The Mail leads with the news that
Embryo revolt grows as 12 ministers reveal they may resign over Bill
Gordon Brown is facing an unprecedented challenge to his authority over plans for embryo research.
As many as 12 ministers could quit if ordered to back a Bill allowing the creation of part-human, part-animal embryos for medical research.
The Prime Minister is determined to pass the legislation - which will also abolish the need for IVF clinics to consider a child's need for a father and allow the creation of "saviour siblings" to cure sick brothers and sisters.
The Telegraph also leads with the same story reporting that
Gordon Brown is preparing to back down and allow Labour MPs to vote against parts of the controversial embryo bill after facing a possible ministerial rebellion, according to reports.But the Prime Minister will only allow Government MPs opposed to the bill to vote against the parts they have a moral or ethical objection to if it does not lead to its defeat in the House of Commons, the BBC said
The Times reports
Bishops ‘Frankenstein’ attack smacks of ignorance, say scientists
Senior scientists have offered to meet Roman Catholic bishops and MPs to explain the need for legislation to allow experiments on embryos that are part-human and part-animal.
Colin Blakemore, a former head of the Medical Research Council (MRC), has invited Catholic church leaders who staged an Easter attack on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill to an “open-minded discussion” with the research community and patient groups.
Ministers back radical plan for voting reform is the main story in the Guardian
A significant overhaul of electoral legislation to give voters a second vote, open polling stations at weekends and make it compulsory to participate is being proposed by the government to increase turnout and improve the legitimacy of the Commons.
Ministers will begin a consultation effort on the plan after local elections in May, and hope the measures will increase the authority of MPs and reduce voter disengagement. In the 2005 general election, only 61% of those eligible participated. Under the alternative voting system, ballot papers would allow for a second preference vote which would be redistributed from the lowest-scoring candidate's share until one candidate has more than 50% of the vote.
Just 7,500 votes NATIONWIDE could cost Labour power, says former Home Secretary Charles Clarke says the Mail
Former Cabinet minister Charles Clarke has issued a "doomsday list" of Labour MPs at risk of losing their seats.
With opinion polls showing Labour at a 20-year low, the former Home Secretary warns that the future of the party depends on fewer than 7,500 voters.
Boundary changes mean that Labour needs to lose only 24 seats to lose its overall majority in the House of Commons.
Meanwhile the Times reports
Cigarettes to be sold under the counter
The latest assault on smokers will also see the disappearance of vending machines from pubs and restaurants in an attempt to further limit children’s access to tobacco.
Both measures are to be included in a consultation to be launched later this spring. Legislation, if needed, could be introduced this autumn.
Dawn Primarolo, the Minister for Public Health, last night signalled she was ready to take on retailers to implement changes that she claimed would save hundreds of lives. “It’s vital we get across the message to children that smoking is bad. If that means stripping out vending machines or removing cigarettes from behind the counter, I’m willing to do that,” she said
The papers report the Easter Day sermons,the same paper tells
Pope converts outspoken Muslim who condemned ‘religion of hate’
The Pope has risked a renewed rift with the Islamic world by baptising a Muslim journalist who describes Islam as intrinsically violent and characterised by “hate and intolerance”.
In a surprise move at the Easter vigil at St Peter’s, Pope Benedict XVI baptised Magdi Allam, 55, an outspoken Egyptian-born critic of Islamic extremism and supporter of Israel. He has been under police protection for five years after receiving death threats over his criticism of suicide-bombings.
Archbishop of Canterbury attacks Western 'greed' says the Telegraph
In his Easter Sunday sermon, Dr Williams said the "comforts and luxuries" people took for granted could not be sustained forever and forecast that civilisation would one day collapse.
He told worshippers at Canterbury Cathedral that while modern culture struggled with the idea of death, Christians must prepare for it by constantly striving to let go of "selfish, controlling, greedy habits
The Express reporting
Two men have been charged with causing a disturbance in a church after they protested during the Archbishop of Canterbury's Easter Sunday sermon.The two men held placards bearing the words "Support the persecuted church" and "No to Sharia law" and in front of the pulpit at Canterbury Cathedral as Dr Rowan Williams began to speak, but were swiftly removed by officers.
Meanwhile the Guardian reports that
Teachers call for return to the liberal 1980s
Schools should return to an early 1980s style of liberal education with more time for play and less rigid methods of teaching children to read, according to the largest teachers' union.
Citing mounting evidence of a crisis in children's happiness and mental health, the National Union of Teachers will today debate calls to scrap the most restrictive elements of the national curriculum and reverse a government order that literacy be taught through phonics.
The Independent leads with
Parkinson's: the breakthrough
A potential cure for Parkinson's disease has come a significant step closer today with a study showing that it is possible to treat the degenerative brain disorder with cells derived from cloned embryos – a development condemned by the Roman Catholic Church.
The research was carried out on laboratory mice but scientists believe the findings are proof that the techniques could be applied to humans suffering not just from Parkinson's, but a range of other incurable diseases.
PENSIONS CRISIS AS FAMILIES STRUGGLE reports the front page of the Express
BRITONS face a £20billion pension black hole – because they are ditching savings plans in a desperate attempt to meet the soaring cost of living, it emerges today.
Nearly 10 per cent of workers expect to pause, reduce or even stop paying into pensions this year.
Millions are facing a stark choice between saving for their future – or paying for the present. Rising mortgages and problems caused by the credit crunch are squeezing personal finances while massive rises in bills and food are crippling many families. But experts fear that cutting pension payments now will store up a savings timebomb for the future – while at the same time warning that a long-term break in contributions could soon turn into the norm for many.
According to the Mirror
Government plan for new 15mph speed limit
Speed limits are to be cut to 15mph to make Britain's cars slower than bicycles.
The Government plans will be published this week.
The 15mph rule will be issued to developers planning 10 new eco-towns where more than 100,000 homes will be built.
Housing Minister Caroline Flint said it is part of tough new rules to cut pollution from towns to help beat global warming
The paper leads with the news that
Ex-gambler Jeremy Kyle back at the bookies
The pale-looking punter anxiously watching the horses line up on the bookies' TV does not look much like a confident, smooth-talking TV presenter.
And as Jeremy Kyle sighs and throws away his betting slip when another nag fails to deliver, the controversial agony uncle is for once lost for words
The Sun leads with
Gypsy hell for Tessa
A GROUP of 64 gipsies has set up camp just yards from the country home of government minister Tessa Jowell.
About 30 caravans swarmed on to the 2½-acre field, along with three diggers and a fleet of lorries and vans. They quickly laid on water and electricity.
The travellers secretly bought the Warwickshire site a year ago, but moved in over Easter knowing council enforcement officers would be on holiday
The Guardian reports on the
Curious case of the dead scientist and the bomb experiment
A mysterious bomb-making experiment that ended with the accidental death of a government scientist has remained an official secret for more than five years, leaving his family in the dark about what went wrong.
Terry Jupp, a scientist with the Ministry of Defence, was engulfed in flames during a joint Anglo-American counter-terrorism project intended to discover more about al-Qaida's bomb-making capacities
According to the Times
Post office sell-off expected to bring in £20m for Royal Mail
Royal Mail is selling off post office premises worth £20 million as part of its closure programme.
A total of 40 post offices, mainly large high-street branches in medium-sized market towns, are up for sale. They are all part of the Crown Post Office network which is directly managed by Royal Mail.
Scarlett Keeling's mother goes into hiding reports the Telegraph
The mother of the murdered teenager Scarlett Keeling has gone into hiding, saying that she fears for her safety after criticising the investigation into her daughter's death in southern India.Fiona MacKeown, 43, said she wanted court protection after "stirring up a hornet's nest" in Goa by accusing police officials, politicians and local drugs mafia of a cover-up.
News from abroad and the Times reports
Middle East peace plans under threat as Hamas and Fatah talk of unity
Hamas and Fatah, the rival Palestinian factions locked in a bitter cold war for almost a year, agreed yesterday to open formal talks on reconciliation as part of a deal brokered by Yemen.
Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni President, persuaded the two sides to come together to discuss ways of returning to the power-sharing deal in place before last summer’s fighting.
The announcement came as Dick Cheney, the US Vice-President, visited the Fatah-led Government in the West Bank and said that the foundation of a Palestinian state was “long overdue
The Telegraph reporting
Following talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' in the West Bank city of Ramallah, a Palestinian official said Cheney's main message to the Palestinians was to reiterate President Bush's commitment to reaching a deal this year
Fears of summer bombings as Eta steps up attacks says the Guardian
Spanish security services fear the Basque separatist group Eta is planning a summer campaign of violence which could include attacks on tourist resorts popular with Britons.
Concerns were raised after the assassination of a former politician and the car bombing of a police station over the past fortnight, suggesting Eta is stepping up its attacks.
King of Bhutan gives up his absolute monarchy says the Independent
Bhutan has long been an eccentric holdout from modernity. A mountainous land where Buddhist kings reigned supreme, it only allowed the internet and television in 1999. It is perhaps most famous for gross national happiness, an all-encompassing political philosophy that seeks to balance material progress with spiritual well-being.
The election is, in some respects, no different. Unlike so many other countries, where upheaval has been midwife to democracy, Bhutan has never been more peaceful or prosperous; it is only voting because the king said it should.
Back to the Uk and the Sun reports that
Bailed yobs kill 100 each year
Ministers were urged to act after it emerged a shocking one in five people charged with murder carried it out while on bail.
A survey of three out of four police forces found that people on bail were accused in 79 out of 462 murder cases last year.
According to the Mail
More than 8m households face council tax hike for having a nice view or off-street parking
Ministers have admitted they are building a database covering all 23million homes in England, and Conservatives say this means that residents of good neighbourhoods could be hit by huge council tax hikes.
Bills for next year are dropping on doormats up and down the country, with the Government expected to announce this week that in many areas the increases will exceed 5 per cent.
Finally all the papers report on the Easter snow,the Independent tells us that
The building of snowmen replaced the traditional activity of egg hunting in many households yesterday as Britons woke up to their first white Easter in 10 years.
Severe weather warnings were issued by the Met Office as bitter winds and snow showers hit Scotland early yesterday, before sweeping through England as far south as East Anglia. Parts of the North-east, Yorkshire and Staffordshire were among the worst affected, with some areas experiencing almost four inches of snow.
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