Gas prices and David Miliband on the front pages of the papers.

The Guardian reports that British Gas provokes fury with biggest ever price rise

Average annual gas bill, medium user, all suppliers, standard credit British Gas yesterday increased the pressure on household budgets after announcing the biggest ever increase in gas prices for its 16 million customers.
The 35% rise in gas bills was blamed on higher wholesale costs but came just hours before British Gas's parent company, Centrica, was due to reveal profits of £880m for the first half of the year.

£100-a-month fuel bill to become a reality says the Times

The increases of up to 44 per cent for ten million British Gas customers were branded “indecent” last night as MPs stepped up the pressure for a windfall tax on energy companies.
The biggest rises will hit families in London, the Midlands and southern England as the company, which is expected to announce multimillion-pound profits today, introduces a new regional pricing structure.

Bills to soar by £228 says the Express

condemned the move for coming at a time when millions of households are already struggling to cope with spiralling fuel bills.
British Gas justified the rises by blaming soaring wholesale costs, which have sent its profits into a nosedive. But the firm’s parent company, Centrica, is still expected to today announce half-year profits of nearly £1billion across its whole business.

Gas shares the billing with reaction to David Miliband's Guardian article,the Telegraph reports that

Labour was plunged into open warfare as Gordon Brown's allies launched a series of highly personal attacks on leadership rival David Miliband. The Foreign Secretary was criticised for acting 'disgracefully and disloyally' after he repeatedly refused to rule out standing against the Prime Minister.
As part of an orchestrated and bitter counter-attack, sources at Number 10 suggested Mr Miliband may be demoted as punishment for triggering the gravest crisis of Mr Brown's premiership.

No 10 aides said they had to take at face value Miliband's protestations to Downing Street that his intervention was not personal positioning, but was instead an effort to persuade people that Labour can still offer "continued big change in this country".
But Brown, on holiday in Suffolk, had not been given prior warning of Miliband's piece, and some of his closest allies at Westminster accused the foreign secretary of immaturity and even treachery. George Mudie, the former minister and close Brown ally, insisted: "He's testing the waters, he's flying a lovely kite."

reports the Guardian


The Independent says though that Minister attacks 'too timid' Brown

In the first direct criticism of Mr Brown by a minister since last week's Glasgow East by-election, the Health minister Ivan Lewis told The Independent: "The only way forward now is bold Labour. What we want to see is the Gordon Brown of Bank of England independence, SureStart and Make Poverty History. I think that his responsibility is to provide the bold and decisive leadership that we now need." He added that it was then the responsibility of the Labour Party as a whole to be "loyal and disciplined".

Another Pm in trouble,the Guardian reports Olmert resignation throws Israel's politics into turmoil

Olmert said he would step down in September after his Kadima party has chosen a new leader. The main candidates are Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister, a pragmatic centrist, and Shaul Mofaz, transport minister but a hawk on national security issues, including Iran's nuclear ambitions and the ongoing, though faltering, negotiations with the Palestinians.

The Telegraph reports that Obama faces backlash in American media

The first signs of a backlash against Senator Barack Obama have emerged in the American media, which has up until now mostly greeted his candidacy with garlands of praise. The increasingly presidential posture of the first-term Illinois senator and his campaign staff is beginning to stick in the throats of commentators, particularly given the narrowness of his lead over Senator John McCain

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Back to Uk matters and the Mail leads with Menace of the violent girls

The number of violent attacks by women has doubled in just five years in the age of the 'ladette' binge-drinking culture.
Last year 87,200 women and girls were arrested for attacks – the equivalent of 240 every day. It is the first time in history that violence has been the most common crime among women and girls, taking over from theft.
The category includes every violent offence from street brawls and assault to grievous bodily harm and murder.

The Independent asks Is the 'war on drugs' really making the problem worse?

Because if confirmation were needed that crackdowns on drug use in the UK were having little effect, it came in a report by the UK Drug Policy Commission (UKDPC), an independent group set up to examine the state of the nation's drug trade.
The report, published yesterday, paints a grim picture, suggesting that the billions of pounds spent on attempts to reduce the availability of drugs on the streets have been in vain. It said there was "remarkably little evidence" that action by customs officials, police and the Serious Organised Crime Agency has had any significant effect in disrupting illegal drug markets. The report argued that the UK should try a radically different approach to tackling the misery brought about by drug-dealing and the crime and social disorder associated with it. Others advocate taking the ultimate step – legalisation

The Sun reports how the credit crunch has bypassed at least one person

A RICH Arab sent his Lamborghini on a 6,500-mile round trip to Britain for a service.
The £190,000 supercar was put on a scheduled flight from Qatar to Heathrow – then flown BACK after the oil check.
Money was no object as the flight would have cost the owner – thought to be a Sheikh – around £20,000.

Same topic in the Times which reports that

An independent girls’ school has become the latest victim of the credit crunch. It has been forced to close after its bank suddenly called in a £750,000 loan.
Warnings of the plight of independent schools were issued yesterday after Wentworth College, in Bournemouth, went into administration.
The school was trying to reverse a declining school population by going co-educational from September, but was said to have attracted only 15 boys when it needed 75. It borrowed the money to build sports facilities for boys but the bank – thought to be Lloyds TSB – has now demanded payment with no notice.

The Mirror leads with more on the Antigua shooting,

Tragic groom Ben Mullany fought for his bride

A paramedic last night described the scene of horror she found in Ben and Catherine Mullany's blood-splattered honeymoon hotel chalet.
She revealed how former squaddie Ben, with a bullet lodged his brain, tried to speak and gesture to her but did not have the strength.
The woman, an emergency worker for nine years, said: "When we walked into the room I got the shock of my life. It was the saddest sight I will ever see.

The Mail says

The devastated parents of tragic bridegroom Ben Mullany are said to be in talks today to fly their son back to Britain.
Marilyn and Cynlais Mullany spent yesterday at his hospital bedside in Antigua agonising over whether to turn off his life support machine.
But today reports have claimed they are in talks with an air ambulance company to bring their son back to Britain, where they are said to believe he will receive better care

The Sun reports that

KIDS as young as eight are stumbling across nightmare images of porn, violence and horror on the internet, MPs warned yesterday.
One in six schoolchildren has seen “nasty, worrying or frightening” content and one in five has faced cyber-bullying, a Commons report reveals.
But video-sharing sites such as YouTube do too little to protect them from the web’s “dark side”.
The report said the internet exposed children to hard porn, rape, bullying and fist-fights.

The Guardian reports that Watchdog clears Google's street cameras

Google's controversial Street View service - which will offer ground-level pictures of every UK street online -can finally be launched in Britain, after a privacy watchdog said it had no complaints about the service.
Street View faced opposition from privacy advocates who argue that it infringes civil liberties.
Some attacked it as a "burglar's charter", allowing criminals to look for potential victims over the internet.
But the Information Commissioner's Office, which had been investigating complaints, said in a statement: "We are satisfied that Google is putting in place adequate safeguards to avoid any risk to the privacy or safety of individuals,

A partial victory for the Independent

Restaurant customers should be told where tips go, minister says

The Business Secretary, John Hutton, will announce today that restaurants will no longer be allowed to pay below the minimum wage of £5.52 per hour and make up the difference using tips and service charges.
In a landmark victory for The Independent's "fair tips, fair pay" campaign, the changes will stop some of Britain's biggest restaurant chains exploiting the loophole in minimum wage legislation. After a consultation this autumn, the Government will introduce legislation closing the loophole next year, to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the national minimum wage law.

The Guardian reports on 'Bumbling nerd' who broke into Pentagon computers loses battle against extradition

A British hacker who broke into the Pentagon's computer systems said he was disappointed and angry after the House of Lords yesterday dismissed his appeal against extradition to the US.
Gary McKinnon - dubbed "the world's most dangerous hacker" by the American authorities - could face trial in the US for his actions, but vowed to continue fighting his case in the European courts.

Finally the Telegraph reports that

A retired French carpenter almost became the first one-armed man to swim the English Channel, but was forced to abandon his bid with the French coast just in sight.Olivier Desmet, 56, whose left forearm was amputated after a motorcycle accident in 1976, said he had dreamt of attempting the 35-kilometre (22-mile) crossing for the last five years.
"For me it's a great success and not a failure", Desmet said, despite having to give up the challenge on Monday when strong currents dragged him off his planned route.
"I was in tears when the captain of the boat with me made me come aboard, because I still had plenty of energy left even though I'd spent 14 1/2 hours in the water", he said.