Xmas Eve papers

A number of differing stories make the front pages this morning.

The Times leads with the news it has learnt that the Ministry of Defence has cancelled dozens of army training exercises as it struggles to cut costs.

The savings affect the regular Army as well as the Territorial Army and have forced Britain to withdraw from a major Nato exercise alongside the United States

,says the paper

The Guardian reports that the former foreign secretary Jack Straw is to face potentially explosive questioning at the Iraq inquiry next month over a private letter he sent to Tony Blair on the eve of the invasion,the letter

urged the prime minister to look at options apart from pressing ahead with British military involvement in the attack.

Meanwhile many of the papers report that Gordon Brown and two senior members of the Cabinet have been spared from giving key evidence to the Iraq inquiry until after next year’s general election amid accusations that ministers were being given special treatment.

The reprieve will allow Mr Brown, the Foreign Secretary David Miliband and the International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander to avoid the embarrassment of giving evidence before the general election.says the Independent

Civil servants in government departments have been paid a total of £130 million in bonus payments over the last year,reports the Telegraph

Some senior civil servants are getting as much as £50,000 in bonus payouts - twice as much as the threshold of the bankers’ bonus tax that Alistair Darling announced recently that he was levying on the City.

The weather continues to get a lot of coverage.The Mail's front page reports the big freeze threat to a family Xmas as

Drivers have been warned not to go out on treacherous roads, flights have been cancelled and train services badly disrupted by the cold. The AA and police have urged families to postpone celebrations until the roads are safer. At least 16 people have died in the freeze

Another story featuring is the jailing of the parents behind the ballon boy hoax,Richard and Mayumi Heene,

Heene, 48, choked back tears and apologised as he was sentenced to three months while his wife was told she will spend 20 days behind bars.
"I want to reiterate that I'm very, very sorry," Heene told a court in Fort Collins, Colorado. "I want to apologise to all the rescue workers out there and the people that got involved in the community."

says the Telegraph

Two more politicians may face criminal charges in the new year after Scotland Yard passed files of evidence to prosecutors.says the Guardian

Detectives from the Metropolitan police have been examining allegations that a "handful" of MPs and peers have committed criminal offences, including fraud and false accounting, over their expenses claims.

A nice story for Xmas on the front of the Indy as it luanches its Christmas appeal

Mohammed was a child soldier in Afghanistan. He saw his father shot dead, witnessed savage atrocities and was seen in a Taliban martyrdom video. Now this teenager has been given the chance of a normal life – and you, our readers, can help other boys robbed of their childhood

Meanwhile the Express says that we

will splash out almost £1 Million a minute today, defying the big chill in a massive last-gasp Christmas shopping rush.

The Sun has an exclusive with pictures of Jade Goody's mum who

kisses the cross on her daughter's snow-covered grave yesterday as she faces her first Christmas without the bubbly, life-loving "baby girl" she adored.

Its exclusive yesterday is reported in the Mail which says

A married Premier League football manager has been caught visiting a brothel - but the British Press cannot reveal his identity on human rights grounds.

Staying with showbiz and gossip,the Telegraph says that Ten different drugs, including anti-depressants and painkillers, were found in pill bottles next to the bed of actress Brittany Murphy following her death

The Times reports that Heroin laced with anthrax is being sold on the streets of Britain and has already killed two people in Glasgow, prompting warnings to addicts to be on their guard.

The Guardian says that children as young as two are to be targeted as part of a new campaign to recruit young people back to the church,

The Church of England is planning its first concerted drive to engage under- 18s after admitting that it is comprehensively failing to connect with children and teenagers.

and on the same topic,the Telegraph says that churches are holding Midnight Mass services as early as 6pm on Christmas Eve to accommodate families.

Finally in Nashville, Tennessee, Bad Santa has struck, holding up a bank at gunpoint.

The Independent reports that

Dressed seasonally in bright red with white gloves, white beard, red and white hat and dark sunglasses, he pulled a gun and threatened the bank staff that if they put dye bombs on the cash, to make it traceable, he would return and kill them.