More problems for Alstair Darling and the economy,John McCain's VP under pressure and a transformation in British football dominate the headlines this morning.

The Times leads with

Chancellor feels heat as sterling plunges

Business leaders accused Alistair Darling of talking Britain into a recession as the pound fell to a record low yesterday. The Chancellor’s warning that Britain is facing its biggest economic challenge for 60 years was described as a “self-fulfilling prophesy”.
His words threaten to overshadow the first day of Gordon Brown’s long-awaited political fightback.

The Mail and the Express also lay into the Chancellor

Thanks Darling says the Mail

On another chaotic day for the economy, the pound slumped to 1.23 euros, its lowest level since the launch of the single currency in 1999, and $1.80, its worst rate against the dollar in two years.
The Tories accused the Chancellor of having 'talked down' Britain's prospects with his suggestion that it faces its worst crisis in 60 years.

Pound sinks to Rock Bottom says the Express

On a Black Monday for Labour the pound also slumped to $1.80 against the dollar – the worst rate since April 2006. Sterling’s plunge was yesterday being viewed in the City and at Westminster as a devastating verdict on Labour’s mismanagement of the economy.
Critics accused Mr Darling of triggering a crisis of confidence with his doom-mongering outburst.
Last night he was left clinging on to his job amid fresh speculation that Gordon Brown was losing patience with his Chancellor

The Guardian though reminds us that

Never had it so bad? Only if you forget the three-day week and 3m on the dole

Worse than when the lights went out during the three-day week. Worse than when Bernard Hill symbolised the 3 million on the dole in the Boys from the Blackstuff during the industrial carnage of the early 80s. Worse than the arrival on these shores of the men in suits from the International Monetary Fund in the long hot summer of 1976, their briefcases full of plans for cuts in public spending to bolster the pound. Worse than the devaluations of 1949, 1967 and the attack on sterling mounted by George Soros and his speculator mates on Black Wednesday.

It leads with Brown's £1bn plan to help homeownersPM's fightback launched amid fallout from Darling interview

Downing Street hopes the plan, to be unveiled at No 10, will focus attention on "real help" for struggling families after a bruising weekend during which the chancellor warned Britain faced "arguably the worst" economic conditions in 60 years.
Launching his housing plan with the communities secretary, Hazel Blears, Brown will announce a £1bn three-point plan which will involve:
· A new mortgage rescue scheme to help the most vulnerable families at risk from repossession.
· A new shared equity scheme aimed at helping first-time buyers, called Home Buy Direct, where government and developers would offer a loan of up to 30%.
· Bringing hundreds of millions of pounds forward to allow social landlords and councils to build more affordable homes.

The Independent meanwhile reports that

Gordon Brown's closest political ally has warned David Miliband it would be "crazy, destructive and divisive" of him to try to oust the Prime Minister amid new signs of cabinet tensions.
Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, sought to bolster Mr Brown's position as speculation resurfaced that he could be forced out of Downing Street within weeks after the Government made a shaky start to the new political season.

According to the Telegraph

Tories plan to raise inheritance tax threshold to £2 million

The £2 million limit for the amount married couples can leave to their relatives is more than three times the current threshold for the unpopular duty.
It is also double the £1 million the party famously pledged last year, a policy announcement that began the Tory fightback and ultimately derailed Gordon Brown's plans for a snap general election.
The £2 million threshold would come about because the Conservatives would allow couples to transfer a spouse's £1 million allowance on their death to the surviving partner.

From across the Atlantic the Independent reports how Palin's girl becomes an election issue

The sudden intrusion of adolescent bedroom drama into the US presidential race threatens to rock, if not quite capsize, the nascent McCain-Palin ticket. Sarah Palin, the vice-presidential nominee, astonished Republican delegates assembled in St Paul for their truncated convention yesterday by announcing that her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant.
The revelation was an effort to extinguish tawdry internet rumours about who is the real mother of the Alaska Governor's fifth child born in April this year. Left-wing blogger sites, including the prominent Daily Kos, had been speculating that Mrs Palin's fifth child, Trig, who was born earlier this year and diagnosed with Down's syndrome, was in fact carried by Bristol, who would have then been 16. The implication was that Mrs Palin, a social conservative, claimed the baby as her own to cover up for Bristol's indiscretion.

Meanwhile the Times reports that
Hurricane evacuees return home as Gustav fades to storm

Gustav, which came ashore as a Category 2 hurricane, faded further as it moved inshore and was expected to be downgraded to a tropical storm before daybreak Tuesday

The Guardian reporting

Hurricane Gustav announced itself to New Orleans with a colossal black cloud and a sudden howl of wind and rain. Men on Canal Street leaned into it with their ties flying comically behind, then scrambled for shelter. They knew Gustav was merely clearing its throat.
Early yesterday power was going out all over the city, slowly strangling communication with the outside world. Those who stayed behind were left to rely on candles, torches and whatever food they had stocked up.

As a third body is found in the burnt out mansion in Shropshire,the Telegraph reports that

Millionaire businessman Christopher Foster may have shot and killed his daughter as she chatted to her friends on the internet, it has been claimed. Detectives believe the 50-year-old murdered Kirstie, 15, and his wife Jillian, 49, before setting fire to their rambling £1.2 million mansion and turning the gun on himself.
They are working on the theory that Mr Foster snapped under the strain of enormous debts and the shame of having to let go of his lavish lifestyle

The Mail says that

CCTV footage has been recovered which shows Christopher Foster carrying a rifle as he leaves the estate's burning stables, inside of which three horses were found shot dead.
He is then seen running towards the main house, where it is believed his wife Jillian, 49, and his daughter Kirstie, 15, had already been killed.

The last day of the transfer window in football ended with a bang,the front page of the Independent reporting how

The tiny Gulf state of Abu Dhabi launched an audacious raid on one of Britain's top football clubs yesterday in a move that will transform the shape of global football.The £210m takeover of Manchester City threatens to dethrone their closest rivals Manchester United and establish City as the biggest team in the world. The club announced that it had signed a memo of understanding with the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), a holding company set up by Middle East investors, backed by the country's royal family.

The Sun leads with another football story as

SIR Alex Ferguson welcomes Dimitar Berbatov to Old Trafford last night after finally winning his amazing battle to sign him before the closure of the midnight transfer window.In a day of sensational developments, the Manchester United boss even played the role of taxi driver — taking Berbatov to the club’s training ground in his £130,000 Bentley.
Fergie intervened after rivals Manchester City tried to hijack the signing following their £220million takeover by an Arab consortium.

It was a bad day for Jade Goody though,the same paper reporting how she

broke down last night after thug boyfriend Jack Tweed was jailed — and sobbed: “This couldn’t have come at a worse time.”
A judge rejected her mercy plea to spare him a prison sentence, leaving Jade, 27, to battle the killer disease without him at her side.
The weeping TV star told a pal: “This couldn’t have come at a worse time. I’m in bits. I’m devastated. Jack is my rock.”

My world is falling apart says the front page of the Mirror

Jade Goody yesterday vowed to beat cancer on her own after failing to stop a judge jailing her boyfriend Jack Tweed.
The mum of two said Jack, 21, had been "a rock" for her and her young sons since she was diagnosed with the disease.
And his lawyer said: "This lady has a long road ahead of pain and distress. She needs her man to help her."

The Times reports how

Thousands of patients having hip or knee replacements on the NHS may find that their new joints do not last more than a few years.
A study of joint replacements in England has found that the latest surgical techniques of hip resurfacing or partial knee replacement have a lower success rate than older, more established methods, which replace the entire joint.

The Independent asks what pregnant women should know – but don't

According to a survey, expectant mothers are confused about what they should and shouldn't do, and too embarrassed to ask for advice.A survey by the baby charity Tommy's has found almost half of the women asked said they received conflicting information about their pregnancy that left them unclear what they should and should not do.
The confusion extended to what they should eat and drink, whether they could continue having sex, fly in an aeroplane or dye their hair. One in three women also experienced unexpected physical changes, ranging from bladder weakness to mood swings and memory loss, but half of those affected felt too embarrassed to share their experience with anyone.

The Mail reports on the case of the Mother whho'abandons' three youngsters aged between 5 and 11 for two-week 'honeymoon' with new man

Simten Sadiq, 33, was believed to be flying home from abroad tonight and is expected to be arrested by police on her return. Her children aged 11, six and five were thought to have been left to fend for themselves in their council house in Leeds and lived on food stockpiled by their mother.
The youngsters were seen playing outside last week, but a neighbour became concerned about the absence of an adult at the house and contacted police

Many of the papers report that

Thailand democracy protest turns violent

At least one person was reported killed and 34 injured in Bangkok when protesters demanding the resignation of Samak Sundarevej, the prime minister, clashed with his supporters.
Thailand declared a state of emergency early today after the worst violence since an anti-government campaign began in May. Up to 400 soldiers were drafted in to help police the area around Government House, which protesters have occupied for a week. The violence erupted as 500 Samak supporters - some carrying sticks and wearing helmets - tried to remove the opposition People's Alliance for Democracy from the government compound.

The Independent reports how Aid finally comes to flood-ravaged Bihar

Indian officials claimed to have rushed doctors and medical equipment to the flood-hit north-eastern state of Bihar yesterday to ward off outbreaks of disease among hundreds of thousands of victims of the disaster.
For more than 50 years, farmers in small villages such as Ratha have been among Bihar's lucky ones. The annual floods which destroy crops, homes and kill dozens of people in other parts of the state always passed them by. This year they were not so lucky.

Finally the Telegraph along with many of the papers reports how Cambridge University aims for television stardom

Cambridge University officials have been canvassing the script writers of Britain's most popular television soaps in the hope of getting the academic institution featured in a storyline.The university communications office has been in contact with script editors at EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale as part of a campaign to shed its elitist image and appeal to students from more diverse backgrounds.
Press officers also approached Top Gear to suggest it recreate the infamous 1958 stunt, when twelve engineering students winched an Austin Seven on to the top of the university's 70ft-high Senate House.