"The American dream: having a home of your own can represent security and, in the best-case scenario, a source of building personal wealth. To guide us to that dream, most home-buyers would be lost without the assistance of a well-qualified realtor, estate agent, property agent - whatever you call them, people who handle the sale of houses. The home-buying process can be a daunting experience. So, to their credit, good realtors are a real asset for potential home-buyers."

"But there are many realtors who were so zealous to get potential home-buyers into homes and earn their commission that they were more concerned about closing the deal than making sure their customers could afford the payments down the line. No-one really knows how many realtors fall into that category but one thing is for sure: in today's current mortgage foreclosure crisis, there's a sobering lesson for anyone involved in the home ownership business."

"It isn't just about getting a buyer into a home - it's also about making sure that that buyer has access to quality credit that isn't going to result in a foreclosure, should the buyer hit one rough bump in the road. Credit Suisse has predicted that roughly 6.5 million homes will go into foreclosure in the next five years. That's a lot of lost dreams. Knowing what we know now, realtors on the frontlines of the home-buying process can and should do more to educate their clients about the pitfalls of mortgage financing. Maybe they should recommend more modest properties, too."

"That old real estate adage - figure out what you can afford, then stretch a bit - shouldn't be the advice that realtors give today's buyers. Today's message should be: buy something that fits your budget, today. Realtors ought to be giving their clients advice they can take to the bank, rather than to the poorhouse."

"In his latest book, the billionaire investor George Soros makes the case that we are witnessing the end of a 25-year super-bubble. I certainly agree with his observation and would just note that the time-frame of this super-bubble roughly approximates to the career of Alan Greenspan, who, in my opinion, is responsible for its creation."

"It was Alan Greenspan, as chairman of the Federal Reserve, who decided that central banks like his should not try to dampen down the sort of speculation that leads to bubbles in the first place. To do that might have slowed economic activity, an unacceptable possible outcome. But then, when the speculative bubble collapsed, after the prices of things like companies no longer represented anything remotely resembling their underlying value, Alan Greenspan just bailed out the financial system."

"What began as small bail-outs became big bail-outs, from the year 2000 onwards. Interest rates were taken to the absurdly low level of 1% and held there far too long. That engendered a housing bubble, which was nourished by the complete abdication of lending standards in the banking system. Securitisation - swapping hoped-for future cash flow for large amounts of cash now - was spearheaded and championed by Alan Greenspan himself. Deregulation was thought to be the solution to any and all imbalances, as the market would find any weak institutions and punish them for bad decisions before the whole system became rotten."

"The truly sad part is that this outcome was completely foreseeable. It was possible to anticipate a catastrophe of such dimensions, even as the housing boom was still in full swing. Unfortunately, the very institution that had the regulatory authority to supervise the banking system was the one leading the cheerleading - namely, the Fed, in the form of Alan Greenspan. IN THE END, IT WAS SORT OF LIKE PUTTING THE BARTENDER IN CHARGE OF THE BREATHALYSER."

"SOME GREED IS NECESSARY TO KEEP CAPITALISM GOING. But too much greed will bring it down. Even Adam Smith, the father of economics, understood that capitalism requires some degree of trust. Yet the greed that's taken over our banking system is undermining the trust of investors, who are necessary if there's going to be any money in the banking system to invest."

"Here in America, the authorities are now chasing down investment bankers who recommended their giant hedge funds to investors, even when the bankers knew the funds were about to implode. Greedy bankers like them have been running a giant con-game. They figure if they can persuade investors to buy something that's actually worth nothing, it might appear to be worth something, which lets them persuade others to buy even more, because - after all - by this time lots of investors are buying it."

"AND THEN WHEN THE BUBBLE BURSTS AND INVESTORS LOSE THEIR SHIRTS, THE BANKERS KEEP THEIR FAT COMMISSIONS AND A PERCENTAGE OF THE UPSIDE GAINS. But what they've left out of the calculation is the trust needed next time a banker claims something's a good deal. You see, TRUST IS A PRECIOUS COMMODITY. And it's eroding fast - which is why the credit crunch continues."

"NOW, WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE: the late 1920s and an anything-goes banking system filled with bankers ready to sell securities to the biggest sucker to come along next. Wealth then was as concentrated as it is today; debt piling up as high as it is today; greed as rampant as it is today. And then what happened? The bubble of all bubbles burst on 21 October 1929, ushering in the Great Depression. Franklin D Roosevelt told Americans they had nothing to fear but fear itself. But the fact was, the financial system had let them down - and they wouldn't trust it again for decades."

"Greedy bankers beware. "

WEALTH WITHOUT WORK. Everyone was for that, but we modern folks know better. Or do we? Today, globalisation is driving down profit margins in making everything, from steel to software. If you make a profit, soon someone in China will make it a bygone. But deal-making, putting companies together and taking them apart, financing it all, offers great rewards. Then there are the risks. Making risks evaporate in the morning sun, or the shadows of Wall Street, seems to be where the wealth lies.

Enter our financial engineers. They don't deal in metals or megabytes, they deal in companies that make them. Combining them, financing them, taking them apart, putting them together again. That's the stuff of modern fortunes. But what of those risks? The engineers that assemble these deals say all the risks can be laid off on other engineers and their clients. And by investing in each other, everyone's money will be safe. Profits without risk. They even thought they could do that with sub-prime mortgages - home loans to people who really couldn't afford them. They bought each other's debt and erased one another's risk by dealing with one another in a giant chain letter. Until someone realised that what they were trading wasn't worth a hill of beans.

The house of cards has collapsed, but were these guys the fools? Or do true wizards live on Wall Street? Perhaps they do, because THE ENGINEERS HAVE ESCAPED WITH THEIR BIG PAYDAYS AND BONUSES, and central banks like the Federal Reserve and Bank of England are underwriting the tab to foist the bill on all of us - the taxpayers. Who are the fools here? Perhaps you and me. The engineers have turned worthless paper into personal fortunes by sticking us with the tab."

WILLIAM AKU, 46, CIVIL SERVANT, NIGERIA
"Not much was achieved at the Lambeth Conference as the Archbishop of Canterbury decided to sidestep the main issue at the heart of recent arguments - the consecration of homosexuals as priests. I believe the openly gay bishop Gene Robinson decided to attend Lambeth just to provoke people - and he knows it. It is the display of extremism in his views that scares many orthodox Anglicans."

BOB MACDONALD, 62, SOFTWARE DEVELOPER, VICTORIA, CANADA
"There has been some meeting of minds at Lambeth. A number of people from African churches have accepted that the gay issue is there and won't simply go away. Ultimately, the issue of homosexuality is a hugely controversial issue that all the major faiths are attempting to tackle"

STEPHEN, 49, ORGANIST, COLCHESTER, UK
"The Church should treat the gay issue the same as they have the Biblical strictures on eating shellfish, divorce, slavery, the planting of two crops in the same field, the wearing of garments made of two fibres, the ministry of women etc. However, I still think Bishop Gene Robinson should have stayed away - never go to a party if you are not invited! THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION IS ALMOST ENTIRELY PAID FOR BY THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (ECUSA) who have been extremely patient but will eventually close the purse."

ROGER JONES, 60, COMPOSER OF CHRISTIAN MUSIC, BIRMINGHAM, UK
"The impression I get from the media is that little was settled at the conference. A desire to maintain unity meant there was no definitive statement on controversial issues. This is hardly good leadership and eventually there will be division on authority of scripture. I would like the Church to pronounce clearly that the only place for sexual intimacy is within heterosexual marriage and that marriage that isn't heterosexual isn't marriage at all. We would then all know what the Church stands for, and we could decide whether or not to join the denomination."

In an article in German newspaper Bild am Sonntag on Sunday (3 August), the centre-right politician said that love of sports should not be an excuse to overlook human rights issues. "I would like to encourage the athletes, men and women, to look at things as they are, and not to turn away. Each athlete can, in their own way, give a signal," he wrote, with the international sporting event due to start on Friday in the Chinese capital. "It is our duty not to forget the people of Tibet, who are fighting for their cultural survival."

Mr Poettering's comments come amid general political uproar in Germany over internet censorship for foreign media after Chinese authorities reneged on previous promises to allow unrestricted internet access to the thousands of journalists covering the Games.

"I do not understand why the Chinese government once again limited internet access and sparked international scepticism," German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Der Spiegel news magazine. However most EU leaders have not taken a stand, with EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson in Spring urging a pragmatic approach to the issue. "We can and should insist on our values and our concerns. But we must also not lose sight of the fact that we are bound to work with China, to live alongside China, to help China succeed," said the commissioner.

Hamilton points out that under the warrant, EXTRADITION REQUESTS CAN BE ISSUED WITHOUT ANY EVIDENCE PRODUCED and argues that the system is unworkable given the variance between legal rights afforded to citizens from different EU countries.

As a result, Hamilton argues, British citizens could find themselves tried in countries that lack basic legal protections such as "habeas corpus, trial by jury or the presumption of innocence... It is now as easy as posting a parcel to extradite a British citizen to any EU country. Unlike a parcel, the prisoner is almost bound to be delivered... Would you be confident of a fair trial in, say, Greece, Bulgaria or Romania?"

Fells told the paper, "I have been in direct contact with energy companies and they are quite blunt about this. We will have rolling blackouts within 10 years, probably by 2015. This is not scaremongering. These companies are desperately worried and have few options." The article notes that EU environmental regulations will play a part in the shutdown of around 22.5 gigawatts of existing plants (about 40 per cent of total output) over the next decade. Due to demand growth over this period, this will need to be replaced by 30 gigawatts of new capacity.

The FT reports that Gordon Brown will shy away from placing a windfall tax on energy companies, but may try and raise revenue by increasing the number of permits that have to be auctioned under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE WORSE OFF THAN A YEAR AGO DUE TO THE GLOBAL CREDIT CRUNCH. The effects have not just been felt in people's pockets. For bank bosses, regulators and politicians, the damage inflicted has been to their reputation for competence rather than financial security. So who has lost most from the worst financial crisis in a generation?

THE BANKS - However you look at them, the figures remain startling. The losses incurred by Wall Street's biggest banks and a posse of Europe's leading financial institutions run into the many billions. Total bank exposure to the US sub-prime mortgage market, whose collapse infected wider credit markets and triggered an almost overnight liquidity drought, is still far from clear.

THE FEDERAL RESERVE has put the cost to the bottom line of banks and other lenders of their sub-prime misadventures at $100bn. GOLDMAN SACHS has said the figure could be as high as $400bn while the OECD has put an upper limit on the damage of $420bn. Taking into account other failed mortgage loans, devalued mortgage-backed securities and general bad debts, the International Monetary Fund said potential losses could top $945bn.

Looking back in 50 years time, the names of NORTHERN ROCK AND BEAR STEARNS are likely to remain indelibly linked with the crisis when other details have faded. The respective rescues of the two firms, although very different in cause and execution, highlighted the extent of the threat to the entire banking systems in the UK and US. Both companies were irretrievably damaged by their financial difficulties while other firms suffered grievous, if not terminal, injuries. Switzerland's UBS admitted it would take up to three years to recover its reputation for financial prudence after chalking up losses of $38bn.

US homeowners, arguably, have had to endure the most misery over the past year. As the value of their homes plummeted further, thousands found themselves in negative equity and, worse, unable to meet their mortgage payments. Despite government assistance to help people stay in their homes, the wave of foreclosures which triggered the wider credit crunch showed no sign of slowing a year on.

According to online foreclosure marketplace RealtyTrac, the number of foreclosure notices in June topped 250,000 for the second month running and was 53% above June 2007. Worse still, bank repossessions hit 71,000 in June - up an alarming 171% on a year earlier. Those living in California and Florida - scene of a building boom in the early part of the decade - have been worst hit, accounting for 40% of total foreclosure notices in June.

In the UK, homeowners had little to celebrate as they watched house prices suffer their steepest month-on-month falls since the early 1990s. At the same time, the 1.3 million people having to renegotiating their mortgages saw the choice of deals shrink dramatically and average borrowing costs rise as banks grappled with high wholesale lending rates and falling profits. This property malaise was not just confined to the US and UK. The recent housing boom in Spain imploded spectacularly while a collapse in prices in Ireland dented confidence about its future economic prospects.

But US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and UK Chancellor Alistair Darling struggled to counter the impression that they were no longer in control of events as the political fortunes of their governments took a sharp dip. Speaking last month, the two men heralded Anglo-American co-operation TO REBUILD TRUST IN THE BANKING SYSTEM but admitted that mistakes had been made before and during the crisis

Europe's largest bank saw profits drop by $3.9bn to $10.2bn (£5.2bn) in the first six months of the year, as its North American arm made a $2.8bn loss. The firm announced $3.7bn in fresh credit writedowns. HSBC has been among the banks worst hit by the credit crunch, whose financial toll has run into the many billions. It has already announced writedowns in the value of its assets - linked to the slump in the US housing market - of more than $15bn. HSBC shares fell by more than 1% in initial trading after it announced its results.

Stephen Green, HSBC chairman said, "It is also that complexity in financial services and the recent consequences of failed risk management need to be addressed. ULTIMATELY THE REAL ECONOMY WILL RECOVER FROM THE CRISIS ALTHOUGH IT MAY GET WORSE BEFORE IT GETS BETTER."

HSBC saw profits rise in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America in the first six months, but problems in the US weighed heavily on its balance sheet. Of Europe's top banks, HSBC has among the heaviest exposure to the troubled US housing and credit markets. Its credit writedowns so far this year have now risen to $10bn, compared with $6.3bn in the same period last year.

They say immunising children would particularly protect the elderly. Children are prolific spreaders of infection because they have lower immunity and come into close contact with their families and each other. The findings prompted calls for a reassessment of government policy. In the US, flu vaccination is already offered to children aged from six months to five years.

The latest study estimated the effects of vaccination in the under-twos, under-fives and under-16s on two types of flu. It showed that the more children who received vaccination, the greater was the protection to the population in general. If an annual vaccination programme included everyone under the age of 16, the incidence of both influenza A and influenza B could drop by more than 90%, the researchers found. Just immunising those aged between six months and two years would reduce flu in the population by between 11% and 35%, depending on the strain.

Professor John Oxford, an expert in virology at Barts and The London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry said the evidence all seemed to be pointing towards a benefit. But he added: "THIS IS MATHEMATICAL MODELLING WHICH IS NOT QUITE THE SAME AS GETTING REAL DATA." He added: "I would say parents in the UK would probably turn around and give it a thumbs down, so the JCVI will want to be 100% sure of the evidence."

The Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed three heat-related deaths — two people last month in their 80s, and a 49-year-old man in June — as the Dallas area braced for an expected 107-degree scorcher Sunday that would rank as the hottest day of the year. Saturday's high of 104 around Dallas was the ninth straight day of triple-digit heat, a stretch that began at the end of the fourth-hottest July on record in North Texas. There's no relief in sight, either.

Meanwhile, those hoping to cool off with a swim now face an outbreak of a waterborne illness in pools, lakes and water parks that has sickened at least 100 North Texas swimmers. Experts say they don't know exactly why there's been a spike in the outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis, a diarrhea disease. Officials have temporarily closed swimming holes, public pools, spray grounds and water parks in the Dallas-Fort Worth area where crypto has been contracted and those areas have been super-chlorinated in an attempt to wipe out the nasty parasite.

Sixteen wildfires across the state, the largest more than 1,000 acres, continued burning Saturday, Texas Forest Service spokesman Bruce Miller said. He said the dryness, hot temperatures and low humidity has the north-central part of the state in the 90th percentile of fire indicies. "To be this critical and have the fire conditions we have now is unusual for this time of year," Miller said.

While the profits of unparalleled size have brought withering criticism from Washington and disgust from consumers across the country, very few were surprised.

Crude prices during the second quarter were nearly double what they were a year ago. Chevron said Friday its second-quarter profit rose 11 percent to a record $5.98 billion. Revenue rose significantly to $82.9 billion from $56.1 billion a year ago.

While local Communist leaders want the August 8-24 Games to showcase Chinese modernity and economic progress to the world, critics have used the build-up to put pressure on Beijing over its treatment of dissent, most notably in Tibet.

A youth orchestra of 2,008 international musicians became the first foreign group to play in Tiananmen Square, performing a medley of classical and modern pieces at the Beijing landmark best known to the world for student protests in 1989. "This is a significant message from the Chinese to say that China is now open to the world," one of the participants Max Ronquillo, leader of the Guam Territorial Band, told Reuters. "We are making history today."

With just five days to go before Friday's opening ceremony, Beijing has designated three parks for officially sanctioned demonstrations. But locals or foreigners wanting to use them must apply five days in advance. And "citizens must not harm national, social and collective interests," Liu Shaowu, security chief of the Beijing Games Organizing Committee, added in a statement. The Olympics has galvanized global critics of China on an array of issues from treatment of internal dissidents and censorship of the Internet to policies over the Darfur conflict.

The seal impression, or bulla, with the name Gedalyahu ben Pashur, who served as minister to King Zedekiah (597-586 BCE) according to the Book of Jeremiah, was found just meters away from a separate seal impression of another of Zedekia's ministers, Yehukual ben Shelemyahu, which was uncovered three years ago, said Prof. Eilat Mazar who is leading the dig at the site.

The excavation at the history-rich City of David, which is located just outside the walls of the Old City near Dung Gate, has proven, in recent years, to be a treasure trove for archeologists. "On the one hand it is so unexpected to find such a fragile bulla in such harsh conditions of excavation, while on the other hand it was logical to find precisely here the bulla of Gedalyahu ben Pashur - only meters away from the place where we found the bulla of Yehukhal ben Shelemyahu - since these two ministers are mentioned side by side in the Bible as having served together in the kingdom of King Zedekiah," Mazar said.

The first bulla was uncovered inside an impressive stone structure, which Mazar believes is the Palace of David, while the second bulla was found at the foot of the external wall of the same structure, under a tower that was built in the days of Nehemiah. Both of the bullae with the names of the two ministers, measuring 1 cm. in diameter each, were found among the debris of the destruction of the First Temple period. The letters are in ancient Hebrew and are very clearly preserved, Mazar said.

Both ministers are mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 38 1-4) along with two other ministers when they came to King Zedekiah demanding the death of the prophet Jeremiah for preaching to the besieged city to surrender. Mazar said it was "absolutely fantastic" to have uncovered the seals "complete and in perfect condition" after 2,600 years, affording scholars a clear read of the names that were impressed on them.