Two governmental military experts with extensive experience working with missiles and computer security systems have examined the television video and conclude the mysterious contrail originating some 30 miles off the coast near Los Angeles did not come from a jet - but rather, they say the exhaust and the billowing plume emanated from a single source nozzle of a missile, probably made in China.

They further suggest the missile was fired from a submerged Chinese nuclear submarine off America's coast, and point out that the timing of the alleged Chinese missile shot coincided with an increasing confrontation between the US and China, and was likely meant to send a message to Washington. Indeed, the Federal Aviation Administration documents that there were no aircraft flying in the area at that time, the night of November 8. "The question that still must be answered is why NORAD's muted response was simply that North America was not threatened, and later our government approved the lame excuse that the picture recorded was simply an aircraft leaving a contrail," said retired US Air Force Brigadier General Jim Cash.

A former US Air Force fighter pilot and commander of an F-15 squadron and an F-16 wing, Cash was assigned to NORAD as an assistant director of operations at the Cheyenne Mountain complex near Colorado Springs, Colorado, and is fully knowledgeable of NORAD procedures. "There is absolutely no doubt that what was captured on video off the coast of California was a missile launch, was clearly observed by NORAD, assessed by a four-star general in minutes, and passed to the president immediately," he said.

Even more ominously, cautioned Cash: "We must question the timing of this shot across our bow. The president was abroad being diplomatic, which means trying to placate China which is becoming overly concerned with our handling a totally out-of-control deficit in spending." Wayne Madsen, a former naval officer who has worked at the National Security Agency and the Naval Data Automation Command, said the inability to pick up what he described as a Chinese Jin-class submarine-launched ballistic missile isn't the first time US Navy anti-submarine warfare sensors have failed.

Madsen, who today is an investigative journalist, said the Pentagon is working "overtime with the media and on the Internet to cover up the latest debacle. However, even some reporters who cover the Pentagon full-time are beginning to question the Pentagon's version of events... over the skies west of Los Angeles." Dr Lyle J Rapacki of Sentinel Intelligence Services, LLC, said the contrail incident off the Los Angeles coast is "fraught with peril" due to the defense systems and protocols in place that should have detected the alleged submarine.

"The decision to officially announce that North America was not threatened," he said, "and all the excitement was due to an aircraft leaving a contrail is a decision that reaches beyond the four-star general level and goes directly to a decision made by the commander-in-chief."

G2Bulletin calls to the Pentagon and NORAD for comment beyond previous official statements were not returned.

Right back in 1990, Mrs Thatcher foresaw with painful clarity the devastation it was bound to cause. Her autobiography records how she warned John Major, her euro-friendly chancellor of the exchequer, that the single currency could not accommodate both industrial powerhouses such as Germany and smaller countries such as Greece. Germany, forecast Thatcher, would be phobic about inflation, while the euro would prove fatal to the poorer countries because it would "devastate their inefficient economies".

It is as if, all those years ago, the British prime minister possessed a crystal ball that enabled her to foresee the catastrophic events of the past year or so in Ireland, Greece and Portugal. Indeed, it is one of the tragedies of European history that the world chose not to believe her. President Mitterrand of France and Chancellor Kohl of Germany dismissed her words of caution. And when Mrs Thatcher was driven from office in 1990, a crucial voice was lost, and a new consensus started to form in Britain in favour of the euro.

William Hague, then leader of the opposition, made a series of speeches which, reread today, rival Margaret Thatcher's in their prescience. He predicted that membership would "lead to huge booms and deep recessions". Hague chillingly added that "the single currency is irreversible. One could find oneself trapped in the economic equivalent of a burning building with no exits." He noted that euro membership could lead to a "full-blown banking and financial crisis."

Nobody listened, many mocked, and Hague was accused of dragging the Tory party to the Right. The BBC, an integral part of the pro-European alliance, played its full role in marginalising critics such as Hague. The state-owned national broadcaster lumped the Tory leader in with cranks and xenophobes. By contrast, euro supporters were invariably presented as mainstream and sensible.

The last Italian Pope was John Paul I, who was elected in August, 1978, but died just 33 days later, his sudden death still the subject of conspiracy theories. The new members bring the College of Cardinals to 203, 121 of whom are under age 80 and thus eligible to vote in a conclave - the process by which a new Pope is elected in secrecy in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel.

Of the cardinals from European countries, nearly half those of voting age will be Italian. With the new cardinals, Benedict will have chosen 40 per cent of the College of Cardinals, infusing the group with conservative, tradition-minded prelates like himself. That will virtually guarantee that a future Pope will not radically overhaul the direction of the Church.

Generating employment "is at the heart of the strategy of some countries to keep their currencies undervalued," Lamy said in New Delhi. "Just as it is also at the heart of other countries' loose monetary policies."

Competitive devaluations, which have raised fears of a global currency war, could trigger "tit-for-tat protectionism", he told a business audience. Lamy singled out "unsustainable and socially unacceptable unemployment" levels around the world as the most serious challenge facing the global economy. But "uncoordinated 'beggar thy neighbour' policies will not result in increased employment," he said.

Washington has urged Beijing to allow its yuan to rise, saying the currency has been undervalued to create an unfair trade advantage and stoke China's economic boom. The United States, where unemployment is nearly 10 percent, has been accused of doing the same with a 600-billion-dollar cash injection announced earlier this month as it seeks to jump start its sluggish economy.

Lamy warned against efforts by nations to achieve a trading advantage similar to moves that worsened the Great Depression of the 1930s.

"The lessons of history are there - showing that it is coordinated action through international cooperation that maximises benefits for citizens of the world," Lamy said.

And now they have become as integral to the new rich as an indoor infinity pool and twinned Doric column portico. "I have seen panic rooms in London houses with fridges, air-conditioning, independent electricity and separate plumbing and water supplies," says Noel De Keyzer, a director of Savills, based in London's Sloane Street. "They first began appearing after 9/11 and have become more popular during the subsequent decade."

"Most of the rooms we have installed have been for overseas clients," says a spokesman for Westminster International, a leading security firm that specialises in building the impregnable four walls. "Occasionally, we have fitted them into grand homes in the middle of the country, where owners are worried about armed robbery and the fact that it may take the police some time to arrive. But otherwise, it is foreign clients in urban areas who feel the need for them the most." These protective pods range from simple rooms with reinforced doors to those built with concrete bases, steel ceilings and bullet-resistant Kevlar panels.

Most panic rooms can be installed for as little as 1,000 pounds, depending on fixtures and fittings. On the other hand, Global Multi Service UK offers rooms that cost up to 90,000 pounds. Its top-of-the-range bespoke models are constructed of steel sheeting, which are capable of seeing off a battery of assault rifles and are equipped with emergency lighting, video monitor and CCTV. There is a separate telephone line, communication system, fresh-air supply, first-aid kit, fire extinguishers and an alarm keypad, all powered by a small generator.

And now they are over here. Although my guess is that it will be only after the last repeat of Dad's Army has been shown and forgotten that the average Brit will be brave enough to install a panic room.

The warning spoke of the "damaging impact" on Ireland's "ability to win and retain investment" should the country's corporation tax rate be increased from 12.5 per cent. It came as talks between members of the Irish government and the European Union and the International Monetary Fund continued around the clock on a financial aid package of as much as 100 billion euros to shore up the country's beleaguered banking system.

Although Brian Lenihan, the Irish finance minister, has indicated Ireland's 12.5 per cent corporation tax rate - the lowest in the eurozone - will not be raised, a number of factions within the European Union are known to have pushed for it to be increased in return for the bail-out. The US warning was written by Lionel Alexander, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland, and a senior HP executive. Foreign investment equates to 110 billion euros - or 70 per cent - of all exports with US companies alone employing more than 100,000 workers.

While the companies are not threatening to leave at this stage, the statement - signed by senior Irish executives from each of the four companies mentioned - does directly point out that although Ireland's tax rate may be low in European terms, it is not when compared with locations such as Singapore, India and China.

This week however, the German pontiff will say for the first time that there are some circumstances in which it can be acceptable for condoms to be used. While the Pope restates Catholicism's objections to contraception and stresses its emphasis on abstinence as the best policy to fight Aids, he says that using a condom could be a responsible act if it is intended to prevent the spread of the virus.

Perceived as the Vatican's enforcer after heading its Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - formerly known as the Holy Office of the Inquisition, he is challenging this image by showing himself willing to embrace change. The Pope's reluctant support for condom use in certain circumstances is likely to dismay the most conservative Catholics who believe it is impossible to distinguish the use of condoms as contraceptives and their use as preventers of the transmission of Aids.

Yet it reflects a growing consensus amongst theologians that the stance now adopted by the Pope can be morally justified. Cardinals, such as Godfried Danneels and Lozano Barragan, have argued that it must be better for an infected man to use a condom if the intention is not to avoid life but to prevent death.

Crucially, it may go further in ensuring the Church's relevance in public debate, presenting it as more humane and more flexible - even at the risk of people thinking the Church has changed its mind on the issue. This desire to secure the Church's place in the public square is at the heart of Pope Benedict's thinking and no doubt the guiding reason behind such a brave move.

Berlin's Euro-dictates are provoking growing anger in various Euro nations. For example, the Greek prime minister accuses the German government of provoking an escalation of the crisis in Ireland and Portugal with its current plans for regulating national bankruptcies. Similar accusations are to be heard in Dublin. In Lisbon, a withdrawal from the Euro is no longer seen as out of the question.

Already at the beginning of the month, French government circles were insinuating that criticism of German policy is no longer possible. It is not even sure, if Berlin still cares about European integration. Warning that continued resistance could jeopardize peace in Europe, Germany has already tried to impose its demands for re-structuring the EU - most recently following the democratic refusal of the "EU Constitution", the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty

THE GERMAN CHANCELLOR LINKS THE QUESTION OF THE PERSPECTIVE FOR THE EURO TO THAT OF CONTINUED PEACE IN EUROPE. "It is our duty to anchor a new stability culture in Europe," is how the chancellor paraphrased Berlin's visions, yesterday, in her speech at the CDU party convention. The project of formulating the EU's financial regulations according to Germany's design is "a gigantic undertaking". This is quite often forgotten, "amid all the talk of crisis mechanisms, voting rights, contracts, stability culture, rescue packages, the IMF, currency, the European Central Bank," said Merkel. In fact "it is about everything: because if the Euro fails, Europe fails." Ultimately "the European ideal of peace is at stake."

The new structure, known as the English Ordinariate, is expected to begin operation early next year. It will allow traditionalist Anglo-Catholics who oppose recent liberal reforms in the Church of England to enter into full communion with Rome while retaining some of their Anglican traditions. In an interview with Vatican Radio, Dr Williams insisted that there was "no ill feeling" between him and the five bishops leading the exodus of Anglicans to Rome.

"Obviously my reaction to the resignations is one of regret but respect - I know the considerations they've been through," he said. "There are still a great many Anglicans in the Church of England who call themselves traditionalist who have no intention of jumping ship at this point, who are at the moment in considerable confusion and distress. But they don't necessarily think if the Church of England isn't working for them that the only option is Rome."

For the first time, the Archbishop suggested that worshipers who join the Ordinariate could be allowed to stay in their Anglican churches under a plan to let Roman Catholics share Church of England facilities. "I think the challenge will come in working out shared use of churches, of how we as Anglicans 'recommend' people and also of course there will be some parishes without priests," he said.

Dr Williams suggested that the Pope's offer to allow converts to retain some of their Anglican traditions within Roman Catholicism represented a significant shift in approach from the Vatican. "Here is the Roman Catholic Church saying there are ways of being Christian in the Western church which are not restricted by historic Roman Catholic identity," he said.

Industry officials, travelers and pilots have complained bitterly to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about new full-body scanners and more rigorous patdown checks begun in recent weeks. Security officials have defended the measures as necessary after foiled plots by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has tried to hide bombs in clothing and parcels that have made it aboard a US passenger airliner and two cargo planes.

With the busiest holiday travel season nearing, fliers face long security lines and new rigorous patdown checks aimed at discovering hidden explosives. As a result, some travelers are questioning whether to fly at all.

Ireland, the latest member to come under intense bond market pressure, agreed on Monday to discuss with an EU-ECB-IMF team how to stabilize its state-guaranteed banks but continues to resist applying for the kind of state bailout granted to Greece. Even if, as seems likely, Dublin accepts an international rescue after more face-saving words, analysts increasingly doubt that will stop contagion spreading to fellow weakling Portugal and, more ominously, perhaps to the much larger Spain.

"In practice, hopes that Ireland can be 'ring-fenced' are unlikely to succeed," Citi economists Juergen Michels, Giada Giani and Michael Saunders wrote in a note to clients. In what can become a self-sustaining frenzy, investors bid up the borrowing costs of troubled countries on the bond market until they reach an unsustainable level when a government needs to raise money or roll over expiring debt.

The European Union stemmed the first wave of debt crisis in May with "shock and awe" tactics by rescuing Greece along with the International Monetary Fund and creating a $1 trillion financial safety net for other euro zone states in distress. Six months later, the deterrent effect of the 440 billion euro European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the main component of that contingency fund, which EU officials said they believed would never need to be used, seems to have worn off.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso played down any sense of a renewed euro zone crisis this week, saying all the necessary instruments were now in place in case a country needed help. But with typical European cacophony, the man who chairs EU summits and heads a task force on reforming euro zone economic governance, Herman Van Rompuy, undermined such soothing talk by saying the currency bloc was now in a "survival crisis."

They are being kept afloat by borrowing 130 billion euros from the European Central Bank. But the ECB is keen for banks to scale back their use of its liquidity facilities. Irish lenders also face concerns about whether Irish mortgage-holders will start defaulting in large numbers. Then there is the risk that depositors will flee: Bank of Ireland alone lost 10 billion euros of deposits in the third quarter.

The biggest problem is funding. Ireland's big three banks have about 110 billion euros of wholesale funding falling due in the next three years. They are unlikely to be able to roll this over unless the EU guarantees their debt.

It should have enough cash to do so: the EU's various bailout mechanisms have access to 500 billion euros. If the commitment was credible, an EU guarantee would probably allow Irish banks to borrow on the wholesale markets. That would help restore confidence - and ease the pressure on Ireland's sovereign debt as well.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will also attend, in a sign of warming ties. Afghanistan will be top of the agenda, with plans to bring Nato's combat operations to an end by 2014. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is scheduled to address the summit on Saturday, has said he wants Nato to hand back control of the country by the end of 2014 - a deadline the US has described as realistic but not set in stone.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the deadline had existed for some time as "an aspirational goal" but that this did not mean all coalition forces would have to leave by that date. The Lisbon talks are expected to shape the future of Nato at a time of shrinking budget cuts and expanding challenges, says the BBC's defence correspondent, Caroline Wyatt. Key to the future credibility of the alliance will be ensuring a workable transition in Afghanistan, our correspondent adds.

On Thursday, Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance had "underestimated the challenge" in Afghanistan but was confident it was now "on the right track". "I'm very optimistic about our Afghanistan operation and we'll make a positive announcement in Lisbon - that the handover is about to begin," he told Portugal's Renascenca newspaper. There are some 120,000 international troops attached to the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in Afghanistan.

The second the doorbell rings, the lights go off and the shades are drawn on the second floor of an apartment building on the outskirts of Athens. For the unwanted visitor, this is apparently meant to convey that no one is home. Since Nikos Kanellopoulos, 62, began appearing in the headlines, he is no longer available for comment.

Kanellopoulos is probably Greece's best-known public official at the moment. He was a civil servant for about 37 years, most recently as a department head in the Ministry of Culture. He went into retirement at the end of December 2008. He must have been very successful: According to the tax authorities, he now owns 10 properties, including the four-storey apartment building containing his own, 126-square meter (1,356-square foot) apartment in the suburb of Nikaia.

Tax investigators also discovered 11 personal banking accounts with four different banks. The grand total of all deposits made into the 11 accounts amounted to the stately sum of 8,923,506.58 euros (over $12 million). Of this amount, more than 8 million euros went into the accounts during Kanellopoulos's last 10 years as a civil servant. The question is, where did the money come from?

The Kanellopoulos case is seen as a particularly drastic example of the Greek malaise. It is making headlines at the moment because it contrasts so sharply with Prime Minister George Papandreou's massive efforts to fend off the national bankruptcy that still threatens Greece.

"The Holy See would consider such actions as grave violations of freedom of religion and freedom of conscience," Lombardi said in a statement. Catholics in China are divided between one Church that recognizes the pope and his authority to name bishops and a state-backed "patriotic association" which names its own bishops. Relations between the two had been seen to be improving, so Lombardi's tough statement was a surprise.

It said that Guo did not have the pope's approval to become bishop and that the Vatican would consider it "illicit and damaging to the constructive relations that have been developing in recent times between the People's Republic of China and the Holy See". The Vatican wants to establish diplomatic relations with China but Beijing says the Holy See must first sever ties with Taiwan, which China considers a renegade territory.

Taiwan, whose formal name is the Republic of China, has full diplomatic relations with only some 20 states.