Confusion reigns over missing girl

"Where in the world is she?" asks the Daily Mail, as the newspapers continue to headline the search for the missing 12-year-old Shevaun Pennington.

Most report the claims from the family of US marine Toby Studabaker that Shevaun is safe and well and no longer with him.

But the Sun concentrates its fire on the search for the pair, claiming there has been a total breakdown of communication between British and French police.

Health test

The mixed results of the Commission for Health Improvement's audit of the NHS are mentioned in most papers.

The Daily Telegraph focuses on the decision to demote four hospitals hoping to achieve the government's new and much coveted foundation status.

The Daily Mirror says the good news is more hospitals are getting better, the terrible news is more are getting worse.

It suggests the government's increasingly two-tier health system helps only the best hospitals, and calls on ministers to do more for those that are struggling.

Poignant letter

Many papers report the funeral of Lance Corporal Ben Hyde - one of the six military policemen killed by a mob near the Iraqi city of Basra.

The Daily Express, the Daily Star, the Mirror, the Mail, and the Sun print excerpts of a farewell letter left by Cpl Hyde, with instructions it should be handed to his parents in the event of his death.

It begins: "If you are reading this then you will know I won't be coming home."

Troops to stay

The frustration of the American soldiers who have been told they must stay in Iraq is the subject of reports in the Guardian and the Times.

In Fallujah, Sergeant Darin Dowdry, of the 3rd Infantry Division, tells the Times some lose hope - but "you can't get lax because you could die any day".

Back in Georgia, the soldiers' wives are planning a protest march to bring their husbands home.

Calling foul

The prevalence of foul language in films shown on British television screens preoccupies the Express.

It reports the findings of the pressure group, Mediawatch-UK, that what for decency's sake it calls the "f-word" was heard 1,500 times in 60 films broadcast this year.

The paper supports Mediawatch's view that "foul language offends the sensibility of ordinary people" and film-makers should stop trying to reflect real life.

Mammoth find

The current British preoccupation with hot temperatures evidently has not spread to Japan, where scientists are trying to resurrect that most wintry of animals, the woolly mammoth.

The creature has been extinct for at least 4,000 years - but a two-page feature in the Mail says there is remains found in the Siberian tundra contain hope for a revival.

Scientists at Kinki University and the Gifu Science and Technology Centre believe that if the remains are that of a mammoth, they could take DNA samples and clone it, in the style of Dolly the sheep.

But, they warn, the process could take several years.