Andrea Leadsom, co-founder of the Fresh Start group of Conservative MPs, said that without such changes there would be overwhelming calls for Britain to exit the EU. Her intervention comes ahead of a major speech tomorrow by George Osborne on Britain’s future in a reformed Europe.

David Cameron is struggling to maintain Tory unity on the issue, with more than 90 backbenchers this week backing a call for Parliament to gain a unilateral veto over new EU laws. Foreign Secretary William Hague yesterday dismissed that idea, saying it would undermine the single market and make even a Swiss or Norwegian-style trading relationship with the EU impossible.

But he suggested the Government is ready to back the idea of allowing a bloc of ten or fewer EU states to veto unwelcome laws in the renegotiation talks promised by Mr Cameron to claw back powers before an ‘in/out’ referendum on membership.

Speaking before leaving his home in Gran Canaria ahead of his meeting with the Pope, Fernandez, 19 when war broke out the two countries, said: 'I want to tell the Pope there are new paths we haven't trodden and that we have to take, and that I'm committed to helping. I believe the Falklands issue can be solved but we have wounds to heal because the damage has been great.'

Pope Francis, the first Argentinian Pontiff, claimed the islands were snatched by Britain when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 2011. He insisted those who died in the war had 'shed their blood on Argentinian soil.' And in a mass to mark the 30th anniversary of the Argentinian invasion he said the islands were 'usurped.'

After he became Pope, David Cameron urged him to respect the overwhelming wishes of residents who days earlier had voted overwhelmingly to remain British in a referendum. In a dig at the Vatican, where officials pumped white smoke from a chimney to announce Pope Francis had been chosen in keeping with tradition, he said: 'The white smoke over the Falklands was pretty clear.'

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who occupies the First Throne of the Orthodox Christian Church, was speaking today during his welcome of the Anglican Communion‘s spiritual head Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. He said, “In the past, the rapprochement between our two Churches has been greatly assisted by the exchange of students, and we trust that this will continue. Our Theological School at Halki used to offer scholarships to Anglicans, and when it is reopened – as will happen in the near future (so it may be hoped) – we shall certainly wish to revive this tradition.

“These exchange students have frequently gone on to become leaders in their respective Churches, and their early inter-Church experience has enabled them to further the cause of Christian unity in highly constructive ways.”

Archbishop Welby is on what has been described as an ‘intensive two-day visit’ that will include official reception in the Chamber of the Throne, and a discussion with the Synodical Committee for Inter-Christian Affairs. It was clear from both the Orthodox leader’s welcome speech and his official toast that he very much welcomed the visit: “It is a great joy to us that, so soon after your elevation to Canterbury, Your Grace has found it possible to visit the sacred centre of Orthodoxy, the Ecumenical Patriarchate.”

Soaring temperatures have had a devastating impact on cattle farmers in Queensland, which accounts for about 50 percent of the national herd. Australia is the world's third largest beef exporter, with sales during the 2013/14 season projected to reach A$5.4 billion ($4.82 billion).

But as the heat forces farmers to send cattle to slaughter, the country’s cattle herd is predicted to fall to 25 million heads during the 2013/14 season, the lowest since the 2009/10 season, the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics and Sciences said.

Some farmers have said that if significant rains do not fall by autumn their operations will become worthless and they would have no option but to abandon their properties, the New Zealand Herald reported. So far, the weather outlook is not good. It is expected that the overall record high of 50.7C (123.3F) for the country set in 1960 in the south might be broken in the next few days if current conditions continue.

At the CES electronic trade show in Las Vegas this week, the global vice president for Ford’s marketing and sales division opened up about just exactly how much data is being collected by his company’s latest line of smart cars. “We know everyone who breaks the law, we know when you're doing it. We have GPS in your car, so we know what you're doing,” Ford’s Jim Farley told a Vegas crowd on Wednesday, according to Business Insider reporter Jim Edwards. “By the way, we don't supply that data to anyone," Farley assured attendees.

But just as how National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden revealed how the United States government compels telecommunication companies for metadata pertaining to the phone habits of millions of Americans on a regular basis, the sheer fact alone that this automotive data is being collected and stored means it could someday be used by others.

Edwards described Farley’s remark as being “both sinister and obvious.” “Because of the GPS units installed in Ford vehicles, Ford knows when its drivers are speeding, and where they are while they're doing it,” Edwards wrote. Should the company choose to share that information with law enforcement, though, then it could create an environment where surveillance extends off the computer and onto the road.

Oral arguments slated for Monday will center on a trio of recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that were deemed unconstitutional by lower courts. If they uphold the decision, experts say the justices could endanger hundreds of NLRB decisions.

Even more significant are the ramifications for future presidents, with the court poised either to bolster or blunt the chief executive’s appointment powers. “Rulings like this have implications that last for centuries,” said Michael Lotito, an employment and labor attorney and co-chairman of Littler Mendelson's Workplace Policy Institute.

Just one day before, in announcing his “economic promise zones,” Obama had touted the so-called recovery, insisting, in the face of widespread disbelief among working people, that it was “real.”.

The US economy generated a net increase of only 74,000 jobs in December, about one third the number predicted by economists and less than half the amount needed to keep pace with population growth. The increase in non-farm payrolls was the lowest since January 1, 2011, when the economy added 69,000 jobs. Friday’s number followed two months in which payrolls grew by 200,000 or more, leading to claims that the economy was shifting into high gear.

The unemployment rate for December dropped sharply, from 7 percent to 6.7 percent. However, this decline was not the result of an improvement in the real economy. On the contrary, it was caused by a further exodus of workers from the labor force, which shrank by 347,000. In the past twelve months, the labor force has contracted by almost 550,000 workers.

In the so-called “recovery” since the Wall Street crash of 2008, a decline in the official jobless rate has perversely become, more often than not, an indicator of deepening social crisis rather than a sign of expanding production and rebounding employment. Most of the decline in the government’s jobless rate from 10.0 percent in October 2009 has been due to the fact that millions of people have fallen out of the job market because of economic conditions.

Turgut Keles loved his premier. He maintained his support of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan through early summer, when demonstrators in Istanbul were protesting the redevelopment of Gezi Park. When Erdogan held a rally for tens of thousands of supporters, Keles was in the first row.

But just half a year later, everything has changed. "Erdogan must go," the former fan now says, adding that the prime minister has "betrayed" millions of Turks. Keles long voted in favor of Erdogan's conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP). But his support of the party is exceeded by his admiration of Muslim preacher Fethullah Gülen, the leader of a powerful civic movement that is now at odds with Erdogan.

Keles attended a school founded by Gülen followers, and later studied at one of the movement's universities. The organization helped him find a job, he says. Today, Keles works for a construction company in Istanbul and remains a devoted follower. "Anyone who insults Gülen, insults me," he says.

For a long time, Gülen and Erdogan were allies. This fall, however, the prime minister announced that tutoring centers run by the Gülen movement would be shut down. Erdogan has accused the preacher's supporters of creating a "state within a state," and since then the two sides have been locked in a bitter power struggle. The conflict appears to confirm what many once dismissed as a conspiracy theory - that in many cases the Gülen movement controls the police and justice system.

One expert said the number of practising Muslims could soon outnumber the number of Christians who actively worship in the UK. David Voas, Professor of Population Studies at the University of Essex, told The Times: ‘It’s not inconceivable.’ There were 1.6 million Muslims in England and Wales in 2001, or 3 per cent of the population, according to the census. By 2011 the Muslim population had grown to 2.7 million people or 4.8 per cent of the population.

There are now 136 Muslim schools, 125 of them in the private sector, according to the Department for Education. Britain has a total of 1,600 mosques and the first UK halal food festival was held in September. Ibrahim Mogra, assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said that the large number of young Muslim children reflected the confidence that Muslims had in the country, encouraging them to bring up families here. ‘I just wouldn’t want our fellow citizens to be alarmed by an increase in number,’ he said.

‘This generation is very much British. They feel very much this is their home. It’s not about Britain becoming a Muslim country but about Britain enabling the practice of Islam, which gives confidence to the vast majority of Muslims. It’s a great country to regard as our home.’

The controversy began after a number of hard-line Muslim student groups insisted that men and women must sit separately at their public meetings and lectures. Universities UK, the official voice of British universities, deemed such segregation to be acceptable so long as women were not forced to sit at the back of the room.

The guidance caused an uproar, drawing the prime minister, David Cameron, into the debate, and leading an opposition spokesman, Chuka Umunna, to insist that “a future Labour government would not allow or tolerate segregation in our universities.”

For some, the debate has been an expression of Islamophobia, singling out Muslim practices for criticism. For others, the attitude of Universities UK demonstrates how many in authority are willing to appease Islamist extremists, and to tolerate the intolerable so as not to offend minority groups.

Christian Social Union (CSU) General Secretary Andreas Scheuer has called the EU Commission's statement making the rounds in German newspapers since Friday (10.01.2013) "Eurocratic madness." The document has been interpreted as claiming that Germany should not be permitted to deny immigrants from the EU welfare assistance.

The EU Commission's statement has poured fuel on the fire of a raging national debate in Germany about migrants from less prosperous EU countries coming to the country and claiming benefits. The Bavaria-based CSU - the sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) - has been flaunting its views with the slogan "those who commit fraud will be [kicked] out," claiming that migrant workers could exploit German welfare programs.

The Pope has previously spoken out to encourage priests to baptise the children of unmarried women in order to pass on the Christian faith, calling those who refuse 'hypocrites'. According to the Vatican Network, he said: 'You parents have the baby boy or girl to be baptised, but in a few years it will be they who will have a baby to be baptised, or a grandchild... And so goes the chain of faith.'

'What does this mean? I would just tell you this: you are the ones that transmit the faith, the transmitters, you have a duty to pass on the faith to these children. It's the most beautiful legacy that you leave to them: the faith.' Speaking in the relaxed manner that has become his trademark, Francis broke with the tradition of delivering a long and formal speech, instead reading a short script he had written himself.

Now their police officers say they are using military type tactical equipment to fight crime. The new MRAP looks like a tank on wheels. "Mine response ambush protection." said Officer Keith Holmes , who applied to acquire the MRAP from the US Military for the Fort Pierce Police Department, "The military was pretty much handing them out to the different cities and I put in the application for it, and we got pushed through due to the violence in the city we have here."

Used last in Afghanistan, "They brought this back from Afghanistan and now it's in Fort Pierce for officer rescues, search warrants, things like that that an officer would need protection." Holmes said. Still many libertarians argue the police departments these days are becoming too militarized. "I agree to a certain extent its overkill but for the cost, for $2000, yes it's what we need." said Officer Holmes. Purchased through a program from the US Military for $2,000, an armored swat vehicle could cost in the $150,000 range.

The military is unloading hundreds of these types of vehicles post Operation Enduring Freedom. More and more police agencies are signing up to use retired military equipment.

Among the TPWD's specialized units is the "Scout Team," a group of 25 wardens who "have received a variety of training and can be used in border operations, dignitary protection, or any form of high-risk law enforcement, such as serving felony arrests or hostage situations," explains Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine. "We can have a team anywhere in Texas in four hours, and that's the worst-case scenario," boasts Law Enforcement Special Operations Chief Grahme Jones. "A lot of times it's much faster."

For public consumption, the TPWD's einsatzgruppen are portrayed as kindly people who will pluck terrified children from rooftops during floods, or come to the aid of people whose boats have broken down. However, the agency's 532 wardens are "fully commissioned peace [sic] officers" who "have long assisted local authorities and state agencies," observes Texas Parks & Wildlife. In other words: They’re cops, which means they are agents of officially sanctioned violence.

Jones points out that in addition to looking for "game and fish law violations," wardens also "assist with community policing." The last is an anodyne phrase that should be terrifying to reasonably well-informed people.

The government that afflicts Texas is run by extravagantly punitive people with a penchant for criminalizing practically everything. Several years ago, this anti-social compulsion led the Texas Legislature to enact a measure that would literally make a felony out of telling a fish story: A participant in a fishing tournament who exaggerates the size of his catch could be sent to prison for ten years, and be fined up to $10,000.

Lord Dobbs, the author of House of Cards, said the European Union had become a “pestilence” that politicians had failed to deal with. More than 70 peers have asked to speak in today’s second reading debate on the Bill, which would set in law a commitment to hold an in/out referendum on Britain's membership of the EU.

Lord Mandelson, the former European Commissioner, said a referendum was a “lottery” and the Prime Minister was “holding a pistol” at European leaders in order to appease voters who might vote for Ukip. Lord Dobbs said no-one under the age of sixty had had a say on Britain’s role in Europe, following the last vote on British membership in 1975. The bloc has “changed beyond imagination” in the years since.

“It’s become a pestilence. It’s become a poison in our political system. It dominates so much of our political dialogue here and we need to get rid of this burden. We need to decide one way or the other whether we are going to stick with Europe or whether we are going to leave it. It is not the politicians who are going to sort this out because we failed all these years to sort it out; it’s going to be the people who sort this out,” he said. “The political elites have made a real mess of this.”