Papers' glee at Olympic 'goldrush'

Britain's success at the Olympic Games excites Monday's papers, or as the Guardian puts it, "Britain's goldrush".

A weekend of eight gold medals, was, says the Daily Telegraph, 48 hours of glory that shook the sporting world.

The Daily Mail, which features photographs of the weekend's eight gold medal winners on its front page, declares it is "Great to be British!".

The Daily Star cannot hid its glee that Britain now finishes third in the medal table - ahead of Australia and Germany.

Russian withdrawal?

Away from the Olympics, the Independent sees today as the moment of truth over Russia's intentions in Georgia.

The Financial Times says Western leaders formed a united front on Sunday as they increased the pressure on Russia to keep its pledge to withdraw.

The Telegraph feels Washington has toughened its stance against Moscow.

However, it continues, this has not stopped Russia searching for a fresh pretext to extend its occupation of Georgian territory.

Coast warning

The Independent features what it thinks is a stark warning from the new head of the Environment Agency.

In an interview, Lord Smith of Finsbury says Britain faces hard choices over which areas of coastline to defend and which to allow the sea to reclaim.

Lord Smith says it would be impossible to defend every bit of coast - in both financial and engineering terms.

He calls on the government to give emergency help to families whose homes will be lost.

Market noise

The Sun - among others - describes how market traders at Hexham in Northumberland have been told to stop shouting to attract customers.

The noise created by the stallholders at the 800-year-old market is apparently giving nearby office workers a headache.

Now Tynedale council has ruled that the noise went "beyond reasonable".

As a result, traders can only shout on Tuesdays and Saturday - provided they do it quietly.