Monday's papers

The Independent this morning carries the story that military commanders have warned that Britain is at serious risk of losing its way in Afghanistan because rising defeatism at home is demoralising the troops on the front line,

High-ranking officers, including a former commander of the SAS, have expressed deep concern that the country is in danger of "talking ourselves into a defeat back home" as the war reaches a critical stage.

Meanwhile many of the papers report that a report by the Senate foreign relations committee is damning of the way George Bush's administration conducted the aftermath of its bombing campaign in Afghanistan,

the report contains a mass of evidence that points towards the near certainty that Bin Laden was in the Tora Bora district of the White Mountains in eastern Afghanistan, along with up to 1,500 of his most loyal al-Qaida fighters and bodyguards, in late November 2001, shortly before the fall of Kabul.

says the Guardian

Gordon Brown has called on Pakistan to step up action against al Qaida and ''take out'' its leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri. says the Telegraph adding that

the Prime Minister made little attempt to hide his frustration at Pakistan's failure, eight years after the September 11 attacks in the USA, to track down the men responsible, who are believed to be hiding out in the north of the country.

The Times leads with reports that Iran plans to build ten new uranium enrichment plants in a gesture of defiance to the West.

President Ahmadinejad announced last night that his Cabinet had ordered the building of ten new plants aimed at producing up to 300 tonnes of nuclear fuel a year, with construction to begin on five within two months.

Four police officers were shot and killed yesterday in what authorities called a targeted ambush at a coffee house in Washington state, a sheriff's official said. A gunman burst into a coffee shop outside Seattle and shot dead four police officers in what investigators described as an "execution". reports the Independent as does many of the papers

Back to home news and the Times says that the NHS regulator was accused of being toothless after refusing to take fresh action against the worst hospitals identified in a new guide.

The dispute followed a report in which at least 12 trusts in England were criticised for significantly underperforming on standards such as patient safety and infection control.

The Guardian leads with the news that up to 10,000 people die needlessly of cancer every year because their condition is diagnosed too late, according to research by the government's director of cancer services. The figure is twice the previous estimate for preventable deaths.

and the Mail's top story claims that hospital bosses received huge pay rises as up to 5,000 patients in their care died needlessly.

They included the chief executive of the discredited Basildon and Thurrock trust in Essex - who was yesterday revealed to be having an affair with his patient safety manager.

The traditional nuclear family has irretrievably broken down and it will soon become normal for children to be raised by relations other than their parents,says the Telegraph,he head of a Government-funded parenting group has predicted.

according to the Family and Parenting Institute,Aunts, uncles, grandparents and even siblings will take on increasing childcare responsibilities in a form of “communal parenting” to cope with the effects of marital breakdown and growing pressures in the workplace

Zac Goldsmith, the prominent environmental campaigner and Tory parliamentary candidate, was tonight forced to deny opposition claims that he had "dodged" paying taxes in Britain. reports the Guardian

The international spotlight has turned on Stitzerland which yesterday voted overwhelmingly to ban minarets on mosques.

The result, which followed a series of unprecedented stone-throwing attacks on mosques, astounded political observers as it was the opposite of what opinion polls had been predicting for months ahead of the plebiscite initiated and partly organised by the ultra- conservative Swiss People's Party says the Independent

The Sun highlights the case of a former asylum seeker who

is living in a luxurious £1.8million home fitted out with the latest mod-cons - all paid for by housing benefit.

adding that

Taxpayers are forking out £1,600 a week so Somali mum Nasra Warsame, seven of her kids and her pensioner mum can lord it in central London for free.

Finally Tiger Woods broke his silence last night over the car crash that led to reports his wife had attacked him after a row over another woman.

The only person responsible for the accident is me,' he said on his website after days of speculation.
'My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble. She was the first person to help me. Any other assertion is absolutely false.'

reports the Mail