Surveillance seems the theme this morning.

The Telegraph leads with the news that

More than 1,000 covert surveillance operations are being launched every month to investigate petty offences such as dog fouling, under-age smoking and breaches of planning regulations.

Why didn't they just knock on our door, ask couple tailed for three weeks by council spies says the Mail

A family spoke yesterday of their outrage at learning a council had spied on them for three weeks to check they lived in the correct school catchment area.
Tim Joyce, Jenny Paton and their three daughters were subjected to an extraordinary covert operation.
They were tailed round the clock by officials who filled out detailed surveillance forms and described the family's car as a "target vehicle".

Meanwhile according to the front page of the Times

Local councils to handout fines for litterbugs caught on CCTV

Cameras will be used to track down and fine motorists and their passengers who throw litter from cars, The Times has learnt.
Local councils could use evidence collected from CCTV footage, by traffic wardens and even by members of the public on their mobile phones.

The government is under pressure in the courts

Defective military equipment 'is a breach of human rights' says the Independent

The Government suffered a landmark legal defeat yesterday when a High Court judge ruled that sending soldiers to war with defective equipment could be a breach of their human rights. Mr Justice Collins dismissed the Ministry of Defence argument that it was "impossible" to extend the tenets of the Human Rights Act to troops on active duty. His decision is likely to have significant implications on operations in Iraq and Af-ghanistan and pave the way for legal action by bereaved families of soldiers.

Families can sue MoD over failings that led to deaths of troops reports the Times

The MoD reacted with alarm, as defence sources privately said that it raised questions over whether troops could ever be sent on operations since their protection could never be guaranteed in theatres of war. Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, confirmed later that the MoD would appeal against this part of the ruling, calling it inconsistent with previous decisions. He added that the equipment supplied to troops had improved hugely since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 from when the case arose.

The Sun claims

THIRTY-five Brits have been killed due to shoddy kit or MoD cuts in the last three years.
Capt Dan Wright died in a 2005 parachute accident after requests for life-saving ground-to-air radios were refused.
L/Cpl Sgt Chris Casey and L/Cpl Cpl Kirk Redpath were blown up in a Land Rover due to a lack of armoured Mastiff trucks last August

and according to the Express

Increasing numbers of soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq are taking out private life and accident insurance.
Sources in the insurance industry and the Army said many servicemen and women are buying policies to boost Ministry of Defence compensation pay-outs.

The front page of the Guardian reports that

Tories join Brown in bid to block fraud investigations

Gordon Brown yesterday won Conservative backing for a move that would allow the government to block future criminal investigations such as the corruption case against the arms company BAE Systems.
Despite scathing criticism in the high court on Thursday, the Tories have chosen to support Downing Street in facing down critics who are keen for the BAE investigation to be reopened.

The Telegraph meanwhile reports that

Labour MPs poised to revolt on welfare policy

Gordon Brown is facing a fresh revolt by Labour MPs and unions, this time over his controversial proposals to "privatise" welfare policy.
It follows fresh evidence that the scheme is open to fraud and abuse by unscrupulous businessmen.
A powerful alliance of more than 40 backbenchers is to demand a rethink of the proposals, which would see private companies being "paid by results" for getting the jobless back to work.

A similar theme in the Mail which reports that

Brown faces revolt if local polls go against Labour, warn senior MPs

Gordon Brown risks a debilitating leadership crisis if Labour fails to make gains in the London and local elections on May 1, senior party figures have warned.
Anxious MPs believe the Prime Minister has less than three weeks either to "sort out" the political mess that has soured his premiership, or face an open party revolt.

The paper leads with the story of

Mother needing transplant is refused dead daughter's kidney,

With her mother desperately in need of a transplant, Laura Ashworth told family and friends she wanted to donate one of her kidneys.
So when the 21-year-old died after an asthma attack, it seemed that the tragedy would at least give Rachel Leake a chance of a healthy new life.
But because Laura had not begun the formal process of becoming a "living donor," the authorities refused to let her mother receive her organs. Instead they went to strangers at the top of the waiting list.

The Sun reveals that

Shannon's mum is a bent fiddler

THE shameless mum of Shannon Matthews has been raking in nearly £400 a week by cheating on benefits, The Sun can reveal.
Karen Matthews, 32 – accused over the abduction of her nine-year-old daughter – told officials she was looking after four of her seven children on her own.
But at the time that Shannon vanished for 24 days in February, she had been living for four years with her supermarket fishmonger boyfriend Craig Meehan, 22. He has been earning around £16,000 a year.

The Mirror leads with

The McCanns feature heavily,the Mirror says that the gloves are off

Kate and Gerry McCann have "declared war" on Portuguese police for leaking their official statements to detectives. They are incensed that the leaks reveal how, hours before Madeleine vanished, she asked Kate: "Why didn't you come when we were crying last night?"

The Express meanwhile says

that Kate and Gerry McCann admit being wrong in leaving their daughter in their holiday apartment on the evening she disappeared last May.

World's patience with Mugabe beginning to wear thin, says Brown reports the Guardian

The international community's patience with Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, is wearing thin, Gordon Brown warned last night, adding that he was "appalled" at the latest developments in the country.
Earlier, Zimbabwe's state radio station announced a ban on political rallies as the result of the presidential election continued to be withheld, almost two weeks after the poll Mugabe is believed to have lost.
On the eve of a summit of African leaders in Zambia to discuss the crisis, Brown said: "The Zimbabwean people have demonstrated their commitment to democracy. We, and the leaders of the region, strongly share this commitment.

The Independent reports that

Robert Mugabe's government banned all political rallies in Zimbabwe yesterday as tension and intimidation mounted over the still-unannounced results of the presidential election held two weeks ago today.
Police claimed they did not have the manpower to deal with political gatherings when many of their members were still guarding ballot boxes and others were posted in urban areas to prevent violence of the kind that broke out after Kenya's recent election. A police spokes-man, Wayne Bvudzijena, said there was no need for rallies, because the elections were over

According to the Times

British accused of appeasing Shia militia in Basra

as the city cautiously comes back to life after an offensive by Iraqi troops backed by hundreds of US soldiers, there is a lingering resentment towards the British Army.
Many here blame the British for allowing the al-Mahdi Army and other militias to impose a long reign of terror on the once cosmopolitan city.

The Telegraph asks

Whose side are the Afghans on?

It took two years of fighting the Taliban to reclaim control of Musa Qala, but British troops in Afghanistan still face the daily prospect of betrayal by locals

The Guardian reports from the Italian elections where

Sign of election gap closing as Berlusconi scores own goal

The centre-left leader, Walter Veltroni, launched himself into a frenetic round of last-minute interviews and engagements ahead of the general election in Italy which starts tomorrow, amid signs he might be closing in on Silvio Berlusconi.
With no polling evidence available for almost two weeks, it was difficult to gauge the public mood. But on Thursday night, the 52-year-old former mayor of Rome scored a remarkable triumph in his opponent's political heartland, packing to overflowing the cathedral square of Berlusconi's native Milan. The media mogul, who began the final leg of the campaign with a 5-9% edge, managed only a paltry turnout at the Roman Colosseum. And he used the rally to score a potentially calamitous own goal.

House prices have dominated the news during the week and continue today,the Telegraph reports that

House prices have fallen in nearly half of all postcodes in England and Wales compared with a year ago, raising fears that tens of thousands of home owners could be plunged into negative equity.According to research undertaken for The Daily Telegraph, average property prices are lower now than in April last year in 45 per cent of England and Wales's 2,300 postcode districts. The figures come in the same week that Halifax, the country's largest lender, warned that house prices had fallen by 2.5 per cent in the last month alone

Grim in West Midlands as prices plunge says the Guardian

It is not yet as ruined as the town's famous medieval castle but to homeowners in Dudley, the housing market is starting to look almost as embattled.
Prices in the Black Country town appear to be dropping faster than almost anywhere in the country. This week the Halifax said the West Midlands suffered a 5% fall in house prices last month - the biggest yet in the national housing market.
Across Dudley, 10 miles south-west of Birmingham, people are slashing tens of thousands of pounds from the price of their homes. Homeowners have seen the value of their homes fall by close to a quarter in just five months.

The Independent focuses on another crisis on its front page,

The world's most powerful finance ministers and central bankers are meeting in Washington tomorrow; but as they preoccupy themselves with the global credit crunch, another crisis, far more grave, is facing the world's poorest people.
A dramatic rise in the worldwide cost of food is provoking riots throughout the Third World where millions more of the world's most vulnerable people are facing starvation as food shortages grow and cereal prices soar. It threatens to become the biggest crisis of the 21st century.

Most of the papers report that

Dashing Prince picks up his wings

Competent but not operational. That was yesterday’s assessment of the young man in whose name future generations of British Armed Forces may fight.
Still, you don’t expect the boss to do the dirty stuff, even if his Uncle Andy did in the Falklands and his little brother did in Afghanistan. After a four-month crash course in how not to crash, Prince William received his RAF wings yesterday, recognising his basic ability to fly an aeroplane the right way up.

says the Times

The Independent reports on the latest Heather Mills out burst

Whoever thought their divorce settlement would mark the end of the vitriolic exchanges between Heather Mills and Sir Paul McCartney was proved wrong yesterday when the former glamour model launched an astonishing attack on her ex-husband.
On a live interview from the US, Ms Mills accused the former Beatle of having already amassed a coterie of lovers. "I think he's got three different girlfriends, so I wish all the girls the best of luck," she said. With a smile, the 40-year-old added: "Better them than me."

The Mirror adds that

The ex-model then turned on Ms Shackleton, telling how she doused the lawyer after she said something under her breath.
"I cleansed and baptised her. I thought she looked fantastic - I thought it did her the world of good and now I'm getting lots of offers to restyle the hair of women of her age," she said.

A sign that spring is not yet here as the Mail reports

Gardeners snap up half-price plants as poor Spring weather dampens sales

The combination of an early Easter and a wet and snowy start to April has forced garden centres and DIY stores to slash the cost of bedding plants.
While a pack of 30 pansies was being sold at Homebase for £3.99 a few weeks ago, the price is now £1.99. And at B&Q, wild pansies or violas are also half price at £1.48.

Finally many of the papers report

Lucian Freud's JobCentre muse priced at £18m

A painting of a naked JobCentre manager by Lucian Freud is expected to become the most expensive picture by a living artist next month.
The life-size canvas, entitled Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, is predicted to make up to £18 million at Christie's in New York on May 13.

says the Telegraph adding

Sue Tilley, the subject of the 1995 painting, was introduced to Freud by their mutual friend, Leigh Bowery, a performance artist.
The artist, now 85, referred to her affectionately as "Big Sue" and she became one of his favourite models. She has said of being Freud's muse: "I think he probably picked me because he got value for money. He got a lot of flesh."