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Also In The News...

Daily cell checks are to be scrapped and voluntary and mandatory drug-testing could be cut back under confidential plans being drawn up by the Prison Service to save money. Prison officers warn the move would turn some jail wings into 'no-go' areas. (Observer)
Pros and Cons of releasing prisoners early

The Queen personally intervened to ensure that her sister Princess Margaret (left) would not rule in the event of her death without a male heir, newly released documents reveal. According to the 1953 papers, "the Queen's wishes" were that the law should be changed so that her husband, Prince Philip, would become regent. (Sunday Times)

British bank customers face having to pay as much as £500 a year simply to operate a current account under plans being considered to charge customers for every transaction. High street banks are trying to recoup revenues lost following a clampdown on excessive penalty fees. (Sunday Telegraph)

The Royal Mail executive responsible for the planned closure of 2,500 post offices next year is in line for a £1m bonus if he completes the programme. Alan Cook, managing director of the Post Office, secured the lucrative incentive on top of his £250,000 annual salary when he joined the company last year. (Sunday Times)

Hundreds of thousands of failed asylum seekers may be allowed to settle permanently in Britain as the Government strives to clear a backlog of 450,000 'legacy' cases of immigrants who were turned down for refugee status but were never expelled and may now qualify for residency rights. (Sunday Telegraph)

Labour is replacing full-time police officers with cheaper 'plastic bobbies', official figures have revealed. The biggest forces are taking on significantly more police community support officers (PCSOs) while employing fewer better-trained staff. Support officers cost at least £10,000 a year less than full-time police. (Mail on Sunday)
Privatised police arrive on beat

A young father has been found shot dead in an alleyway in Brixton, south London, bringing the number of teenagers murdered in the capital this year to 17. Police say the youth was murdered when he was fired on by a black male riding a motorcycle. Friends identified the dead man as Nathan Foster, 18. (Observer)

Pubs are planning to pump in artificial scents such as ocean breezes and freshly cut grass to mask the smell of stale beer, sweat and drains that used to be disguised by cigarettes before the smoking ban. (Sunday Times)
News in Pictures: Up in smoke - years of guilt-free smoking

Foreign News  

A former New York anti-terrorism aide to Republican White House candidate Rudolph Giuliani has issued a stinging critique of the former New York Mayor's conduct over the 9/11 attacks. Jerome Hauer blamed Giuliani (left) for locating the city's crisis control room in the World Trade Centre complex, even though it was a known terrorist target. "Rudy would make a terrible president," he said. (Sunday Telegraph)
Handbags at dawn for Queen Judith

An American civilian contractor has described how Filipino construction workers were "kidnapped" to build America's new embassy in Baghdad's green zone after being told they were going to Dubai. Rory Mayberry gave his account to a congressional committee investigating allegations of fraud at what will be America's largest diplomatic mission. (Sunday Times)

United Nations officials in Sudan fear that a Security Council plan to send a 26,000-strong peacekeeping force to Darfur will backfire because its mandate is too weak. Critics say that rebel groups, whose presence at peace talks will be needed, will not lay down their arms without tougher international protection. (Sunday Telegraph)
Can UNAMID solve the crisis? Possibly

Islamic militants are suspected of using Second Life to hunt for recruits and mimic real-life terrorism. Police in Europe and Australia are concerned the virtual world may have been infiltrated by extremists to proselytise, communicate and transfer money to one another. Radicals may also be responsible for 'attacks' in which buildings depicted on the website are blown up. (Sunday Times)
The Jesuits plan a mission to Second Life

Business  

British Airways, heavily fined last week by US and UK regulators for price fixing, is facing the prospect of a £67m fine when the European Commission completes its investigation later this year into alleged price-fixing in the air cargo market. Meanwhile the US Department of Justice is preparing to announce that a number of as-yet unnamed senior British Airways executives will face criminal prosecution over the scandal - news that will send shock waves through British business, already worried by America's extra-judicial reach. (Sunday Express, Sunday Telegraph)

Karyn Fenn, joint managing director of Topshop, the high street chain owned by billionaire Sir Philip Green, is resigning after just nine months in the job. Her shock departure follows the resignation of the store's previous brand director Jane Shepherdson last October. Both women have left the business after Green opted to take a more hands-on role. (Observer, Sunday Times)
Another check-out at Topshop

The fate of the Royal Bank of Scotland's £48bn consortium bid for Dutch bank ABN Amro is hanging in the balance this weekend. Last minute efforts are being made to persuade shareholders in Fortis, a member of the consortium, to approve a rights issue to finance its share of the takeover. The vote takes place tomorrow, and needs 75 per cent support to succeed. (Sunday Times)
Barclays and the China syndrome

England's summer floods may boost inflation in the second half of this year, as crop failures push up food prices and home-owners spend their insurance cheques on re-furbishing their damaged properties. The extra spending is expected to keep prices high, which may persuade the Bank of England's monetary policy committee to keep interest rates higher, for longer. (Observer)
After the flood, a deluge of loss adjustors

The Sports Pages  

See separate Sports Page: all the latest stories

Arts  

Mega-stars Meryl Streep, 58, Glenn Close, 60, (left) and Barbra Streisand, 65, are in a head-to-head competition for the lead in the musical Sunset Boulevard. The three women are on a short-list being considered by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who composed the music for his version of the 1950 film classic, with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. (Sunday Telegraph)
Check The First Post's theatre reviews

This year's Edinburgh Fringe is believed to have the largest content of satire and controversy in living memory. The production liable to cause most offence is Cash In Christ, a singalong satire of the modern capitalist 'mega church', described as "putting the fun into fundamentalism". Other controversial offerings include Jihad: The Musical, Tony Blair - The Musical, and shows centred on the porn film Debbie Does Dallas, orgasms, Asbos and the thoughts of BNP members. (Independent on Sunday)

Darcey Bussell, 38, who shocked the ballet world when she retired as Britain's prima ballerina, may need a hip replacement. Doctors have said that her hips have been weakened by the pressure dancing has put on them. However, she will go ahead as planned with a dance and music spectacular with singer Katherine Jenkins in November, called Viva La Diva. (Sunday Express)
News in Pictures: Darcey bows out

The Beatles' fans iconic peace anthem All You Need Is Love has been licensed for use in an advertising campaign to promote Luvs, a brand of disposable nappy, on American television. Fans are calling for a protest campaign aimed at Proctor and Gamble, who make the nappies, and Saatchi & Saatchi, the British advertising agency which commissioned the commercial. (Sunday Times)

Columnists  

Why did Tony Blair get on so well with George Bush? Because it was his job to get on with the US president, writes Alastair Campbell in the Observer. But the former spin doctor admits Blair's friendship with Bush was more than simply pragmatic: "I offend many of my Observer-reading friends when I say the President is more intelligent and more personable than the silly 'moron' caricature." But with Gordon Brown's accession and Hillary Clinton's ascendancy, Campbell says we are entering the "era of post-charismatic politics".
The Mole: Brown keeps Bush at arm's length

"Things look bad for David Cameron," says Michael Portillo in the Sunday Times. Trailing in the polls, the Tory leader is in an impossible position, with everything he does now dismissed as a gimmick. With even Tory newspapers openly critical of the reforms he has tried to force through within the party, Portillo says Cameron has to win back the respect of a hostile media and warns: "Brown's honeymoon will not end unless Cameron's revival begins."
Headline-grabbing U-turns aside, what has Brown actually done?
Why the bookies want an alternative to Cameron

This week's IPCC report into the Metropolitan Police's mishandling of the aftermath to the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes proves that Scotland Yard deserves a better boss than Sir Ian Blair, writes John Stalker in the Independent on Sunday. The Commissioner is "dangerously accident-prone" and lacks the "indispensable gift" of understanding how other officers think and work, says Stalker, adding: "The buck stops with him."

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson reveals how US President George W Bush responded to an unwelcome line of questioning on Iraq by cruelly taunting: "Next time you should cover your bald head." Robinson admits that successful politicians have rarely been bald, but says it is time for 'baldies' to stand up for themselves. "Our only flaw is to have too much testosterone," he says. "In other words, we're simply too manly."

Red-top world

British and Portuguese police were last night digging up the garden of Robert Murat, following a dramatic dawn raid in the search for missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann (left). Murat, the only named suspect in the case, was told to leave the villa he shares with his mother. (Sunday Mirror)
Inside MaddieWorld

Ex-Brookside star Jennifer Ellison tearfully told reporters yesterday that her fiance Tony Richardson attacked her viciously during their six-year relationship, once smashing a bottle over her head and shattering her collarbone. (News of the World)

Former Atomic Kitten singer Kerry Katona has discovered that her new husband Mark Croft, 36, has twice cheated on her, once with ex-lover Clare Bonello who claimed that ex-cab driver Mark told her: "I'm only with Kerry for the money." (People)

Brigadier Paul Gibson, the army's top anti-terror chief, has left the army after confessing to cheating on his wife. Gibson, 47, was head of counter-terror operations, one of the most secretive jobs in the MOD. (News of the World)

Shocking pictures of a uniformed police officer having group sex in public have led to the officer, a member of the Cheshire police force, facing suspension. The pictures, which show the officer performing sex acts with two prostitutes, were posted on a web site. (People)

Football star Frank Lampard and his fiance Elen Rives are on the verge of splitting. Elen, who gave birth to their second child three months ago, refused to forgive the England midfielder for locking himself in a Las Vegas hotel room with an East European woman. (Sunday Mirror)

Great train robber Ronnie Biggs was said to be close to death in jail last night. Biggs, 77, is in a specially designed 'nursing home' for elderly prisoners in Norwich jail. He is suffering from skin cancer, heart trouble and MRSA. (People)

A friend of Chris Tarrant has told reporters that the star's estranged wife Ingrid, 52, banned him from sex for seven years - and it was this that drove him into the arms of his lover, teacher Fiona McKechnie. (News of the World)