Both the Guardian,Times and the Independent lead with the situation in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe on a precipice says the Guardian

Zimbabwe's opposition were in contact with senior military and intelligence officials last night to persuade them to respect the results of the election as pressure grew on Robert Mugabe, the president, to recognise defeat.
Sources in the opposition Movement for Democratic Change said the contacts were aimed at winning the security establishment's support or, at the least, ensuring it did not intervene to overturn what appeared to be a clear victory for Morgan Tsvangirai over Mugabe.

Endgame says the Independent

Whisper it quietly, but Zimbabwe may be witnessing the final days (if not hours) in office of the only leader it has ever known. While the people of this ruined country waited last night for their electoral voice to be heard, reports from high-level talks between aides of Robert Mugabe and the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai suggested they were edging closer to accomplishing the previously impossible.

The Times reports

South Africa was leading the behind-the-scenes negotiations on a power-sharing deal in which a member of Mr Mugabe’s ruling Zanu (PF) party would assume a vice-presidential position. Such a deal would also ensure that Mr Mugabe retained immunity from prosecution for any crimes committed during his authoritarian rule.

The Mail leads with the news that

Millions of girls using Facebook, Bebo and Myspace 'at risk' from paedophiles and bullies

Parents are alarmingly ignorant of the danger posed to millions of girls by social networking websites, a report reveals.
A study of sites such as Bebo, Facebook and MySpace shows children using them can be at great risk from paedophiles and bullies.
More than a quarter of children aged eight to 11 bypass online age restrictions to put reams of intensely personal detail about themselves online

The Telegraph meanwhile reports

Facebook and other social networking sites would have to advertise the 999 emergency number on their pages under new Government guidelines to improve the safety of children online.A copy of the draft guidance, obtained by the Telegraph, shows that the Home Office wants sites like Bebo and MySpace to display adverts for the emergency services to encourage children to call the police directly if they think they are being targeted by people who might be trying to abuse them.

The paper leads with the story that

First Direct ceases to offer new mortgages

The bank - one of the country's top 20 home loan providers - gave only five hours' notice that it was effectively closed to new business. The move came as figures showed that more than 90 mortgage products a day have been scrapped over the past week as lenders try to hoard cash.

The Guardian says

Minister puts UK troop withdrawal on hold

Plans for significant cuts in the number of British troops in Iraq were formally put on hold yesterday, dashing hopes among government ministers and defence chiefs anxious to reduce them as fast as possible for both political and military reasons.
Des Browne, the defence secretary, told the Commons the number of UK forces would stay at 4,100 for the forseeable future. Gordon Brown told MPs last autumn he hoped the number could be cut to about 2,500 by late spring. The reductions envisaged then "might not be possible", Browne said. The decision, he said, was taken as a result of military advice.

The Independent says

The spring withdrawal promised by Gordon Brown last October, in his first visit to Iraq as Prime Minister, drew accusations of "spin" and was seen as the beginning of a series of political miscalculations. In the same speech, he said he would bring 1,000 soldiers back home by Christmas – after the Defence Secretary had already announced a reduction of 500 several months previously. As it turned out, the Christmas withdrawal was also delayed

First national teachers’ strike in 21 years reports the Times

Hundreds of schools will be forced to close this month when teachers hold their first national strike in 21 years, in a protest over pay.
The strike, announced by the National Union of Teachers yesterday, is the first real challenge to Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary and Gordon Brown’s closest ally. Ministers responded by accusing members of the NUT, largest teaching union, of jeopardising children’s education

Schools out says the Mirror

Britain is heading for a summer of strikes after teachers yesterday voted to walk out over pay.
Thousands of schools could be hit in the first classroom action for more than 20 years.
Council workers including refuse collectors and librarians have also threatened to walk out in protest at below-inflation pay rises.

Most of the papers report that

Hybrid embryos made by UK scientists,the Telegraph says

The hybrid embryos,a blend of human and cow DNA, which only developed for three days, were created by Dr Lyle Armstrong and colleagues at Newcastle University as part of basic research on cloning and not as part of any attempt to create a hybrid animal, which is not only illegal but thought highly unlikely for technical reasons

.

Another story well covered

Commons Speaker to face inquiry over wife's claims for taxi journeys

There were renewed calls last night for the Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin to give up his role of overseeing MPs' expenses, after it was revealed that he is being investigated over allegations that he wrongly claimed public money to pay for taxis for his wife's shopping trips.
The inquiry into the Speaker's claims for £4,000 to fund his wife's use of taxis is another embarrassing blow to Mr Martin, who was criticised at the weekend for running up bills of more than £700,000 for the refurbishment of his official residence at Westminster

reports the Independent

The Express leads with

IMMIGRANTS: NOW BROWN WANTS MORE

In an incredible show of arrogance, the Prime Minister and his colleagues brushed aside a devastating report from peers which confirmed that migrants bring no economic benefit.
As a result, the peers demanded a limit on the numbers allowed in each year. But Mr Brown said the number of job vacancies has now increased to 675,000 and businesses can benefit from being able to “recruit more widely”.

Brown sides with business to reject peers’ appeal for curb on migrants says the Times

Gordon Brown led opposition yesterday to calls from a heavyweight Lords committee for a cap on non-European Union immigration. He lined up with prominent business figures in rejecting suggestions from the Lords Economic Affairs Committee that record numbers of immigrants have had little or no impact on the economy

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SISTERS AGE 4&6 FIND A SEVERED HEAD ON BEACH reports the Mirror

Two young sisters screamed in terror yesterday as they found a woman's severed head on a beach.
The youngsters, aged four and six, also stumbled across a human hand as they played on the sands.
They ran home to their mother, who raised the alarm.
The girls made the gruesome find when they opened a black bin bag as they played by the water during their school holiday.

Stabbed for a £1.99 Big Mac is the lead in the Sun

A STUDENT is fighting for life after being knifed over a £1.99 Big Mac yesterday.
Daniel Dokubo, 19, was approached outside a busy McDonald’s at 9.30AM by two thugs who demanded he pay for their burgers. When he refused saying “I’ve only got a fiver” he was knifed in the chest and left in a pool of blood in Croydon, South London.
A witness, said: “The two were standing right in the guy’s face demanding money. He tried to calm them down saying he only had a fiver.

The Guardian reports

The first signs of a high-level Cabinet split over proposals to extend suspects' detention to 42 days emerged yesterday as the government faced criticism from Labour backbenchers. Gordon Brown has been counselled by senior colleagues that there is no real need to push ahead with the extension, adding to the pressure from leading figures in the judiciary, including the director of public prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald

.

The Times reports an

Arts funding row over sex orientation demands

Theatreland will have to give up its bedroom secrets in the quest for funding, under new Arts Council requirements. Organisations applying for grants are being asked to state how many board members are bisexual, homosexual, heterosexual, lesbian or whose inclinations are “not known

News from abroad and the Independent reports

Cristina Fernandez, the former Argentinian First Lady turned president, is on a collision course with her country's all-important big farmers, provoking strikes, food shortages and clashes in the streets of Buenos Aires barely three months after she first took office from her husband, Nestor Kirchner

The Times reports

Kercher corpse shown on Italian television

The footage, shown in news bulletins by RAI, the Italian state broadcaster, showed police forensic scientists examining Ms Kercher’s bedroom and collecting evidence, including her underwear and bloodstained bra, as her body lay near by, beneath a duvet with one foot sticking out.

The Guardian looks towards today's Nato summit

George Bush and Vladimir Putin yesterday appeared to be on a collision course ahead of today's critical Nato summit in Bucharest, which could determine the future of the alliance and its relationship with Russia.
In a visit loaded with symbolism, President Bush travelled to Kiev yesterday to declare "strong support" for Ukraine's membership of Nato, in defiance of Moscow which adamantly opposes the alliance's eastwards expansion.
"Helping Ukraine move toward Nato membership is in the interest of every member in the alliance and will help advance security and freedom in this region and around the world," Bush said.

According to the Mirror

British Airways bags sent to be sorted out in Milan

British Airways is sending thousands of suitcases by lorry to Milan because staff cannot cope with the Terminal 5 baggage mountain.
A large chunk of the 20,000 suitcases, which built up after the Terminal's disastrous opening day, are being sent to the courier firm in Italy to be driven or flown to their owners.

The same paper reveals on its front page that

Newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky is three months pregnant.
Natasha - lured to Five News from the BBC seven weeks ago - is said to be "ecstatic". Her spokeswoman told the Mirror yesterday: "She has never been happier."

The papers are full of pictures of the Red Arrows over London

The Royal Air Force celebrated its 90th anniversary yesterday with a fly-past of Red Arrow and Typhoon planes soaring along the River Thames.
Crowds lined the river and gathered on London's Millennium Bridge to see the colourful formation.
The stunt planes left trails of red, white and blue across the skyline over the London Eye and the Ministry of Defence building on Victoria Embankment

says the Mail

A good night's sleep the key to staying slim says the Telegraph

The research published in the Journal Sleep found those who did not get enough sleep gained almost 4.4lbs (2kg) compared to those who slept for the recommended number of hours.
Those who had too much sleep gained 1.58 kilos (1.58kg) more than those who slept for the recommended number of hours over six years.

Finally the Sun reports

IF you think everybody has got it in for you, you are not alone — more than a third of Brits are PARANOID.
The condition doesn’t just affect the severely mentally ill as experts once thought.
There could be up to 20 million people feeling threatened or persecuted, a study revealed yesterday.
Experts arrived at the conclusion after sending 200 volunteers on a computer-generated four-minute trip in a London Tube carriage.