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The UK's unexpectedly strong growth rate has produced mixed messages as the papers struggle to make sense of it.

saying there is a pulse but no room for complacency. The .

But the .

And the Daily Express says while such news might have come as "a tonic" at other times, "these days it comes as nothing more than a relief".

The prospect of Russia playing a role in supporting Nato's mission in Afghanistan makes several papers.

The pointing out that in the 80s Nato encouraged the mujahideen to drive the Russians out.

Remembering the long history of outside interventions in the region, it says "the Great Game reasserts itself".

The describes that withdrawal 20 years ago as a "humiliating rout" and says a return would be "hugely emotive".

The in village graveyards and eating them.

The gruesome report says they grew desperate after a scorching summer.

The , meanwhile, reports that supermarkets are offering "cut price" deals on Christmas food and drink weeks earlier than usual.

And the .

Concerns that 50 species of mammal are at risk of extinction are described as a "crisis" in the Daily Telegraph.

But it is the death of Paul the Octopus - the creature that allegedly predicted the outcome of the World Cup - that preoccupied some of the papers.

while the

But the since when an impostor has taken his place at a German aquarium.