Newspaper headlines: Ecstatic Zimbabwe and Budget 'war'

Wednesday's papers look ahead to the Budget, with plenty of speculation on what the chancellor may announce when he gets to his feet in the Commons.

"The worst Budget build-up in history" is how one cabinet source puts it in the Daily Telegraph, referring to what the paper calls a series of botched announcements by Philip Hammond, and a gaffe-strewn BBC interview at the weekend.

The Telegraph says Theresa May's patience with her chancellor appears to have run out, with Downing Street intervening in the way the Budget is being presented. "May's Budget war with Hammond," is its headline.

The Financial Times says Mr Hammond is under pressure from all sides and perhaps on a hiding to nothing.

A safety-first Budget would squander the chance to shape the future, it says, while boldness risks a backlash, and a middle course will please nobody.

On its website, the Spectator's gossip column says Philip Hammond has earned a reputation for being "tin-eared and ham-fisted" and lists some of his gaffes.

They include saying that driving trains is so easy, "even" women can do it; and telling an audience in Manchester that it was great to be in the "North East".

The Daily Mirror says it has seen no sign that the Chancellor is up to the job, while the Guardian quotes an ally of Mr Hammond as saying that just one mistake could end his tenure at the Treasury.

The Daily Mail focuses on Brexit in its editorial, saying that it accepts, "with a heavy heart", that Britain may have to increase its cash offer to the EU to break the deadlock in the talks.

"We can be generous if the terms are right", it says, stressing that any payment above £20bn must be conditional on a good final deal.

But the Sun accuses Brussels of being "so greedy" for UK cash that they dismissed Theresa May's increased offer before it was even received. It says the money is just a red herring, as no amount would be worth paying if the terms were a "millstone" around British necks.

The Guardian gives a "sigh of relief" that the cabinet has approved a higher payment, but says ministers are still in denial about what must be done.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times says Brussels and London are aiming to agree a Brexit divorce deal within three weeks. It says a new financial offer from the UK has injected fresh momentum into the process, and diplomats think there is now a better than even chance that talks could move on to trade in December.

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Celebrating crowds in the streets of Harare are on many front pages.

"Zimbabwe rejoices", says the headline in the i, while the Times says the country was "ecstatic" at President Robert Mugabe's resignation.

The Daily Telegraph says it was a euphoric, if chaotic end, to seven days which shook Mr Mugabe's world.

The Daily Express is among those warning about what comes next. It says Emmerson Mnangagwa - the heir apparent, known as the Crocodile - was Mr Mugabe's enforcer for 30 years, and the people of Zimbabwe do not want to exchange one corrupt despot for another.

Finally, the Guardian reports on research which explains why left-handers are such a hit in sports where the speed of the ball between two players is crucial.

It says while about 10% of the general population is left-handed, the figure is far higher in elite cricket - about 20% - or baseball, over 30%. In a slow-reaction sport such as squash, the figure is the same as the wider population.

The Times says the German study also backed up a long-rumoured notion that lefties persist in a mainly right-handed world because they possess a useful skill in a fight.

Have they survived, it asks, "because their southpaw cavemen ancestors were more skilled at biffing the competition and stealing their women?"