Sunday, January 20, 2008

Two rather different Maddy stories return to the front pages

The News of the World has an artists impression of her kidnapper,the paper in an exclusive revealing

This is the man suspected of snatching four-year-old Maddie McCann.
It is the FIRST detailed likeness of a stalker thought to have kidnapped the toddler. And it's based on sensational new clues unearthed by the News of the World. As a massive new manhunt began last night a McCann family source said: "This is a stunning breakthrough. adding

A British woman who came face to face with the suspected Maddie McCann kidnapper revealed last night: "He made my blood run cold and gave me the creeps."
Granny Gail Cooper, 50, was staying just 600 YARDS from the McCann family's Portuguese holiday flat when she had THREE separate chilling encounters with the moustachioed mystery man.
After the News of the World probed her evidence further, McCann investigators analysed her detailed description.

The Express reports on

MCCANNS SPLIT BY AGONY OF MADELEINE

THE lives of Kate and Gerry McCann are moving in “opposite directions” because they have developed strikingly different ways of coping with the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine.
Kate is living the life of a semi-recluse as she focuses on being a stay-at-home mother, virtually shutting herself off from the supportive community around her.
Gerry, meanwhile, has thrown himself into working full time as a heart specialist during the week, while running the campaign to find four-year-old Madeleine in the evenings and at weekends.

After the events of the week,crime dominates the qualities

The Observer leads with the story that

Knife scanners at school gates to curb attacks

Airport-style metal detectors will be installed at hundreds of school gates under sweeping measures to confront the growing problem of teenage knife crime.
Their introduction at the toughest secondary schools, which will be announced next month by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, forms a core element of the government's new violent crime action plan. Senior police officers and head teachers have persuaded Smith that their effectiveness in tackling knife crime outweighs any concerns over pupil privacy. Last week a girl of 13 was stabbed in the chest and thigh shortly after finishing lessons at a London school, the latest in a spate of stabbings. Although the Home Office has examined giving police increased search powers to seize knives, metal detectors are preferable as 'less obtrusive'. Teaching unions have welcomed them because of the dangers caused by manually frisking pupils.

The Times meanwhile reports

Home secretary Jacqui Smith scared of walking London alone

In an interview with The Sunday Times, she said she would not feel comfortable out alone after dark in deprived areas such as Hackney or even affluent ones like Kensington or Chelsea. She claimed streets at night were safer after 10 years of Labour in power but opposition politicians said her comments exposed the failure of the government’s policies on crime.
In the interview, Smith, the first woman home secretary, was asked whether she would feel safe walking on her own around Hackney at midnight. She replied: “Well, no, but I don’t think I’d ever have done. You know, I would never have done that, at any point during my life.” Asked why not, she answered: “Well, I just don’t think that’s a thing that people do, is it, really?”

Violent youth crime up a third says the Telegraph

The number of under-18s convicted or cautioned over violent offences rose from 17,590 to 24,102 - an increase of 37 per cent.The evidence of rising youth offending comes amid public concern over youth crime following the murder of Garry Newlove, a father of three who was beaten to death as he stood up to a street gang.

Gordon Brown,China and Northern rock also gain a great deal of coverage,the Mail asks

Did Branson use Beijing trip with Brown to win sweetheart deal over Northern Rock?

The future of Northern Rock was at the centre of a political row last night after Gordon Brown admitted holding talks with Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson – who is considering buying the stricken bank – during their current visit to China.
The admission came as investment bank Goldman Sachs, called in by Labour to advise on Northern Rock, proposed a solution to enable the bank to remain in the private sector.
Sir Richard's Virgin Money and finance group Olivant are the remaining rival bidders to buy Northern Rock, which was plunged into crisis after a run by savers last September.

Gordon Brown damned for Rock ‘cop-out’ says the Times,the Telegraph reports

Gordon Brown attacked over bank rescue plan

Gordon Brown has sparked a political row by endorsing a deal to bail out Northern Rock with tens of billions of pounds of taxpayers' cash.The plan, to be unveiled tomorrow by Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, stops short of nationalising the stricken bank by allowing a private sector company - possibly Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group - to take it over.However, loans by the taxpayer to Northern Rock - already running at £25 billion and which could reach £60 billion - would not be repaid for several years.

Gordon Brown sees the smog Olympics on China tour says the Mirror

The Independent leads with

Mobile phone radiation wrecks your sleep

Radiation from mobile phones delays and reduces sleep, and causes headaches and confusion, according to a new study.
The research, sponsored by the mobile phone companies themselves, shows that using the handsets before bed causes people to take longer to reach the deeper stages of sleep and to spend less time in them, interfering with the body's ability to repair damage suffered during the day.

MPs back organ donor law change reports the Observer

An overwhelming majority of MPs support adopting a new system of organ donation, because the shortage of donor kidneys, hearts and lungs is so severe, a survey carried out by The Observer has found. Of the 120 who responded to a poll last week, 97 said they were in favour of proposals to change current rules, so that everyone would automatically be considered a donor after their death, unless they had opted out during their lifetime, or relatives objected.

Meanwhile the Mail leads with

Transplant patient has NEW kidney removed after NHS computer blunder

A kidney transplant patient was forced to have the new organ removed after just a few hours – when it was discovered that the patient's blood type had been incorrectly recorded on a computer database.
The mistake, believed to be the first of its kind in Britain, would have led to the organ being rejected – with possibly fatal consequences.

The Mirror leads with an exclusive interview with the co pilot of the Ba plane

I Thought we would all die says its headline

Co-pilot John Coward told last night how he feared everyone on board Flight BA38 was going to die in a "catastrophic disaster" before miraculously steering it to safety.
In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Mirror he revealed that he still can't believe how the Boeing had not crashed in a ball of flames killing all 152 passengers and crew.
The 41-year-old senior first officer said he acted "on instinct" as the crippled 777 lost power at 600ft as it came in to land on Thursday, giving him only seconds to react.

Maternity care fails one third of women reports the Telegraph

More than a third of new mothers who took part in the countrywide poll said they had been refused sedatives, painkillers and epidurals, or were forced to wait for them at the height of labour.In total, 37 per cent said they did not get the pain relief they wanted, or get it quickly enough, while 31 per cent said they were left alone at a point when they felt worried.

Surrogate mum to break record with eighth child reports the Times

A WOMAN is set to become the most prolific surrogate mother in Britain by carrying another couple’s baby for the eighth time.
The record-breaking surrogacy is controversial because the woman suffers from clinical depression and has previously attempted suicide. Even her family believe the psychological strain of carrying so many babies for other couples has damaged her mental health.

The bad weather continues to get headlines

46 ALERTS AS FLOODS GET WORSE says the Mirror

Things can only get wetter, weather forecasters warned yesterday as Britain braces itself for another miserable week of floods.
The North of England, the Midlands, eastern areas and Wales are most at risk, with 46 flood warnings in place last night. Most places will get 20-30mm of rain with about 40-60mm expected in parts and a risk of up to 75mm over hills.
But as our pictures show, the South West was still monsooned thanks to a monstrous deluge of heavy rain.

Global warming? possibly and the Observer reports

Biofuels 'do more harm than good'

Controversial plans to make cars greener by using fuel made from crops and animal fat will be thrown into doubt this week when MPs are expected to question whether they will do more harm than good.
Biofuels have been hailed as a green alternative to oil by some, but in the US, where there are massive plants converting maize (corn), it has been criticised for making food more expensive and being environmentally unfriendly.

Honeybees may be wiped out in 10 years says the Telegraph

Honeybees will die out in Britain within a decade as virulent diseases and parasites spread through the nation's hives, experts have warned.
Whole colonies of bees are already being wiped out, with current methods of pest control unable to stop the problem.

Politics and the Times reports

Labour aide brands Scotland as racist

DES BROWNE, the Scottish and defence secretary, was under pressure this weekend to sack one of his top aides for describing Scotland as a “narrow, Presbyterian and racist” country. John McTernan, a special adviser to Browne and former Downing Street aide to Tony Blair, made the comments in a personal e-mail to a Labour politician.
The document was obtained by The Sunday Times under freedom of information legislation. McTernan, who was among those cleared of wrongdoing in the cash for honours affair, wrote to Karen Gillon, a Labour member of the Scottish parliament, before a visit to Sweden: “If you’ve not been to Sweden before, I think you’ll really like it – it’s the country Scotland would be if it wasn’t narrow, Presbyterian, racist etc. etc. Social democracy in action.”

Tell truth on EU treaty, say MPs reports the Telegraph

As the Government prepares to debate the treaty in the House of Commons, a report by the foreign affairs select committee concludes that it cedes vital powers to Brussels and that ministers are misleading the public by saying that it does not.adding

The findings come as campaigners reveal plans to stage a series of "mini-referendums" in 10 areas across Britain. The vote, organised by the cross-party I Want A Referendum group, follows a Telegraph campaign backed by more than 100,000 people.


Speaker Michael Martin's wife claims £50,000 in free flights to 'support' her husband says the Mail

Nearly £50,000 of taxpayers' money has been spent on providing free air travel for the wife of Commons Speaker Michael Martin, it was revealed last night.
Within the past three years, Mary Martin has run up a bill of almost £25,000 on foreign flights. In addition she has spent £24,000 flying from the couple's Glasgow home to their grace-and-favour apartment in Westminster.
The Mail on Sunday can disclose that Mrs Martin was given special permission to claim travel expenses when her husband – known as 'Gorbals Mick' because of his working-class Glasgow roots – became Speaker in 2000.

Abroad and the Telegraph reports

Serbia on a knife edge over Europe vote

This weekend, Serbia is on a knife edge, trying to decide whether to accept the blandishments of the EU, or to lurch back into Russia's embrace - and the role of international outcast. Despite promises of European largesse, it may be a close call.

Violence fear over Islam film reports the Observer

The Dutch government is bracing itself for violent protests following the scheduled broadcast this week of a provocative anti-Muslim film by a radical right-wing politician who has threatened to broadcast images of the Koran being torn up and otherwise desecrated.

The Independent reports that

Wintour goes nuclear over Hillary's snub to 'Vogue'

Who in Hillary Clinton's meticulously crafted campaign could have predicted that the White House pretender would come up against Anna Wintour in her attempt to win the presidency?
But that is exactly what has happened after the Senator snubbed the famously frosty US Vogue editor by backing out of an agreement to be photographed by Annie Leibovitz for the magazine's cover. The change of heart followed fears in the Clinton camp that the presidential candidate would appear "too feminine" if she was plastered across the style bible in designer outfits.


FinallyThe News of the World finds an exlusive on the Heathrow pilots


Here's Heathrow hero Peter Burkhill after another crash landing... this time BELLY UP, HALF NAKED and with his undercarriage covered in CHOCOLATE.

The Boeing 777 pilot who helped save 152 lives on Thursday is pictured after clothes take-off, on course for a wild night off-duty.Stewardesses attended to his every need—which bizarrely even meant putting liqourice up his bottom—as they hovered over his landing stripes.
But when the girls smothered him in chocolate and licked it all off, Peter—then a 28-year-old First Officer—was left feeling rather joysticky...and needed to ditch in a bubble bath with the beauties

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