Both the Independent and the Mail lead with the same story this morning.

Blow for Boris as deputy is forced to quit says the former

Boris Johnson's deputy Ray Lewis resigned yesterday over sleaze allegations, plunging London's Mayor into his first serious crisis since taking over from Ken Livingstone.
Mr Lewis announced he was quitting to prevent further damage but his original appointment will raise lasting doubts about Mr Johnson's judgement

The wheels are falling off already says the Mail

The Tories suffered an embarrassing setback last night after Boris Johnson was forced to sack his deputy for lying about his past.
Ray Lewis, a charismatic community leader, was dumped after what looked like a catastrophic misjudgment by the new London mayor.
A torrent of allegations about Mr Lewis, covering sexual misconduct, financial wheeler-dealing and physical abuse of pupils threatened to tarnish the Tory success story.

when Lewis resigned last night amid allegations of financial misconduct and inappropriate behaviour following a Guardian investigation, the heady days of early May were a distant memory.
It was the culmination of a series of exchanges that began on Wednesday when the Guardian approached the mayor's office with a list of questions about Lewis' past. On Thursday, Johnson declared he had "every confidence" in his "tremendous deputy".

says the Guardian

Knife crime continues to feature,Knife crime to replace terror as police priority says the Times which reports

Deputy Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson announced the form-ation of a special knife-crime unit to address the recent spate of fatal stabbings in London as he admitted that moves to stop teenagers carrying weapons were not working.
The unit, featuring specialist officers from across the capital, will target known gang members and their associates who may be carrying or supplying knives. It will also conduct random searches

Honeytrap murder says the front of the Sun which reports that

A TEENAGE girl invited a boy to meet her — so a knife-wielding mob could butcher him to death.
The scheming temptress, wearing a floral dress, dialled 16-year-old Shakilus Townsend’s mobile and lured him to a spot near a church. But moments after Shakilus stepped into the honeytrap, he was surrounded by the masked gang who laid into him with blades and baseball bats in broad daylight.
Shakilus — known to pals as Shaki — was left bleeding in the street and pleading for his mum. He died later in hospital.

The Express meanwhile pleads for more police on the streets

THE people of Britain yesterday demanded more police on the streets as yet another teenager became a victim of knife crime.
The public joined forces with MPs to call for action to get officers away from their desks and back on patrol.
Even youngsters on the streets now agree there are not enough police. The calls came after 16-year-old Shakilus Townsend bled to death crying for his mother – the 18th victim in London so far this year.

The Guardian says that Police think French pair tortured for pin details

Police, who said they were following several lines of inquiry, say the flat had been burgled a week earlier when a laptop was taken. Yesterday detectives said two games consoles appeared to have been stolen during the attack on Sunday night. They were also looking into the possibility that the students' bank cards were missing.

The Mail reports that

Three charged with murder after 17-year-old boy is tied to tree, forced to drink petrol and set alight

A teenager died after he was tied to a tree and made to drink petrol before being set on fire, police revealed yesterday.
Simon Everitt died from inhaling some of the fluid, a post-mortem examination found.
The 17-year-old engineering student had been missing for three weeks before his body was discovered buried in a ditch last Saturday.

Crime also features on the front of the Telegraph

Hundreds of innocent people 'wrongly branded criminals', by CRB checks

People applying to take up jobs as teachers, nurses, childminders and even those volunteering to work with youth groups are likely to have been among those falsely accused of wrongdoing by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB).
Those wrongly accused by the CRB face having their careers blighted or being stigmatised by their communities. They also face having to endure an appeals process to clear their names.

The Times reports that,Test results late for 1.2 million pupils

The results of national curriculum tests taken by 1.2 million 11 and 14-year-olds in England are to be delivered to schools a week late amid concerns over the accuracy of marking.
Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, announced that more time was needed to complete the marking of papers and to “resolve technical issues”.
The new qualifications regulator Ofqual responded immediately by announcing an inquiry into the delay, which it described as “unacceptable”.

The Guardian leads with an exclusive

secret film reveals how Mugabe stole an election

A film that graphically shows how Robert Mugabe's supporters rigged Zimbabwe's election has been smuggled out of the country by a prison officer. It is believed to be the first footage of actual ballot-rigging and comes as Zimbabwe's president faces growing international pressure.
Shepherd Yuda, 36, fled the country this week with his wife and children. He said that he hoped the film, which was made for the Guardian, would help draw further attention to the violence and corruption in Zimbabwe.

The Telegraph meanwhile reports that

Robert Mugabe has taunted Gordon Brown over the suggestion that British companies will have to reconsider doing business in Zimbabwe. Speaking at a rally after he arrived back in the country from an African Union summit in Egypt, Mr Mugabe targeted the Prime Minister, who has refused to recognise the octogenarian as Zimbabwe's legitimate leader after last week's uncontested presidential poll

Betancourt’s homecoming soured by claims of secret payoff reports the Times

Ingrid Betancourt landed to an emotional welcome in France yesterday after six years of captivity in Colombia, praising President Sarkozy for saving her from likely death in the hands of the rebel army that held her. According to reports that were dismissed by Colombia as lies, the apparently brilliant operation was partly stage-managed and included a US-financed ransom. A senior French expert said on state television that some of Ms Betancourt’s captors had “probably been bought”. But official sources in Washington were deeply sceptical about the ransom claim and French diplomats dismissed it as mischievous.

The Guardian reporting

Harrowing details of the captivity of Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages in Colombia emerged yesterday, at the same time as doubts surfaced over the official version of their daring rescue.
Betancourt said she was often chained to a tree and haunted by thoughts of killing herself during her six-year ordeal. "Death is a hostage's most faithful companion. We lived with death ... and the seduction of suicide was always with us."

According to the Telegraph ,Negative equity threat spreading for homeowners

An estimated 145,000 mortgage holders already owe more in mortgage payments than their houses are worth, according to research undertaken for the Daily Telegraph.
The research company CACI analysed the 1.2 million people who bought a home since the start of last year and calculated that one in eight are in negative equity.
This figure could rise to as many as 360,000 by the end of this year if house prices fall by 20 per cent, as some economists fear is now possible.

The Independent reports that

Tories claim Brown 'fixed' expenses vote

Mr Brown was criticised for a lack of leadership by David Cameron, the Conservative leader, who accused him of arranging a Commons "fix" by using government whips to ensure MPs voted for a separate motion on pay restraint while letting them have their way over their expenses.

whilst adding

Touring an NHS hospital in the North-east, Mr Brown said: "I was not happy about what happened. I was disappointed. We voted to keep the pay of MPs down and now we must look at the issue of expenses and accountability again."

Staying on the Brown topic,the Guardian reports

West must not give up on aid and climate change

Gordon Brown today warned Britain's G8 partners against a retreat into isolationism, and insisted that the looming threat to the global economy instead required a speeding up of the fight to tackle climate change and poverty.
Amid fears the credit crunch will cause the G8 to backpedal on pledges to cut carbon emissions and increase aid to poor countries by $50bn a year, the prime minister used an interview with the Guardian ahead of the G8 summit to stress the need for united action in the west to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and boost food production in developing countries.

The Mail reports that

War veteran, 84, in suicide bid after energy firm hounded him for £6,600 that he didn't owe

A war veteran driven to despair by soaring electricity prices tried to commit suicide when a power company broke into his home and installed a pre- payment meter he did not know how to use.
Walter Bargate, 84, swallowed 100 sleeping pills and painkillers after spending three freezing days without heating, lighting or cooking facilities in the middle of winter.
The great-grandfather, who has impaired vision and is physically disabled, left a heartbreaking suicide note to his children, scrawled in the pitch dark

.

Following up from yesterday the Independent reports that

Farmers have threatened legal action if the Government decides not to allow a cull of badgers to tackle tuberculosis in cattle.
The president of the National Farmers' Union, Peter Kendall, said reports that Hilary Benn, the Environment Secretary, was not going to authorise a cull would be "nothing short of a disaster", if true

According to the Mirror

McCanns will take British police to court

The hearing in the High Court in London on Monday looked likely to be adjourned earlier this week when Portuguese police seemed to be about to open their files.
But McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell yesterday confirmed it will go ahead.
Their lawyer will argue they have the right to see material held by Leicestershire Police, who have been running the British end of the enquiry for the Portuguese.

The paper leads with Madonna stole my man

The wife of one of America's biggest sports stars has accused Madonna of using Kabbalah to steal her husband.
She says she found a letter from baseball ace Alex 'A-Rod' Rodriguez to Madge, saying: "You're my soulmate."
Angry Cynthia Rodriguez told a friend: "He was having an affair with her."

Two deaths of prominent figures in the papers

Veteran BBC foreign correspondent Charles Wheeler, 85, dies reports the Guardian

Sir Charles Wheeler, one of the BBC's longest standing foreign correspondents and the father-in-law of London mayor Boris Johnson, has died at the age of 85, the corporation announced today.
The veteran journalist, who was suffering from lung cancer, was based in the US for a decade from 1965, covering stories including the assassination of Martin Luther King, Watergate and the shooting of presidential candidate Robert Kennedy.
He was based in Washington DC as the BBC's chief US correspondent between 1969 and 1973. He later went on to become Europe correspondent.

The Times reports the death of Jesse Helms, right wing US senator, who has

died at the age of 86.
His admirers hailed him as a defender of conservative values, a champion of the common man and a scourge of communism. Others will remember him as a narrow-minded bigot who built a 30-year congressional career along racial faultlines

Finally on the final weekend of Wimbledon,many of the papers carry pictures of a British representative,the Telegraph reporting

British teenager Laura Robson has become the first girl to win a place in Wimbledon junior finals for 24 years – but was more concerned about what she will wear to the Champions Ball. The 14-year-old wildcard secured her place in the last two with an emphatic straight sets win over her Slovakian opponent Romana Tabakova.