The war between Georgia and Russia dominates the front pages

Hundreds die as War escalates says the Sunday Times

Georgian officials said that Russian warplanes had bombed a military airfield close to Tbilisi's international airport and just eight miles from the capital, hours after launching raids on other parts of the republic beyond the conflict zone in the separatist region of South Ossetia. Russia was accused of seeking the "annihilation of its former Soviet satellite

The Observer says

Russian bombers and artillery yesterday widened their attack against Georgian forces with strikes against towns and military bases across the country in a dangerous escalation of the two-day-old war. Moscow appeared determined to dismantle Georgia's military capability in punishment for its rival's brutal attempt to regain control of the breakaway enclave of South Ossetia.

The Independent says

As many as 2,000 people may have been killed and 30,000 made homeless as the chaotic conflict between Georgian and Russian forces in the pro-Moscow enclave of South Ossetia entered its second bloody day.

The bombing of Gori says the Telegraph

The ground shook and a series of explosions rippled through the air. From the middle of a housing estate in the Georgian town of Gori a huge fireball rose into the sky, twisting and mushrooming as if in slow motion. Choking dust swirled above the debris, darkening the sky. A brief silence followed and then the screaming started

Victims of a pipeline war says the Mail

After a day of heightening international tensions, Georgian leaders claimed that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which transports oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey, had been attacked. But it is thought the bombs missed their target.Georgian economic development minister Ekaterina Sharashidzne said: ‘This clearly shows that Russia has targeted not just Georgian economic outlets but international economic outlets as well.’
The pipeline is 30 per cent owned by BP and supplies 1 per cent of the world’s oil needs, pumping up to a million barrels of crude per day to Turkey.

Elsewhere events in China are also reported,the Times says

Renewed bomb attacks kill five in China

At least five people were killed and several more were critically injured in a series of bomb explosions in China's far west region of Xinjiang, in what looks increasingly like a concerted bombing campaign by Muslim separatists to coincide with the Beijing Olympics.
Witnesses described how attackers threw home made bombs at a police station and office buildings, injuring police and security guards and destroying two police cars. Five of the attackers were reported to have been killed at the scene

The Observer reports that

Police shot dead seven alleged militants, a security guard was killed and two police cars destroyed in the pre-dawn attack in Kuqa, a city in the Xinjiang region that borders Afghanistan, Pakistan and several other central Asian states.
According to the state news agency, Xinhua, the bombers drove a tricycle laden with explosives into the yard of a police station, wounding two officers. They lobbed homemade explosives at the local office of industry and commerce, officials said.

Tsvangirai takes Zimbabwe power talks to the brink says the Independent

President Robert Mugabe is due to come face to face with his main rival in talks that could see the Zimbabwean opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, appointed as prime minister in a coalition government.
It follows the arrival of the South African President Thabo Mbeki in Harare yesterday, where he is mediating between Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democrat Change (MDC). "We anticipate that there could be a signing after the leaders have met to thrash out the remaining issues," one ruling party official told Reuters last night.

The Telegraph reports that

Obama gets advice from new ‘friend’ George Clooney

Hollywood star Clooney, 47, struck up a close relationship with Mr Obama and is now in regular contact by phone, text and email, according to reports.
Democratic sources claim the Oscar-winner has been sharing his views on policy, urging Mr Obama to take a more “balanced” stance on US relations with Israel.
But one Democratic insider claims their relationship could be “very risky” for Mr Obama’s election chances.

Home news has been pushed off the front pages but there is plenty inside

Brown plans £150 bonus for parents reports the Times

MORE than 7m families who receive child benefit are to be given a one-off payment of £150 to help meet soaring fuel bills under plans being drawn up by Gordon Brown.
The £1 billion handout is expected to form a key part of the prime minister’s autumn fightback after a dismal first 14 months in power.

Brown takes starring role at the Festival reports the Independent

The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, called on ordinary people to "rise up" and do their part in tackling the knife crime that is rampant in some cities when he was quizzed on the subject yesterday by one of Britain's leading crime writers.
Making a surprise appearance to open the 25th Edinburgh Book Festival, Mr Brown was put in the hot seat by the author Ian Rankin, whose gritty Rebus detective stories are best-sellers

Darling: I’ve been stitched up by No 10 on stamp duty says the Mail

Relations between Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling sank to a new low last night after a Whitehall blame game erupted over the stamp-duty fiasco.
Allies of Mr Darling believe he was ‘stitched up’ by a Downing Street briefing operation designed to test the popularity of possible moves to suspend the tax.
The Chancellor, who was unable to confirm or deny the plan, was then subjected to a barrage of criticism for bringing the housing market to a halt as buyers pulled out of purchases in the hope of making future savings

The Observer meanwhile reports on a dream ticket

A powerful coalition of mainstream Labour MPs and leaders of Britain's biggest unions is backing a right-left 'dream ticket' of Alan Johnson and Jon Cruddas to lead the party into the next general election, having given up on Gordon Brown's premiership.
The plan to install Johnson, the centre-right Health Secretary, and Cruddas, a centre-left moderniser who came third in last year's deputy leadership contest, is gaining support as the way to thwart the ambitions of David Miliband, the arch-Blairite Foreign Secretary.

Maddy news dominates the Tabloids

I spotted Maddy's tell tale eye reports the News of the World

A VITAL new witness in the hunt for Madeleine McCann has told cops: “I saw Maddie. I know it was her—I saw the unique blemish in her eye.”
Businessman Trevor Francis is certain he spotted the missing five-year-old in Venezuela just WEEKS ago. Because of the remarkable eye detail, Gerry and Kate McCann regard this as one of the most significant sightings.
Trevor, who swears he spotted Madeleine McCann in the Caribbean just weeks ago, has told of the haunting moment he saw the tell-tale blemish in her eye.

a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2008/08/09/gazza-goes-awol-after-sheryl-gascoigne-s-ultimatum-over-pal-five-bellies-115875-20690494/">Gazza goes AWOL reports the Mirror

Tearful Sheryl Gascoigne has revealed soccer hero Paul has walked out on her after she delivered the ultimatum: It’s your best mate… or me.Distraught Sheryl – who has rediscovered her love for Gazza and is planning to remarry him – told friends she has been through a “week of hell” after he fled her home in a rage, shouting: “No one controls me!”

The Indepedent reports that

Soaring fuel prices and green pressures herald comeback for Britain's waterways

Britain's waterways are on the brink of an astonishing revival – and some of the UK's biggest trucking firms are leading the way. The UK's long-neglected latticework of canals and rivers, which once helped to jump-start the industrial revolution, are poised for a renaissance.
Growing traffic jams, rising fuel prices and environmental pressures are driving the boom, according to industry experts, to such an extent that many shipping and barge companies say they have received more inquiries about transporting goods by water in the past 18 months than they have had in 20 years. Some companies that have traditionally used roads are now appointing managers to mastermind their expansion on to water.

The Telegraph reports on a Bid to plant genetically-modified trees in UK

Scientists have applied to plant genetically modified trees in Britain despite fears that they will damage native wildlife, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.They have asked the Forestry Commission for permission to put GM trees on its land for an international study into biofuels. But environmental campaigners have pledged to fight the scheme.

The News of the World reports that

Top author Bill Bryson has launched a crusade to stop Britain’s rising tide of litter. The US-born President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England explains why councils must act now.

Finally to the Olympics and the Observer reports on Britain's first gold

Great Britain's Nicole Cooke has won the gold medal after a thrilling women's road race in shocking conditions.
Torrential rain that had brought a halt to several events made conditions treacherous on the Beijing streets, but the 25-year-old Cooke was in a group of five that pulled away from the peloton in the 6km uphill climb to the finish.
Cooke, who finished fifth in the Athens Games, then won a sprint to the line, holding off her competitors to take the gold, Great Britain's 200th in Olympic history.