US in panic move to halt slide says the front page of the Telegraph this morning

America's central bank has taken unprecedented action to stave off a global recession by making the biggest single cut in interest rates in 23 years.Following two days of turmoil on international stock markets, the United States Federal Reserve cut rates by 0.75 per cent to stimulate the US and global economies.
It was the first emergency action by the Fed since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 when the Bank of England also cut rates in a co-ordinated approach to prevent a slide into recession.

The Times says

The rate cut was imposed before America’s markets reopened yesterday morning after Monday’s public holiday and was designed to prevent similar losses in the US. The FTSE 100, which lost almost 240 points in its first hour of trading yesterday, took heart from the Fed’s action and closed up 161.9 at 5740.1, marking one of the wildest swings in its history.

The Guardian reporting

Britain was pushing last night for an emergency meeting to calm financial markets as governments around the world tried to reassure nervous investors. Gordon Brown has convened Downing Street talks with his German, French and Italian counterparts to discuss banking regulation and ways to disclose banks' bad debts more quickly.
In an attempt to avoid a repetition of the current credit crisis, the prime minister will call for measures to improve transparency in the banking system, to coordinate national regulators, to review the role of credit rating agencies, and to strengthen the management of liquidity risks.

The Mail says that

Last night Bank of England governor Mervyn King hinted that he thought UK interest rates were too high and appeared to encourage a cut by the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee. In a speech to the Institute of Directors in Bristol, he said: "We start the year from a position in which Bank Rate, at 5.5 per cent, is probably bearing down on demand."

The Times carries an interview with David Cameron who

defends church school 'cheats'

Parents who pretend that they have Christian beliefs in order to win places in church schools are doing the best for their children, David Cameron believes.
The Tory leader refuses to criticise the “middle-class parents with sharp elbows”. Asked for his views on the families accused of playing the system, he says: “I think it’s good for parents who want the best for their kids. I don’t blame anyone who tries to get their children into a good school. Most people are doing so because it has an ethos and culture. I believe in active citizens.” but saves his best comments til later

In his most withering attack since Mr Brown entered No 10, Mr Cameron savages the Prime Minister’s leadership, charges him with failing to give his colleagues credit and calls him “that strange man in Downing Street”.
He suggests that Mr Brown is suffering from “tall poppy syndrome”. But his most serious charge is that the Prime Minister is putting Labour’s party interests before those of the nation

Meanwhile according to the Guardian

ID card scheme put off until after election

A compulsory identity card system for British citizens looks as if it will be deferred beyond the next election, according to documents leaked to the Conservatives.
As recently as December the Home Office said the ID card system for UK citizens would be phased-in on a voluntary basis from 2009, but a national identity strategy paper, marked restricted, clearly shows the UK-citizens phase of the scheme will now not start until 2012. A voluntary scheme is due be introduced for those renewing passports from 2009.

Many of the papers speculate about a possoble suicide cult in South Wales,the Mail leads with

'Internet suicide cult' rips apart town as SEVEN young people hang
themselves

a small town has been rocked by the copycat suicides of seven young people.
Local people fear the hangings are linked to a chilling internet cult.
Within 24 hours of the latest death last week, two friends of the teenage girl had also attempted suicide.Yesterday police took computer equipment from 17-year-old Natasha Randall's home in Bridgend, South Wales.
Detectives confirmed they are investigating a possible suicide chain – the seven dead are all linked in some way although they did not all know each other.

Bebo inspiring teen suicides says the Telegraph

As well as the deaths during the last 12 months, several more have attempted suicide and police fear they are being driven by a desire to achieve prestige by having a memorial website set up in their name.Many of the victims had their own web pages on the social networking site Bebo, which they spent hours on each day. After their deaths a special site is set up where friends can leave messages, photographs and videos.

The Express is concerned with the news that

BRITISH MUSLIMS ARE 'TOO EXTREME'

MOSQUES in Britain are spreading a dangerous brand of extremism that would be outlawed in Iraq – says the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq.
The “shocking indictment” came from Dr Barham Salih, who said he was appalled by the level of fundamentalism he found taking root here.
After visiting mosques in Lancashire, Dr Salih said: “I am not surprised that you British are facing so many problems with extremists after what I saw in those mosques in Blackburn. What I saw would not be allowed in Iraq – it would be illegal.”

All the papers carry the story of the death of Heath Ledger,the Sun reporting

TRAGIC Brokeback Mountain movie star Heath Ledger was found dead last night — surrounded by pills.
The dad of one was heartbroken by his split with co-star Michelle Williams last year and had admitted being left tormented and sleepless by playing The Joker in the new Batman movie.
Heath, 28, was naked on the floor of his New York home when a masseuse arrived and was let in by his housekeeper.

The Guardian reporting

Ledger's death cut off at its prime an acting career that saw a young man emerge from Perth, Western Australia and rise to become one of the most sought after and accomplished actors of his generation. He started out in small roles in little known Australian independent movies, but reached wider attention in 1999 when he played a school heart-throb in 10 Things I Hate About You.

The Mirror carries a front page picture of Rose West's cell

Mass killer treats jail like holiday camp She relaxes with DVDs in cushy room She had hissy fit over doing laundry

She is Britain's worst murderess, serving life for 10 horrific killings including her own daughter.
But instead of serving out her time in a grim fortress jail, Rose West sits happily in a bright cell surrounded by creature comforts.
And she is so deluded about her sickening crimes that she cheekily claims she is a victim of her demented husband Fred, her partner in murder.
As she threw away food leftovers at her jail canteen West, 54, bleated: "This reminds me of how Fred left me to scrape around for food for my kids. No one knows how bad I had it. I'm a victim too."

RAF alert as Russia stages huge naval exercise in Bay of Biscay says the Times

RAF fighters scrambled to track Russian long-range bombers joining a naval task force yesterday as Moscow practised strike tactics off the coast of France and Spain and test-launched nuclear-capable missiles.
The fleet of Russian warships, supported by fighter jets and the bombers, engaged in Russia’s biggest naval exercises since the end of the Cold War. the paper adds

The war games close to two Nato member states were the most forceful reminder to date of President Putin’s determination to flex Russia’s military muscles as relations with the West have deteriorated. The navy boasted that they were Russia’s largest Atlantic exercises since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

According to the Guardian

War in Congo kills 45,000 people each month

A decade of fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo is continuing to kill about 45,000 people each month - half of them small children - in the deadliest conflict since the second world war, according to a new survey.
The International Rescue Committee said preventable diseases and starvation aggravated by conflict have claimed 5.4 million lives since the beginning of the second Congo war in 1998, equivalent to the population of Denmark. Although the war officially ended in 2002, malaria, diarrhoea, pneumonia and malnutrition continue to claim thousands of lives.

The Telegraph reports that

Fred Thompson pulls out of presidential race

He entered the 2008 contest late and soon proved almost disdainful of campaigning. He would often schedule only one event a day and showed no appetite for the glad-handing and wooing of voters and donors so essential in American politics.He staked everything on a win in South Carolina, the first Southern primary, last Saturday but finished a distant third to John McCain, now the Republican front runner, and Mike Huckabee.

Kenyan poll violence becomes intertribal conflict reports the Times

Peace returned to much of the country after a wave of bloodletting following the elections when opposition demonstrations ended last Friday. The Western Rift Valley is a bloody exception. Father Brian Treacy, one of three Irish priests at St Kizito’s, said that the violence was directed at opposition supporters and Kikuyu in equal measure. “This is about ethnic cleansing, nothing else,” he said.

The Mirror reports

Maniac hunted after 14-yr-old Jessica is knifed 30 times

A crazed knifeman was on the loose last night after stabbing a girl 30 times in a horror attack.
Jessica Knight, 14, was left clinging to life in hospital. Police fear that the park maniac struck completely at random and say she was neither sexually assaulted nor robbed.
Det Supt Steve Brunskill said grimly: "This is a particularly nasty assault on a defenceless young girl.
"I can't think of any motive. There's a dangerous person out there."

Ipswich mother tells of daughter's 'double life' reports the Telegraph

The mother of a prostitute murdered by the "Suffolk strangler" told a jury how her daughter had lived a double life as a vice girl to pay for her heroin habit. Kerry Nicol's voice cracked with emotion as she described how she only discovered her daughter Tania was selling sex on the streets of Ipswich after her death.





The Sun for the second day leads with its Amy Winehouse exclusive

Cops seize our Amy Winehouse video

AMY WINEHOUSE’s heartbroken dad last night claimed that The Sun’s shocking video could convince the singer to quit drugs for GOOD.
Last night cops were examining the film to see whether Amy, 24, can be charged with a criminal offence.

Millions of women are drinking more than they realise because of larger wine glasses says the Mail

The surge has been revealed after the Government was forced to revise consumption calculations because of the trend towards larger wine glasses.
It means up to a third of women are drinking beyond safe limits every week - much higher than previous estimates.
The shock statistics also reveal the more you earn, the more you drink - with those in higher income groups consuming 30 per cent more alcohol than the working classes


Many of the papers report on the latest social attitudes survey

Goodbye married couples, hello alternative family arrangements says the Guardian

increasingly liberal views on marriage, relationships and same-sex partnerships, according to research showing that the heterosexual married couple is no longer at the centre of UK life.
The British Social Attitudes report, conducted annually since 1983, reveals both dramatic social change around family life and a widespread acceptance that traditional structures and life patterns are being eroded.

Married couples are no longer the social norm says the Telegraph

Finally have we found life on Mars? According to the Mail

Perched on a rock, she could be waiting for a bus. But if so, she could be in for an awfully long wait. A photo of what looks remarkably like a female figure with her arm outstretched, was taken on Mars