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The First Post Sunday Papers

Todays Headlines Anti-army protest cleric faces probe over mujahideen cash claims Anjem Choudary, the Islamic cleric whose supporters picketed British troops returning from Iraq last week,... Riots in Northern Ireland after republican arrest Barclays accused of tax avoidance Job centres draft in extra staff Alcohol plan could double prices Also in the News Merkel derails Brown’s IMF plan Foreign News Austria prepares for Fritzl trial Business F1 and Man Utd lenders sell loans Anti-army protest cleric faces probe over mujahideen cash claims Anjem Choudary, the Islamic cleric whose supporters picketed British troops returning from Iraq last week, calling them "butchers and killers", could be investigated by police after it emerged he has been taped urging his followers to give cash to frontline mujahideen fighters. Patrick Mercer, chairman of the Commons sub-committee on counter-terrorism, said: "It is crucial that Choudary is investigated by the police and if the evidence stacks up he must be charged."  (Sunday Times) The Mole: Brown slams police for going soft on Luton protestors  Riots in Northern Ireland after republican arrest Riots have erupted in Northern Ireland, with masked gangs attacking police with petrol bombs, bricks and stones after a dissident republican was arrested over the murder of two British Army personnel last Saturday. Gangs took to the streets in Lurgan, Co Armagh, near the home of Colin Duffy, a former IRA prisoner who stood trial in the 1990s for the murder of a soldier but was acquitted. Youths formed barricades to block the Belfast to Dublin railway line.(Independent on Sunday) Will Self: The IRA didn't die it was supplanted by al-Qaeda  Real IRA targets Catholic police  Barclays accused of tax avoidance High Street bank Barclays is alleged to be saving about £1bn a year in tax avoidance. A whistleblower at the bank passed internal documents detailing an international web of financial schemes to Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable. Cable says the documents are genuine and show a "deeply ingrained culture of tax avoidance". One 2007 scheme was allegedly designed to help the bank save £99m in UK tax by a rapid series of transactions in the Caymans. (Sunday Times) The Mole: If Brown is keen to close loopholes, why £25,000 for Eric Daniels?  Job centres draft in extra staff New figures show a crisis at job centres in the UK, with on average ten people seeking work for every vacancy advertised. More staff have been drafted in to deal with the jobseekers, while unemployment is expected to rise above 2m this week. In one area in the south-east, there are 60 available for every job, according to new figures which reveal the depth of the recession. Six hundred staff previously working in child maintenance have been moved to job centres. (Observer) Wanted: domestic servants for the political classes  The recession is passing some lucky people by  Alcohol plan could double prices The Government's top medical advisor, Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, is to recommend tomorrow that there should be a minimum price for alcohol in proposals which would see the cost of some drinks double. Sir Liam is to suggest that no drinks should be sold for less than 50p per unit of alcohol, meaning that most bottles of wine could not be sold for less than £4.50. The price of many 'own brand' beers would double under the radical new plans. (Sunday Telegraph) Wine: The English have won the wine lottery  Manhattans get the boot as America turns its back on booze  Merkel derails Brown’s IMF plan The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, received French support as she used a press conference in London to derail Gordon Brown's grand plan to boost the IMF. Alongside Brown ahead of yesterday's G20 meeting, Merkel said it was too soon to commit. (Independent on Sunday) The Mole: Tensions rise between Brown and Darling over G20  The Pope will visit Britain next year, it was been confirmed. The historic visit will be timed to coincide with the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman. The visit will be only the second time that a pope has travelled to the UK since the Reformation. (Sunday Telegraph) You read it here first: The Mole predicts the Papal visit  New evidence is being examined which could overturn the conviction of one of the UK's most notorious multiple murderers. Jeremy Bamber was found guilty in 1986 of shooting his adopted parents, his sister, and her twins. Lawyers claim police moved the bodies. (Observer) Julie James, whose son Dan took his own life at a Swiss clinic last autumn, has slammed the NHS for the treatment he received when he was paralysed in a rugby accident. She said the "disgraceful" delay in treating him may have worsened his paralysis. (Sunday Times) Pros and Cons: Assisted suicide  Diana Athill calls for an end to suffering  The Government is to abolish the right of drivers who fail a breathalyser test to demand a blood test. It is claimed some drivers escape prosecution because by the time a doctor can be found to take blood, their blood alcohol level has dropped down again. (Observer) Wrekin Construction, which went into administration with the loss of 300 jobs last week, declared an £11m ruby as one of its assets, investigators have discovered. However, Christie's say the highest recorded price paid for a ruby was £2.6m in 2006. (Independent on Sunday) Austria prepares for Fritzl trial Austria is preparing for the trial of Joseph Fritzl, accused of enslaving his daughter for 24 years and fathering her children. A no-fly zone has been enforced over the court to deter media helicopters. Jurors will hear pre-recorded video evidence from Elisabeth Fritzl. (Observer) Austria has Fritzl - Britain has its own shameful secret  In an effort to improve its public image, the Russian nuclear industry has crowned a 'Miss Atom', chosen from hundreds of female employees. The winner, 25-year-old Ekaterina Bulgakova (left), received an all-expenses-paid holiday to Cuba. (Sunday Times) Our hysterical fear of the nuclear option  Pros and Cons: Nuclear power stations  The Government of Pakistan is clamping down on dissent, trying to stop a march by lawyers from reaching Islamabad, sparking fears of a military coup. More than 1,000 people have been arrested, a TV channel has been closed and the army is on stand-by. (Independent on Sunday) In Pictures: Pakistani lawyers on the rampage  F1 and Man Utd lenders sell loans Worried lenders to Formula 1 and Manchester United - two of the biggest names in UK sport - are selling on loans at deeply distressed prices amid concern about the ability of heavily indebted companies to meet interest payments through a recession. (Observer) Lord Turner (left), chairman of the Financial Services Authority, is to demand a gobal crackdown on banking excess. In a paper published on Wednesday, the FSA will launch a clampdown on off-balance-sheet funding vehicles set up by banks in tax havens. (Sunday Times) Bankruptcy beckons for not-so-great Britain  Barclays is looking for a £4bn windfall, selling off a large part of its $1tr fund management arm in the hope it can stave off the need to ask the Government for support from the taxpayer to deal with tens of billions of pounds of toxic assets. (Sunday Telegraph) Niffenegger sets novel in London American novelist Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife,  has set her second, hotly-awaited book - for which she received an eye-watering $5m advance, one of the largest ever given - in London's Highgate Cemetery. Her Fearful Symmetry is about American twins in the UK. (Observer) BBC reporter Sasha Gankin and French porn actress Chloe des Lysses are among people who want their bodies to be rendered down to crude oil after death and incorporated in sculptures made by Russian artist, and former oil worker in Siberia, Andrei Molodkin. (Independent on Sunday) The V&A museum in London is opening its new Theatre and Performance Galleries. Included in the collection are a Shakespeare First Folio, an account book for the first production of The Importance of Being Earnest and one of Mick Jagger's jumpsuits. (Sunday Telegraph) Mad hatters at the V&A  Prince Charles has been named a 'Friend of the Forest' in Brazil for his support of threatened ecosystems. (Sunday Times) Will Self: If Charles wants to be a politician he should stand for election  A nude sketch of the young Cherie Booth, later Cherie Blair, by artist Euan Uglow is to go on sale for £4,000.  (Observer) Arthur Scargill says allegations his deputy held secret talks with the Government during the miners' strike are either a smear or "the greatest betrayal by a union leader in living memory". (Independent on Sunday) It was Scargill who helped Thatcher break the miners  Northern comics Peter Kay and Paul O'Grady are both planning to cash in with second volumes of their autobiographies.(Sunday Times) Jane Fonda, 71, is tipped for a Tony award for her Broadway role in 33 Variations by Moises Kaufamn. She was last nominated for a Tony on her stage debut in 1960.(Observer) Teenage mezzo-soprano Faryl Smith, who found fame on TV show Britain's Got Talent, will be seen by millions today singing the national anthem before England's rugby match at Twickenham. (Sunday Times) Author Zadie Smith, now teaching literature at Columbia University, has promised her students that most of the 14 novels on her reading list "are short". (Observer) "It's the last thing we want. When she goes, the play dies with her" - Playwright Ed Waugh, who was accused of gloating overMargaret Thatcher's death in his playMaggie's End. (Sunday Times) How Thatcher made Britain great again  "Some boys feel a bit intimidated by me" -Harry Potter actressEmma Watson on how fame complicates finding love at 19. (Sunday Telegraph) Video: behind the scenes on Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince  The 'Cheryl Cole factor' is said to be behind a 1,225 per cent increase in inquiries to travel agents about climbing Mt Kilimanjairo. The singer, and other stars, climbed the peak for Comic Relief. (Independent on Sunday) "I fancied Neil Kinnock. I once went out with someone with red hair just because they looked like Neil" - Actress Rosamund Pike.(Sunday Times) BBC DJs Chris Evans and Chris Moylesacted as advisors to actors in the new film about Radio Caroline, The Boat that Rocked.(Sunday Telegraph) "If everyone who's told me they were there when I did it really had been, there would have been enough to fill Wembley Stadium" -Sir Roger Bannister, who ran the first four-minute mile in Oxford 55 years ago.(Independent on Sunday) It's rumoured that John Motson, veteran football reporter, is considering a move from the BBC to ITV. (Sunday Times) Jade Goody, the reality TV star suffering from cancer, is not expected to live beyond tomorrow. She is said to be scared to sleep, in case she doesn't reawaken. (News of the World) How Jade Goody became the new Princess Diana DJ Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, who went into rehab on Monday, has turned for support to artist pal Julie-Anne Gilburt. Friends fear for his marriage to presenter Zoe Ball. (People) Singer Kylie Minogue (pictured) says she is "happier than ever" with her new boyfriend. She cast Andres Velencoso Segura, nine years her junior, in her men's perfume ad. (Sunday Mirror) Bankrupt former Atomic Kitten singer Kerry Katona threw her husband out when she discovered the former taxi driver had £455,000 hidden in a bank account. (News of the World) Madonna has moved her new boyfriend into her New York home. The 50-year-old singer even cooks meals for the 22-year-old Brazillian model most evenings. (Sunday Mirror)