Papers mull Moscow crisis

Friday's newspapers are dominated by two stories - the hostage crisis in Moscow and the arrest of suspects in the US sniper case.

There is a strange sense of suspended animation, writes the Financial Times reporter in Moscow, around the theatre where Chechen rebels are holding hundreds of people hostage.

Relatives hover outside, many puffing on cigarettes - heavy lines under their eyes evidence of their long vigil.

The Daily Telegraph says the quiet, respectable streets have been thrust into the front line of Russia's war with the Chechens.

Facts are few, the paper says, but emotions are running high.

Hair-raising tales

The Times captures some of the awful intensity of the wait for news.

A web of rumours and hair-raising tales - passed on by the hostages' rapidly failing mobile phones - has created, according to the paper, a "tapestry of fear".

Thousands of miles away, communities around Washington DC are experiencing equally powerful feelings.

The Guardian reports that the arrest of two suspects in the serial sniper case has sent a "wave of relief" through city suburbs where common-place chores had become risky endeavours.

According to the Mirror, families were praying that their nightmare was finally over.

New atmosphere

The Independent says the intense anxiety which had gripped the Washington area now appears to have lifted.

The Sun says the capture of the two men has ended 22 days of terror for the whole country.

Meanwhile, the Times predicts a new atmosphere at the Department for Education and Skills.

Swapping Estelle Morris for Charles Clarke, the paper says, will bring about a cultural change not dissimilar to that experienced when Nero replaced Claudius as the Emperor of Rome.

The Times, like the Daily Express and the Mirror, views his appointment as a "distinct political gamble" by Tony Blair.

Immediate challenge

The Guardian admires Mr Clarke's pugilistic drive but worries about the tone he will strike with teaching unions. Will he be able to bite his lip?

The FT says his biggest immediate challenge will be whether to back plans to allow some universities to charge higher annual fees than they can at present.

The Daily Mail reckons that he will have his work cut out to give some meaning to Tony Blair's mantra: "education, education, education".

Several papers applaud the unexpected deal reached by France and Germany to limit how much the European Union spends subsidising farmers.

The Independent says the agreement puts the EU's expansion back on track.

Others, though - most notably those Eurosceptic conspiracy theorists, the Mail and the Sun - are alarmed.

Rebate pressure

They see Britain as having been ambushed - with Tony Blair now under pressure to surrender the rebate first negotiated by Margaret Thatcher.

The Sun's advice to the Prime Minister is blunt: "just say non".

The case of a former chef who believed his wife had been served brown sauce instead of a sweet chilli dressing with her fishcakes at a pub in Dorset is widely reported.

The Mirror says Maxwell James was so incensed that he put on army fatigues, a black balaclava and gloves and tried to break into the Ilchester Arms in Abbotsbury to find the offending bottle.

He was caught red-handed by police and subsequently admitted causing criminal damage.

The Daily Star says he now regrets what he did - but remains adamant that his tastebuds did not deceive him.