The smiling face of Barack Obama and his vice presidential pick are in many of the newspapers this Sunday morning

Obama opts for ‘bare-knuckle fighter’ Joe Biden says the Times

The race for the White House entered a new, decisive phase yesterday as Barack Obama introduced Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, a seasoned Washington veteran, as his running mate, describing him as ready to “step in and be president”.
In the same historic setting at the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois, where he put on the mantle of President Abraham Lincoln to launch his campaign last year, Obama described Biden as a “statesman with sound judgment who doesn’t have to hide behind bluster to keep America strong”.

The Independent reporting that

With a 3am blast of text messages to supporters, the Obama campaign began the day by naming the experienced Delaware senator as his vice-presidential candidate. "Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee. Watch the first Obama-Biden rally live at 3pm ET on www.barackobama.com. Spread the word!" An email followed: "Friend – I have some important news that I want to make official. I've chosen Joe Biden to be my running mate."

Politics at home returns also to the front pages

Conservatives must cut tax and spending, say policy chiefs says the front of the Telegraph

The Conservative leader was called on to abandon his pledge to match Labour spending amid fears that Britain is heading into recession.
Lord Forsyth of Drumlean and John Redwood, who chaired Mr Cameron's policy commissions on the economy, suggested it was no longer adequate for the party to promise to "share the proceeds of growth" between public services and tax cuts now that the economy is at a standstill. They called for a bold commitment to cut public expenditure and taxation in order to stimulate recovery.

The Observer reports that

Brown faces party revolt over energy windfall tax

Gordon Brown is coming under fierce pressure to impose a windfall tax on energy companies to help Britons meet the cost of soaring fuel bills. A poll published today shows that two-thirds of voters support the levy and the embattled Prime Minister may face a vote on the plan at next month's Labour Party conference.

Darling's stamp duty dithering froze housing market says the Times

prompting a 20% fall in prospective buyers, estate agents claim.
They report that thousands of house sales have collapsed since the chancellor confirmed that cutting the tax was one of a “number of measures” being considered to boost the economy. With house prices already falling at their fastest rate for 17 years, the hints about stamp duty at the start of this month have encouraged buyers to shelve purchases in the hope that they can save tens of thousands of pounds by waiting until the autumn.

The Sunday Mirror meanwhile reveals David Cameron's second holiday

'Bucket and spade' Dave has shown his true 'blue' colours by holidaying on a £21,000 a week yacht, surrounded by an armada of seven boats of 74 mates and family and banqueting in the finest restaurants.
Sunbathing on a £21,000-a-week yacht, waited on by an army of staff, this is the holiday Tory leader David Cameron would prefer that you didn't see.
Mr Cameron and his family joined 74 friends on seven traditional gulet boats for a week-long tour of the Turkish Riviera which ended yesterday.

According to the lead in the Mail

Madeleine fund in chaos as private eyes are axed after draining £500,000

The Find Madeleine Fund quietly engaged the services of a US-based company which was awarded the lucrative six-month contract earlier this year.
The company, Oakley International, which boasts former British security service and FBI contacts, was hired to monitor the Madeleine Hotline, carry out detective work and review CCTV footage of possible sightings of the missing girl around the world.

As the Olympics draws to a close the Independent says

Thank you, Beijing, you've been great. Now it's over to London

As British athletes celebrated their biggest Olympic medal haul for a century, Gordon Brown signalled yesterday that they would be recognised through the honours system and held out the prospect of a Great Britain football side to compete in the London 2012 Games. The Prime Minister confirmed there would be a Downing Street reception for the team when it returns to the UK, and said there had been such "spectacular successes" that the honours system is bound to recognise them.

Youth sports struggle as British win gold at Beijing Games says the Telegraph reporting that

Too much cash is being diverted to fund training for Britain's elite athletes, critics claim. The result is that the majority of the population, who enjoy physical activity but can never hope, or don't have the desire, to win awards, are losing out.
Olympic success has left many youngsters clamouring to join sports clubs – but the clubs are short of funds and are having to close the door on sporting hopefuls. It also comes in the middle of rising public concerns about the growing levels of obesity among the young.

According to the Express

BRITAIN’S Olympic heroes could be forced to compete under the European flag at London 2012.
A group funded by the European Commission wants to see Team GB replaced with a single European Olympic squad.
As the Queen congratulated the team on Britain’s best Olympic performance in a century, it emerged that our athletes could even be asked to hand over their medals for display in the office of the EU President, a post currently held by French leader Nicolas Sarkozy.

The Observer meanwhile reports that

The public has been urged to stay away from the homecoming of Britain's Olympic champions because of 'health and safety' fears, dashing hopes of a heroes' welcome after the nation's best medal haul for 100 years.
Thousands of people were expected to gather at Heathrow's Terminal 5 to greet the athletes off a British Airways flight from Beijing tomorrow afternoon. However, Team GB will pose for photographers on leaving the plane before being taken to the airport's VIP suite, which is usually reserved for royalty and heads of state. The medal winners will then hold a press conference.

Meanwhile the paper reports that Russia is digging in deep in the heart of Georgia

A day after announcing that it had 'withdrawn' from Georgia, Russian troops continued to occupy large areas of the country yesterday in defiance of international pressure and in breach of a ceasefire deal signed by Moscow.
The country's forces were in control of several key areas outside the original conflict zone - including the Black Sea port of Poti and the western town of Senaki. Additionally, troops had established new 'buffer zones' around the breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia

The Independent reports that

Heavily armed Russian "peacekeepers" pointed their guns at The Independent on Sunday's car yesterday and barked orders that according to international agreements it was "illegal" for journalists to have been in the zone we had come from. No such agreements exist, but what most observers would agree was illegal is the checkpoint itself, which the Russians have established at the entrance to the Georgian village of Karaleti.

Huge boost for city academies says the Times

The schools minister has signalled a huge expansion of the government’s academies programme beyond the target of 400, with the aim of transferring the values of independent schools to the state sector.
Lord Adonis said demand from parents was so high it would be possible to continue opening 100 academies a year after 2011, when the target is likely to be met.

According to the Mail

The Duke of Edinburgh has drawn up secret plans for a private funeral at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, and has declined the offer of a State service.
Senior Buckingham Palace sources have disclosed that despite the Queen’s wish to give her husband of 60 years a State funeral at Westminster Abbey, Prince Philip has opted for a more intimate ‘Royal’ affair that emphasises his service in the Armed Forces.

Many of the papers meanwhile report on Thatcher's struggle with dementia

In her new book, Carol Thatcher tells of her pain at haveing to repeatedly break the "truly awful" news of her father Sir Denis' death to her mother until the information sank in.
In her book, A Swim-On Part in the Goldfish Bowl: A Memoir, she wrote how her mother's "blotting-paper brain" which had always absorbed information got confused between Bosnia and the Falklands during a conversation about the war in the former Yugoslavia.

Poverty is UK's hidden child killer reports the Observer

An 'epidemic of poverty' in Britain is having a dramatic impact on the survival rates and health chances of children from poor families, an influential coalition will warn this week in a major report that casts doubt on government efforts to close the inequality gap.
End Child Poverty, a 130-strong network of children's charities, church groups, unions and think-tanks, claims that the gap between rich and poor represents a 'huge injustice' in British society and has become one of the major factors affecting child mortality rates

Glitter goes into hiding as police assess vigilante risk reports the Independent

Police began a risk assessment yesterday after Gary Glitter claimed that he feared being attacked. Officers stressed yesterday that the former glam rocker and convicted paedophile, released last week after nearly three years in a Vietnamese jail for sexual assaults on young girls, would receive no special treatment.
A police spokesman said: "He is not being treated any differently to any other person in these circumstances." The response follows claims that protecting Glitter would be hugely expensive; estimates have varied wildly from £50,000 to £250,000 for a round-the-clock defence from vigilante attacks

The News of the World meanwhile reports that

THE two young girls raped by Gary Glitter in Vietnam claim they were CONNED into accepting the star’s blood money.
Diem and Nguyen—10 and 12 when they were abused—now wish they had let him face the firing squad.
Pop pervert Glitter’s two child victims united in grief last night and bitterly declared: “He SHOULD have faced the firing squad!”

The Telegraph reports how

HSBC has become embroiled in a race row after it dressed up an overweight white man to look like a Japanese sumo wrestler for its latest advert. The model called Brian, who stars in the bank's commercial with the tag line "Fixed savings rates that won't budge", had his skin darkened and is wearing make-up that makes his eyes look narrower, it has been claimed. He is pictured in a Japanese-style wig and a traditional mawashi belt.

The Mirror reports on British woman's incredible escape from doomed Madrid plane

Teacher Kim Tate, 30, was flung from the MD-82 jet, which ripped in two as it crashed and burst into a fireball.
Kim was in Row 6 of Spanair flight JK5022 before it exploded. The row was the exact point where the plane split apart, which was why she was found, semi-conscious, by rescue workers amid the devastation.
Although Kim suffered a broken left arm and a punctured lung, she was not burnt and is expected to make a full recovery.
In an exclusive interview her brother Glen, 32, told the Sunday Mirror yesterday: "It's truly a miracle that my little sister survived. She was sat in Row 6, right at the point where the plane broke in two and that's what saved her life.

The News of the World reports how

STRICTLY Come Dancing stars are paid almost the MINIMUM WAGE by the BBC and had to STRIP in front of each other, we can reveal today.
The shocking backstage conditions endured by the moneyspinning hit show’s professional dancers will stun millions of its fans.

Finally following the news of her bankrupcy the People reports that

Kerry, 27, doesn't seem to think a £82,000 tax debt is any reason to cut back on her fun.
The ex-Atomic Kitten star enjoyed a six-hour pub crawl on Friday and sang Abba's Dancing Queen at full volume in the cab home.
It was the day after she was made bankrupt in London's High Court - despite having a £1.5million mansion and sharing cars worth more than £300,000 with hubby Mark Croft, 37.