Differing headlines this Friday morning,the Times leading with the news that


MoD to pay £3 million in compensation to Iraqi torture victims

The Ministry of Defence faces a series of huge compensation claims for alleged abuse by troops in Iraq after agreeing a settlement of £2.8 million over the death of a civilian in custody.
Lawyers acting for the father of Baha Musa, a 26-year-old Iraqi hotel receptionist who died after suffering 93 injuries at a detention centre in Basra in 2003, said that the deal would “give confidence” to others to come forward with mistreatment claims.

The Guardian says

During the talks Lt Gen Freddie Viggers, the army's adjutant, apologised for the "appalling treatment they suffered at the hands of the British army", the statement said. Viggers added: "The appalling behaviour of British soldiers made us feel disgusted."

The Mirror leads with the story of Friendly fire horror

Nine Paras fighting the Taliban have been injured in a "friendly fire" strike by an Army helicopter.
The soldiers were cut down as the Apache attack aircraft strafed insurgents in Helmand, southern Afghanistan. One was evacuated back to England with serious injuries yesterday.

the paper adds

Military chiefs last night blamed the heat of battle for the Blue On Blue blunder in Afghanistan's notorious Helmand province on Wednesday.

The car tax debate continues,the Telegraph leads with 'Green' car tax will hit poorest hardest

About 400,000 of the lowest earners will pay an average of £80 a year more following changes to Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), according to calculations based on official Treasury data. Of those, 140,000 will pay at least £100 a year more in car tax and for some, bills will increase by up to £245.

The Guardian reports that

David Cameron yesterday demanded that Gordon Brown apologise to the House of Commons for allegedly misleading MPs when the prime minister said that a majority of drivers would benefit from a new green car tax.
As Labour MPs warned of a new rebellion against the increases in taxes on gas-guzzling vehicles, Cameron accused the prime minister of breaking the ministerial code after he refused to apologise for "wrong" comments on the tax.

The Express says on its front page that Britain needs a stamp duty holiday

Housing industry groups united to demand the temporary lifting of the tax for a year as fresh evidence showed prices falling at their fastest level for 15 years.
The average property has lost 6.1 per cent of its value during the past year, figures from the Halifax yesterday showed.
Home owners are desperate for financial relief after Bank of England chiefs, worried about inflation, yesterday voted to keep the basic rate of interest on hold at five per cent.

The Mail adds that

The price of the average home in Britain has plunged £17,000 since January, devastating figures revealed yesterday.
House prices are falling at a rate not witnessed since records began in the 1950s, according to the report from the banking giant Halifax.
This suggests the current meltdown is even worse than the previous house price collapse in the 1990s

The paper leads with the headline,

Big Brother: The Google cars that will photograph EVERY front door in Britain

Plans by Google to photograph millions of British homes and publish them online have been condemned as a 'gross invasion of privacy'.
The internet giant's StreetView website will allow anyone in the world to type in a UK address or postcode and instantly see a 360-degree picture of the street.
It will include close-ups of buildings, cars and people. Critics say the site is a 'burglar's charter' that makes it easy for criminals to check out potential victims.

The Telegraph reports

End of cold calling and junk mail signalled by Information Commissioner

Millions of households could see a big fall in the amount of junk mail and cold calls they receive after the Government's information watchdog said councils should be banned from selling personal details to companies.

On the subject of privacy,the late editions report

Turnout slashed, but Davis cruises through

The former shadow home secretary easily defeated, by a majority of 15,355, the motley assortment of 25 candidates standing against him.
But his 17,113 vote count was smaller than the 22,792 he polled at the 2005 election.
Turnout in the East Yorkshire constituency was down to just over 34 per cent in yesterday's by-election, compared to 70.2 per cent three years ago.

Youth crime: Greedy, rude adults 'fuelling teen violence' is the lead in the Guardian

A culture of greed and rudeness among adults is contributing to the epidemic of knife and gun violence among teenagers, according to the government's behaviour adviser.
Sir Alan Steer, a headteacher and the head of a major government review of school behaviour policies due to report on Monday, said parents must take more responsibility for tackling violence among their teenage children. He defended comprehensive schools, which he said were regularly blamed for children's poor behaviour when they are often the only place where young people from violent communities feel safe.

The Sun meanwhile reports

FOUR people were arrested after a 20-year-old man was fatally stabbed, Scotland Yard said.
Officers were called to Leyton, east London, at 5.25pm yesterday to reports of a man with a stab wound.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “We were called by the London Ambulance Service at 5.25pm to Downsell Road E15 following reports of a man suffering a stab wound.

The Mirror reports

Six friends killed in head-on car crash in Leicestershire

Three young couples on a night out were killed in a horrific head-on crash early yesterday - after cramming themselves into a single car for a ride home.
The six friends, at least three of them teenagers, died instantly when their Ford Mondeo smashed into a 38-ton lorry.
The 1.55am crash was on a notoriously dangerous stretch of road that was unlit and wet after hours of rain.

According to the Independent,

One hundred and fifty years after Florence Nightingale identified the importance of measuring survival rates, NHS trusts throughout England are publishing details of deaths following four common operations.
The move signals a shift from the delivery of care – measured in waiting times – to its outcome – measured in death rates – as called for in last week's NHS Review by Lord Darzi as a means of driving up standards.

It leads with the headline

Brown's African misadventure

Gordon Brown is being accused of preparing for a military adventure in Africa after he pledged to provide backing to the Nigerian security forces. His announcement prompted the collapse of a ceasefire in the oil-rich Niger Delta and helped to drive up crude oil prices on world markets.

the paper adds

The Prime Minister's offer to help "tackle lawlessness" in the world's eighth largest oil producer was immediately condemned by the main militant group in the Delta, which abandoned a two-week-old ceasefire and accused Britain of backing what it calls Nigeria's "illegal government". The group issued a "stern warning" to Mr Brown in an emailed statement: "Should Gordon Brown make good his threat to support this criminality for the sake of oil, UK citizens and interests in Nigeria will suffer the consequences."

Staying in Africa and the Guardian reports

court likely to seek arrest of Sudan's president for war crimes in Darfur

The prosecutor at the international criminal court is widely expected to seek the arrest on Monday of the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, for war crimes committed in Darfur.
The prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, issued a statement yesterday announcing that he would be submitting evidence "on crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years". The statement said he would then publicly "summarise the evidence, the crimes and name individual(s) charged".

Iran isolation grows says the Times

Tehran faced deeper isolation yesterday after a major Western energy company withdrew from a giant Iranian gas field project and international threats to attack the country’s nuclear facilities grew.
Total, the French energy group, said that it was freezing its role in a $10 billion project to develop the South Pars fields in the Gulf, the world’s largest gas reserves. The decision was a big step in a US campaign to put pressure on Iran to stop enriching uranium.

The Independent says Israel hints at pre-emptive attack on Iran

The sabre-rattling over Iran's nuclear progamme has grown louder as a defiant Tehran claimed to have conducted missile tests for a second day running, the US warned that it would defend its interests and its allies in the region, and Israel hinted it was ready to stage a preventive attack to destroy Iranian nuclear installations

Russia names British diplomat as a spy reports the Telegraph

Russian media reports alleged that a British diplomat, who was named in Russia as Chris Bowers, the acting director of UK trade and industry in Moscow, was in fact working for British intelligence services.
The allegation follows weeks of growing tensions between London and Moscow.

Another Russian story on the front of the Sun which claims

ROLLING STONE RONNIE WOOD was last night living with a Russian bargirl less than a THIRD of his age — who is bragging to pals how he has dumped his wife of 23 years.
Muscovite Ekaterina Ivanova, 18, claims shocked Jo Wood begged her not to steal the 61-year-old after he took her home to meet his missus.

Many of the papers report that

Rushdie named best Booker Prize winner of all time

The Best of the Booker title was bestowed by public vote, conducted to mark the 40th anniversary of the literary award. Rushdie was always the favourite, chosen from a shortlist of six which included works by JM Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer, Pat Barker, Peter Carey and JG Farrell

the Sun reports that

MAN died after he became obsessed with eating RUBBER GLOVES, an inquest has heard.
Derek Brown, 64, had vomited up a latex mitt while in psychiatric care.
The ex-cabbie, who had depression and a wasting disease, admitted swallowing nine more from bins, plus medical swabs.
Weeks later he fell and died in hospital in Wrexham, North Wales.
A post mortem found two gloves in his gut and “abnormally acidic” blood.

Finally the Mirror reports that

Blackbird keeps family awake by mimicking ambulance siren

A blackbird is making a family’s life hell by mimicking the sound of an ambulance siren outside their window at 5am every morning.
Fed-up Nathan Talbot, 39, his wife Alison, 37, and their two children, Joshua, 11 and Sophie, 10, have been woken by the sound of the emergency siren at the crack of dawn for the past three months.
The family, who live near Weston-Super-Mare general hospital in Somerset, believe the blackbird has learned to perfectly mimic the noise of passing ambulances