Tuesday's papers

As the deaths in Afghnaistan reach 100 for the year,both the Times and the Telegraph picture the casualties on their front pages

The death toll reached three figures when the soldier, from the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, was killed by small arms fire in central Helmand province.

says the former adding that

it is the first time that 100 soldiers or more have been killed in a year since the Falklands war in 1982, when 255 British servicemen died in two months.

The head of the British Army, General Sir David Richards, has made a direct appeal to the public to give renewed backing to the campaign against the Taliban says the Telegraph

The Copenhagen climate talks get under way and the Independent under the headline
'We won't let sceptics hijack climate talks' reports that

Dr Rajendra Pachauri, the Nobel-Prize winning head of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC), and Dr Jonathan Pershing, the head of the US delegation to the conference, both hit out at the theft of emails from the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, which has been used by climate sceptics in Britain, the US and elsewhere to allege that global warming is not man-made.

The Prime Minister tells the Guardian that

he hoped the EU would agree to cut its output of greenhouse gases by 30% on 1990 levels by 2020 – a cut 10 percentage points deeper than Europe is currently offering. So far, the EU has said it will cut by 30% only if an ambitious global deal is reached.

The Times though leads with the news that

The Committee on Climate Change will report today that 138 million extra passenger could use British airports in 2050, an increase of 60 per cent, without breaching government targets to reduce aviation emissions to below 2005 levels.

According to the Mail,a report by a respected MP claims a taxi driver provided the information that Saddam Hussein could fire chemical weapons at British targets within 45 minutes.

The driver, who worked near Iraq's border with Jordan, was allegedly the 'sub-source' of a senior Iraqi military officer who told MI6 that Saddam had battlefield chemical weapons ready to deploy at 45 minutes' notice.

Meanwhile the Telegraph reports that

A senior Army officer has told the Iraq Inquiry he urged Tony Blair to delay the invasion of Iraq two days before the start of the war because preparations for the aftermath of the conflict were not "anywhere near ready".

The Guardian leads with the news that

Alistair Darling will try to force a "permanent culture shift" in the City as he announces a one-off punitive super-tax of more than 50% on the bonuses of tens of thousands of bankers as the centrepiece of the pre-budget report.

The Sun reports that

Brown's £3billion spending cut vow was rocked last night - by news ministers will spend the SAME on travel, hotels and conferences.
The PM pledged to make savings by merging quangos, halving spending on consultants and moving officials out of London.

Meanwhile the latest Populus Poll in the Times suggests that the bitter party battle over David Cameron’s education at Eton has not damaged his image

The Tories are now on 38 per cent, down one point since early November, while Labour is up one point at 30 per cent. This is the first single-digit lead found by Populus this year. Although the number expecting a Tory overall majority has fallen from 57 to 47 per cent since October, 60 per cent still think that the Tories will be the largest single party after the next election.

David Cameron was accused of "discrimination" and "perpetuating stereotypes" by a group of single parents yesterday as he was forced to defend his party's policy of handing tax breaks to married couples.

reports the Independent

In a speech to members of the single parent charity Gingerbread – which was not advertised to the media by his aides who feared the Tory leader would face a rough ride – Mr Cameron denied being "at war" with single parents.

A murderess who became pregnant while a prisoner is to be given a taxpayer-funded change of identity - even though she is returning to live in her family home.reports the Mail

Lisa Healey, who was 15 when she tortured and killed a lonely pensioner, is due to be released on parole later this month after serving 11 years.

The Express leads with the news that order control chiefs have been rewarded for their failure with bonuses of almost £300,000, it was revealed yesterday.

The teammate of a teenage girl who drowned while preparing for the gruelling Ten Tors Expedition described yesterday how she and fellow pupils pleaded with a teacher to allow them to abandon the training exercise because of atrocious weather conditions.reports the Independent

Charlotte Shaw, 14was swept away as she helped her friend to cross a flood-swollen river on Dartmoor in March 2007,

MPs and immigration control campaigners were angered by the payouts averaging £10,000 each to 29 managers despite a catalogue of “astonishing” blunders.

Six months after Iran’s disputed presidential election the bloodied and battered opposition movement refuses to give up reports the Times

On campuses across the country yesterday tens of thousands of students led the latest round of demonstrations against a Government that they regard as illegitimate, while riot police fought running battles with demonstrators on the streets of Tehran.

Finally a painter has been awarded this year's Turner Prize in a surprise departure from recent years.

Richard Wright, a 49-year-old British artist from Glasgow, was handed the £25,000 award for a series of abstract wall paintings inspired by medieval art, graphics and typography.

reports the Telegraph