It is the first time that the Government has been forced to state whether it backs the right of Christians to wear the symbol at work. A document seen by The Sunday Telegraph discloses that ministers will argue that because it is not a “requirement” of the Christian faith, employers can ban the wearing of the cross and sack workers who insist on doing so.

The Government’s position received an angry response last night from prominent figures including Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury. He accused ministers and the courts of “dictating” to Christians and said it was ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF CHRISTIANITY BECOMING SIDELINED IN OFFICIAL LIFE.

Sir William Patey, the British ambassador to Afghanistan, has spoken frankly about what he sees as the errors and failings in the country over the past decade. Principal among them is the decision to invade Iraq in 2003, taken less than two years after Britain, America and an alliance including Australia and France went into Afghanistan to depose the Taliban.

Sir William told The Sunday Telegraph that both Washington and Downing Street wrongly assumed that the war was “won and the Taliban had run away”. But that led to a long-running problem: “years of missed opportunity” followed because the focus was on Iraq instead of Afghanistan.

The 58 year-old said the opportunity to train and equip the Afghan National Security Forces to fill the power vacuum was missed, allowing the Taliban to return. “We were too focused on Iraq and we took our eye off the ball. We thought we had won [in Afghanistan] and the Taliban had run away and we just sort of left it to the Afghans to get on with it and we very quickly switched our focus to Iraq. You don’t normally write history so quickly but I’m pretty clear that we won’t have to wait too long for history to make that judgment.”

Asked if foreign troops were now part of the problem, Sir William responded: “Could be”, adding: “Afghans have never been comfortable with foreigners and there comes a point — no matter how benign the intentions, and how much you explain that this [ISAF] is not an occupying force, that we are here under a UN mandate agreed with the Afghans — when you just outstay your welcome.” But he said that ISAF now had a transition plan which, once complete in 2014, would mean the Afghans will be fully responsible for the security of Afghanistan.

Speaking to Channel 10 News in a special interview in his office in New York, Prosor said that Israel’s diplomatic efforts in regards to the Iranian nuclear threat are like a train “traveling from London to Paris at a very fast speed,” whereas the international community’s efforts regarding Iran are like “a slow running train which stops at every station.”

Prosor said, however, that he is seeing reasons for optimism in what he described as the awakening of the European countries regarding Iran, a fact which is reflected in the latest rounds of sanctions on the Iranian oil industries. “Especially in light of what is happening today in the Arab world, there is an understanding that this issue will change the Middle East, not just militarily,” Prosor said, noting that countries such as Britain and France and even China and Russia are becoming aware of the danger of a nuclear Iran. “The recent sanctions against the Iranian central bank and its oil industry show that Europe has awakened to the Iranian nuclear threat.”

Prosor also noted the importance of Arab countries speaking out against Iran and its nuclear program. “An interesting thing is happening here,” he said. “We saw here the Saudi ambassador speaking out against Iran, you see the Gulf states speaking out against Syria. The Syrian representative is speaking against the Bahrainis and against the Saudis. These are things that did not happen before. There are common interests between countries like Saudi Arabia and Israel and we need to find a way to promote them, but I won’t elaborate further.” When asked whether he has heard Arab diplomats saying behind closed doors that they support an attack on Iran, Prosor responded with “Yes.”

Though it isn't easy, we can check the power of corporations — and citizens around the world are stepping up to do it. Global Exchange developed this list of some of the world’s worst corporate abusers to illustrate that on issues as diverse as assassination, torture, kidnapping, environmental degradation, abusing public funds, violently repressing political rights, releasing toxins into pristine environments, destroying homes, discrimination, and causing widespread health problems, familiar companies like Dow Chemical, Coca Cola, Caterpillar, Lockheed, Philip Morris, and Wal-Mart play a big role. Now we need you to take action!

Several of the companies below are being sued under the Alien Tort Claims Act, a law that allows citizens of any nationality to sue in US federal courts for violations of international rights or treaties. When corporations act like criminals, we have the right and the power to stop them, holding leaders and multinational corporations alike to the accords they have signed. Around the world — in Venezuela, Argentina, India, and right here in the United States — citizens are stepping up to create democracy and hold corporations accountable to international law.

This list of “MOST WANTED” corporate criminals gives you information about the abusive behavior of this year’s top fourteen worst corporations and tells you who is responsible.

Full article - http://www.globalexchange.org/corporateHRviolators

Two questions jump out regarding this surveillance program. How effective is it? And more importantly, is this an invasion of our privacy? The effectiveness question is hard to answer. When you look at all the words on the watch list, it's hard to believe that any terrorist or criminal would tweet or post them unless they wanted to get caught. For example, the watch list contains words such as dirty bomb, hostage, al Qaeda and ammonium nitrate. What terrorist in his right mind would tweet, "Looking for ammonium nitrate, please direct message me if you have leads?"

There are also terms under the category "Southwest border violence" that seem ridiculous, such as heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, meth lab and drug war. If a drug dealer mentioned on his Facebook wall, "Great deal today on heroin and methamphetamine, and it's all organically made in my own meth lab," I would hope that people would turn that person in - or at the very least, not "like" his post. But it's the long list of innocent words on the watch list that raises more concerns. Words such as subway, delays, infection, San Diego, cloud, pork, wave and Mexico are monitored. If you posted on Twitter, "I'm going on vacation to San Diego, hope no clouds because want to catch some waves," your tweet would be considered suspicious because you used three words on the watch list.

Since 9/11, we have far too often willingly forfeited privacy in the name of security, be it the Patriot Act, the New York Police Department's spying of Muslim Americans, body-scanning machines, intrusive pat-downs at airports and who knows what else is out there that we have yet to find out about. If it were not for the Electronic Privacy Information Center's lawsuit, we would be unaware of the details of this latest program.

Benjamin Franklin famously warned us, "ANY SOCIETY THAT WOULD GIVE UP A LITTLE LIBERTY TO GAIN A LITTLE SECURITY WILL DESERVE NEITHER AND LOSE BOTH." The Department of Homeland Security's surveillance program - and our acceptance of programs like it - is just another step in the direction that Franklin so wisely cautioned us to guard against.

Brazil's total output last year was worth £1.56 trillion - compared with £1.53 trillion in Britain, think-tank Cebr said. The UK economy grew by just 0.8 per cent last year and contracted by 0.2 per cent in the final quarter, leaving the country on the verge of a double-dip recession. In contrast, economic output rose by 2.7 per cent in Brazil, which has a population of around 200 million.

Tim Ohlenburg, senior economist at Cebr, said: 'It's a natural enough movement. Brazil has a large population, has massive natural resources and strong local industry. It's just a country set for higher growth.' Britain fell one place to seventh in the world economic rankings while Brazil closed the gap on France and Germany. Despite the UK's relative decline, money continues to be poured into wealthy and fast-growing countries such as India, and even aid to China, second in the world economic league, was ordered to come to an end only this year.

According to figures on the website of the Department For International Development, £13.6 million worth of taxpayer-funded development schemes for Brazil remained ‘operational’. They include a scheme to work up environmental projects billed at almost £9 million, another to ‘improve flexibility, agility and responsiveness in the implementation of DFID regional objectives’ worth more than £1.2 million, and unidentified schemes costing more than £2.4 million.

WORLD ECONOMIC LEAGUE

(2010 positions in brackets)

1. United States (1)

2. China (2)

3. Japan (3)

4. Germany (4)

5. France (5)

6. Brazil (7)

7. Great Britain (6)

8. Italy (8)

9. Russia (10)

10. India (9)

Ahead of the first anniversary of the disaster this weekend, the Red Cross said the Japanese government had dithered over how to rebuild the affected areas, failing to come to any agreement with local officials. "Without reaching any agreement on a master plan, it is very difficult even to start a reconstruction process," said Taduteru Konoe, the president of the Japanese chapter of the international aid organisation. "That should be the very start of everything. So one year has been wasted in that sense because they have not been able to reach any consensus," he added.

Across the tsunami-affected region, the figure is 260,000, according to Japan's Reconstruction agency. Officials now believe it could be at least four more years before they can move into proper housing. Abe Mikio, one of the managers of the shelter where Mr and Mrs Sawato live, said that survivors are beginning to lose hope as they face years of limbo before being able to rebuild their lives. He estimated it would be five or six years before the people in his compound can return to their homes and at least ten years before Ishinomaki returns to normal.

The panel is expected to also issue an eight-clause resolution, determining that the "Israeli occupation" in territories, including East Jerusalem, is the main obstacle for the advancement of the Palestinian woman. The panel, which includes representatives from 45 countries, including Israel, is considered to be one of the UN's most active and respected bodies. Responding to the decision to condemn Israel, Israeli envoy to the UN Ron Prosor told Haaretz that the "council's resolution bring levels of absurdity and cynicism to new heights."

But in fact this seems to be becoming an annual event. Last year, a similar resolution was adopted: “[The] UN policy-making body dedicated to ‘gender equality and the advancement of women’ adopted a resolution accusing Israel of holding back the advancement of Palestinian women, but it took no action on the emergency in Libya or the legally enshrined discrimination faced by women in Iran. The only country-specific resolution passed by the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at its recent session in New York was one condemning Israel over the Palestinian issue.”

There are no reported plans for the UN committee to condemn Syria.

But the companies say rolling out the new recipe across the US makes the drinks more efficient to manufacture. "While we believe that there is no public health risk that justifies any such change, we did ask our caramel suppliers to take this step so that our products would not be subject to the requirement of a scientifically unfounded warning," Coca-Cola representative Diana Garza-Ciarlante told the Associated Press news agency.

The chemical has been linked to cancer in mice and rats, according to one study, but there is no evidence that it poses a health risk to humans, said the American Beverage Association, which represents the wider industry. The US Food and Drug Administration claims a person would need to drink 1,000 cans of Coke or Pepsi to take in the same dose of the chemical that was given to the animals in the lab test.

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo account for nearly 90% of the fizzy drink market, according to one industry tracker, Beverage Digest.

Athens needed to get 75% agreement to be able to push through the deal. So far the deal involves 172 billion euros ($227 billion, £143.7 billion) worth of debt - with investors taking a total loss of up to 74%. Still, only 69% of the minority of bondholders not governed by Greek law agreed the deal - and Greece said it had extended the deadline for these foreign bondholders to sign up until 23 March.

Investors are now waiting to see if forcing bondholders to take the deal - or enforcing so-called Collective Action Clauses - will be deemed as a default. "On behalf of the republic, I wish to express my appreciation to all of our creditors who have supported our ambitious programme of reform and adjustment and who have shared the sacrifices of the Greek people in this historic endeavour," Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said.

"Greece will continue implementing the measures needed to achieve the fiscal adjustments and structural reforms to which it has committed, and that will return Greece to a path of sustainable growth." The European Union and International Monetary Fund have said that if the debt swap does not go through then Greece will not get its latest bailout of 130 billion euros.

But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the issue, played down as "unrealistic" Israeli reports that the United States would condition supplying the hardware on Israel promising not to attack Iran this year. White House spokesman Jay Carney, asked whether the Israelis had made such a request to US officials during the visit, said "there was no such agreement proposed or reached" in President Barack Obama's meetings with Mr Netanyahu or his aides.

But when asked if the matter was raised with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta or other US officials, Carney told reporters he had no information on that. "I would refer you to other officials," he said. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that military capabilities came up in discussions between Messrs Netanyahu and Panetta but did not elaborate. No deals were struck during those talks, the official added.

Mr Netanyahu made clear to Mr Obama at a White House meeting on Monday that Israel had not yet decided on military action against Iran, the White House has said. The risk of an Israeli-Iranian war troubles Mr Obama, who is up for re-election in November and has cautioned against sparking greater Mideast turmoil, though he has also asserted that military action remains an option if sanctions fail. A Gulf conflict could send oil prices soaring.

A front-page article in the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv on Thursday said Mr Obama had told Mr Netanyahu Washington would supply Israel with upgraded military equipment in return for assurances there would be no attack on Iran in 2012.

Since 2010, 270 churches have been sold after defaulting on their loans, with 90 percent of those sales coming after a lender-triggered foreclosure, according to the real estate information company CoStar Group. In 2011, 138 churches were sold by banks, an annual record, with no sign that these religious foreclosures are abating, according to CoStar. That compares to just 24 sales in 2008 and only a handful in the decade before.

The church foreclosures have hit all denominations across America, black and white, but with small to medium size houses of worship the worst. Most of these institutions have ended up being purchased by other churches.The highest percentage have occurred in some of the states hardest hit by the home foreclosure crisis: California, Georgia, Florida and Michigan.

"Churches are among the final institutions to get foreclosed upon because banks have not wanted to look like they are being heavy handed with the churches," said Scott Rolfs, managing director of Religious and Education finance at the investment bank Ziegler.

"The rule of law has been treated with contempt," said Marc Ostwald from Monument Securities. "This will lead to litigation for the next ten years. It has become a massive impediment for long-term investors, and people will now be very wary about Portugal." At the start of the crisis EU leaders declared it unthinkable that any eurozone state should require debt relief, let alone default. Each pledge was breached, and the haircut imposed on banks, insurers, and pension funds ratcheted up to 75 percent.

Last month the European Central Bank exercised its droit du seigneur, exempting itself from loses on Greek bonds. The instant effect was to concentrate more loss on other bondholders. "This has set a major precedent," said Marchel Alexandrovich from Jefferies Fixed Income. "It does not matter how often the EU authorities repeat that Greece is a 'one-off' case, NOBODY IN THE MARKETS BELIEVES THEM."

Economists, business executives and even government officials, however, have started to sound the alarm about the rapid and unsustainable growth of the country’s public debt. The original boast remains officially true, despite scepticism about “peripheral” European economies after the Greek bailouts. The latest statistics from September 2011 show total Spanish public sector debt standing at €706 billion, as measured by the EU’s deficit-control rules – a manageable 66 per cent of the country’s €1.07 trillion gross domestic product.

But the total debt is already much higher than the number calculated according to the EU’s definitions. Moreover, it is growing quickly with each successive annual deficit. This year will see a further €60 billion added to the total, or 6 per cent of GDP, and it could be greatly swollen in future by contingent liabilities for everything from bank bailouts to guarantees for lossmaking toll road contracts managed by the private sector.

“It all adds up,” says Mr Hugh, adding that Spain risks raising its acknowledged public debt ratio to 100 per cent of GDP. “When you add all the debt up, we are already in the high 80 per cent range, and two more years of ‘normal’ deficit plus more funding for the financial sector should take it through the psychological barrier,” he says.

For Daniel, and for millions of other Israeli citizens, the sign is symbolic of creeping change in an institution long cherished as a bastion of national unity. An increasing number of conscripts are Orthodox Jews – mirroring the growth of the minority in Israeli society at large. Some religious troops view military service through the prism of their own piety – either as the realization of a messianic vision that sees Jews conquering biblical lands or as an institution that should be subordinated to rabbinical writ.

For secular Israelis, already worried about the role of religion in the Jewish state, that threatens not just the military but the country itself. “In my time, the skullcap-wearers came to the military and served alongside me. They lived their lives as they pleased, we respected them, and they also respected our lifestyle,” said Daniel, who is 64 and secular. “Today’s generation, to a degree, joins up with the object of imposing its lifestyle on others – to dictate how to behave. It’s a crawling annexation.”

Israel Defense Forces top brass say religion is not threatening the chain of command. “No rabbi will run any of my units,” chief of staff, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, told Israel’s top-rated Channel Two news last month.