Primary pupils fail to master the 3 Rs says the front page of the Independent this morning

More than 120,000 11-year-olds are still unable to read, write and add up properly, test results to be published today will show.
The results will reveal that at least one in five children – about 120,000 – fail to make the grade in English with more – about 140,000 – unable to reach the required standard in maths

Sat tests also make the front of the Telegraph which reports that

Children face a battery of new tests because teachers have lost faith in Sats exams, according to new research

adding

On the day that results of tests for 600,000 11 year olds are released, the scale of disillusionment among teachers is laid bare in a new report.
It follows a year in which Sats have been hit by a series of controversies over standards and marking.

The Guardian leads with the attacks in china

Olympic organisers moved to reassure the public and athletes yesterday that the games would be safe after China's deadliest suspected terrorist attack in more than a decade.
Sixteen policemen were killed and 16 injured in a raid on a paramilitary border police headquarters, in the north-western Xinjiang region, by what are believed to be separatists from the area.
Two men used a dumper truck to run down a group of police outside their station in the city of Kashgar, before knifing them and exploding home-made grenades, state news agency Xinhua reported.

The Telegraph adds that

Xinjiang's Muslim, ethnic Uighur, population have a history of clashes with the authorities, but there have been no major confirmed terrorist incidents since a wave of bombings in the 1990s.

The McCanns have returned to the front pages with the release of the files by the Portuguese police yesterday,Maddie's bed says the front page of the Sun

MADELEINE McCann’s bed lies empty hours after she vanished — her beloved “Cuddle Cat” abandoned forlornly on her pillow. The photo was released yesterday in the wake of Portugal’s cops scrapping a 15-month hunt for the holiday tot, whose anguished mum Kate, 40, was seen clutching the toy.

The Mail reports How Portuguese police tried to force Gerry to confess with a DNA trap

Detectives told the devastated father they had found incriminating DNA from his missing daughter Madeleine.
They said it was in the family's holiday apartment and, crucially, the boot of their hire car, rented 25 days after the little girl vanished.

adding that

British scientists had already warned the Portuguese that the forensic evidence was far from conclusive and the DNA could have come from almost anyone.

Many of the papers report that

The distraught parents of murdered honey-mooner Ben Mullany have asked for his organs to be used for lifesaving transplants.
Ken and Marilyn Mullany told friends it would have been Ben's wish because both he and bride Catherine worked in medicine.

says the Mirror

The Telegraph meanwhile reports that

Detectives hunting the killer of honeymoon couple Ben and Catherine Mullany have made a potentially crucial breakthrough after witnesses reported seeing two men near the murder scene just before the horrific shooting.

According to the Times a Secret deal kept British Army out of battle for Basra

Four thousand British troops – including elements of the SAS and an entire mechanised brigade – watched from the sidelines for six days because of an “accommodation” with the Iranian-backed group, according to American and Iraqi officers who took part in the assault.

Other foriegn news and the Independent reports

Man who would be president in bid to quash corruption charges

No Zuma, no country. This was the stark warning to the South African judiciary yesterday from Jacob Zuma's supporters as the ANC leader launched a court attempt to quash corruption charges that could thwart his ambition to become president.

Top Assad aide assassinated at Syrian resort reports the Guardian

The mysterious assassination of a top Syrian army officer and right-hand man to President Bashar al-Assad has triggered intense speculation about a crisis inside the Damascus regime over its complex relations with Iran, Hizbullah and Israel.
According to one report, the seaside murder of Brigadier-General Muhammad Suleiman was perpetrated by a sniper firing from a yacht moored offshore.

The Telegraph reports K2 climbers froze to death hanging upside down on ropes

Wilco Van Rooijen, a Dutch climber, said fatal errors while preparing for the final ascent contributed to the deaths of 11 climbers after they had spent four nights on the world's second highest mountain, which is considered a far more daunting challenge than Mount Everest.
"There was a Korean guy hanging upside down," Mr Van Rooijen said. "There was a second Korean guy who held him with a rope, but he was also in shock and then a third guy was there also, and they were trying to survive. But I also had to survive."

Back to the Uk and the Mail leads with How speeding fines have quadrupled to £200 a MINUTE under Labour

The increase has coincided with a massive expansion in the number of speed cameras
Home Office figures reveal that 1.8million tickets are being issued each year, or 4,850 a day. In 1997, only 713,000 fixed penalty notices were handed to drivers.

The Times reports that

The increase has coincided with a massive expansion in the number of speed cameras
Home Office figures reveal that 1.8million tickets are being issued each year, or 4,850 a day. In 1997, only 713,000 fixed penalty notices were handed to drivers.

At last petrol is to drop 10p a litre reports the Express

Tumbling world oil prices yesterday raised hopes that motorists will see petrol fall by at least 10p a litre.
Crude fell below 120 dollars a barrel for the first time since early May before recovering to trade above 121.
It marked a price plunge since last month’s record high of more than 147

Many of the papers report the comments of John Prescott who says the Independent

compared the Prime Minister to the captain of the Titanic.
The former deputy prime minister's gaffe came as Blairite dissidents signalled a temporary ceasefire in their attempts to remove Mr Brown from office.

Referring to a party member who he had talked to about "getting a new captain", he said: "I always find it interesting when people use maritime analogies when they talk about leadership. But it wasn't the captain that sank the Titanic – a ship they claimed was unsinkable – it was the iceberg. The best way to avoid disaster is to manage your way around the problem."

The Guardian reports that Lords say 42-day law will put fair trials at risk

The report from the all-party Lords constitution committee, which includes the former lord chief justice Lord Woolf and the former Labour attorney-general Lord Morris of Aberavon, demolishes ministers' claims that MPs and peers are not being asked to vote on whether particular individuals should be locked up for 42 days without charge.

Vitamin C jab will beat cancer is the lead in the Express

Pioneering trials have shown that the jabs can shrink tumours by half and kill cancer cells, while leaving healthy tissues unharmed.
Experts hope the discovery will lead to a new and very cheap treatment and help boost survival rates for millions of patients with the most virulent forms of the disease, for which therapies are currently limited.

Don't call the kids obese reports the Mail

Using the word 'obese' should be taboo when it comes to children, Whitehall health chiefs say.
The guidance is part of a Government drive to inform parents of their child's weight and height at the ages of five and 11.
However, the term 'obese' will not be used. Children will instead be classified as 'underweight', a 'healthy weight', ' overweight' or 'very overweight'.

The Sun is convinced there is a Batman curse as it reports

DARK Knight star Morgan Freeman was in a serious condition yesterday after a horror car smash — in what is being dubbed “the curse of Batman”.
The 71-year-old actor was driving a female passenger when he veered off the road and the car flipped several times before landing in a ditch.
They were airlifted to hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
It is the FOURTH catastrophe to hit the new Batman movie after Joker actor Heath Ledger’s death, the arrest of lead star Christian Bale and an accident which killed a technician on set.

Finally many of the papers report

Nearly half of all the world's primates at risk of extinction

according to an evaluation by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The study, which drew on the work of hundreds of scientists and is the most comprehensive analysis for more than a decade, found that the conservation outlook for monkeys, apes and other primates has dramatically worsened.
In some regions, the thriving bushmeat trade means the animals are being "eaten to extinction".