The Star: An increasingly irreconcilable difference of opinion between Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and his most successful living predecessor, Jean Chrétien, is at the root of the spreading turmoil within the federal Liberal party.

CBC: In a sworn affidavit, Liberal Party strategist Warren Kinsella says the party's president, Alfred Apps, told him in May about "high level" discussions with NDP officials about the "creation of a new party." The document comes amid fierce denials by leaders of both parties of a CBC News report that the Liberals and NDP have been holding secret talks about possibly merging to form a new entity to take on the Conservatives.

The Star: Can the upcoming G8/G20 summits still deliver a political win for Prime Minister Stephen Harper in spite of the brand-corroding controversies that have led up to them? If the events of the past few weeks are any indication, the answer is a cautious yes. That is not to say that the road that led to this month’s summits has not been a rocky one for Harper or that he will not have lasting bruises to show for his government’s stumbles along the way.

NY Times: BP engineers struggled Friday to plug a gushing oil well a mile under the sea, but as of late in the day they had made little headway in stemming the flow. Amid mixed messages about problems and progress, the effort — called a “top kill” — continued for a third day, with engineers describing a painstaking process of trying to plug the hole, using different weights of mud and sizes of debris like golf balls and tires, and then watching and waiting. They cannot use brute force because they risk making the leak worse if they damage the pipes leading down to the well.

The Globe: The Harper government turned its back on advice from its own civil servants when it excluded abortion funding in its G8 maternal- and child-health initiative, The Canadian Press has learned. Briefing notes prepared in January by the Canadian International Development Agency for International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda suggest access to safe abortion services could save numerous lives in developing countries.

The Globe: The main Canadian military base in Afghanistan came under attack Saturday after insurgents fired rockets and mortars before quickly launching a ground attack. The attack at the Kandahar airfield base, also the main NATO base in southern Afghanistan, occurred at about 8 p.m. local time as militants tried unsuccessfully to breach the northern perimeter. A small number of people were injured and being treated, said Squadron Leader Paul Scott, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force. “It's still ongoing at the moment,” Scott told The Canadian Press.

The Globe: North Korea, accused of waging the deadliest attack on the South Korean military since the Korean War, flatly denied sinking a warship Thursday and warned that retaliation would mean “all-out war.” Evidence presented Thursday to prove North Korea fired a torpedo that sank a South Korean ship was fabricated by Seoul, North Korean naval spokesman Colonel Pak In Ho told broadcaster APTN in an exclusive interview in Pyongyang. He warned that any move to sanction or strike North Korea would be met with force.

The Globe: Rosalynn Carter, wife of Jimmy, the peanut farmer, once made an interesting observation about the reason for Ronald Reagan’s success. “He makes Americans feel comfortable with their prejudices,” she said. That’s political gold for a leader. It’s especially true if, as in the case of the Gipper, it’s accompanied with an aw-shucks, big Hollywood smile. Watching our Conservatives, you get the feeling – although they have a leader who lacks that president's big-sky appeal – that they are trying to touch on the population’s biases in a similar way.

The Globe: Stephen Harper’s chief election strategist deliberately used the CBC complaints process and “paranoia-tinged” language to raise money for the Conservatives and to “overwhelm” and “intimidate” the office, the public broadcaster’s ombudsman says in a report that completely exonerates EKOS pollster Frank Graves. In his seven-page report, released late yesterday, Vince Carlin examines the 800 notes received by his office concerning Mr. Graves, who many Conservatives charge is a Liberal partisan providing tainted polls to the CBC. Mr.

CBC: Rex Murphy annoints Gilles Duceppe parliamentarian of the month. Why? Because he was the only one to allow Auditor General Sheila Fraser to take a look at his expenses! The rest of the parties' refusal to do so is nothing short of shameful.
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