It is a product of the company's secretive Phantom Works research and development arm. Boeing says the aircraft is capable of long endurance flights because of its "lighter" and "more powerful" hydrogen fuel system. "We flew Condor [the company's previous reconnaissance drone] for 60 hours in 1989 on regular jet fuel, and that was the maximum," said Chris Haddox from Boeing Phantom Works. "Now we're talking 96 hours."

The company explained in a statement that Phantom Eye was "powered by two 2.3 litre, four-cylinder engines that provide 150 horsepower each". It is also very large, with a 46m (150ft) wingspan. "It isn't built for stealth - it's built for endurance," Mr Haddox told BBC News.

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has an ongoing interest in long-endurance high-altitude planes for surveillance and is considering a several different technologies, including solar power, to meet the requirements of what it refers to as its "Scavenger project". The aerospace and defence company Qinetiq are carrying out trials in conjunction with the MoD to develop a solar powered plane called Zephyr.

Increasingly, unmanned ground vehicles and unmanned sensors are also being used - and not just in the United States. Countries around the world are turning to unmanned armies to help protect their borders. Here's what some governments are doing:

UNITED STATES: The US uses some of the most high-tech arrays of sensors and devices to guard its border, including tethered blimps, unmanned Predator aircraft and cameras - though whether all that technology has been effective at stemming the flow of illegal movement is unclear.

EUROPEAN UNION: Europe's answer to the United States' high-tech border fence is TALOS, which combines unmanned ground vehicles and sensors. TALOS is intended to "help in detecting, tracking and intercepting persons trying to cross the land border illegally between the border crossing points," according to an official description. The system would theoretically include guard robots that would spot people illegally crossing a border and even have special "interceptor" robots to confront intruders. There are no plans, however, for armed robots.

SOUTH KOREA: Armed robotic sentries may soon be deployed along one of the most politically charged borders in the world: the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea. According to news reports, the South Korean government is considering use of the SGR-1, produced by Samsung Techwin, which the military newspaper Stars and Stripes described as looking like a "cross between a traffic signal and a tourist-trap telescope." The SGR-1 would be used to help guard the DMZ. "The robots are not being deployed to replace or free up human soldiers," Huh Kwang-hak, a spokesman for the company that makes the robot, told Stars and Stripes. "Rather, they will become part of the defense team with our human soldiers."

ISRAEL: Home to one of the world's most tech-laden - and controversial - borders, Israel is also one of the leading producers of military unmanned systems. It has made robots that can patrol borders and unmanned patrol boats for coastal waters, and has reportedly looked at automated systems that would shoot at potential intruders with no human intervention.

IRAN: The government in Tehran, which is known for hyping its military technology, now says it has plans to employ unmanned aircraft to patrol its borders. "These drones are to carry only reconnaissance missions for the time being," said Deputy Operations Commander Majid Pirhadi, according to Iran's PressTV.

Dr Susan Shaw, founder and director of the Marine Environmental Research Institute, said during a CNN broadcast that after personally diving the oil spill in late May, a "very fiery sore throat" plagued her from inhaling fumes coming off the water. Because she was covered from head to toe in a protective suit, Dr Shaw was spared direct exposure. Shrimpers who had bare-skin contact with the mixture of oil and Corexit, she said, were not so lucky.

During her segment with anchor Rick Sanchez, Dr Shaw specified that stories shrimpers had told her were from when BP was deploying "the more toxic" Corexit 9527. BP has allegedly switched to Corexit 9500, which Dr Shaw has also taken to task in a widely-publicized essay.

The company responsible for producing the various Corexit formulas is Nalco, which was created by former members of the boards of directors at BP and Exxon. Their product is essentially by the oil industry, for the oil industry. That's why, even in the face of an alternative like Dispersit which is half as toxic as Corexit, Nalco's product is still in much greater supply.

Nonetheless there have been over 10,000 official complaints to the FDA about aspartame reactions. Dr Joseph Mercola delves into the dangers of "America's Deadliest Sweetener" in an article for the Huffington Post.

The most common symptoms of aspartame overdose include headaches, mood alterations, and gastrointestinal symptoms. However side effects of the toxic sweetener can also mimic the following conditions: multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, panic disorder, lupus, birth defects, Lyme disease, Parkinson's disease, fibromyalgia, multiple chemical sensitivity, attention deficit disorder, and lymphoma (just to name a few).

Dr Mercola also warns of the dangers of diet sodas and low-calorie foods: "Drinking diet soda increases your risk of metabolic syndrome, and may double your risk of obesity - the complete opposite of the stated intention behind these 'zero calorie' drinks. The sad truth is that diet foods and drinks ruin your body's ability to count calories, and in fact stimulate your appetite, thus boosting your inclination to overindulge."

While aspartame is made up of all-natural amino acids, these acids are used dangerously when consumed in mass quantities. When aspartame enters a person's body, it increases dopamine levels in the brain, which can lead to symptoms of depression by disrupting the brain's serotonin/dopamine balance.

Under the process, known as resomation, bodies are treated in a steel chamber with potassium hydroxide at high pressure and a temperature of 180c (350f). The raised pressure and temperature means the body reaches a similar end point as in standard cremation - just bones left to be crushed up - in two to three hours.

Six states in America have passed legislation to allow resomation and the Scottish company behind the technology says it is in talks to allow the process in the UK. Although the ashes can be recycled in waste systems, the residue from the process can also be put in urns and handed over to relatives of the dead like normal ashes from crematorium farewells.

In resomation the body is placed in a silk bag, itself placed within a metal cage frame. This is then loaded into a Resomator. The machine is filled with a mixture of water and potassium hydroxide. The end result is a small quantity of green-brown tinted liquid containing amino acids, peptides, sugars and salts and soft, porous white bone remains which are easily crushed. The liquid can be recycled back to the ecosystem by being applied to a memorial garden or forest or simply put into the sewerage system.

The police later discover the thieves, two illegals from south of the border, and they readily admit that they stole the trailer. The police found them so easily because the property owner actually hit one of the thieves with his hastily delivered pistol shot. One would think that the case would be closed at this point. After all, this IS America.

Or is it?

Perhaps it isn't the America it should be because this 82-year-old man is the one that the jackbooted Wheat Ridge, Colorado cops immediately arrested and charged with a crime. Yes, even after the scumbag illegals admitted they were guilty, the cops went stormtrooping over to the old man's home. Oh, it wasn't to give him back his rightful property, it was to arrest him for daring to attempt to protect himself and his property with a firearm.

Yes, these automaton cops accosted this old man for daring to observe his Constitutional right to self-defense. The un-American Jefferson County DA's office says that the elderly Robert Wallace is now facing "twelve felony counts, including four counts of attempted first-degree murder." If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in jail. The guy is 82. Too bad there isn't a law that would protect this elderly victim from the anti-American actions of his local government... oh, wait. There IS. We call it the Second Amendment! Don't worry, I didn't forget. But Jefferson County sure did.

Such is the America liberals have made where a man that is observing his own Constitutionally guaranteed rights is the one that thug cops and county officials come to attack. Such is the America that liberals have made when actual criminals are ignored while elderly men that feared for their lives are harassed. What is this... England?

Now, though, some are concerned that US trade sanctions might bring the party to a premature end. Sources within the German government and in the automobile industry have told Spiegel that Washington may be considering raising tariffs on German cars imported into the US.

The alleged plan is apparently born out of frustration in the US that Berlin ultimately declined to provide support to General Motors subsidiary Opel despite requests to do so from Washington. Furthermore, while German car makers have been able to increase sales in the US, GM and Ford have not found much recent success in Europe.

Many might argue that such a discrepancy may have more to do with European tastes in cars, but US politicians are concerned it has more to do with EU trade policy. In conversation with German auto industry leaders, political leaders from Washington pointed to the fact that Europe charges a 10 percent tariff on cars imported from the US. Automobiles heading into the US from Europe, however, are only taxed with a 2.5 percent levy. Reading between the lines, German auto industry leaders are now concerned that Washington intends to increase that levy in the near future.

But Army General David H Petraeus, the man tapped by Mr Obama as the new top commander in Afghanistan, led the production of an extensive counterinsurgency manual in December 2006 that does, in fact, tell commanders of a link between Islam and extremists.

The Petraeus doctrine refers to "Islamic insurgents," "Islamic extremists" and "Islamic subversives." It details ties between Muslim support groups and terrorists. His co-author was General James F Amos, whom Mr Obama has picked as the next Marine Corps commandant and Joint Chiefs of Staff member.

Mr Brennan on May 26 told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that "describing our enemy in religious terms would lend credence to the lie propagated by al Qaeda and its affiliates to justify terrorism, that the United States is somehow at war against Islam. The reality, of course, is that we have never been and will never be at war with Islam. After all, Islam, like so many faiths, is part of America."

The US falls to AA, while Britain and France slither down to AA-. Belgium, Spain, Italy are ranked at A- along with Malaysia. Meanwhile, China rises to AA+ with Germany, the Netherlands and Canada, reflecting its 2.4 trillion euros (2 trillion pounds) reserves and a blistering growth rate of 8 percent to 10 percent a year. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, chief of the International Monetary Fund, agreed on Monday that the rising East is a transforming global force. "Asia's time has come," he said.

Dagong rates Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, and Singapore at AAA, along with the commodity twins Australia and New Zealand. Chinese president Hu Jintao said in April that the world needs "an objective, fair, and reasonable standard" for rating sovereign debt. Dagong appears to have stepped into the role, saying its objective was to assess countries using methods that would "not be affected by ideology".

"The reason for the global financial crisis and debt crisis in Europe is that the current international credit rating system does not correctly reveal the debtor's repayment ability," said Guan Jianzhong, Dagong's chairman.

He said that it was a "disgrace" that ministers failed to exhaust all peaceful options before going to war against Iraq. "There was no deliberate discussion of available alternatives to military action in advance of the 2003 invasion," Mr Ross added. "There is no record of that discussion, no official has referred to it, no minister has talked about it, and that seems to me to be a very egregious absence in this history - that at some point a Government before going to war should stop and ask itself, 'are there available alternatives?'"

Giving evidence before the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war, Mr Ross said that "nuanced" intelligence about the threat from Iraq was "massaged" into "more robust and terrifying" messages about Saddam's supposed WMD. Mr Carne, who served at the UN between 1997 and 2002, claimed that the British and United States governments were fully aware that there was no "substantial threat" from Iraq ahead of the war. He said: "It remains my view that the internal Government assessment of Iraq's capabilities was intentionally and substantially exaggerated in public Government documents during 2002 and 2003.

"This process of exaggeration was gradual, and proceeded by accretion and editing from document to document, in a way that allowed those participating to convince themselves that they were not engaged in blatant dishonesty," he said. "But this process led to highly misleading statements about the UK assessment of the Iraqi threat that were, in their totality, lies."

As a physicist and an avowed admirer of the Swabian housewife, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, leader of the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU), is seeking to establish binding rules in the midst of the chaos of financial and monetary crises. Her desire for order was reinforced recently when the prospect of Greece collapsing under a mountain of debt triggered turmoil in the European Monetary Union.

The first national bankruptcy on European soil in decades was only prevented because the remaining countries in the euro zone came to the aid of their faltering fellow member with billions in loans and loan guarantees. The chancellor, determined not to allow the Greek debacle to be repeated elsewhere, proposed the establishment of a procedure to ensure "orderly national bankruptcies." The German chancellor hoped that the plan would create "an important incentive for the euro-zone members to keep their budgets under control."

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble, in complete agreement with Merkel, said: "We have to think about how, in an extreme situation, member states could become insolvent in an orderly fashion without threatening the euro zone as a whole." If the plans are implemented, banks and investors will not be the only ones bearing the burden when countries in the euro zone encounter financial difficulties. THE DEBT-RIDDEN COUNTRIES THEMSELVES WILL ALSO HAVE TO MAKE SUBSTANTIAL SACRIFICES, AND THEIR GOVERNMENTS WILL CEDE SOME OF THEIR POWER.

Castro writes opinion columns, or "Reflections," for Cuba's state-run media that in recent weeks have focused on his prediction that nuclear war will soon break out, sparked by a conflict between the United States and Iran over international sanctions against Iran's nuclear activities.

"The empire is at the point of committing a terrible error that nobody can stop. It advances inexorably toward a sinister fate," he wrote on July 5. The "empire" is how Castro usually refers to the United States, his bitter foe from the time he took power in Cuba in a 1959 revolution. In a column published on Sunday night, Castro said the "principal purpose" of his writings has been to "warn international public opinion of what was occurring."

The columns have attracted little attention internationally and caused little reaction in Cuba, but Castro promised to continue his lonely fight to warn the world of the coming disaster.

There is a widespread feeling that the government doesn't work, that it is incapable of solving America's problems. Americans are fed up with Washington, fed up with Wall Street, fed up with the necessary but ill-conceived stimulus program, fed up with the misdirected healthcare program, and with pretty much everything else. They are outraged and feel that the system is not a level playing field, but is tilted against them. The millions of unemployed feel abandoned by the president, by the Democratic Congress, and by the Republicans.

The fundamental problem is starkly simple: jobs and the deepening fear among the public that the American dream is vanishing before their eyes. The economy's erratic improvement has helped Wall Street but has brought little support to Main Street. Some 6.8 million people have been unemployed in the last year for six months or longer. Their valuable skills are at risk, affecting their economic productivity for years to come. Add to this despairing army the large number of those only partially employed and those who have given up their search for work, and we have cumulative totals in the tens of millions.

Many people who joined the middle class, especially those who joined in the last few years, have now fallen back. It's not over yet. Millions cannot make minimum payments on their credit cards, or are in default or foreclosure on their mortgages, or are on food stamps. Well over 100,000 people file for bankruptcy every month. Some 3 million homeowners are estimated to face foreclosure this year, on top of 2.8 million last year. Millions of homes are located next to or near a foreclosed home, and it is the latter that may determine the price of all the homes on the street. There have been dramatically sharp declines in home equity, representing cumulative losses in the trillions of dollars in what has long been the largest asset on the average American family's balance sheet. Most of those who lost their homes are hard-working, middle-class Americans who had lost their jobs. Now many have to use credit cards to pay for essentials and make ends meet, and they are running out of credit.

Americans today strongly support a pro-growth economic agenda that includes fiscal discipline, limited government, and deficit reduction. They fear the country is coming apart, while the novelty of Obama has worn off, along with the power of his position as the non-Bush. His decline in popularity has emboldened the opposition to try to block him at every turn.

The promise of economic health that might salvage industries and jobs, and provide a safety net, has proved illusory. The support for cutting spending and cutting the deficit reflects in part the fact that the American public feels the Obama-Congress spending program has not worked. As for the healthcare reform bill, the most recent Rasmussen survey indicates that 52 percent of the electorate supports repeal of the measure - 42 percent of them strongly.

It is clear that the magical moment of Obama's campaign conveyed a spell that is now broken in the context of the growing public disillusionment. Obama's rise has been spectacular, but so too has been his fall.

But the synod decided women bishops should be able to decide the identity of any bishop entering their dioceses. They would also have the ability to dictate the functions these bishops could carry out. The BBC's religious correspondent Robert Pigott said women bishops would have only to consult a code of practice guiding them in their dealings with traditionalists. He said the decision made during a synod meeting at York University had left a lot of division in its wake. Members of the synod decided there was no need for further delay to the progress of a draft law allowing women to be made bishops.

But traditionalists have warned that the decision could result in many of them leaving the Church of England. The Reverend Prebendary David Houlding, a leading member of the Catholic Group on the General Synod, said he was concerned and he felt as if traditionalists were running out of options. He told PA: "There are several people who will be making hard decisions about their future.

"I am staying in the Church of England for the time being until I am driven out. I am not going willingly, I will only go if forced. The more this goes on in this manner, the more it seems as if the door is shutting. The scope for remaining in the Church of England is getting more and more narrow and the options are rapidly closing."

His intervention came as Michael Scott-Joynt, the Bishop of Winchester, warned the row could 'destroy' the Church amid fears clergy and churchgoers might leave en masse. Liberals who voted down compromise proposals that would have allowed dioceses that rejected women bishops to have an additional male bishop were accused of 'intolerance'. One insider said: 'Unless there is some extraordinary development, people will go.'

Sources said significant numbers of bishops could defect when the Roman Catholic Church launches formal moves to court disaffected Anglicans later this year. In his sermon, delivered at York Minster, Dr Sentamu diverged from the published text to repeat a story told by Desmond Tutu, who asked a child what John the Baptist might have told Jesus after he baptised him. The child said: 'Now you are a child of God, start behaving like one.'