The Independent on Sunday on the eve of the Pakistani elections has

An extraordinary encounter with Musharraf on its front page where

Jemima Khan is granted a rare interview with Pervez Musharraf, the country's beleaguered leader

A dozen straight-backed men in uniform – red waistcoats over starched cream kurtas – are ready to greet me outside. The President, I'm informed, is not quite ready so I am led to the staff office for a "tea break" with a group of army officers who make up his presidential office team. Musharraf's personal assistant, a dashing, grey-haired, light-eyed naval commander, and a jovial head of security, also a young army officer, joke that the delay is just an excuse for them to do a little preparatory brainwashing

Violence flares as poll nears in fearful Pakistan reports the Observer

Leaders of Pakistan's opposition parties have been making frantic last-minute efforts to convince fearful voters to turn out in crucial parliamentary elections tomorrow that may plunge the 164 million-strong nation into chaos.
As the last day of official campaigning in the most troubled contest for decades drew to a close yesterday, no one was confident of a victory and many fear widespread unrest in the poll's aftermath.
Continuing violence - more than 80 people have died in the past seven days - is scaring many voters. A suicide bomber yesterday killed 37 people when he rammed his car into an independent candidate's office in Parachinar, Pakistan's volatile north-west border with Afghanistan.


Elsewhere the Times leads with

MoD fury as Brown wields axe

A SENIOR defence official has warned that the armed forces are heading for a “train crash” because the government is starving them of funds for vital equipment.
In a confidential presentation to colleagues at a meeting in the Ministry of Defence to discuss budget cuts, he said defence spending had been so severely pruned that vitally needed equipment was simply unaffordable. He also warned that the government risked “mortgaging the future” of national defence

A simliar theme in the Telegraph which reports that

UK's last 1,000 soldiers rushed out to Balkans

The imminent departure of the 1st Bn Welsh Guards to Kosovo has been ordered in response to fears that the newly formed independent state could slide into "ethnic cleansing". But last night MPs and former military chiefs described the move as "irresponsible" and "demented", accusing the Ministry of Defence of being "bankrupt". adds the paper

The deployment - part of Britain's commitment to the Nato-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) - takes place at a time of growing pressure on the military. It will mean that more than 14,000 British troops are on overseas operations, a figure last equalled at the end of the Iraq War in May 2003

The Symbol of Kosovo says the Independent

an eagle with two faces – each looking a different way

When independence comes this afternoon, Albanians in the divided city northern city of Mitrovica will be partying as hard as anyone. The southern part of the city is festooned with Albanian flags, the roads strung with bannerswhich declare: "Gezuar Pavaresia" – or "happy independence".
Yesterday, the festive mood had already taken hold; 14-year-old Mervan Gashi strode proudly with a double-eagle flag draped over his shoulders. "We've waited so long for this day," said his friend Ilir Becaj, 13. "We're feeling great, and we're not worried about security because KFor" – the Nato force garrisoned across Kosovo since the end of its civil war – "will protect us."

The Observer leads with

Scandal of patients left for hours outside A&E

Hospitals were last night accused of keeping thousands of seriously ill patients in ambulance 'holding patterns' outside accident and emergency units to meet a government pledge that all patients are treated within four hours of admission.
Those affected by 'patient stacking' include people with broken limbs or those suffering fits or breathing problems. An Observer investigation has also found that some wait for up to five hours in ambulances because A&E units have refused to admit them until they can guarantee to treat them within the time limit. Apart from the danger posed to patients, the detaining of ambulances means vehicles and trained crew are not available to answer new 999 calls because they are being kept on hospital sites.

According to the Times

Police get electronic stop and search

HUNDREDS of airport-style metal detectors are to be deployed by police on Britain’s streets under aggressive plans by the government to combat soaring knife crime.
Ministers will tomorrow announce extra cash to help police forces across England and Wales buy the mobile scanning arches for use outside pubs, clubs, schools and other places where youths are suspected to be taking knives.

Child tsar criticises 'heavy-handed' police says the Telegraph

Al Aynsley-Green, the Children's Commissioner for England, said that heavy-handed policing was breeding resentment, and called on officers to try harder to "understand" young people.He claimed that Britain had moved on from an era of "authoritarianism", when "you did what you were told", to a point where police needed to win over the "hearts and minds" of the young


HM Sharia Treasury is the front page of the Mail

A new sharia law controversy erupted last night over Government plans to issue special "Islamic bonds" to pay for Gordon Brown's public-spending programme by raising money from the Middle East.
Britain is to become the first Western nation to issue bonds approved by Muslim clerics in line with sharia law, which bans conventional loans involving interest payments as "sinful".

The Observer reports that

Calls to Samaritans soar after Bridgend suicides

An increasing number of young people in Wales are turning to the Samaritans in the wake of a spate of apparent suicides in the Bridgend area, it has emerged.
As the deaths of two close cousins last week brought the number of suspected suicides involving young people to 16, the charity said branches across Wales had reported a rise in calls from under-25s. It is believed the increase is due to a heightened level of awareness as schools and health officials step up a campaign to make vulnerable teenagers and young adults aware of counselling services following the high-profile cluster of deaths.

A story also covered on the front of the Telegraph

Predators tell children how to kill themselves

They are blamed for prompting depressed and vulnerable youngsters to take their own lives.
One, an American satanist who boasts of writing a guide to the subject, says: "What's the problem with ending your life via suicide?"
Another is a "pro-choice" Dutch writer whose website includes detailed accounts of dozens of suicide methods.
Campaigners have uncovered 29 "internet suicides" in Britain since 2001, including two new cases reported this weekend.

The Mirror reports that

Bridgend suicide girl texted lover to say goodbye

The latest Bridgend suicide victim sent her lesbian lover a goodbye text moments before hanging herself.
Kelly Stephenson, 20, said simply "I love you" to girlfriend Aimee Au-Yeung.
But Aimee, 22, didn't realise the text's significance until hours later when she discovered her partner of three years was dead ...the latest youngster to die in the suicide craze sweeping the South Wales town.

The news of the World has a suicide theme on its front page this morning

Jordon My Drug and suicide hell

GUILT-RIDDEN glamour girl Jordan feared she was about to DIE after secretly taking illegal drugs behind husband Peter Andre's back.
The superstar model sensationally admitted the furtive binge made her heart race so fast she panicked and had to own up to Peter, sobbing: "I think I'm dying!"
In a series of shocking revelations, 29-year-old Jordan also revealed how the drama sparked:

The Mirror claims that

Hotel leap dad John Hogan released in three months

Balcony plunge dad John Hogan will be a free man in just three months. Doctors in Greece say he has made remarkable progress and - just three weeks after the trial - are already planning to release him.
It is a huge blow to his ex-wife Natasha who had wanted to see Hogan jailed for hurling himself and his two children from the fourth floor of a hotel balcony, killing their six-year-old son Liam

The Mail reports that

Brown faces sleaze probe over his expenses

Gordon Brown is to be questioned by Parliament's anti-sleaze watchdog over claims that he broke Commons rules by failing to declare more than £1,600 in rent from his local party.
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards John Lyon has written to the Prime Minister after a complaint by Tory MP Greg Hands.
The move follows the disclosure that Mr Brown's Kirkcaldy&Cowdenbeath Labour Party paid £3,321 in rent in 2006 to Mr Brown and Marilyn Livingstone, a member of the Scottish Parliament, for using part of his constituency office.

More political sleaze in the Times

MPs in commuter belt scam

MEMBERS of parliament who represent constituencies less than an hour’s commuting distance from Westminster are claiming upward of £20,000 of taxpayers’ money a year to fund “overnight” homes in central London.
The latest expenses dodge by MPs has caused outrage among senior politicians who want colleagues who live within commuting distance of parliament to be barred from claiming the cash

The Independent reports on

Merchants of Misery: Debt collection is one of the UK's fastest-growing industries

Debt collection agencies and bailiffs are raking in unprecedented sums from Britain's growing mountain of personal finance misery, an Independent on Sunday investigation has found. Last year the agencies and bailiffs pursued no fewer than 20 million cases and the methods they used to squeeze money from people are so aggressive that experts ranging from the Citizens' Advice Bureau (CAB) to members of the House of Lords are now calling for legislation to curb these excesses.

Bottled water 'is immoral' says the Telegraph

Drinking bottled water should be made as unfashionable as smoking, according to a government adviser.
"We have to make people think that it's unfashionable just as we have with smoking. We need a similar campaign to convince people that this is wrong," said Tim Lang, the Government's naural resources commissioner.Phil Woolas, the environment minister, added that the amount of money spent on mineral water "borders on being morally unacceptable

The front page of the Times reports that

Drugs don’t give no satisfaction, say Stones

THE Rolling Stones, the original bad boys of rock, have warned younger pop idols not to take drugs, because of the health risks.
“When we were experimenting with drugs, little was known about the effects,” Sir Mick Jagger said at the premiere of a film showing the band in concert. “In our time, there were no rehab centres. Anyway, I did not know about them.”
Jagger, 64, achieved international notoriety when he was briefly jailed in 1967 for possessing drugs, but he is better known now for his devotion to fitness.