Saturday 22 August 2009

Saturday's papers


The release of the Lockerbie bomber continues to dominate the headlines.

The Times has an exclusive managing to report from his home where the paper says

Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi put on a virtuoso performance when The Times came calling yesterday.


we were ushered into the spacious hall of the distinctly plush villa where chandeliers hung above a marble floor — a far cry from the Scottish prisons where al-Megrahi has spent the past eight years. His family bought the house a couple of years ago with help from the Libyan Government.


Meanwhile the Guardian reports how

The White House last night vented its fury over the release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber when it described the triumphalist scenes greeting his homecoming at Tripoli airport as "outrageous and disgusting".


The Independent meanwhile reports that

British businesses were poised for a Libyan windfall last night after the release of the convicted terrorist Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi completed a five-year rehabilitation for the north African state.


The other story this morning is the lead in the Mail

The son of an SAS hero who helped end the Iranian Embassy siege has been killed in Afghanistan.
adding

Last night, he was devastated by the news that his son Paul, 29, of the 2nd Battalion The Rifles, was killed by a Taliban bomb near the town of Sangin on Thursday while trying to help a wounded comrade.
A second soldier, Private Jonathon Young, 18, of 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, also died in the blast, shortly after polling stations opened for the Afghan presidential elections


The Sun also leads with that story

Last night his widow Joanne, who gave birth to the couple's first child Charley only in April, said through her tears: "He was my hero.


Cheer up is the message in the Express as the paper says we are on the brink of the end of recession with the housing market poicking up,fuel bills to fall,car production up and the stock market on the rise and the paper adds

battling England dismissed Australia for 160 in their first innings to raise fans’ hopes of an Ashes win.


The Telegraph leads with the discovery that NHS workers who take sick leave are claiming tens of millions of pounds a year in overtime and anti-social hours allowances while off work

More than one million NHS staff are paid well above their basic salary when they are ill under a contract which guarantees them a far better deal than those working in the private sector.


Elsewhere the Independent reports that

less than 24 hours after the polls in Afghanistan had closed, both President Hamid Karzai and his main challenger Abdullah Abdullah were saying they had won outright and that a potentially destabilising run-off would not be necessary.


The Times reports that a new clinic in Manhattan is appealing to British couples who want to pick the sex of their next child adding that

Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), which can reveal the sex of an embryo, is prohibited in Britain except when it is used to screen for genetic diseases.


The "house full" sign went up at most of the country's top universities last night as students snapped up the few spare places in record time reports the Guardian

A quarter of clearing vacancies were filled by lunchtime on Friday, compared with less than 10% at the same point last year.


And England bowler Stuart Broad is on the front pages as he put in one of the great Ashes bowling performances as the decisive final Test swung England's way.

Broad, 23, is meant to have been suffering an identity problem, unsure whether to be a fire and brimstone fast bowler, or a steady line and length merchant like Glenn McGrath. Yesterday, on a pitch loose enough to aid both spin and seam (providing the latter was delivered from a steep enough angle), the second model prevailed to the relief of both captain and country.
reports the Telegraph

1 comment:

Timothy said...

"The "house full" sign went up at most of the country's top universities last night as students snapped up the few spare places in record time reports the Guardian

A quarter of clearing vacancies were filled by lunchtime on Friday, compared with less than 10% at the same point last year."

It'll be interesting to see how long the vacancies last in Clearing 2011 with there being less places every year together with more students.