Papers dismayed at US finance vote

The rejection by Congress of the $700bn rescue plan for Wall Street is on the front pages of almost all the papers.

"Meltdown" is how many of the papers describe the extraordinary falls in the financial markets after the shock vote.

According to the Times, money markets lurched close to a "catastrophic breakdown" on hearing the news.

For the Daily Telegraph, what could have averted the "potential collapse of the global financial system" has left it "staring into the abyss".

Unsettling poll

Many papers lament the success of the far right in Austria's general election.

In its leader column, the Daily Mail says people were driven to vote against an "arrogant political elite" which had allowed itself to be led by the EU.

The Independent says the poll result remains unsettling even if Austrians voted more out of disillusionment with the bigger parties than xenophobia.

"It's a disquieting example of where protest voting can lead," says the paper in its editorial.

City freedom

The Guardian reports an unlikely contest between Manchester United footballer Ryan Giggs and Burmese pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi.

She was the intended recipient of the freedom of Salford - but now Giggs has come into the running, the paper says.

Another footballer, David Beckham, has inspired a series of children's novels, according to the Sun.

The paper says the books are to be set at the David Beckham Football Academies in London and Los Angeles.

'Arty farty'

A mannequin on a toilet, bowls of dried porridge and the Simpsons.

It must be the traditionalist-baiting art award that is the Turner Prize, according to the Independent.

The paper quotes the curator of the exhibition, defending it, as saying: "Art has always been controversial - it's one of its functions."

The Sun has a more concise verdict on the exhibition's four pieces - an "arty farty" display which is sure to be panned by the public.