Addressing a welcoming luncheon in honor of world dignitaries who are here to attend the Olympic opening ceremony, Hu said that in the course of bidding and preparing for the Games, the Chinese government and people received sincere help from governments and people of various countries, as well as strong support from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Family.

"I would like to express heartfelt thanks to you and, through you, to all those who have contributed to the Beijing Olympic Games," he said in the toast. "I also wish to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the international community for the warm support and valuable assistance given to China in our rescue and relief efforts after the devastating Wenchuan earthquake," he said. "The Chinese people will remember forever the profound friendship of people throughout the world," he said.

"I am confident that, with the support of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Family, and together with you, we will deliver a high-standard Olympic Games with distinctive features," the president added.

Dr Susanne Bugel and a team at the University of Copenhagen's Department of Human Nutrition, studied fruit and vegetables on most families' shopping lists, including carrots, peas, apples and potatoes. The team found no clear evidence of any difference in the vitamin and mineral content between the organically and the chemically grown crops.

Their findings are published in the Society of Chemical Industry's Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. Dr Alan Baylis, from the society, said: "Modern crop protection chemicals to control weeds, pests and diseases are extensively tested and stringently regulated, and once in the soil, mineral nutrients from natural or artificial fertilisers are chemically identical. "Organic crops are often lower yielding and eating them is a lifestyle choice for those who can afford it." The research was the first to look at the retention of minerals in fruit and vegetables.

HOWEVER IT DID NOT EXAMINE THE FOOD FOR ANY HEALTH RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH THE USE OF CHEMICALS.

Russian news agency Interfax reported that Georgian troops had entered the besieged town of Tskhinvali after intense battles overnight. But Georgia denied the Interfax report. Interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said Georgian forces had not yet entered Tskhinvali, but were engaged in a battle with two convoys, carrying "mercenaries", which had entered South Ossetia from Russia and were trying to reach the town.

Russia, main backer of the separatists who have controlled the region since a war in the early 1990s, accused Georgia of treachery and urged the world community to avert "massive bloodshed." The Kremlin said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was holding consultations with aides on Moscow's strategy "aimed at restoring peace in South Ossetia, defending the local civilian population within the peacekeeping mandate we have."

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who wants to take his small Caucasus nation into NATO, has set a priority on winning back control over South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another rebel region on the Black Sea. The issue has bedeviled Georgia's relations with RUSSIA, WHICH IS ANGERED BY TBILISI'S MOVES TOWARDS THE WESTERN FOLD AND ITS PURSUIT OF NATO MEMBERSHIP.

In correspondence dating from 2000 and 2001 with Welsh psychiatrist and evangelical Christian, Deborah Pitt, Williams described how his literal faith in the scripture's prohibitions against homosexuality began to crumble after about 1980 and that 20 years of study and prayer had led him to the "definitive conclusion" that "an active sexual relationship between two people of the same sex might therefore reflect the love of God in a way comparable to marriage..."

In itself, the revelation comes as no surprise to either liberal or conservative camps within the Anglican church. But Williams' previous writings on the subject have been few and couched in theologisms. This is how he tackled the issue in his essay The Body's Grace in 1989: "The absolute condemnation of same-sex relations of intimacy must rely either on an abstract fundamentalist deployment of a number of very ambiguous texts, or on a problematic and non-scriptural theory about natural complementarity, applied narrowly and crudely to physical differentiation without regard to psychological structures."

We can be thankful, at least, for his later brevity.

A day after cheering crowds welcomed the Olympic torch to Beijing's Tiananmen Square - scene of a 1989 massacre of pro-democracy protesters - activists from Canada to Kathmandu sought to get their voices heard. Already detained once for protesting on the square, three US Christians were forcefully dragged from the site as they prayed publicly, a statement on their behalf said.

"We were in Tiananmen Square publicly praying for the people of China when police forcefully dragged us across the street," Reverend Patrick J. Mahoney, one of the three, was quoted as saying while in custody. Meanwhile two British and two US activists who staged a dramatic pro-Tibet protest on Wednesday near the stadium where the Olympics will open in Beijing have been deported from China, their campaign group said in a statement.

The two Britons, who helped unfurl giant "Free Tibet" banners, arrived back in London on Thursday and warned the protests would continue in China. China has painted the Games as a celebration of three decades of economic reforms and hopes the event will showcase a rapidly modernising country.

The nearly six-minute video shows flames consuming a Beijing Olympics logo and an explosion over a venue for the competition, and features a masked, turbaned speaker clutching what appears to be an assault rifle. The IntelCenter released a copy of the recording, attributed to the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), an ethnic Uighur and Muslim organization seeking to create an independent state out of China's heavily Muslim Xinjiang province.

The SITE Intelligence Group, meanwhile, translated some of the message, which was delivered in the language of the Uighurs, and said that the speaker identified himself as a TIP member and issued a threat against the Games. The speaker urges Muslims to keep their children from the competition, and warns "Do not stay on the same bus, on the same train, on the same plane, in the same buildings, or any place the Chinese are," SITE said.

Beijing is wary of ethnic Uighur Muslims living in Xinjiang, who maintain an ethnic identity distinct from the Chinese and have struggled to re-establish the independent state of East Turkestan since their homeland became part of China in 1955.

The proposed agreement calls for Americans to hand over parts of Baghdad's Green Zone - where the U.S. Embassy is located - to the Iraqis by the end of 2008. It would also remove U.S. forces from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009, according to the two senior officials, both close to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and familiar with the negotiations.

The officials, who spoke separately on condition of anonymity because the talks are ongoing, said all U.S. combat troops would leave Iraq by October 2010, with the remaining support personnel gone "around 2013." The schedule could be amended if both sides agree - a face-saving escape clause that would extend the presence of U.S. forces if security conditions warrant it.

U.S. acceptance - even tentatively - of a specific timeline would represent a dramatic reversal of American policy in place since the war began in March 2003. Iraq's Shiite-led government has been holding firm for some sort of withdrawal schedule - a move the Iraqis said was essential to win parliamentary approval.

Airlines are set to make the reduction, the equivalent of one in every 14 seats, in response to high oil prices and the global credit crisis, according to the Official Airline Guide (OAG). Reduced availability is almost certain to force up ticket prices. In all there will be 59.7m fewer tickets available compared to October-December last year. Routes will be scrapped at 275 airports around the world and 3,500 fewer planes will be needed, according to the OAG. While Europe will suffer the loss of 5.5m seats, America will be worst hit, with a reduction of about 20m.

Steve Casley, the chief executive of the OAG, said: "The data speaks for itself. It took a good three years for the industry to recover from the downturn in 2001 when it had a five per cent drop in capacity and a seven per cent drop in flights. From our statistics, it looks quite possible that we may be facing a far more severe global downturn than we have experienced before. The industry's resilience will be pushed to its limits in the coming months."

In a speech outlining America's achievements and challenges in Asia, Bush pushed for a free press, free assembly and labor rights in China, and against its detentions of political dissidents, human rights advocates and religious activists. He said he wasn't trying to antagonize China, but called such reform the only path the potent U.S. rival can take to reach its full potential.

"The Chinese government puts people first, and is dedicated to maintaining and promoting its citizens basic rights and freedom," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in response to Bush's speech. "Chinese citizens have freedom of religion. These are indisputable facts." He said China advocates discussions on differing views on human rights and religions on "a basis of mutual respect and equality," then indicated it didn't see Bush's criticism in that light.

Making the repression issue timely, China has rounded up opponents ahead of the Olympics and slapped restrictions on journalists, betraying promises made when it landed the hosting rights. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd urged the international community "to speak with a strong and united voice" to maintain pressure on China over human rights.

The French EU presidency has already produced one possible answer: one Commissioner per geographical area e.g. Germany and Austria, the Benelux countries or Ireland and the UK. However many countries are unwilling to accept this compromise, particularly ones with general elections in the near future.

The article suggests that this problem is a key reason for pushing through the Lisbon Treaty within the next year, meaning another referendum for Ireland in the near future, with December being the most likely choice. However, citing the Red C poll commissioned by Open Europe, Welt suggests that the Lisbon Treaty would be rejected again if there were a second referendum in Ireland.

THE GOVERNMENT DECISION SPECIFICALLY APPROVES HIZBULLAH ACTIVITIES AIMED AT ISRAEL. Four ministers from Christian-majority parties represented in the government expressed "reservations" over the "resistance against Israel" clause, but Lebanese Information Minister Tareq Mitri said that "the document was approved unanimously."

According to Mitri, the government approved "the right of Lebanon, its people, its army and the resistance to liberate its land in the Shebaa Farms, Kfarshuba Hill and Ghajar," which are located on Israel's northern border with Lebanon. In an apparent contradiction with state recognition and approval accorded "the resistance" - a euphemism for Hizbullah - the statement declared that "the unity and the authority of the state would be the guiding principle of all government decisions and actions."

Such talk could be more threat than reality. However, Iran's refusal to accept Western conditions is worrying Israel as is the perception that Washington now prefers diplomacy over confrontation with Tehran.

The Jewish state has purchased 90 F-16I fighter planes that can carry enough fuel to reach Iran, and will receive 11 more by the end of next year. It has bought two new Dolphin submarines from Germany reportedly capable of firing nuclear-armed warheads - in addition to the three it already has. And this summer it carried out air manoeuvres in the Mediterranean that touched off an international debate over whether they were a "dress rehearsal" for an imminent attack, a stern warning to Iran or a just a way to get allies to step up the pressure on Tehran to stop building nukes.

Yet the cost of an attack - by the US, Israel or both - is likely to be enormous. Iran could halt oil production and shut down tanker traffic in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, WHICH COULD SEND THE PRICE OF CRUDE SKYROCKETING AND WRECK WESTERN ECONOMIES.

The 30-metre (98 ft) long blow-up church - staffed by priests ready to take confession - will debut on Saturday on the Adriatic coast in the Molise region, an organizer said. "There will be four or five people singing, with music about God," said Chiara Facci with Catholic group Sentinelli del Mattino. Night time activities, which will not include Mass, will run from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.

"The first attempt to inaugurate the inflatable church last month on the holiday island of Sardinia failed after strong winds forced organizers to relocate," she said. Big cities like Rome and Milan empty in August, when Italians head to the beach for summer holidays, leaving streets empty and many businesses closed. Churches are hardly immune, and also see their congregations thin.

On the Mediterranean coast, nuns from a convent near the southern Italian city of Naples have relocated to beach cabins to join holidaymakers saying the rosary. An adjoining altar was set up under two tents. "The concept of a beach-convent is something that is appreciated by vacationers and the nuns themselves," priest Antonio Rungi, who helped spearhead the initiative, told Italian news agency ANSA.

To some investors, that means its shares should be trading closer to zero. Bears argue that the company's bonds are a reasonable investment given the U.S. government's increasingly explicit support, but its shares are a more questionable investment.

Freddie Mac's shares moved closer to zero on Wednesday, dropping nearly 20 percent to $6.49 after it posted a much-wider-than-expected quarterly loss of $821 million. "Investors are betting that Freddie Mac can keep the show going long enough for either a recovery in the economy or the housing market, or to get help from the government," said Dan Alpert, managing director at investment bank Westwood Capital.

It could be the first Olympics to be tainted by "GENE DOPING", the latest and most dangerous threat to drug-free sport. The process, placed on the list of banned substances and methods by the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2003, involves genes being inserted into muscle or bone cells and their proteins fed directly into the tissue or red blood cells.

This is usually done by injecting, or sometimes inhaling, the necessary DNA. Dr Andy Miah, in Beijing conducting research during the Games, said: "Gene doping is the next major headache for the world of sport. Many scientists will say it's still not possible, but I'm not taking this for granted. We need to assume that it's happening. It's already feasible."

Dr Miah's allegations will cast yet another unwelcome shadow over preparations for the 29th modern Olympics, which begin on Friday. He added: "There is no other technology that is likely to change the Olympics than gene doping. It's not possible to detect and there's a good chance that it will never be detectable in any meaningful sense."