Editing the chromosomes of human eggs or sperm to create genetically modified IVF embryos is illegal in Britain and many other countries because of concerns about safety and the possibility of the technique being used to create genetically enhanced “designer babies”.

However, the development of a simple gene-editing technique which can alter human DNA with extreme precision has raised the prospect of it being used in the future to help couples affected by inherited diseases who would like children free of the family mutations.

Several teams of researchers around the world are believed to be working on ways of modifying the chromosomes of human egg cells with a view to moving towards “germ-line” gene therapy, as the process is called. Germ-line refers to the “germ” cells – sperm and eggs – that pass on genes to future generations. However, other scientists have called for a moratorium on editing the human germ-line, arguing that it is ethically unacceptable because it is too unpredictable and too risky.

In a highly personal intervention, Mrs May says that the panel, being led by Justice Lowell Goddard, will encourage more victims of abuse to come forward and lead to perpetrators being brought to justice. “I hope and believe it will give all victims and survivors a voice,” Mrs May says. “For too long nobody listened, nobody wanted to admit the darkness in our midst.” She warns that “the trail” will lead into schools, hospitals, churches and youth clubs as well as “many other institutions that should have been places of safety but instead became the setting for the most appalling abuse”.

What we have seen so far is “only the tip of the iceberg”, Mrs May says. Mrs May set up the inquiry into child abuse following revelations about the crimes committed by Jimmy Savile as well as disclosures about abuse in Derby, Oxford and towns across Britain. There were also a series of allegations about a Westminster paedophile ring.

“The inquiry won’t probe individuals but where there is evidence a person has abused their position – no matter how high or how low that position – it will be passed to the police to investigate,” Mrs May writes. “So if there has been a cover-up, we will uncover it. And if perpetrators of child sexual abuse are found, they will be brought to justice.”

Following Lior's ruling, another extremist, Rabbi Jacob Heydimann, performed the Purim prayer inside the mosque compound with police protection. The mosque guards were removed by the Israeli police. The latest declaration encourages extremist Jewish groups who have increased their calls to enter Al-Aqsa by force and hold more prayers within the Noble Sanctuary.

Lawyer Aviad Visoli, who represented US-born Jewish extremist Yehuda Glick when he was banned by the police from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque, claimed that every Jew has the right to pray on the "Temple Mount" [Al-Aqsa Mosque compound]. "Praying there is no longer considered a legal violation after the Israeli Supreme Court ordered Glick to be paid half a million shekels in compensation for removing him from the Temple Mount [sic] for performing his biblical prayers there," said Visoli. "The police must act to allow Jews to pray on the Temple Mount [sic] freely."

It is on that basis, he added, that Lior has issued his latest ruling.

David Cameron said the remarks were 'deeply concerning' and Labour accused Mr Farage of wanting to go back to the days when firms put up signs saying 'no blacks, no dogs, no Irish'. In a Channel 4 documentary, Mr Farage claimed concern over preventing racial discrimination in employment 'would probably have been valid' 40 years ago and he would get rid of 'much of' existing legislation. He also described some Muslims in Britain as a 'fifth column living within our country, who hate us and want to kill us'.

Setting out the case for scrapping race laws, Mr Farage said: 'I think the situation that we now have, where an employer is not allowed to choose between a British-born person and somebody from Poland, is a ludicrous state of affairs. I think that we have taken our relationship with Europe to a level that, frankly, has gone against common sense, and certainly against self-interest.'

'I would argue that the law does need changing, and that if an employer wishes to choose, or you can use the word 'discriminate' if you want to, but wishes to choose to employ a British-born person, they should be allowed to do so. I think you should be able to choose on the basis of nationality, yes. I do.'

In a series of traded insults, Yanis Varoufakis said the ECB, which has tightened the noose on the Leftist government, was "pursuing a policy that can be considered asphyxiating toward our government." His comments came before Germany's Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann said Athens had "squandered the trust" of its European partners. As one of Greece's main three international creditors, the ECB has rebuffed Athens' requests to raise short-term debt to alleviate an impending funding crisis.

The German Social Democrats (SPD) have been repeating that the EU not only needs combat troops but also its own military academy and a permanent military headquarters. Berlin has already begun expanding the Bundeswehr's cooperation with units from several other countries, including the Netherlands and Poland - quasi establishing an EU Army from the ground up.

For Germany, the creation of a common military force would be highly advantageous, because Berlin could play a predominant role in military questions, as it has in the imposition of austerity dictates during the Euro crisis. An EU Army would also increase German influence in relationship to the USA and NATO.

The creation of an EU army is highly advantageous for Germany. On the one hand, it consolidates the composite military power of the EU nations, and on the other, it guarantees Berlin's decisive influence. At the latest, with Germany's imposition of its austerity dictate during the Euro crisis, against, at times, hefty opposition of a group of EU member states, it has become clear that the Federal Republic of Germany is capable of comprehensively imposing its interests on Brussels.

Through the creation of an EU Army, Berlin could also implement its own military plans - if necessary without Washington - and, at the same time, strengthen its political influence in relationship to NATO. The German government would be in a better position to prevail in German-US disputes, such as the current disputes about policies toward Ukraine or Russia and hope to eventually achieve "eye level" with the USA. Some transatlantic circles have, therefore, reacted angrily to Juncker's recent proposal.

He pointed to a conversation he had with Nick Clegg – leader of the Liberal Democrats and the UK's deputy prime minister – a year ago, during which both men agreed that the idea of a European army was a dangerous fantasy. Farage then cited examples of the European Defense Agency, EU battle groups, an EU Navy operation against pirates off the coast of Somalia, and article 28 of the Lisbon Treaty, which provides for collective EU defense.

He went on to say that the EU was the catalyst for the conflict in eastern Ukraine, due to its territorial expansion. “We poked the Russian bear with a stick and unsurprisingly Putin reacted,” Farage said. Harking back to the words of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said “the EU is not a project about peace but a project about power,” Farage accused Juncker of being opportunistic by calling for an EU army.

He also countered the European commissioner's statement that “We must convey to Russia that we are serious.” “Who do you think you’re kidding Mr Juncker?,” Farage said. The comment was a reference to the sitcom 'Dad’s Army,' in which a group of old men try to fight off a German invasion.

Midea, a major appliance maker, is in the forefront of a full-blown charge by China’s manufacturing sector into robot-powered factory automation. Companies nationwide over the past five years have ramped up robotics in the face of labor woes, such as worker shortages and rising wages, and to cut their production costs. In the process, they’ve helped build a new market for Chinese robot manufacturers that are competing against multinational rivals.

Such rhetoric was brought from the Old World to the New. Fueled by local prejudice and nativist traditions, it continued to deepen the divide between the heirs of the Reformation debates. Imagine the surprise, then — in some circles the shock — when on March 29, 1994 the statement “Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ETC): The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium” was released in New York. Here, the old hostility between Catholics and Evangelicals was replaced by a new awareness of their common Christian identity — a shared life in Jesus Christ.

The core affirmation of the first ECT statement, and of the entire project, was this declaration: “All who accept Christ as Lord and Savior are brothers and sisters in Christ. Evangelicals and Catholics are brothers and sisters in Christ. We have not chosen one another, just as we have not chosen Christ. He has chosen us, and He has chosen us to be his together.”

For all the talk of an extended bail-out programme, Athens' international creditors are still no closer to agreeing a deal with the new Syriza government. “If we were to hold a referendum tomorrow with the question, ‘do you want your dignity or a continuation of this unworthy policy,’ then everyone would choose dignity regardless of difficulties that would accompany that decision,” was Mr Tsipras's verdict over the weekend. Leaders such as Angela Merkel continue to insist Europe will not countenance any member of the euro leaving the single currency.

Is Italy next? With a government debt-to-GDP ratio of 133 percent, the third largest economy in Europe could be in the direct firing line of market panic. Italy's long-term funding costs could rise by 200 basis points, adding to its already burdensome debt stock, and inflating the budget deficit of more than 3.5 percent, say Oxford Economics. Greece's future in the eurozone still hangs in the balance.

An average of all the surveys during the campaign gave Likud 22 seats, compared with 23 for Zionist Union. Addressing Likud activists, Mr Netanyahu said: “It is a very tight race. Nothing is guaranteed because there is a huge, worldwide effort to topple the Likud government.” The prime minister has an exceptionally tense relationship with President Barack Obama. Allies suggested that America was organising the supposed effort to remove Mr Netanyahu.

Yuval Steinitz, the intelligence minister and a close colleague of the prime minister, said the “campaign against us” had been mobilised by “the United States” acting in concert with the “media” and the “Palestinian Authority”. “We definitely are not at ease,” he told “Haaretz” newspaper. “But we’re fighters”. The Zionist Union consists of a pact between Isaac Herzog, the leader of the Labour party, and Tzipi Livni, a former minister of justice and foreign affairs. This alliance of the centre-left has led the polls from the start of the election campaign.

The Lilliputian Lefties who infest the BBC see Clarkson as an embarrassment — a racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic caveman, who shouldn’t be given house room by a ‘liberal’ publicly funded broadcaster. Cohen cares more about pandering to the political prejudices and petty jealousies of his Left-wing peer group in those Shoreditch salons. And that means securing his place in history as The Man Who Sacked Jeremy Clarkson.

Cohen’s decision to pull the remaining Top Gear episodes will mean wasting hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of pounds of licence-payers’ money already spent on filmed sequences. It will also incur massive compensation claims from foreign broadcasters. He couldn’t get away with that if he was a director of a commercial organisation, answerable to shareholders. And what about the millions of viewers being deprived of their favourite Sunday night show?

For now, we shall just have to await the verdict of the BBC’s investigation. Let’s hope it doesn’t end in Jeremy being fired, although no one could blame him if he did decide to walk away. More than 750,000 fans have signed an online petition demanding the presenter be reinstated, and Prime Minister David Cameron has waded into the row, saying he hoped it could be 'sorted out' without the BBC sacking him.

For such a force to become a reality, there would first be a host of practical hurdles to overcome. Not least of these would be the national priorities and responsibilities of the EU states. If there were to be a reccurrence of the 1982 Falklands crisis between the United Kingdom and Argentina, for instance, it is doubtful that any of the other 27 member nations would want 'their' air force getting involved in what might be perceived as somebody else's colonial war. There are also numerous inter-EU territorial disputes, such as that between Spain and the United Kingdom over Gibraltar, which would make the creation of a union-wide air force highly problematic.

Issues such as the kind of relationship that such an EU Air Force would have with NATO, and the status of non-EU but NATO-member nations within Europe, such as Norway and Turkey, would need to be ironed out. There is also the issue of the neutrality of some member states to contend with, for while the Irish Republic and Sweden are enthusiastic EU partners, they both value their non-aligned status and so might feel uneasy about committing to an institution in the European Air Force that has been so overtly created to counter Russia.

Quite apart from the practical problems with constituting a European Air Force, there are also political arguments against creating one. When Juncker claimed that Europe is facing an unprecedented level of threat from external adversaries, he neglected to mention that it is also being battered and undermined from within.

So it would seem that, while there might be sound monetary and military reasons to support the creation of a European Air Force, there are as many practical and emotional reasons against it. Therefore, just like the proposed European Army, a European Air Force at this time would appear to be a non-starter to all but the most ardent of Europhiles.

A spokesman for the European Commission defended Juncker's remarks calling for the European Union to create its own army, saying that the EU treaty allows for the pooling and sharing of national resources. "It makes sense to get EU member states to combine military and defence capabilities to make spending more efficient in times of fiscal consolidation," Margaritis Schinas said, pointing also to the fact that there is "geopolitical uneasiness around us".

"Such an army would help us to shape a common foreign and security policy and to seize together Europe's responsibility in the world," Juncker told weekly newspaper Welt am Sonntag. "You do not have a European army to deploy it immediately. But a common army of Europeans would convey to Russia that we are serious about the defence of EU values," he added.