The latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center, issued at 11 p.m. ET, increased Ike's maximum sustained winds to 135 mph, with higher gusts. Hurricane-force winds extended 35 miles from the storm's center of circulation. The hurricane center's official forecast puts Ike on a path toward the south Florida coast sometime early next week, though the storm's path and strength can change without warning.

Other storms in the Atlantic, have become less of a threat. Hanna, once a hurricane, weakened into a tropical storm near the Bahamas, and is forecast to strike the south eastern U.S. as a Category 1 hurricane by the end of the week. Beyond Ike in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Josephine had winds of 50 mph at 11 p.m., but appeared headed northwest into open seas, where it would weaken in the coming days.

Asked in an interview with the Financial Times whether it was feasible that US combat forces could leave Baghdad by July, he said: "Conditions permitting, yeah." His comments come as the US and Iraq hammer out the final details of a long-term security agreement that reportedly outlines A POTENTIAL TIMELINE FOR US COMBAT TROOPS TO LEAVE IRAQI CITIES BY NEXT SUMMER, AND THE COUNTRY BY 2011.

While declining to comment on the details of the security agreement, Gen Petraeus said US combat forces had already pulled back from cities in 13 of Iraq's 18 provinces. The sight of US soldiers exiting Baghdad would be highly symbolic given the scale of violence that gripped the city in 2006 and 2007.

Gen Petraeus leaves Iraq later this month to become head of Central Command, which oversees US operations in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa. Before his departure, the four-star general will give President George W. Bush his final recommendation for troop levels as commander in Iraq. He will continue to help shape policy on Iraq in his new role.

A US study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found higher rates of cancer among patients prescribed Inegy. The pill combines a widely-used statin called simvastatin, which blocks cholesterol in the liver, with another drug, ezetimibe. The study found higher rates of cancer among those using the drug compared to patients taking a placebo.

Around 300,000 prescriptions for Inegy have been dispensed in the last two years in Britain. But the British Heart Foundation sought to reassure those taking the drug, saying regulators would act quickly if hard evidence of risk emerged.

Dr Mike Knapton, director of prevention and care at the British Heart Foundation, said patients who were concerned about the risk should speak to their GPs. He pointed to research by Oxford University academics which combined three studies of the drug and found there was no increased risk of cancer. And he called for closer study of patients using the combination drug.

IN SOME MEMBER STATES DEFENDANTS ARE FREQUENTLY TRIED IN THEIR ABSENCE. But this is banned in other member states, thus posing problems for the mutual recognition of such judicial decisions. For example, there is a problem if a country wants to use a European Arrest Warrant to get hold of a person who that country has tried in their absence. At present, the executing member state has a degree of discretion and does not have to automatically execute a European Arrest Warrant (i.e. extradite someone) if the country making the request has tried that person in their absence.

But the conditions which need to be fulfilled to hand over someone to another member state after they have been tried in their absence would be very weak. Crucially, under the proposal, it is no longer up to the executing country to decide whether the conditions are met. The country issuing the arrest warrant simply fills in the relevant section of the form. IF THE RIGHT BOX IS TICKED, THE PERSON MUST BE HANDED OVER.

Pieter Cleppe, a European lawyer working at Open Europe, said: "We believe that mutual recognition instruments, such as the European Arrest Warrant, must not be allowed to undermine long established traditions of fundamental rights. THIS PROPOSAL COULD OPEN THE DOOR TO SERIOUS MISCARRIAGES OF JUSTICE AND MINISTERS SHOULD NOT BE SUPPORTING IT."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in January meat and milk from cloned cattle, swine and goats and their offspring were as safe as products from traditional animals. Before then, farmers and ranchers had followed a voluntary moratorium on the sale of clones and their offspring.

While the FDA evaluated the safety of food from clones and their offspring, the U.S. Agriculture Department was in charge of managing the transition of these animals into the food supply. Proponents, including the Biotechnology Industry Organization, say cloning is a way to create more disease-resistant animals that produce more milk and better meat. The cloning industry and THE FDA SAY CLONED ANIMALS AND THEIR OFFSPRING ARE AS SAFE AS THEIR TRADITIONAL COUNTERPARTS.

Critics contend not enough is known about the technology to ensure it is safe, and they also say the FDA needs to address concerns over animal cruelty and ethical issues. "IT WORRIES ME THAT THIS TECHNOLOGY IS OUT OF CONTROL IN SO MANY WAYS," said Charles Margulis, a spokesman with the Center for Environmental Health. The possibility of offspring being in the food supply "is just another element of that," he said.

Hurricane experts say all the weather ingredients, which normally fluctuate, are set on boil for the formation of storms. And it's going to stay that way for a while, they said. Four named storms at the same time is a bit odd, but not unprecedented, meteorologists said. In 1995 five named storms lived simultaneously. And in 1998 there were four hurricanes at the same.

The peak of hurricane season isn't until Sept. 10 and this season already has 10 named storms, which is the long-term average for an entire season. "Normally in an active season, there are bunches of hurricanes and lulls. It just doesn't seem like there's been bunches of lulls. I sure hope we're not talking (hurricanes) Christmas Eve," said meteorology professor Hugh Willoughby at Florida International University.

However, they did agree to "postpone" partnership and co-operation talks with Russia unless it respected the terms of the ceasefire with Georgia. Unarmed EU civilian observers are to be sent to Georgia to ensure that Russia is abiding by its ceasefire agreement.

The European Commission also pledged an extra 6m euros in aid to Georgia, on top of the 9m euros already awarded by individual member states, prompting Commission President José Manuel Barroso to say that the EU's commitment to the troubled country is not merely "rhetoric". However, a recent report from the International Crisis Group noted that the EU's commitment of aid to Georgia is "dwarfed" by the $420 million pledged by Russia to South Ossetia.

Former UK Ambassador to the US, Christopher Meyer, argues in the Times that EUROPE NEEDS TO BE DIVIDED INTO DEFINED SPHERES OF INFLUENCE in the style of the 1815 Vienna settlement: "This may sound shocking and anachronistic to the modern sensibility. But, there is no other way to remove the scope for miscalculation, the mother of far too many wars."

According to spokesman Yosef Rabin, the movement is supported by a number of activist groups, including Supporters of the New Jewish Congress, the Temple Institute, Manhigut Yehudit, the Hevron Fund and One Jerusalem.

"We are calling on all concerned Jews and lovers of all Israel to sign the petition," said Rabin. He added that the document was prompted by "the threat to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount" posed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.

The film is the latest in a series of propaganda films, clips and news articles launched by Hamas and other Arab groups regarding the alleged threat to the Temple Mount caused by Israel. According to PMW, the film's message is clear: "Jerusalem and the al-Aqsa mosque are in immediate danger from Israel, a message that could create an atmosphere that encourages extreme steps (by Palestinians)."

The media watch group reported that other Palestinian media, including Fatah-affiliated sources, also deal heavily with this supposed threat to the Temple Mount and accuse Israel not only of 'ethnic cleansing' and 'Jewification' of the area, but also of releasing rats deliberately and dealing drugs in the vicinity of Arab residents living near the mosque. "In order to relay these claims the Palestinian Authority uses fear rhetoric, invents sordid plots and even incorporates Muslim sermons" into its propaganda, said PMW.

Such claims have been made by Palestinian groups many times in the past, but have made a renewed appearance in recent months.

Analysts say it's a strategy that has worked in the past for Germany's increasingly active far-right scene. German neo-Nazis have seized on the recent murder of an eight year-old-girl in the eastern city of Leipzig to drum up support for themselves by organizing protest marches demanding the death penalty for child abusers. Leipzig's mayor, police and local politicians have accused the National Democratic Party (NPD) and other far-right organizations of blatantly seeking to exploit public anger at the child's murder.

Experts on Germany's far-right scene say the NPD is a past master at exploiting emotive public issues such as child abuse, drugs, immigration and unemployment. They say it's a strategy that has proved successful in eastern Germany, where unemployment and social upheaval since unification in 1990 have left many people disenchanted with the mainstream parties and with politics in general.

"THE NPD IS TRYING TO GAIN SUPPORT BY PRETENDING TO BE A NORMAL PARTY AND MILKING THE FRUSTRATION AND FEAR OF THE PEOPLE OF LEIPZIG," Friedemann Bringt, project manager at Kulturbüro Sachsen, a government-funded consultancy on combating racism, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "WE'RE CONCERNED THAT THIS STRATEGY MAY PAY OFF FOR THEM."

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Ike emerged as a new threat in the open sea, as the National Hurricane Center in Miami monitored three weaker weather systems moving westward across the Atlantic. Hanna, with maximum sustained winds near 80 mph (130 kmh), lingered for much of the day near Mayaguana and nearby islands in the southeast Bahamas.

Hanna also was bringing strong winds, heavy rain and pounding surf to nearby islands, including Inagua and Crooked Island, and Turks and Caicos Islands to the south. It was expected to hit the southeastern U.S. later in the week. "Right now, the uncertainty is such that it could hit anywhere from Miami to the outer banks of North Carolina," said Jessica Schauer Clark, a meteorologist at the U.S. National Hurricane Center. "So people really need to keep an eye on it."

Ike was approaching behind Hanna — still about 1,400 miles (2,250 kilometers) out in the Atlantic Ocean, but expected to become a hurricane in the next 36 hours as it too approaches the Bahamas.

They were still breathing as their bodies were covered with rocks and mud, according media reports and human rights activists. The incident occurred in Baba Kot, a remote village in Jafferabad district, after the women decided to defy tribal elders and arrange marriages in a civil court, according to the Asian Human Rights Commission.

They were said to have been abducted at gunpoint by six men, forced into a vehicle and taken to a remote field, where they were beaten, shot and then buried alive, it said, accusing local authorities of trying to hush up the killings.

A Pakistani lawmaker provoked outrage by defending men from the Baluch tribe who had carried out the killings. Israr Ullah Zehri told stunned members of Pakistan's parliament: 'These are centuries-old traditions and I will continue to defend them, only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid.' He claimed the tribal traditions helped stop obscenity - and then asked fellow lawmakers not to make a big fuss about it.

There had been fears of catastrophic damage and loss of life, a repeat of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina just three years ago. Some two million residents had evacuated the region, leaving the city a ghost town but in fact Gustav eventually stormed the U.S. 85 miles to the west. New Orleans breathed a sigh of relief as it received only a glancing blow that did little more than send water sloshing harmlessly over its rebuilt floodwalls.

The all-important levees surrounding the city held against storm surges whipped up by 100mph winds. It was their first test since Katrina, and they passed it easily. Gustav first crashed ashore as a Category 2 hurricane with 110mph winds but by last night it had been downgraded to a tropical storm with winds of around 60mph. It was hoped New Orleans could be open for business again within days. Mayor Ray Nagin said residents' homecoming was 'only days away, not weeks'.

Despite the sense of relief, the state had still not come through the storm unscathed. Officials had to scramble to shore up a levee in the south-eastern part of Louisiana. Roofs were also torn from houses, trees were ripped up and roads flooded as Gustav roared through the region. A ferry was sunk and more than one million homes in total were left without power. The extent of any damage to the oil and gas industry is still unclear.

By the end of September, there will hardly be a Year Eight girl (aged 12-13) in the country who doesn't know that, barring an opt-out, she is shortly to receive three injections of the drug Cervarix, which will offer her 70 per cent protection against cervical cancer. Later in the year, another 300,000 girls aged 17 and 18 will be vaccinated before they leave school. By 2012, most girls over the age of 12 should have received the vaccine.

Made by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmith-Kline, Cervarix works by creating an immunity against the two strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), numbers 16 and 18, responsible for 70 per cent of all cervical cancers. For the Government, the programme - reputed to have cost tens of millions of pounds - has been seen as little short of a community medicine triumph.

But look more closely and it is not hard to see why many British experts are uneasy about the rush to vaccinate all our young girls. Cervical cancer may be a nasty disease, but it is also, thanks to our world-class screening programme, very rare in the UK.

Last month, an article in the New England Journal Of Medicine claimed that serious questions regarding the overall effectiveness of the vaccine remained unanswered. It pointed out that studies into the vaccine were carried out on girls aged 15 to 24 so there is no way of knowing how the drug will affect pre-pubescent girls, how long it will last and whether there was the potential for interference with the body's natural defence against other HPV strains.

So parents are being faced with an agonising decision. Do they say no to the vaccine and risk their child contracting a dreadful disease. Or do they put their trust in a drug for which evidence of safety and efficacy is probably insufficient and at worst may do harm?

The report claimed that the Dutch operation had been "extremely successful," and had been stopped because the US military was planning to hit targets that were "connected with the Dutch espionage action." The impending air-strike on Iran was to be carried out by unmanned aircraft "within weeks," the report claimed, quoting "well placed" sources. According to the report, information gleaned from the AIVD's operation in Iran has provided several of the targets that are to be attacked in the strike, including "parts for missiles and launching equipment. Information from the AIVD operation has been shared in recent years with the CIA," the report said.

On Saturday, Iran's Deputy Chief of Staff General Masoud Jazayeri warned that should the United States or Israel attack Iran, it would be the start of another World War. On Friday, Ma'ariv reported that Israel had made a strategic decision to deny Iran military nuclear capability and would not hesitate "to take whatever means necessary" to prevent Teheran from achieving its nuclear goals.

According to the report, whether the United States and Western countries succeed in thwarting the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions diplomatically, through sanctions, or whether a US strike on Iran is eventually decided upon, Jerusalem has begun preparing for a separate, independent military strike.