UK420 News Paper Up dates : Reaction mixed over ec

[bongme]

hi

There were opposing views in the UK papers over calls by a committee of MPs to reclassify the drug ecstasy from class A to class B.

A picture of a handful of ecstasy tablets dominates the front page of the Daily Mirror.

Talking of the MPs recommendation, it asks readers: "Are they mad, or are they right?".

In its leader column the newspaper welcomes the MPs' report: A whole new approach is required, it says, adding: "If ever there were a subject which needed thinking the unthinkable, this is it."

The Guardian also says the MPs deserve credit for breaking the "drugs policy taboo", and the Independent praises their findings as "clear-sighted".

The Daily Mail however questions the MPs' conclusion that drug-taking is a passing phase for many youngsters, which rarely results in long-term harm.

"Try telling that to the families of these young women," it says, alongside photographs of six people who died after taking drugs.

Kashmir fears

The deepening crisis over Kashmir is the main news in the Times and the Daily Telegraph.

Both report that British diplomats fear a "doomsday scenario" in which India and Pakistan go to war using atomic weapons, killing millions of people.

The Daily Mail's leader column offers little comfort, believing that the confrontation on the sub-continent is "more dangerous by far than anything happening in Afghanistan or even in the Middle East".

Wembley returns?

Several papers report that Wembley Stadium might be reopened if plans for a new arena fall through.

A committee of MPs was told on Tuesday that Birmingham had been ruled out as an alternative venue for a national stadium - and Wembley could be taken out of mothballs next year for England internationals and FA Cup finals, if the money to redevelop it cannot be raised by this summer.

The Independent believes "the fact that the scenario is even being discussed reveals the depths of despair to which the project has descended".

The headline on the Mirror is: "Pathetic".

Killers' ruling

The faces of three notorious killers stare out from the front page of the Daily Express above a startling headline - "Let them rot".

The paper is concerned that Myra Hindley, Peter Sutcliffe and Rosemary West could be released - along with others who have been told they must spend the rest of their lives in prison - if the European Court of Human Rights rules next week that politicians have no right to decide how long they should serve.

Such a prospect fills the Express with dread: "There can be no second chance for these killers," it says.

Labour's funding

Labour's plans to vet future donations to its coffers don't cut much ice with the Daily Mail.

The party is setting up a fund-raising committee to examine all gifts of more than £5,000, in response to controversy over a number of previous donations, most recently from the publisher, Richard Desmond.

"Yet another propaganda stunt" is the Mail's verdict

"In effect, Mr Blair has left a skulk of foxes in charge of the henhouse," it adds.

Changing house

A number of papers have the story of a couple who moved into their dream home, only to find it stripped bare by the previous owners.

John and Sylvia McMahon paid £285,000 for the house in Colchester - plus an extra £10,000 for fixtures and fittings.

But when they moved in, they found the vendors had taken with them the house numbers and nameplate, radiator covers, a dozen paving stones from the lawn, hooks in the walls to tie back the curtains, a heated bathroom towel rail which had been plumbed into the central heating system - and an electric pump from a cherub water feature in the garden.

A judge has ordered the previous owners to pay the couple nearly £1,200 pounds in compensation.

Bongme