Record levels of immigration combined with higher birth rates among newcomers will tip the balance between whites and non-whites and create a string of "superdiverse" cities where no single group will form a majority.
The watershed is expected to be reached first in Leicester, where whites will form less than 50 per cent of the population by 2020, followed by Birmingham in 2024, and by Slough and Luton soon afterwards.

London's population will still be 61 per cent white by 2026, although eight of the city's 33 boroughs will be 'plural', with no one group forming a majority, according to the study from the University of Sheffield. Britain is becoming ever more plural; our diversity ever more diverse," said Danny Dorling, professor of human geography. But he said it was becoming harder for experts to generalise about trends because different cities face widely differing experiences.

Leicester, with a large Indian community, has seen its white population fall from 70.1 per cent of the total in 1991 to 59.5 today, and the figure is predicted to fall below a half by around 2020. The city's Indian population is set to rise from 22.9 to 26 per cent over the same period, with the African population increasing from 0.4 to 11.2 per cent. Birmingham has strikingly different predicted trends, with the shift in the balance driven mainly by the growing Pakistani community.

In general immigrant and ethnic minority populations will no longer be dominated by large, distinct Afro-Caribbean or Asian communities, said Prof Dorling. Instead increasing numbers will come from countries scattered across the world - from Germany to Guyana, from Sweden to Singapore.

The cabinet allocated 811 million shekels (207 million dollars, 144 million euros) towards the development and manufacture of the missile defence system, it said. The system -- dubbed "The Iron Dome" -- will be developed by the Israeli arms firm Rafael and is expected to be operational within two years. The defence ministry first ordered its development in February.

In addition to being able to intercept the home-made rockets fired from the Gaza Strip by Palestinian militant groups, it will also be able to shoot down Katyusha-type short-range rockets of the kind fired by Lebanon's Hezbollah militia during last year's 34-day war with Israel. During that brief but bloody conflict, Hezbollah fired nearly 4,000 rockets into Israel, killing more than 40 civilians.

In Israeli territory around Gaza, 12 people have been killed as a result of some 4,000 rockets militants have fired into Israel since the start of the second Palestinian uprising in September 2000. Short-range rockets have been the bane of Israel's military, widely considered to be the Middle East's most powerful army. Although they have a relatively low accuracy rate, the rockets create a state of permanent anxiety among Israelis within range, and increase public pressure on the military to deal with the menace.

The sound of drums and bagpipes filled Manger Square as religious and political dignitaries arrived in the town where Christians believe Jesus was born. Ahead of the festivities, Palestinian security forces, many carrying newly-issued rifles, took up positions on the streets of Bethlehem in numbers not seen in years. It was the third major Palestinian deployment in a West Bank city under a Western-backed security push launched after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June.

Bethlehem was particularly affected when tourism slumped during the early years of a Palestinian uprising -- or Intifada -- that erupted in 2000. But this year store owners say they are celebrating their most peaceful -- and profitable -- Christmas in nearly seven years. "We are more satisfied. The economic situation is getting a little better," said Khaled Msalam, a 42-year-old Bethlehem shop owner. "Still, people have financial trouble and can't afford a lot of our products."

Tourism, the lifeblood of Bethlehem's economy, has improved as Western powers have sought to bolster Abbas in his power struggle with Hamas Islamists who routed his secular Fatah forces in Gaza. After struggling for years to fill rooms, many Bethlehem hotels are fully booked for Christmas.

MIDDLE EAST ENVOY TONY BLAIR has been trying to improve tourist access and facilities in Bethlehem. The former British prime minister recently stayed overnight in one of the city's best hotels to send a message it is safe.

The ARJ-21, which stands for "Advance Regional Jetliner for the 21st Century", has a capacity of 70 to 90 seats. It is expected to make its first test flight in March next year and enter commercial operations by late 2009, when mass production of the aircraft is set to begin. China also has much loftier dreams. Early this year, the nation announced plans to build a 150-seat passenger aircraft, which could eventually compete against planes made by the world's two dominant commercial jet makers, Boeing and Airbus.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, dismissed the Christmas story of the Three Wise Men as nothing more than a legend, saying there was scant evidence for the Magi and no evidence that there were three of them or, indeed, that they were kings at all. How much of the traditional Christmas Nativity could be true?

Every Christmas someone will come forward to cast doubt on the historical accuracy of almost every aspect of the traditional Christmas story. Several have questioned whether Jesus ever went to Bethlehem - let alone was born there.

His family came from Nazareth 120 miles away, and many honest-minded people believe that the stories told in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke about the birth in Bethlehem were made up to fit in with the ancient prophecy that the Messiah would be born in the City of David, as Bethlehem was known.

And if we are honest, however sentimental we might feel when we hear Christmas carols, few of us find it easy to believe that a virgin gave birth to a baby. Such thoughts can never be entirely absent from the mind of any adult going to church at this time of year or from anyone trying to explain the inconsistencies of the story to their children.

Does this mean we are simply celebrating a lot of sentimental legends when we celebrate Christmas? After all, if Jesus wasn't born in Bethlehem, and you can't believe in angels, and no astronomer has identified the star that supposedly guided the Wise Men, what are you celebrating? Why sing O Come All Ye Faithful if you don't have the "faith" in Bethlehem, angels and all?

Rationalists and sceptics may insist that every scintilla of the story of Jesus is examined for some basis in fact, and tiresome and patronising atheists may deride any of us who subscribe to the possibility of a Christ child in the absence of hard scientific evidence. But the rest of us should simply accept the old stories for what they were. Stories.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, commented on the conversion to Catholicism of the former British prime minister. This is "good news that we welcome with respect," he said. "Catholics are glad to welcome into their community those who, through a serious and reflective journey, convert to Catholicism."

For his part, Archbishop Rowan Williams, the leader of the Anglican Communion, to which Blair had belonged, wished the convert every good in his spiritual journey.

"Palestinians and Israelis are capable of living together in peace, each in their own territory, each enjoying their security, their dignity, and their rights," he affirmed. "But to attain that peace, it is necessary to believe that Israelis and Palestinians are equal in all things, that they have the same rights and the same duties, and that both parties must adopt the ways of God, which are not the ways of violence, whether they be carried out by the state or by extremists."

Archbishop Sabbah contended that recent proposals to establish "religious states" in the Holy Land do not provide a viable solution. "In this land, which is holy for three religions and for two peoples, religious states cannot be established because they would exclude or place in an inferior position the believers of the other religions," he said. "A state that would exclude or discriminate against the other religions is not suitable for this land made holy by God for all of humanity.

Europe just got bigger. At one minute after midnight local time on early Friday morning, border controls vanished for nine more European Union members, many of them former members of the Soviet Bloc. Fireworks, cheers, music and speeches throughout the morning welcomed the expansion, which means that travelers can move from the far corners of Estonia all the way to the Atlantic coast in Portugal without once encountering a border guard.

"This is an especially beautiful moment," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a Friday morning ceremony at the German border with Poland and the Czech Republic. "It is a source of great pleasure that coming generations will experience open borders as the European normalcy." The ceremony was just one of many across Eastern Europe as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Malta all joined the so-called Schengen zone, as the open-border area is known. The Schengen Agreement is named for the village in Luxembourg where it was first signed in 1985.

There are now 24 countries -- including two non-EU states, Norway and Iceland -- populated by 400 million people in the border-free travel zone. Switzerland is set to join in 2008, with Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria likewise in line. Most of those countries entering Schengen on Friday were behind the Iron Curtain just 20 years ago. The opening of the border between Germany and Poland -- one of the most contested in the past centuries of European history -- was of particularly symbolic importance.

The report assesses that a nuclear war would last approximately three weeks and ultimately end with the annihilation of Iran, due to Israel's alleged possession of weapons with a far larger yield. Even if Iran gained the means and knowledge to create nuclear weapons, according to the report it would still be limited to 100 kiloton weapons, which can cause a far smaller radius of destruction than the 1 megaton bombs Israel allegedly possesses.

Possible targets for an Iranian strike are the Tel Aviv metropolitan area and Haifa bay, while the list of possible targets in Iran includes the cities Teheran, Tabriz, Qazvin, Esfahan, Shiraz, Yazd, Kerman, Qom, Ahwaz and Kermanshah. The report cites Israel's Arrow missile defense system as an obstacle facing a possible Iranian strike and says that it could shoot down most of the missiles. Israel, on the other hand, would be capable of hitting most of the Iranian cities with pinpoint accuracy due to the high resolution satellite imagery systems at its disposal.

Another scenario presented by the report includes Syria joining the bandwagon in case of a war and lobbing missiles with chemical and biological warheads into Israeli cities. According to the report, up to 800,000 Israelis would be killed if that were to happen. Syria, however, would be forced to grapple with the deaths of approximately 18 million of its citizens were Israel to respond with its nuclear arsenal.

Israel, the report says, would launch a nuclear attack on Cairo and additional Egyptian cities, and would destroy the Aswan Dam if Egypt joined the fray.

Some Catholics condemned his previous support for causes which were apparently inconsistent with Church doctrine. But they drew a rebuke from senior figures in the Church, who said the Pope's welcome for the new recruit was the final word. Sources said Mr Blair's conversion 'is not retrospective' and that he does not have to account for his actions and beliefs in the past.

Over his decade in office Mr Blair frequently attended Catholic Mass with his family, and was once rebuked for taking communion while still an Anglican. Mrs Blair stood as his 'sponsor' on Friday night. Despite his private faith, as Labour leader and Prime Minister he oversaw legal changes which were fiercely opposed by the Church, including civil partnerships and embryo research.

Britain has never had a Catholic in Number 10, and Mr Blair is known to have taken advice on the constitutional implications. His former spokesman Alastair Campbell once famously told reporters: "We don't do God", but has since said that his ex-boss "does do God in quite a big way".

It quoted officials saying much of the money was diverted to weapons systems designed to counter India, rather than to fighting Islamist militants. The US provides the money to reimburse Pakistan for military operations carried out in its "war on terror".

The US Congress recently voted to restrict some military aid to Pakistan. It did so to put pressure on President Pervez Musharraf to restore democratic rights.

The severe weather has caused hundreds of accidents, and reached as far south as Texas - where there was a 50-vehicle motorway pile-up. The storm has also felled trees and power lines and caused the cancellation of hundreds of flights. More heavy snow has been forecast as the storms move into the Great Lakes region bordering Canada.

Multiple vehicle pile-ups closed major highways in the central states over the weekend. In Minnesota alone, there were more than 300 road accidents and three deaths. Many in the pile-up were holidaymakers, including families with small children not dressed for the weather, police said.

Twenty billion dollars here, $20bn there, and a lush half-trillion from the European Central Bank at give-away rates for Christmas. Buckets of liquidity are being splashed over the North Atlantic banking system, so far with meagre or fleeting effects. As the credit paralysis stretches through its fifth month, a chorus of economists has begun to warn that the world's central banks are fighting the wrong war, and perhaps risking a policy error of epochal proportions.

York professor Peter Spencer, chief economist for the ITEM Club, says the global authorities have just weeks to get this right, or trigger disaster. "The central banks are rapidly losing control. By not cutting interest rates nearly far enough or fast enough, they are allowing the money markets to dictate policy. We are long past worrying about moral hazard," he says.

"They still have another couple of months before this starts imploding. Things are very unstable and can move incredibly fast. I don't think the central banks are going to make a major policy error, but if they do, this could make 1929 look like a walk in the park," he adds.

Despite England's official break with the pope in Rome during Henry VIII's reign more than 400 years ago, making Anglicanism and the Church of England dominant, Catholicism is now the most practiced faith in the land. Attendance at Anglican services has almost halved over the past 40 years as the country has grown steadily more secular, the research showed, with only Pentecostalism showing any rise in popularity among Christian denominations.

While attendance figures for both Catholic and Anglican services are declining, Catholic numbers are slipping by a lesser degree as new migrants arrive from east Europe and parts of Africa, boosting Catholic congregations. "When a former prime minister becomes a Catholic, that must be a sign that Catholicism really has come in from the cold in this country," Catherine Pepinster, the editor of Catholic weekly The Tablet, wrote in the Sunday Telegraph.

"I would hope that my fellow Catholics will welcome Tony Blair into the Church as they welcome other converts."

This means that the established Church has lost its place as the nation's most popular Christian denomination after more than four centuries of unrivalled influence following the Reformation. Last night, leading figures gave warning that the Church of England could become a minority faith and that the findings should act as a wake-up call.

The rise of Catholicism has been bolstered by an influx of immigrants from eastern Europe and Africa, who have packed the pews of Catholic parishes that had previously been dwindling.

It is part of the changing face of churchgoing across Britain in the 21st century which has also seen a boom in the growth of Pentecostal churches, which have surpassed the Methodist Church as the country's third largest Christian denomination.

Worshipping habits have changed dramatically with a significant rise in attendance at mid-week services and at special occasions - the Church of England expects three million people to go to a parish church over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

In an attempt to combat the declining interest in traditional religion, the Anglican Church has launched radical new forms of evangelism that include nightclub chaplains, a floating church on a barge and internet congregations.

Churchgoing in Anglican and Catholic parishes had stood at about a million each for the past 10 years, though the relative equality in their numbers over recent years is surprising considering that there are 25 million people who regard themselves as Anglicans, and only 4.2 million Catholics.