Varying headlines on the front pages this morning.

The Guardian continues to concentrate on the brewing crisis with Russia reporting that

Britain yesterday raised the stakes in the scramble to contain Russia, pledging support for Moscow's regional rival, Ukraine, and calling on the international community to stand up to Russia's campaign to redraw the map of Europe and make it pay a higher price for its actions in Georgia.

The Sun reports that

RUSSIA last night warned the West that arming Georgia for attacks against breakaway republics would be treated as a “declaration of war”.
President Dmitry Medvedev dramatically upped the stakes in the crisis and threatened military retaliation if America’s nuclear missile shield is built in Russia’s back yard.

The Telegraph says that

Russia's recognition of two Georgian rebel provinces has been strongly condemned by the group of seven leading economic powers.In a joint statement, marking further isolation of Russia from what is usually the G8, the US, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan said that Moscow's "excessive use of military force in Georgia and its continued occupation of parts of Georgia" violated Tblisi's sovereignty.

It leads though with an interview with the energy secretary John Hutton who warns that there will be no more cheap energy

John Hutton, the Business Secretary, admits households will struggle to pay their heating bills this winter due to rising costs.
But he effectively rules out imposing a windfall tax on energy firms because it would only lead to higher charges for customers.

Staying on the energy theme the Times reports that

British claim to Ascension seabed raises the stakes over quest for Falklands oil

Britain laid territorial claim to a swath of seabed around Ascension Island in the remote South Atlantic yesterday, in a move that threatens a replay of the Falklands conflict with Argentina.
Britain presented its claim to the United Nations in New York, arguing that its territorial rights around the island – and, crucially, any resources there – should be extended up to 350 nautical miles from the coastline

It leads with the news that Four months to save £300m masterpieces

Two of the most important paintings in Britain could be lost to the nation unless £100 million is found to keep them. The paintings, by the Renaissance master Titian, are believed to be worth £300 million on the open market, but are offered at a discount to the nation by the Duke of Sutherland.
He has set a deadline of New Year’s Eve to agree the £50 million purchase of Diana & Actaeon, with a second £50 million asked for Diana & Callisto in four years’ time.

There is much speculation about the fate of a Shropshire family across many of the papers,the Telegraph reports that

Police are hoping to gain access to the mansion destroyed by fire owned by a millionaire businessman who has vanished along with his family.Emergency crews have been unable to get into Osbaston House in Shropshire because of the extensive damage caused by the blaze, which started in the early hours Tuesday.
It is feared Christopher Foster, 50, his wife Jillian, 49, and their daughter Kirstie, 15, were killed in the blaze but because the £1.2 million property is so unstable police and fire crews have been unable to go in and search.

Massacre at the Mansion says the Sun

Cops believe struggling businessman Mr Foster, his wife Jillian and 15-year-old daughter Kirstie were shot dead before the seven-bedroom country pile was set alight.
They were also shocked to discover:
THE animal-mad family’s two pet dogs were blasted before their carcasses were slung into the inferno. THEIR three horses were shot and their bodies incinerated.
DUCKS, chickens and even two guinea pigs were wiped out by gunfire and their corpses left scattered around.

The Mail says that

The millionaire businessman feared dead along with his wife and teenage daughter after a suspected arson attack on their home had recently been branded untrustworthy by a judge, it emerged last night.

Too late says its front page

The head of the NHS rationing watchdog has said he is 'genuinely sorry' for a delay in approving a new treatment for blindness.
But campaigners said Andrew Dillon's comments would be of little consolation to the thousands of Britons who have lost their sight in the two years it took NICE to make its final decision.

Most of the papers report on the Gunsmith's converted replicas used in 52 shootings

An underworld gunsmith who modified replica machine guns in a garden shed "factory" – weapons which were used in a surge of shootings and murders, including the killing of PC Sharon Beshenivsky in Bradford in 2005 – could be jailed for life after being found guilty of firearms offences.
Grant Wilkinson, 34, bought 90 blank- firing Mac-10s from a registered gun dealer, claiming they were to be used on the set of a new James Bond film. Instead he turned them into some of the most lethal weapons seen on the streets of Britain in recent years, many of them ending up in the hands of inner-city teenage gunmen. Police have yet torecover half of the weapons.

says the Independent

The Guardian says that

Detective Chief Superintendent George Turner, who led the Thames Valley police investigation, said: "There can be no underestimating the impact of Wilkinson's actions - his conversion of imitation weapons allowed criminals to arm themselves with guns capable of killing and maiming people. We have significantly disrupted an organised crime group that had been supplying large quantities of automatic weapons and ammunition into criminal networks."

There is much coverage from Denver,the Independent's front page look sforwrad to Obama's speach tonight

On anniversary of Martin Luther King's historic speech, the first black presidential candidate will set out his vision for America.

reminding us that

Eight years ago, such a scenario would have been laughable. Obama was broke and without political friends of any consequence. He had to gatecrash the 2000 Democratic Convention in Los Angeles after arriving on a cheap flight at the last minute. A rental car company rejected his maxed-out American Express card and he watched Al Gore accept the party's nomination on television screens at the perimeter of the convention centre.

The Telegraph reports on the fat map of Britain

The Shetland islands top the table as the fattest part of the country while the former coal mining town of Barnsley has the highest rate of obesity in England.Figures also show that some areas of Kent and Essex are starting to vie with parts of the Midlands, the north east, Scotland and Wales as the country's fattest regions.

The Express says that

FAMILIES are being ripped off by an average of £783 a year through Gordon Brown’s bogus “green" taxes, it emerged yesterday.
Hard-pressed households are being forced to pay far more than necessary in motoring taxes and council tax bills as well as a raft of other measures allegedly imposed to cover the cost of pollution.

According to the Independent

Proposals to build three huge new jails would "squander" public money and leave Britain the prisons capital of Europe, a coalition of 34 penal reform groups and unions warn today.
In a stinging letter to Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, union leaders and campaigners warn that the jails – each with a proposed capacity of 2,500 prisoners – would damage efforts to take criminals away from a life of crime and exacerbate mental health problems in jails.

The Sun continues its search for Gary Glitter

SHAMED Gary Glitter looked like he was performing a bizarre dance as he shuffled to avoid a photographer — then did another runner.
The freed paedophile — back home after a Far East jail term — staged a series of frantic gyrations when confronted on a secret night-time trip to a luxury car showroom.

Finally two stories from the broadsheets,the Guardian reports that

The crevasse-like furrows in Gordon Ramsay's craggy brow may appear to be etched a little more deeply today and his language even less temperate than usual.
Still reeling from the savage attack delivered four weeks ago by his former protege Marcus Wareing, Ramsay has now been toppled from his place as the undisputed king of the London restaurant scene by his erstwhile friend.
According to the latest edition of Harden's restaurant guide, Pétrus - where Wareing is head chef - has overtaken Ramsay's eponymous Chelsea outpost to win the accolade of the capital's finest top-end restaurant.

Whilst the Independent says that Swiss finally clear the last 'witch' beheaded in Europe

Anna Goeldi was executed for being a witch more than 220 years ago, the last one beheaded in Europe. On Wednesday, the Swiss cleared her name. The parliament of the Swiss canton (state) of Glarus decided unanimously to exonerate Goeldi as a victim of "judicial murder", said Josef Schwitter, a government spokesman.