Next, the police fired tear gas at them, and scores of the men in saffron robes were arrested and dragged away. From then on things only got worse.
By last night up to eight monks and civilians had, according to differing reports, been killed as the military regime finally resorted to violence to put down the soaring challenge to its rule.

Who will make Burma play by the rules? asks the Telegraph

Burma's military regime has so far reacted with relative restraint (by its standards) to the street protests led by Buddhist monks that have been growing in size and frequency since the end of last month.
Unlike in 1988, when similar protests were suppressed with great brutality, the generals seem sensitive to the fact that the eyes of the world are upon them thanks to the ubiquity of mobile phone images – though whether that will stay their hand should their authority come under real threat is open to question.
As is usual at such perilous moments, the UN Security Council and EU foreign ministers met in emergency session last night.

As the Guardian reports

As Burmese troops open fire at monks, China and Russia block global sanctions

Burma's military rulers were facing calls from around the world last night to show restraint in their treatment of pro-democracy demonstrators, but China and Russia blocked more punitive measures.

The paper leads though with a preview of the justice secretary's speach to the Labour conference this afternoon.

Labour's new crime drive: zero tolerance

Labour will today launch a new "zero tolerance" criminal justice drive, including an urgent review of the law of self-defence to ensure it backs "have-a-go heroes".
The moves by Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, and Jack Straw, the justice secretary, are designed to outflank the Tories' renewed push on law and order based on David Cameron's claim that British society is "broken".
Amid concerns from some Labour strategists that the party has ceded too much ground on crime, the home secretary will also announce a new fund worth tens of millions of pounds to support neighbourhood patrol teams, including the issuing of mobile fingerprint machines to officers who will target low-level crime in every community.

Whilst the Telegraph reports

New laws protect have-a-go home owners

The move - to be announced by the Justice Secretary in his Labour conference speech - will be aimed at ensuring that those protecting themselves or their homes in a "proportionate" way will not find themselves in court.
A source close to Mr Straw said last night that the plan was to reform self-defence laws in a way that "better balances the system in favour of victims of crime".
"This will be aimed at ensuring that those who seek to protect themselves, their loved ones and their homes as well as other citizens have confidence that the law is on their side," the source added.

The Times leads with a look back to Monday claiming

Gordon Brown and his ‘rehash’ speech

Gordon Brown was accused last night of rehashing old phrases from Bill Clinton and Al Gore without attribution in his first speech to a Labour conference as Prime Minister.
An analysis by The Times has found strong similarities in both words and structure between Monday’s address and speeches made by the two Americans – both former clients of Mr Brown’s close adviser Bob Shrum.
It suggests that Mr Brown’s recent attempts to appeal as a prime minister who rejects spin have been crafted, at least in part, by one of America’s highest-paid political advertising and speech consultants.

The Independent meanwhile reports

Brown's advisers back push for an autumn election

Gordon Brown's closest political ally urged him to announce a snap general election as speculation mounted at the Labour conference that he would call a 1 November poll.
Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, suggested that the "gamble" would not be to hold an immediate election but to wait until next year. "It's a very interesting question as to where the gamble really lies," he said.
His comments in a BBC Radio interview showed that he believes Mr Brown might never have a better prospect of winning a fourth term for Labour than he does now and that the party might not do so well if he delays the poll until next May.

The Tabloids have egg on their faces after all published that grainy picture of a suspected Maddy yesterday

ANGUISH FOR KATE says the Sun

TEARFUL Kate McCann was heartbroken last night after learning a little girl spotted on a snap taken in Morocco was NOT her lost daughter Madeleine.
The child, a Maddie lookalike, was revealed as local farmer’s daughter Bouchra Benaissa, three.
A source close to the McCanns said: “A glimmer of hope has been snuffed out.”

Parents' anguish as mystery girl is not Maddy headlines the Mirror which also claims to have traced the girl

The mystery girl's identity was solved as The Mirror traced Bouchra's family to their ramshackle home in the hills near Tetuan. There, Hafida was found carrying the toddler on her back - just as she had in the now-famous picture.
Her husband Ahmed said: "We have a happy family We did not know of this girl Madeleine. It is sad she is missing, any family would be sad to lose a child.


HEARTBREAK says the Express which says

The photograph, which within hours of emerging was being analysed by experts, gave the McCanns the greatest hope yet their daughter was still alive.
Yet Portuguese detectives refused to take it seriously and privately believe Madeleine is dead.
An official Policia Judiciaria spokesman insisted they were considering the new lead, privately sources said the photograph had already been dismissed claiming the shape of the girl’s head is different to that of Madeleine’s.

New developments in the Rhys Jones murder

CCTV captures a boy on a bike - thirty seconds later he had killed Rhys Jones reports the Guardian

The picture, frozen from CCTV images recorded on a sunny evening last month, shows a teenage boy riding a BMX bike while wearing a hooded top and trousers with a distinctive white stripe.
Somewhere concealed in his clothing is a gun, for this is the boy who shot 11-year-old Rhys Jones outside the Fir Tree pub in Croxteth Park, Liverpool, on August 22.
The young killer was captured on camera on a path at the back of the pub. The camera caught him again 30 seconds later, by which time he had cycled down to the Fir Tree's car park, taken aim and fired three bullets, one of which struck Rhys in the neck.

Murdered boy's parents in new plea says the Mirror

The gun thug believed to have shot Rhys Jones is shown on CCTV - as mum Melanie last night begged the killer's mother to turn him in.
The newly released footage shows the hoodie circling on his BMX near the murder scene in the moments just before and after Rhys, 11, was gunned down.

The Telegraph reports that

Tycoon gives Tories £1m over Rhys Jones

David Whelan, a sports shop tycoon and Wigan Athletic Football Club chairman, has pledged to hand over the money within 14 days if a general election is called.Mr Whelan – who is not believed to have made a donation to a political party before – said: "I am supporting David Cameron because having met and talked with him I am convinced he has the right approach to dealing with law and order in Britain


New school exam aimed at brightest pupils reports the Times

A new alternative to the A level will enable universities and employers better to identify the brightest students by replacing the grade A with three different achievement bands.
The Pre-U examination, being developed by Cambridge University amid concern over the suitability of A levels for preparing students for university, will award nine grades or bands, four more than the A to E grades offered by A levels.
The Pre-U has already won backing from private schools such as Eton, Rugby and Winchester, which confirmed yesterday that they would introduce it from September next year.

The Mail's front page tells us of

The revolutionary contraceptive super-pill that ends PMT

The lives of millions of women could be revolutionised within months by the arrival of the contraceptive super-Pill.
It promises to end the misery of pre-menstrual tension and banish periods.
Lybrel, the first Pill designed to be taken continuously, is likely to appeal to women keen to stop menstruation from intruding into their hectic working lives - as well as the millions whose lives are blighted by PMT.

Staying with health matters and the Guardian reports that there is

No dignity for older patients on NHS wards

Health inspectors are to mount spot checks on NHS hospitals after finding hundreds of older people being treated without dignity or adequate privacy on wards across England.
In a report today on conditions in 23 hospitals, the Healthcare Commission said only five complied with all the government's core standards for dignity in care. Others were found to provide degrading treatment, including making incontinent patients wear nappies and placing older women in mixed-sex bays shielded by skimpy curtains on insecure rails.



The Times as does many of the papers reports on the inconclusive end to the trial of Phil Spector

Phil Spector free on $1 million bail after murder trial ends in deadlock

The jury in the murder trial of Phil Spector last night said that they were unable to reach a verdict after twelve days of deliberations, forcing the judge to call a mistrial, and leaving the wildly eccentric music producer a free man for the foreseeable future.
The mistrial means that Spector, 67, a former producer of The Beatles best known for his “Wall of Sound” recording technique, could either face a retrial, or reach a plea agreement with Los Angeles prosecutors.
In the meantime he will remain free on $1 million (£496,000) bail. “We will try Phil Spector again,” Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office told The Los Angeles Times, adding that the prosecution team was “disappointed” by the result.

Diplomats accuse Bush of attempting to derail UN climate conference claims the Guardian

One European diplomat described the US meeting as a spoiler for a UN conference planned for Bali in December. Another, who spoke to the Guardian on condition of anonymity, claimed that the US conference was merely a way of deflecting pressure from other world leaders who had asked at the G8 summit this year for the US to make concessions on global warming.

Green issues in the Telegraph which reports on

James Lovelock's plan to pump ocean water to stop climate change

Today Lovelock, of Green College, Oxford University, outlines an emergency way to stimulate the Earth to cure itself with Chris Rapley, former head of the British Antarctic Survey who is now the director of the Science Museum, London.
They believe the answer lies in the oceans, which transport much more heat than the atmosphere and, covering more than 70 per cent of the Earth's surface.
They propose that vertical pipes some 10 metres across be placed in the ocean, such that wave motion would pump up cool water from 100-200 metres depth to the surface, moving nutrient-rich waters in the depths to mix with the relatively barren warm waters at the ocean surface.

Meanwhile the Independent reports that

Three Gorges: China is warned of 'catastrophe'

An ecological disaster looms around the Three Gorges Dam, a potent symbol of China's social, economic and technological progress, despite years of insistence the project is safe. The banks of the mighty Yangtze are being eroded by the weight of the water behind the dam, hazardous landslides blight the area as water levels fluctuate wildly and huge waves crash against riverbanks.

The Sun claims that

40,000 demand EU poll!

ALMOST 40,000 Sun readers last night demanded a say on the rejigged EU Constitution.
An overwhelming 98 PER CENT of those answering our battle cry backed the campaign for a referendum on giving away British power.
In our You The Jury poll, 26,471 phoned the YES line in favour of having a vote while only 622 voted NO.
Meanwhile, 12,142 signed our online petition.
The huge show of public feeling came as Gordon Brown again refused to honour Labour’s pledge of a referendum — and Tories accused him of being in breach of his “solemn manifesto promise”.

The paper also reports that

Becks' dad has heart attack

Ted Beckham, 59, was taken by ambulance to hospital after complaining of chest pains at home.
Sources said he DIED en route but was resuscitated by the crew.
Later he was moved to a specialist heart clinic.
Frantic David was told the news in Los Angeles and is flying home to be with his family.


Family 'earned £2m in a year from empire of 200 vice girls' reports the Mail

A father and his family pocketed millions from a call-girl empire run on ' military lines', a court heard yesterday.
Steven Drew enforced a strict regime of rules and punishment while carrying out individual 'kit checks' to ensure the prostitutes were wearing matching underwear.
The 51-year-old not only regularly sampled the services offered by his Silk and Lace Escort Agency but enjoyed one sex session lasting 22 hours, Southwark Crown Court was told.

Schoolkids' drug scare reports the Mirror

Seven pupils at a top state school were rushed for treatment yesterday lunchtime after allegedly smoking strong cannabis.
One boy, aged about 11, was wheeled into an ambulance unconscious as his called-out father wept.
But the youngsters from the school in Billington, Lancs, were released from the Royal Blackburn Hospital later as police began an inquiry.

Adding

The headteacher said: "This will be dealt with thoroughly."

Finally the Telegraph reports on

Newborn baby Nadia weighs in at 17lb

A Siberian woman who gave birth to her 12th child was stunned to find that little Nadia weighed in at 17lb (7.75 kg).
The child, who was delivered by caesarean section earlier this month, joined eight sisters and three brothers. "We were all simply in shock," said Nadia's mother, Tatyana Barabanova, 43, from Russia's Altai region.

The story continues

What did the father say? He couldn't say a thing — he just stood there blinking."
"I ate everything, we don't have the money for special foods so I just ate potatoes, noodles and tomatoes," she said, adding that all her previous babies had weighed more than 11lb.