This morning's front pages bring more bad news for the government

Labour no longer trusted on NHS reforms says the Telegraph

Barely one in five people believe the Labour party will deliver a better health service over the next ten years, the You Gov poll shows.
It comes on the day Gordon Brown is to publish Lord Darzi's package of reforms to overhaul the way the NHS is run

The Guardian leads with

Unions put new demands to Brown

Trade union leaders are to put a broad set of demands to Labour ahead of its next general election manifesto, including free school meals for all primary children and new flexible working rights for parents.
Recognising that Labour's financial crisis has put them in a powerful position, the unions have deliberately decided to hold back from demanding traditional workers' rights, and are instead pushing issues which they hope will have a broad appeal with core Labour voters.

The Times meanwhile looks at the economy

Families’ cash fears worst for 26 years

The drop in confidence, highlighted in new monthly figures, threatens to exacerbate Britain’s economic woes as hard-pressed consumers curb their spending, further undermining economic growth. Last week’s revised figures found that the pace of growth halved to 0.3 per cent, the lowest level for three years.
The GfK NOP figures for June on consumer sentiment come as fresh evidence emerges that the housing slump is getting worse and now affects most of England and Wales.

The Express claims that 14p off a litre can be done

FUEL prices could be slashed by 14p a litre under ground-breaking plans to help hard-pressed motorists.
The Daily Express has come up with a mechanism that would cut fuel duty as the price of crude oil rises.
Our system, the opposite of the controversial fuel price escalator which is set to put another 2p on a litre in October, would be funded by the Government’s £6billion windfall from higher taxes on North Sea oil.

Most of the papers report the comments of Alan Johnson

Gordon Brown faced fresh questions over his leadership after a top party donor said the Prime Minister faced electoral doom and a senior cabinet minister likened him to outsiders playing on the outer courts at the Wimbledon tennis championships.
Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, made the unflattering comparison as Mr Brown endured a weekend of fresh woes.

says the Independent


Mugabe begins sixth term after beatings, intimidation and murder do their job says the Guardian

Robert Mugabe was sworn in for a sixth term as Zimbabwe's president yesterday within minutes of the declaration of election results that showed his violent campaign to terrorise voters had delivered him close to 90% of the valid votes in Friday's widely discredited poll.
The government was certain enough of the outcome to send invitations to the ceremony extending Mugabe's 28-year rule before the results were even released. But there were signs of the deep unhappiness of voters herded to the polls with threats of violence in the large numbers of spoiled ballot papers, some with insults against Mugabe written on them.

The world voices its revulsion says the Independent

Lord Malloch-Brown, the Foreign Office minister for Africa, speaking before he left London for the African Union summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, expressed caution about the feelers sent out by Mr Mugabe. "This is a man who, domestically and internationally repeatedly broke his word to Zimbabweans and the international community. If he says he wants negotiations at the 11th hour ... he is utterly untrustworthy, he has lost an election, he has unleashed appalling violence and managed to fake a win. I hope the Africans won't be seduced by nice words from President Mugabe."
Earlier in the day, the observer mission from the Pan-African parliament denounced the poll as not being "free and fair" called for a re-run of the elections.

The Telegraph reports that

Chavez faces political crisis as allies desert him

Mr Chavez, a devoted admirer of Fidel Castro, has forged an anti-American front with leaders ranging from President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.
At home, however, Mr Chavez is in trouble. State elections are due in November and Venezuela's opposition, which now includes former followers of South America's standard-bearer for socialism, is expected to perform well.

At home more teenage stabbings are reported,the Times reports

Ben Kinsella: yet another teenager is stabbed to death in London

A teenager who was stabbed to death early yesterday made a terrified phone call to a friend as his killers chased him through the streets.
Ben Kinsella, 16, was murdered in York Way, North London, after being caught up in a fight that broke out at a party in a pub near his home

The Sun leads with the same story reporting

THE brother of ex EastEnder's actress, Brooke Kinsella, died today after he was stabbed in a street.Ben, 16, is thought to have been at a party in a local pub, Shillibeers, when the row broke out.
Police said two youths, both aged 16, were arrested nearby and were taken to a north London police station where they remain.

as does the Mirror which says

The easy-going teenager, known by his friends as Gentle Ben, had been celebrating the end of his GCSE exams.
He was the 17th youngster to be murdered in London this year.

High Street bank dishes out debit cards to children as young as 11 is the lead in the Mail

A High Street bank is giving children debit cards that could let them buy cigarettes, alcohol and porn videos over the internet.
Lloyds-TSB is mailing the cards direct to children as young as 11 without telling their parents.
One 15-year-old boy used his to buy cheap cigarettes, Viagra and a fake adult ID online.

adding

MPs, consumer groups and parents have reacted with horror. LibDem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said: 'It is deeply dispiriting. This is clearly motivated by short-term greed.'

Smoking ban has saved 40,000 lives reports the Independent

The nationwide smoking ban has triggered the biggest fall in smoking ever seen in England, a report says today.
More than two billion fewer cigarettes were smoked and 400,000 people quit the habit since the ban was introduced a year ago, which researchers say will prevent 40,000 deaths over the next 10 years.

The Guardian reveals that

US army blames leaders over post-war Iraq

In a 696-page account, army historians fault military and political leaders for focusing excessively on toppling Saddam Hussein in 2003 without looking towards a broader transition towards a stable society. Actions by the former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the top US commander during the Iraq invasion, Tommy Franks, are singled out in the study, which was delayed for six months to allow senior army figures to review drafts

Many of the papers report

Israel and Hizbollah deal over dead soldiers

Israel has announced it will release a notorious Lebanese guerrilla in exchange for the corpses of two soldiers whose capture sparked the 2006 war with Hizbollah. Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, has admitted for the first time that Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were dead, telling a cabinet meeting they had died in the original snatch operation or from wounds soon after.

says the Telegraph

The Independent reports on Protests in China at official 'cover-up' of teenager's death

It is the latest explosive example of how political corruption in China can have a dangerously destabilising impact. Thousands of rioters torched police cars and government office buildings in the south-western province of Guizhou after allegations that local officials covered up a teenage girl's death.
It started with the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl. The story that flashed around Weng'an county was that three men were responsible, two of them with great "guangxi", or local connections. One of them was reportedly the son of the deputy mayor. When the police report said she had killed herself, tensions really began to simmer. When her popular schoolteacher uncle went to the police to seek justice, he was beaten into a coma and subsequently died. The tensions turned into rioting.

Many of the papers report that

A model nicknamed the Russian Rapunzel for her flowing hair, plunged to her death at the weekend from her home in a tower in New York.
Ruslana Korshunova, 20, a cover girl for French Elle and Russian Vogue, fell from her ninth-floor flat in the Manhattan financial district on Saturday. Police said they were investigating her death as possible suicide.

says the Times

The Mail looks at the high street where High Street stores slash prices

Some of the country's biggest High Street stores have slashed their prices by half in a desperate attempt to shift unsold summer stock.
The deals - reminiscent of this year's January sales - have set a 50 per cent minimum reduction, with some shops cutting prices by up to 70 per cent.

King Arthur is propaganda,reports the Telegraph

French historians have accused the English of propagating the legend of King Arthur for "political reasons". The organisers of a conference and exhibition to be held at Rennes university in northern France next month said they will provide ample evidence that the Arthurian legend has continually been updated, often as a sop to English nationalists attempting to revive the Age of Chivalry.

Finally the Guardian reveals The cost of William's lift to the stag do? £8,716

It must count as one of the most expensive stag-do taxis in history. Prince William's Chinook flight to attend his cousin's pre-wedding celebrations on the Isle of Wight cost the taxpayer £8,716, the Ministry of Defence has disclosed.
The prince's use of the twin-rotored helicopter became the focus of RAF ire after it emerged that he had dropped in at a wedding in Hexham, flown over his relatives' homes and landed in his girlfriend's parents' garden.