The Mail and the Sun both lead with the same story this morning,

The para betrayed by Britain says the former,

A para officer died in Afghanistan because of the Army's 'unforgivable and inexcusable' failure to provide basic combat equipment, a coroner said yesterday.
Captain James Philippson, 29, was the first soldier to be killed in battle after UK forces moved into the Taliban stronghold of Helmand Province in 2006.
His patrol was "totally outgunned" in a firefight with the enemy

Sitting target says the Sun

A CORONER yesterday slammed “unforgivable and inexcusable” Ministry of Defence failures for the death of a hero British Para.He and his 19 men went into battle in pitch dark while lacking night vision GOGGLES, light MACHINE GUNS and GRENADE LAUNCHERS.
In a scathing attack, Coroner Andrew Walker said “The soldiers were defeated not by the terrorists but by the lack of basic equipment.

The Times reports on another inquest

into the deaths of Lance Sergeant Chris Casey, 27, and Lance Corporal Kirk Redpath, 22, of the Irish Guards, the coroner called for a review of government spending on the Armed Forces after being told that the two soldiers, killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, did not have a Mastiff heavily armoured vehicle because they were all in use already. They died in an armoured “snatch” Land Rover.

It leads though with rather a strange story for the paper

Poles end great migration

A wave of immigration that helped to fuel Britain’s early 21st century boom is over, as the Polish plumber and thousands like him go home.
The Times has established that, for the first time since they began arriving en masse four years ago, more UK-based Poles are returning to their homeland than are entering Britain.
Statistics show that only 38,680 Poles signed up to the Government’s register of migrant workers in the third quarter of 2007, a slump of 18 per cent from the previous year. Polish officials say that Poles leaving the country outnumber thoses coming in.

Food stories dominate the Guardian and the Telegraph

GM crop trial locations may be hidden from public says the former

Genetically modified crops may be grown in hidden locations in Britain amid fears that anti-GM campaigners are winning the battle over the controversial technology, the Guardian has learned.
Officials at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) confirmed they are looking at a range of options to clamp down on vandalism to GM crop trials, after intense lobbying by big crop biotech companies. The firms have warned that trials of GM crops are becoming too expensive to conduct in Britain because of the additional costs of protecting fields from activists.

Salmon products tainted by diesel recalled reports the Telegraph

The alert affects more than 50 types of Scottish salmon products - such as steaks, pies and fillets - sold in supermarkets across the country, including the so-called big four of Sainsbury's, Tesco, Morrisons and Asda.
The source of the problem has been traced to the seafood company Marine Harvest - one of the world's biggest salmon farmers - which operates in the west Highlands and supplies fish to Morrisons and Young's Seafood Ltd.
The company said the fresh fish could have been tainted by the diesel - possibly from a vehicle - during transportation to a nearby processing plant.

With the report on supermarkets released last yesterday the Independenr tells us

Small shops lose out as regulators back power of the supermarkets

Regulators have been accused of failing to rein in the power of the biggest supermarkets as campaigners warned that consumers would face less choice with more small shopkeepers squeezed off the high street.
In the latest instalment of its investigation into the grocery sector, the Competition Commission produced good news for farmers with new plans to appoint an ombudsman to resolve disputes between the biggest retailers and their hard-pressed suppliers. A new "competition test" to be considered by local authorities when granting permission for new stores was also announced in the hope of preventing the creation of further so-called "Tesco towns" – places where a single chain dominates.

'Whitewash' report will fuel supermarket boom says the Telegraph

Supermarkets have been given "carte blanche" to take over town centres under proposals from the competition watchdog, campaigners claim

The Times reports as does many of the papers of

Sadness in Bridgend at suicide of two more youngsters

Two cousins from Bridgend, Wales, have been found hanged, bringing the suspected suicide toll among the town’s young people to 16.
Nathaniel Pritchard, 15, was found barely alive on Wednesday and died yesterday when his life-support machine was turned off.
Only a few hours after he was discovered, Kelly Stephenson, 20, was found dead. Her body was suspended from a shower rail.

The Mail adds that

South Wales police and Bridgend coroner Philip Walters said they did not believe the apparent suicides were linked and played down any connection with internet sites.
A task force involving police, social services, health and education officials has been set up to investigate the series of tragedies and discussions have taken place at government level over the spate of young deaths - all by hanging - which started in January 2007

Meanwhile the Guardian reports that

Campus gunman had failed to take medication before killing five people

The man who gunned down five people at Northern Illinois University before killing himself had become erratic after failing to take his medication and carried a shotgun to campus inside a guitar case, police said yesterday.
Stephen Kazmierczak, a 27-year-old former student at the university, had five handguns during Thursday's ambush attack inside a lecture hall at the university in Dekalb. Two of the weapons, a pump-action Remington shotgun and a Glock 9mm handgun, were purchased legally less than a week ago, authorities said

The Independent reports that

Suicide rate of young men falls to 30-year low

Suicide rates in young men have fallen to their lowest level since the 1970s, marking the end of a three-decade long rise.
In young women, suicide rates have been in steady decline for the past 40 years and are now at their lowest level since 1968.
The overall downward trajectory stands in defiance of claims that young people are suffering intolerable levels of stress from the pressures of modern life.

Livingstone calls in police over sleaze claims says the Telegraph

In an interview Mr Livingstone said he was confident his ally would be cleared - but admitted the furore was damaging his campaign to win a third term as mayor.
He said Mr Jasper had asked him to call the police as a means of "clearing the air" following weeks of claim and counter-claim over thousands of pounds of grant allocations which allegedly cannot be properly accounted for.

The Guardian describes

a day of drama in the race to become the next mayor of London it emerged Livingstone had taken the decision to contact the police and suspend race adviser Lee Jasper to halt what he described as a "disgraceful political charade".
Allegations that Jasper had used his position to influence the distribution of grants to community groups have dogged the mayor's office as Livingstone prepares to confront Tory hopeful Boris Johnson.

The lead in the Independent focuses on London fashion week

Fashion is racist: insider lifts lid on 'ethnic exclusion'

Speaking as London Fashion Week drew to a close, Carole White, co-founder of Premier Model Management, which supplies models to top fashion brands, admitted that finding work for black clients was significantly harder than for the white models, because both magazines and fashion designers were reluctant to employ them.
"Sadly we are in the business where you stock your shelves with what sells," she said.
"According to the magazines, black models don't sell," White continued. "People don't tend to talk about it, but black models have to be so beautiful and perfect because we can't have a lot of diversity with black models; it's harder work for the agency because there's not so much on offer. White models can have more diversity."



£20 payout for British Airways and Virgin passengers over fuel levy plot reports the Times

Almost six million Britons who overpaid for long-haul flights because of price fixing on fuel surcharges between British Airways and Virgin Atlantic will be able to claim compensation from the airlines after a groundbreaking legal victory.
The two airlines confirmed yesterday that they had agreed to pay up to £100 million in compensation to settle a lawsuit brought on behalf of passengers in a San Francisco court, as revealed by The Times. The court ruled that the airlines conspired to fix surcharges — the supplemental fees added to fares to cover rising fuel costs.

Darling attacks bonuses says the Telegraph

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Alistair Darling says that as the country heads into an economic downturn, company boards must be able to justify large bonuses. They should apply the "next-door neighbour test" of whether the payouts would be regarded as reasonable and responsible in a climate when millions of households are struggling with rising living costs, he says.

The Express meanwhile warns of a

Pensions disaster

BRITAIN’S pension schemes face a multi-billion-pound black hole which could have disastrous consequences for millions of people, experts warned last night.
Firms have been underestimating how long people are living, which has left them with huge shortfalls in their pension pots.
The pensions regulator has now ordered companies to put their schemes in order. It means many people now preparing for retirement could be forced to make big contributions to their fund in order to avoid poverty in old age.

Protests over Beijing games 'will grow' says the Guardian

For six years, the organisers of the Beijing Olympics have been planning an event that will restore China to the centre of the world stage.

No expense has been spared, no detail overlooked. Beijing has splashed out $440m (£224m) on the spectacular "Bird's Nest" stadium to underscore its rising economic power and ambition. Organisers have drawn up a guest list of the global great and the good to witness the re-emergence of this ancient civilization. And to entertain them and emphasise the openness of modern China, they hired the biggest name in Hollywood to help choreograph the festivities.
But with less than six months to go, this celebration of Chinese resurgence is threatening to degenerate into an opportunity for critics to land some blows on the communist leadership.

The tensions in the Balkans are widely reported

Fireworks, flags and fury as a new country prepares to join the world says the Times

The world’s newest nation will be born this weekend to mass celebrations on the streets of Kosovo and fireworks of a very different kind on the international stage.
Thousands of red-and-black double-eagled flags fluttered from buildings across Kosovo, alongside the flags of the United States, Britain and Nato – a mark of appreciation for their efforts in freeing the province from Serbian rule.
Serbia, furious at the imminent loss of a region that it regards as the cradle of its Church and nation, has said that it will fight to prevent Kosovo’s independence becoming a reality

Musharraf disowned by Pakistan's ruling party reports the Telegraph

Pakistan's ruling party distanced itself from President Pervez Musharraf's policies yesterday as his popularity ratings plummeted three days ahead of the general election.Shujaat Hussain, the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), told The Daily Telegraph that he had disagreed with a series of major decisions taken by Mr Musharraf's government over the past five years.
Mr Hussain, whose party was cobbled together to prop up the Musharraf military regime and which formed a government after elections in 2002, is making a last ditch attempt to woo conservative voters prior to Monday's poll.

Celebratory on the front of the Mirror

POSH AND BECKS WED AGAIN

David and Victoria Beckham have secretly retaken their marriage vows - and got matching tattoos to celebrate the romantic occasion.
Only a handful of friends and family were invited to watch them remarry in the grounds of Beckingham Palace. One said: "We were in tears. It was beautiful and very non-showbiz." The couple marked the big day by tattooing the ceremony date on their wrists in Roman numerals.

As the divorce of the century entered its fifth day the Sun reports that Bitter Heather is a mucca stirer

BITTER Heather Mills stirred things up at her divorce court battle yesterday with a sly snipe at Sir Paul McCartney.
She pointedly told a fan who had failed to get the former Beatle to sign an album cover: “You should have told him fans like you put him where he is.”
The barbed comment came after a judge BANNED her from cross-examining Sir Paul, 65, in London’s High Court over alleged domestic violence.

The Mail suggests that

Sir Paul McCartney is said to have agreed to a historic divorce settlement which will see Heather Mills walk away with a record £55million, the Daily Mail can reveal.
Miss Mills, 40, is to receive a £20million lump sum with further £2.5million annual payments until their four-year-old daughter Beatrice reaches 18.
She could not contain her joy as she walked from the High Court in London smiling broadly yesterday.

Finally a British hero and the papers cover

Around the world in 195 days, six hours - by bike

A Scottish man became the fastest to cycle around the world yesterday when he arrived in Paris after nearly seven months on the road. Mark Beaumont, 25, completed the trip in 195 days and six hours - beating the current record of 276 days.
After almost seven months of dodging drivers, sleeping rough and struggling to get enough to eat, Beaumont is expected to enter the Guinness Book of Records, once the feat is verified. says the Guardian adding

His trip took him through 20 countries on a route which included Pakistan, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Holland last August took four hours; Germany three days. He endured floods and road rage and was knocked off his bike in Louisiana in the US by a motorist who drove through a red light.