A busy weekend for the financiers is reflecting in the papers this morning,the Telegraph reporting that

Politicians, bankers and the public will anxiously watch how markets react as the Government effectively nationalises HBOS and the Royal Bank of Scotland. In a move that fundamentally changes the nature of banking, Gordon Brown decided that the Government has to take a majority shareholding in both banks after he found they were in a more vulnerable state than had been thought.
The banks will in effect be state-run with Government-appointed board members put in place to ensure they once again begin lending to businesses and individual customers.

The Times reports that

The announcement, expected to be made before the London Stock Exchange opens this morning, could involve the taxpayer taking big stakes in other banks including Lloyds TSB and Barclays, if investors do not answer the call to buy shares.

Banks to get £46bn injection from taxpayers to stay afloat says the Guardian

The cost to the taxpayer of bailing out Britain's weakest banks will escalate today when the government announces an injection of more than £40bn into the country's struggling high street lenders.
In a sign of the deepening financial crisis, the government is standing by to take majority stakes in Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS, owner of the country's biggest mortgage lender Halifax, and smaller stakes in Barclays and Lloyds TSB

Cashier No.10 please says the front page of the Sun

TAXPAYERS will become stakeholders in two of Britain’s biggest banks today when the Government bails them out with billions of pounds.

The Mirror says under the headline Bloodbath of the Bankers

Gordon Brown is gunning for the greedy bankers who helped bring about the credit crisis.
He is determined heads must roll as part of the price City fat cats have to pay for being bailed out with £35billion of taxpayers’ money.
Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin, and Andy Hornby, boss of HBOS, are expected to be among the first to go

The Independent reports that

Gordon Brown discussed the rapidly evolving situation with the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, yesterday, ahead of the meeting of eurozone leaders in Paris. Last night, that looked to have set the Continent on the same course as the UK

Europe's leaders follow Brown plan says the Times

After a briefing from Gordon Brown in the Élysée Palace, President Sark- ozy and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, agreed a joint pledge with the 13 other leaders of the eurozone to recapitalise banks and guarantee lending between them. “This needs concrete measures and unity: that is what we have today,” Mr Sarkozy said. “This plan addresses all aspects of the financial crisis,”

The Mail leads with a victim of sorts

Bank boss 'Fred the Shred' falls on his sword... but still walks away with £580,000 a year pension

One of banking's fattest cats is to become the highest-profile casualty of the financial crisis.
Sir Fred Goodwin, the chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, is expected to quit today, just as his bank is given a humiliating £15billion lifeline from the taxpayer as part of the biggest nationalisation deal in history.
But his departure will be cushioned by a pension pot of £8.4million, worth £579,000 a year, although he has agreed to waive the £1.2million in annual salary to which he would be entitled as a payoff.

Away from finance and the Guardian reports that

Lords prepares to reject 42-day law

Controversial plans to detain terror suspects without charge for up to 42 days are likely to be rejected overwhelmingly by the House of Lords today, piling fresh pressure on Gordon Brown to abandon the proposal.
The strength of feeling among peers is highlighted today by Lord Goldsmith, Tony Blair's long-serving attorney general. In an article for the Guardian, Goldsmith writes: "This pernicious provision should be removed from this bill now. I regard it as not only unnecessary but also counterproductive; and we should fight to protect the liberties the terrorists would take from us, not destroy them ourselves. This proposal is wrong in principle and dangerous in practice."

The Independent says that

Downing Street insisted the Government remains committed to the measure because of the scale, complexity and international nature of terrorist conspiracies. It confirmed it was determined to put the detention plan to the vote this afternoon on the Counter-Terrorism Bill.

According to the Telegraph

Fewer people are downloading music from the internet illegally because they are frightened about having their connections cut off, according to new research.Around 39 per cent of music fans currently download tracks from illegal sites, compared to 43 per cent last year, the annual digital music survey of 1,500 people found.
However, of those, 72 per cent said they would stop if they were contacted by their internet service provider (ISP).

The Times reports that

British combat forces are no longer needed to maintain security in southern Iraq and should leave the country, Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, has told The Times.
In an exclusive interview in Baghdad, Mr al-Maliki also criticised a secret deal made last year by Britain with the al-Mahdi Army, Iraq’s largest Shia militia. He said that Basra had been left at the mercy of militiamen who “cut the throats of women and children” after the British withdrawal from the city.

Staying in Iraq and the Independent reports that

The Iraqi government was yesterday rushing 1,000 police to Mosul to try to stop a murderous campaign against Christians which has forced thousands to flee the northern city.
Officials say about 4,000 people have taken flight in the past week to escape the killings being carried out by Islamic extremists intent on wiping out one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. "The violence is the fiercest campaign against the Christians since 2003," said the provincial governor of Mosul, Duraid Kashmula. "Among those killed over the last 11 days were a doctor, an engineer and a handicapped person." At least three houses belonging to Christians were blown up in the Sukkar district of Mosul, regarded as a bastion of al-Qa'ida in Iraq, on Saturday night.

To the American elections and the Guardian reports that McCain is to tone down his campaign

John McCain has bowed to a growing chorus of condemnation over his personal attacks in the election campaign, which critics have claimed run the risk of unleashing the politics of the mob by inciting hatred among his increasingly volatile ranks.
Faced with rising criticism of his negative tactics, McCain looks to have begun a rethink of his strategy. He notably toned down his rhetoric during a sweep through Minnesota, responding to one woman who called Obama an Arab: "No, ma'am. No, ma'am. He is a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues."

Tsvangirai threatens to abandon Zimbabwe power deal reports the Telegraph

The deal between President Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, has been deadlocked over the formation of a new cabinet. On Saturday, Mr Mugabe decided unilaterally to announce that all key ministries were going to his own Zanu-PF party, including home affairs, which brings control of the police and had been expected to be held by the MDC.

According to the Mail,100,000 Polish workers say goodbye to Britain as jobs become harder to find

The retreat has come as jobs become harder to find and the pound has weakened against European currencies.

the paper adds

Officials now believe that as many as half of those who flooded in from Eastern Europe after the EU relaxed its rules in 2004 may now have gone home.
That would mean as many as 350,000 have returned over the past two years. Any exodus has yet to show up in surveys published by the Government's Office for National Statistics, which has been stepping up efforts to record accurate levels of immigration. ONS estimates have continued to show the population is increasing because of immigration.

The Independent reports that

A £70m plan to create one of the world's most radical zoos on the outskirts of Bristol is set to do for wildlife what the Eden Project did for plantlife

the paper adds

Bristol Zoo, the oldest provincial zoo in the world, submitted plans last week for a £70m National Wildlife Conservation Park. The plans had languished on drawing boards and dusty shelves for more than 40 years. It will be built outside Bristol as a separate attraction to the town's older, celebrated zoo in Clifton.

The Sun tells the story of the

PUB landlord who has been swamped with abusive emails after serving SQUIRREL to kids.
Chef Gareth Eddy cooked grey squirrel in a stew with dumplings and veg as part of a food fair.
It was then dished up to primary school kids as an alternative lunch.
Landlord Norman West, 65, of the Molesworth Arms, Wadebridge, Cornwall, said: “Some emails were very threatening.” He is calling in police

Most of the papers report that

Golf hero Seve Ballesteros confirmed yesterday he has a brain tumour and will have an operation tomorrow.,the Mirror adds that

Fans feared for his health after he collapsed at Madrid airport and was taken to hospital unconscious a week ago.
Seve, 51, said yesterday: “Throughout my career I’ve been one of the best overcoming obstacles on the golf course.
“Now I want to be the best confronting the most difficult game of my life, with all my strength as well as with the help of all those whose messages of support are reaching me.” He will have a biopsy tomorrow and doctors will then decide how to treat the three-times British Open champion.

Finally the Times reports that a do-it-yourself video helps the WI get to grips with sex

As a bastion of Middle England, the Women’s Institute is renowned for its redoubtable members and their sensible advice on household matters. From today, that sensible advice includes tips on sex.
A WI video goes online with a guide that includes practical hints such as the best sexual position to adopt if your husband has suffered a heart attack previously and a rundown on battery-operated devices that its members may prefer to call marital aids.