According to the British newspaper, the report was prepared for the Trident Commission, an independent cross-party initiative set up by the British American Security Information Council (BASIC). "In the case of Israel, the size of its nuclear-tipped cruise missile enabled submarine fleet is being increased and the country seems to be on course, on the back of its satellite launch rocket program, for future development of an inter-continental ballistic missile," the report said.

Israel currently has three submarines and two more being manufactured in Germany. Earlier this year, Der Spiegel reported that Germany had granted Israel's request to provide it with six Dolphin submarines said to be capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Dolphin submarines are manufactured in the city of Kiel in Germany. Experts estimate they are have the longest cruising range of all submarines. Some reports claim they are also able to carry and launch nuclear weapons.

Fearing an uncoordinated Israeli attack against Iran, the United States is working on several levels to pressure the UN's Security Council into imposing harsher sanctions on Iran, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday. A senior US State Department official said there was growing concern among Obama administration officials ahead of an IAEA report set to be published in November indicating considerable progress in Tehran's development of its military nuclear program.

The US is concerned that the report may trigger Israeli actions against the Islamic Republic which may not necessarily be in line with US interests in the region. The official said that Washington's reevaluation of an Israeli strike in Iran is based on various maneuvers Israel has performed in the past few years.

The US administration is now bent on exercising more pressure on Tehran in order to dissuade Israel from this path, the source said. Washington is therefore pressing China and Russia who are currently opposed to the publication of the IAEA report. The report may cause embarrassment to both countries who are strongly against harsher sanctions on Iran.

On Saturday, the New York Times reported that the United States plans to bolster its military presence in the Gulf after the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq. Citing unnamed officials and diplomats, the newspaper said the repositioning could include new combat forces in Kuwait able to respond to a collapse of security in Iraq or a military confrontation with Iran.

The 240-gramme (6.9-ounce) beast has tracks that are covered with dry microfibres modelled on the toe hairs of the gecko, which can famously zip up windows and along walls almost without effort. The lizard does the trick thanks to millions of ultra-fine hairs called setae, which interact with the climbing surface to create a molecular attraction known as the van der Waals force.

Described on Tuesday in the British research journal Smart Materials and Structure, the robot's tracks are studded with mushroom-shaped caps of polymer microfibres just 0.017 millimetres (0.00067 inches) wide and 0.01mm (0.0004 inches) high. By comparison, the human hair is around 0.1 mm (0.004 inches) thick. The gadget weighs 240g (eight ounces) but tests show that it could take an additional load of 110 grammes (3.14 ounces).

London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares dropped more than 2%, with markets in Germany falling, France, Spain and Italy sliding between 2.7% and 4%. Andrew Lim, banking analyst at Espirito Santo in London, said: "If Greek voters reject the unpopular bailout plan it could result in a "hard default", which could force banks to take losses of about 75% on their Greek sovereign bonds, trigger payouts on credit default swap insurance contracts, and raise the threat of a systemic risk."

"If we get a hard default in Greece, it will exacerbate the situation with Italy and Spain. It just increases the problem of Italy going down the same route, and that's the real risk. The fall in Europe followed big falls on Wall Street overnight and in Asia, with surveys showing China's manufacturing remained sluggish also weighing on sentiment.

Something can't be right when the modest city of Larisa, capital of the agricultural region of Thessaly with 250,000 inhabitants, has more Porsches per head of the population than New York or London. Perhaps the penny - or the euro - is already dropping, because Professor Polemarchakis writes that Larissa "is the talk of the town in Stuttgart, the cradle of the German automobile industry, and, particularly, in the Porsche headquarters there", since it "tops the list, world-wide, for the per-capita ownership of Porsche Cayennes".

"The proliferation of Cayennes is a curiosity, given that farming is not a flourishing sector in Greece, where agricultural output generates a mere 3.2 per cent of Gross National Product (GNP) in 2009 - down from 6.65 per cent in 2000 - and transfers and subsidies from the European Commission provide roughly half of the nation's agricultural income.

"A couple of years ago, there were more Cayennes circulating in Greece than individuals who declared and paid taxes on an annual income of more than 50,000 euros."

Hard to believe? Don't take my word for it. The report in Athens News will add to fears, expressed by leading economist George Soros and others, that last week's deal to save the euro can only buy a little time - not a permanent solution. China may also question why it should support economies that pay their unemployed more than most of its workers earn.

Papandreou, whose ruling Socialist party has suffered several defections as it pushes waves of austerity measures through parliament while protesters rally outside, said he needed wider political backing for the fiscal measures and structural reforms demanded by international lenders. A leader in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right coalition said on Tuesday he was "irritated" by Papandreou's announcement.

"This sounds to me like someone is trying to wriggle out of what was agreed - a strange thing to do," said Rainer Bruederle, parliamentary floor leader for the Free Democrats. "One can only do one thing: make the preparations for the eventuality that there is a state insolvency in Greece and if it doesn't fulfill the agreements, then the point will have been reached where the money is turned off." Analysts said the latest opinion poll showed a majority of Greeks took a negative view of the bailout deal.

The renewed uncertainty will be likely be an embarrassment for G20 leaders in France this week trying to coax China into throwing the euro zone a financial lifeline. "If there was to be a referendum, we may reasonably conclude that they may not accept the austerity measures. We may conclude that it will bring the pack of cards tumbling down," Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Partners in London, said.

Officers in riot gear moved into a park late in the day where protesters were attempting to establish an encampment, hauling off demonstrators just hours after a standoff at the Capitol steps degenerated into a fight that ended in a cloud of Mace and pepper spray.

Denver police spokesman Matt Murray said 15 people were arrested in the evening confrontation, where authorities were moving to prevent protesters from setting up tents in the park, which are illegal. Officals say the demonstrators had been warned several times that the tents would not be allowed and those who attempted to stop police from dismantling the camp gear were arrested. Protesters have been staying in the park for weeks, but tents have repeatedly been removed.

Murray said that most of the protesters were peaceful but there was "just a die-hard group that didn't want to cooperate. We showed great restraint," he said. "We were calm. We went in and did what we had to do. There's a group of very committed people who believe in a cause, and then there are a few people who just want to cause trouble."

Chantrell Smiley, 21, of Denver, said she has been protesting downtown for more than a week, sleeping on the ground in the park. "It was just chaos. This wasn't necessary. My friend got hit with rubber bullets in the face. He was screaming and bleeding, then they Maced him. We're being peaceful. We don't want to be harmed. They came through and took everything down - our food, our blankets, everything's gone." Mike Korzen, 25, told the Denver Post that he was among the group that police dispersed with rubber bullets and pepper spray and suggested that the police force was excessive.

The ILO also noted that in 45 of the 118 countries it examined, the risk of social unrest was rising. Separately, the OECD research body said G20 leaders meeting in Cannes this week need to take "bold decisions".

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said the rescue plan announced by EU leaders on 26 October had been an important first step, but the measures must be implemented "promptly and forcefully". The OECD's message to world leaders came as it predicted a sharp slowdown in growth in the eurozone and warned that some countries in the 17-nation bloc were likely to face negative growth.

"We have reached the moment of truth. We have a brief window of opportunity to avoid a major double-dip in employment," said Raymond Torres from the ILO. The group also measured levels of discontent over the lack of jobs and anger over perceptions that the burden of the crisis was not being fairly shared. It said scores of countries faced the possibility of social unrest, particularly those in the EU and the Arab region.

Khaled's offer comes days after the prominent Saudi cleric, Awad al-Qarni, put $100,000 on the head of every Israeli soldier. Al-Qarni's statement - posted on Facebook - was severely criticized, and messages posted online even warned of death threats. Khaled told the broadcaster: "My offer also comes in response to the threats made against Sheikh al-Qarni."

The Saudi offers follow the recent deal between the Israeli government and Hamas, when Israel agreed to release 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit.

He added that inflation in the region was likely to be "very low" for the next 10 years. Mr Trichet steps down on Monday after eight years as head of the ECB. He will be replaced by the Italian Mario Draghi.

Last Wednesday night, leaders agreed a strategy to tackle the debt crisis and prevent it from spreading to larger economies such as Italy and Spain, although they admitted that more work needed to be done. The three main components of the strategy were: banks holding Greek debt would accept a 50% loss, the eurozone bailout fund would be boosted and banks would have to raise more capital to guard against future losses.

Leaders have been heavily criticised for not acting swiftly enough to solve the crisis, and Mr Trichet urged them to implement the measures agreed without delay. "Swift and full implementation of those decisions is now absolutely critical - now is the time for action," he said.

This will see Brazil, which last year overtook Italy to become the world's seventh biggest economy, move up one more place to sixth with the UK falling to seventh. Robert Wood, the EIU's chief economist on Brazil, said the country's surge up the table owed much to a growing consumer class and a booming trade relationship with China, based on the Asian giant's need for commodities such as soy and iron ore.

"It's partly the story of the lower income classes rising up in Brazil to join the middle-class and partly the sheer size of the population of nearly 200 million," said Mr Wood. "This also links in with Brazil's emergence in terms of being dragged up by demand from China. We are in the middle of a commodity super-cycle that will last for some time but at some point the really good times Brazil is enjoying will cool off a bit."

According to the EIU, Brazil will lose sixth place to India in 2013 but regain it in 2014 - the year it will host the World Cup - when its GDP overtakes that of France.

At 7:45 pm, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy could no longer avoid the embarrassing and unpleasant task of throwing out 10 people. Friendliness was called for, of course, and nice words. But so too was firmness: Their presence was no longer required, and they were asked to leave the assembly hall of the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels.

They were all proud people, the sort who usually do the throwing out themselves: national leaders like British Prime Minister David Cameron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk - all from the 10 countries that are part of the European Union but don't use the euro. They met last Wednesday with their 17 counterparts from the euro zone to discuss the future of Europe. In reality, though, they complained that the 17 euro-zone nations were embarking on their own path and not involving them sufficiently.

It was a memorable meeting, and when it finally ended in the early morning hours of Thursday, a program to rescue the euro had emerged. It revealed the contours of a new Europe - a divided Europe, with a new border running between those countries which belong to the common currency area and those which do not. In the future, there will be two Europes within the European Union.

One could very well be called Merkel's Europe. The German chancellor played an essential role in creating it, and now the euro zone is the kind of entity she envisioned. This new Europe has a nearly hegemonic leader, namely Germany. It has a goal, the stability of the euro. And it has a principle that reads: Those who botch their finances stand to lose a portion of their sovereignty. It also has a central administrative body, the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF), which manages the bailout fund.

The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) became the first UN agency to welcome the Palestinians as a full member since President Mahmoud Abbas applied for full membership of the United Nations on September 23.

A huge cheer erupted in UNESCO's General Assembly after the vote, which marks a symbolic victory for Palestinians in the complex diplomacy that surrounds their collective status and relations with foreign powers. "Today's victory at UNESCO is the beginning of a road that is difficult, but will lead to the freedom of our land and people from occupation," Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said. "Palestine has the right to a place on the map."

Israel called the vote a "tragedy" and the decision damaged relations between UNESCO and the United States, an ally of Israel that provides about 22 percent of the body's funding, or some $70 million. Legislation stipulates that the US can cut off funding to any United Nations agency that accepts Palestinians as a member.

The yearly march commemorating the struggle against the Axis was blocked in Thessaloniki by protesters shouting "traitor" at Greece's aging president Karolos Papuolias, himself a teenage resistor. The city band wore black ribbons of protest against the Memorandum, the hated document of EU-IMF submission. They downed instruments in silence as they passed the podium of ministers.

I do not wish to be anti-German, since German citizens have been misled by their own elites and Germany itself is the chief diplomatic and political victim of EMU's unfolding tragedy. But this is what happens when you insert words such as "Uberwachungskapazitat vor Ort" (monitoring capacity on the ground) into EU summit conclusions. Europe's inspectors will henceforth establish an occupation office in Athens to ensure the "full implementation" of austerity policies, for as long as it takes. Greece has been stripped even of the pretence of sovereignty.

This country that freed itself from Ottoman control in the 1820s (with French help), is reduced to a Sanjak of the new imperial order. The Greeks will find out soon whether these officials answering to one Horst Reichenbach - unfortunately named for this delicate assignment (couldn't they find a Spaniard, or a Slovene?) - intend to foreclose on sovereign assets and transfer the proceeds to North European creditors. I do not think it would be wise for them to try.

Yes, Greece has gained debt relief: roughly 100 billion euros, if you think life insurers, pension funds, and others will "volunteer" to join banks in accepting their 50 per cent haircut. This will leave Greece with a public debt of 120 per cent of GDP in 2020 after nine years of depression, if all goes perfectly, the same level that set off the crisis.

That repositioning could include new combat forces in Kuwait able to respond to a collapse of security in Iraq or a military confrontation with Iran. The plans, under discussion for months, gained new urgency after President Obama's announcement this month that the last American soldiers would be brought home from Iraq by the end of December.

Ending the eight-year war was a central pledge of his presidential campaign, but American military officers and diplomats, as well as officials of several countries in the region, worry that the withdrawal could leave instability or worse in its wake. After unsuccessfully pressing both the Obama administration and the Iraqi government to permit as many as 20,000 American troops to remain in Iraq beyond 2011, the Pentagon is now drawing up an alternative.

In addition to negotiations over maintaining a ground combat presence in Kuwait, the United States is considering sending more naval warships through international waters in the region. With an eye on the threat of a belligerent Iran, the administration is also seeking to expand military ties with the six nations in the Gulf Cooperation Council - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

While the United States has close bilateral military relationships with each, the administration and the military are trying to foster a new "security architecture" for the Persian Gulf that would integrate air and naval patrols and missile defense.