Friday's papers

The death of the highest ranking soldier since the Falklands conflict is the lead in both the Telegraph and the Times this morning.

Lt Col Rupert Thorneloe, 40, the commanding officer of the Welsh Guards, died after his Viking armoured vehicle was blown up by a substantial roadside bomb that killed another British soldier and wounded six others.

says the Telegraph

The Times adds that

The colonel, who commanded the 1st Welsh Guards for less than a year, had been visiting troops engaged in an operation codenamed Panchai Palang (Panther’s Claw). He was described as a born leader destined for the top.

The Express reports that

By the end of next month the number of new cases of swine flu will be running at more than 100,000 a day and the Government admitted it is powerless to contain the spread of the bug.

The Independent leads with the words of Alsitair Darling whom the paper says has warned bankers to stop backsliding into their bad http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=6812228409396013160old ways

the Chancellor declared in an interview with The Independent: "There are people who are too complacent in my view. They need to be brought back to earth."

The Mail reignites the case of Gary McKinnon asking Why are our MPs doing nothing to help Asperger's victim Gary?

He is described as

is a harmless computer nerd obsessed with proving the existence of 'little green men'.
Yet the U.S. authorities insist the British UFO fanatic is a 'cyber-terrorist' who hacked into top-secret Pentagon and NASA computers.

According to the Guardian

One of Britain's biggest online paedophile inquiries is to be challenged in the court of appeal amid allegations from campaigners that hundreds of men have been wrongly convicted in a mass miscarriage of justice.

Finally the Sun continues its headlines on Michael Jackson reporting that

MICHAEL Jackson's memorial service is set to be the Greatest Show On Earth... just as the superstar had predicted.
Up to a MILLION people are expected to make the pilgrimage to the Staples Center arena in Los Angeles on Tuesday - with 750 million more watching on TV.