The Independent leads with the end of the environmentalists court case reporting that
The threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in causing more than £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station, a jury decided yesterday. In a verdict that will have shocked ministers and energy companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage.
Jurors accepted defence arguments that the six had a "lawful excuse" to damage property at Kingsnorth power station in Kent to prevent even greater damage caused by climate change. The defence of "lawful excuse" under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 allows damage to be caused to property to prevent even greater damage – such as breaking down the door of a burning house to tackle a fire.
Fuel efficiency at heart of Brown's energy plan reports the Guardian
A long-awaited £1bn energy package aimed at helping households cope with rising fuel bills, including improved cold weather payments of around £25 per head, will be unveiled today by Gordon Brown.
Ministers are hoping the political and public response to the proposals will be more favourable than the muted response to the prime minister's efforts last week to boost the housing market.
The Telegraph leads with the news that
Householders will be able to convert their lofts and build rear extensions to their homes without having to seek planning permission.From next month, extensions of up to two storeys will be permitted as long as they extend no more than 10ft from the back of an existing property — enough for a small kitchen or spare bedroom.
The Mail reports meanwhile that
A senior gas company executive has caused outrage by making jokes about his company’s big profits - while customers are paying record prices.
Mark Owen-Lloyd, head of power trading at E.On, one of Britain’s big six energy giants, was speaking at an industry seminar about the implications of crippling fuel price hikes.
When asked what would happen in a ‘worst case scenario’, with gas and oil prices staying at high levels, he said: ‘It’ll make more money for us’.
The Times leads with an exclusive
Dozens of major trials, including rape and murder cases, are under threat because barristers are refusing to work for a minimum £91 an hour.
At least five big criminal prosecutions, including the Rhys Jones murder trial in Liverpool, have been hit by the boycott, The Times has learnt. Dozens more risk disruption and delays if the dispute over legal aid rates is not resolved swiftly.
The Independent reports how
Gordon Brown has sparked a transatlantic row with John McCain, the Republican candidate in the American presidential election, over an article in his name which appeared to back the Democrat Barack Obama.
The Prime Minister was embarrassed after an article appeared in his name which welcomed Senator Obama's "progressive" new ideas for helping people weather the economic storm, without mentioning Senator McCain. It provoked a protest to the British embassy in Washington by the McCain team, and could cause tensions in the Anglo-American relationship if he wins the November election
McCain forced into a supporting role says the Guardian
The hockey mum turned Alaska governor has replicated among Republicans the kind of excitement that Democratic activists had for Barack Obama.
Yesterday, with the Obama camp on the defensive against Republican attacks and on the slide in the opinion polls, it was the Republicans' turn to ride a surge of popularity with McCain attracting the biggest crowds since he began his run for the White House.
The Times reports how
The race for the White House descended yesterday into a bout of playground taunts, cosmetic outrage, internet smears, and a blizzard of negative advertising designed to play on voters’ fears.
Barack Obama spent much of the day defending himself against charges of sexism after a speech decrying Republican efforts to present themselves as agents of change. “You know, you can put lipstick on a pig,” he said on Tuesday to loud cheers and laughter, “but it’s still a pig.”
The Guardian leads with the latest on the credit crunch,the paper says that
The global economic slowdown has put the brakes on executive pay and ended a long period of rapidly accelerating earnings as the good times rolled, the Guardian's annual survey of directors' pay has revealed.
But the research exposes a growing gap between the executives of Britain's leading companies and a super-wealthy elite at the top of the earnings pile whose salaries continue to stretch ahead.
And the Telegraph reports another consequence,Offal makes a comeback in British dining
By packs sold, the cheapest offal, pig's liver, is up 18.9 per cent, with lamb's liver up 11.7 per cent.
The rise in popularity is attributed to its popularity among chefs, who have for years been telling the public to experiment with lungs, livers, hearts and intestines.
The re-emergence of British offal can be traced to 1994, when chef Fergus Henderson founded his St John restaurant in Smithfield market, east London, and put offal on the menu.
The Express reports that
BORROWERS were given fresh hope yesterday as three more lenders cut the cost of their home loans.
Nationwide Building Society, the Co-operative Bank and Yorkshire Building Society reduced their rates.
Experts said the cuts provided “great opportunities” for home buyers and could help kickstart the stalled housing market.
The Mail leads with the headline
Lawyer at centre of Scotland Yard race war is convicted conman with suspect legal qualifications
Scotland Yard is embroiled in a damaging race war which has left its leadership in meltdown.
Yesterday yet another senior Asian official was preparing a claim against the embattled Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair.
Yasmin Rehman, who has been off work with stress for the last 12 months, claims she has been subjected to racist bullying and victimisation during her time working at the Yard.
The Sun also has a police theme,it reports how
ANTI-terror cop Colin Terry stunned onlookers by going to a village carnival as Osama Bin Laden — days before the 9/11 anniversary.
The chief superintendent pulled on a full latex face mask of the al-Qaeda warlord, the monster behind the atrocities in which 3,500 died seven years ago today.
Mr Terry — a Devon & Cornwall officer currently working in Afghanistan — also wore a white turban, scarf and Arab robe.
The world didn't end yesterday and the papers reflect on the Hadron Collider,the Independent reports
All was quiet at the moment when the greatest scientific experiment in history was scheduled to begin, at 9.30am Swiss time yesterday. No bands, no flags, no cheerleaders – only a silence so heavy and awed that even the 300 journalists stopped talking.
A machine that has taken 13 years to design and build, at a cost approaching £5bn, and which will advance the frontiers of science was switched on for the first time.
The Telegraph reports that
Peter Higgs has attacked his Nobel prize rival Stephen Hawking, describing his work as "not good enough" following a row over potential new discoveries from the Large Hadron Collider experiment.Professor Higgs reacted to an interview in which Professor Hawking jokingly suggested it would be "more exciting" if the £2.5 billion experiment at Cern on the Franco-Swiss border did not find the Higgs Boson, or "God particle", it has been set up to identify
Miracles do happen though and the front and back pages are full of England's victory last night in Croatia,the Sun reports that
MAGNIFICENT England gained glorious revenge on their bogey team Croatia last night with their best victory for seven years.
Whizzkid Theo Walcott scored a sensational hat-trick in a 4-1 demolition in the 2010 World Cup qualifier in Zagreb.
The Times reports that
England have endured some wretched evenings in recent years, not least against Croatia, but this magnificent victory in the hostile Maksimir Stadium, thanks to Walcott’s hat-trick and a goal from Wayne Rooney, was their most startling result since a 5-1 win away to Germany in September 2001 in the early months of Sven-Göran Eriksson’s regime. It was Croatia’s first defeat in 36 competitive matches on home soil since 1994.
Back to reality and the Guardian reports
Countries across the world will have to dramatically increase investment in dams, pipes and other water infrastructure to avoid widespread flooding, drought and disease even before climate change accelerates these problems, experts have warned.
Investment needs to be at least doubled from the current level of $80bn (£45.5bn) a year, an international congress was told this week, and one leading authority said spending needed to rise to 1.5% of gross domestic product just "to be able to cope with the current climate" - one thousand times the current level.
Finally the Telegraph reports that
the Queen plans to make a further foray into the world of cyberspace with a visit to Google.The trip to the British headquarters of the world's most used internet search engine next month is at the express request of the monarch.
The Queen, 82, who learnt to use a computer only two years also, was the first monarch to set up her own channel on the video-sharing website YouTube.
No comments:
Post a Comment