New bank bailout makes newspapers

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/7809231.stm

Version 0 of 1.

The possibility of a second bailout for UK banks is covered in the day's press.

The Times says Alistair Darling has been forced to consider another financial bailout for banks as the lending drought worsens.

And the Guardian says Britain's banks are defying the government by starving businesses and households of loans.

The paper, which uses a Bank of England survey for its source, also warns that credit will become even scarcer in the first three months of this year.

Gaza conflict

There are strong expectations that Israel will expand its military operation in Gaza soon.

A picture of Israeli troops and tanks waiting at the Gaza border appears on the front page of the Times.

The Independent features outgoing American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, who announced she will not be visiting the Middle East.

The paper says the statement heightened speculation that the Bush administration expects an invasion.

Several papers report that the killer of Liverpool schoolboy Rhys Jones has been beaten up by an inmate at a Young Offenders Institute in Lancashire.

According to the Daily Mail, Sean Mercer was set upon in a revenge attack before Christmas, shortly after he was jailed for 22 years.

School's out

The Daily Mirror reports how two people died when a light aircraft crashed onto a rail line in Staffordshire.

This was just minutes after two express trains had passed by.

A new primary school that has banned the word "school" in its name finds itself ridiculed in most of the papers, particularly in the Sun.

It seems headmistress Linda Kingdon, of Watercliffe Meadow in Sheffield, believes "school" has "negative connotations" for some parents.

She wants it to be known as a "place for learning".

But Marie Clair, from the Campaign for Plain English, tells the Mail the move is "laughable".