'Shame' heaped on national game

The violence in Manchester following Rangers' defeat in the Uefa Cup Final causes outrage in Friday's papers.

"Despicable," says the Daily Mirror's front page.

"Once again our national game is left lying in the gutter."

The Sun agrees. "A minority of Rangers thugs have shamed the game, their club and their country," says its leader.

But the Daily Star says the culprits were "determined and well organised", and it would have been "impossible to prevent those hell-bent on causing chaos".

'Devastation and despair'

"A vision of hell" - that's the picture painted of China in the aftermath of the terrible earthquake.

Those words come from the front page of the Independent, as it describes the "unimaginable devastation and despair" in the town of Beichuan.

The Guardian reports from the same town: "Bodies lay everywhere in the rubble, too many to count and too many to be removed."

At least, the Daily Telegraph says, the response from China's leaders has been "compassionate and well-disciplined", unlike that of the Burmese authorities to their own disaster.

Good or bad?

Mixed messages on mortgages also greet newspaper readers today.

It is bad news for those who pick up the Daily Telegraph, which says the typical homeowner will pay £200 more a month as the cost of fixed rate mortgages soars.

The Daily Express, on the other hand, offers home owners "the best news for months" as the second major lender in a week cuts its rates.

One upbeat property expert tells the paper: "This is certainly a step in the right direction."

'Moobs'

Finally, an unusual Court of Appeal ruling gets the full monty in the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph.

Judges have ruled that only women's breasts can be regarded as "private parts". The male chest cannot, even if the male in question has man breasts - or "moobs" as they have become known.

"Three senior judges grappled with the question of whether male breasts could be regarded as having any sexual allure," writes the Mail.

The Telegraph, meanwhile, illustrates the point with photographs of James Bond stars Daniel Craig and Halle Berry in swimming attire - but only Halle has a "censored" sign across her chest.