Friday's papers

According to the Independent,as the Copenhagen talks enter their crucial phase,China is holding the world to ransom

Beijing accused of standing in the way of climate change treaty at Copenhagen as US throws down the gauntlet by backing $100bn fund to help poorest countries

says the paper adding that the US

issued a blunt challenge to China, which has now overtaken the US as the world's biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change, to allow its promised emissions cuts to be internationally verified – something the Chinese have been stubbornly resisting.

The Guardian also leads with Copenhagen saying that a confidential UN analysis claims the emissions cuts offered so far at the Copenhagen climate change summit would still lead to global temperatures rising by an average of 3C.

The document was drafted by the UN secretariat running the Copenhagen summit and is dated 11pm on Tuesday night. It is marked "do not distribute" and "initial draft". It shows a gap of up to 4.2 gigatonnes of carbon emissions between the present pledges and the required 2020 level of 44Gt, which is required to stay below a 2C rise. No higher offers have since been made.

The Times says that

A global deal to address climate change is likely to be agreed today but the commitments it contains on cutting greenhouse gases will fall short of the minimum target set by the UN’s science body.

It leads with BA as it reports that its passengers were warned that the threat of strike action was not over hours after the High Court issued an injunction banning a planned Christmas strike.

Union leaders were consulting lawyers last night and said that if a negotiated settlement was not reached with the airline they would hold a second ballot in the new year.

More political scandal in the Telegraph as it reports that a government minister secretly paid more than £40,000 in taxpayer-funded expenses to his sister,

Sion Simon, a Culture minister, told Parliamentary officials that a rented north London property, was his “second home” for expenses purposes.
It can now be disclosed that the flat was owned by his sister Ceri Erskine, a management consultant.

says the paper

The Mail leads with claims that every year at least 3,000 elderly people are forced to sell their homes to pay for residential care.

The scandal of Britain’s crumbling care system has reached such proportions that a third of all those paying the cost of their care end up without their house.

The Express leads with the news that taxpayers will be forced to foot an £18billion bill next year for soaring final-salary public sector pensions, a report warned last night.

Most of the papers report on the case of Mehmet Goren who must serve minimum of 22 years for killing his daughter after kidnapping, drugging and tying her up

Her remains, which police believe were buried in the family garden temporarily, have never been recovered, making this one of only a handful of murder convictions secured without a body.says the Guardian

Whilst the Telegraph says that the schoolgirl murdered by her father in an "honour killing" had repeatedly told police in the days before her death how she was being threatened and assaulted, it can be disclosed.

Many pictures of snow on the front pages

Snow decorated the public statues and rooftops, the mercury dropped as darkness fell – and much of northern Britain lay under a white carpet, with the South braced for up to 8in (20cm) to fall overnight.says the Independent

Local authorities and transport agencies were on high alert last night, with fleets of gritters and de-icing lorries ready to be dispatched to keep key commuting routes clear today.reports the Times adding

As commuters anticipated disruption this morning, a spokesman for Transport for London insisted that lessons had been learnt after snowfall brought the entire bus network to a standstill in February and paralysed other public transport links.

The Queen has not as yet been affected by the weather but as the Mail reports

There was a buzz at King’s Cross this morning as platform 11b began crawling with police.
Could it be a drug bust, the crowd wondered? Or was a rock star about to board a train?
Then a small lady in a headscarf appeared, a handbag on one arm and a posy on the other.
Fellow passengers on the 10.45 First Capital Connect service to King’s Lynn couldn’t quite believe their eyes as the Queen stepped on board a first class carriage.

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