BBC UK News – Anger over the prank phone messages left for the actor, Andrew Sachs, is vented in the editorials of six papers.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has joined the attack and the Sun says the scandal is now beyond the BBC’s control.

The Independent says the BBC’s apology seemed to reflect more a fear of the press than a proper sense of moral obligation.

The Daily Mail says BBC managers, with their metropolitan mindsets, could not see what the fuss was about.

The Independent’s lead is that some of the world’s largest hedge funds could lose billions after betting on the shares of carmaker Volkswagen.

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Bloomberg – Bank of England Deputy Governor John Gieve said investors are still facing “acute” stress as market declines force hedge funds to sell assets.

“The financial system remains under acute strain,” Gieve said in a speech in London today. “The falls in equity markets, corporate bond prices and the prices for leveraged loans is hitting both long-term institutional investors and leveraged investors, including hedge funds.”

The Bank of England said in a semi-annual report that $2.8 trillion in banking losses and the threat of a global recession are increasing risks to financial stability. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday suggested he may scrap decade- old fiscal rules to prop up the banking system as the nation faces its first recession since 1991.

Investment losses at hedge funds and insurers pose further risks to the system, the central bank’s report said, as insurers may fall short of capital requirements and face credit rating downgrades, while hedge funds may be forced to sell assets.

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Reuters – Nations from Europe to Australia rushed out plans on Sunday to shore up their banks, trying to halt a markets crash with pledges to back lending, buy stakes in financial institutions and take other emergency steps.if(window.yzq_d==null)window.yzq_d=new Object(); window.yzq_d['Yl9NCdG_Rvc-']=’&U=13fiorehq%2fN%3dYl9NCdG_Rvc-%2fC%3d632663.12996380.13209191.6227634%2fD%3dLREC%2fB%3d4577807%2fV%3d1′; 

European leaders meeting in Paris said their line of attack would help halt the chaos that has frozen credit markets, the lifeblood of the financial system, redrawn the world’s financial industry and threatened a global recession.

"I believe that we will see over the coming few days worldwide action that will make people see that confidence in the banking system can be restored," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told reporters.

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