The commander of British forces in Basra, Major General Graham Binns, said the city had been pulled from the grip of its enemies. "I now formally hand it back to its friends," he said. "We will continue to help train Basra security forces. But we are guests in your country, and we will act accordingly."

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, who was present at the ceremony said: "Our aim is to see an Iraq run by Iraqis for all Iraqis. "But he acknowledged that Britain was not handing "a land of milk and honey" to the Iraqis, and conceded that the region had several problems which needed to be tackled. "This remains a violent society whose tensions need to be addressed, but they need to be addressed by Iraqi political leaders and it is politics that is going to have to come to the fore in the months and years ahead," he told the BBC this morning.

Basra's 15,000-strong police force remains riddled with officers loyal to the Mehdi Army, the Shia militants who have clashed repeatedly with British troops during their four years here.

Mr King responded by telling her she did not understand banking and insisted there was nothing to worry about. The confrontation took place in 2005 when Mr King went to the House of Lords to address Conservative peers. Mr King said the situation was being monitored by the Bank of England and was under control.

After the meeting, Baroness Shephard, who was then a director of Coventry Building Society, pursued Mr King to raise the question of Northern Rock. She told him: "I am a director of a building society and we turn ourselves inside and out to make sure that nothing can go wrong with our finances. We simply cannot understand how building societies that become banks, like Northern Rock, can undercut us with their borrowing rates all the time. What is happening? Where are they getting the money from?"

Mr King dismissed Baroness Shephard, who was a Treasury Minister in Margaret Thatcher's government and Education Secretary under John Major, telling her: "Northern Rock operates under different rules because it is a bank." Baroness Shephard retorted: "I hope there is not going to be a day of reckoning."

A Bank of England spokesman said: "We have no comment."

In a move Vatican officials say is meant to "reflect a return to the story of the nativity as told by Matthew," Joseph, Mary and THE INFANT JESUS WILL BE SHOWN IN JOSEPH'S NAZARETH CARPENTRY WORKSHOP AND NOT IN THE BETHLEHEM STABLE. The nativity scene will feature three rooms, including the workshop, complete with "the typical work tools of a carpenter," a "covered patio" and the "inside of a pub with its hearth," the London Telegraph reported.

Moving the Christmas story 70 miles north from Bethlehem to Nazareth WAS INSPIRED BY MATTHEW 1:24-25 AS RENDERED IN THE CATHOLIC BIBLE TRANSLATION: "When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife TO HIS HOME; he had not had intercourse with her when she gave birth to a son; and he named him Jesus."

THE KING JAMES VERSION OF THE SAME PASSAGE DOES NOT TRANSLATE THE GREEK AS "HOME."

Pier Carlo Cuscianna, director of technical services for Vatican City, told Catholic News Service he knew of the "polemic" in the press over the unconventional nativity display, but, he said, "I am certain Matthew reflected well on the meaning of home in the passage used by Vatican officials to create the new design."

In the better known story from Luke's gospel, the focus is on Joseph and Mary going from Nazareth to Joseph's ancestral home of Bethlehem to register for a census. Unable to find lodging, they join farm animals in a stable or cave where Mary gives birth and places the baby in a manger. Local shepherds, alerted in the fields by angels, come to the stable to pay homage. Matthew tells of the wise men, the slaughter of male children by King Herod, the family's flight to Egypt and return to Nazareth.

MATTHEW, LIKE LUKE, STATES JESUS WAS BORN IN BETHLEHEM, BUT A VATICAN SPOKESMAN SAID, "IT WAS TIME FOR A CHANGE, AND A RETURN TO ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL."
Another Vatican spokesman told the London Daily Mail placing the nativity in Joseph's workshop BETTER REFLECTS THE EXPERIENCE OF ORDINARY PEOPLE.

The nativity scene at St. Peter's, inaugurated by Pope John Paul II in 1982, officially opens on Dec. 24 and will remain until Feb. 2.

"The tragic events in Colorado this past weekend underscore the fact that anti-Christian hostility is reaching a new, more violent level," Cass told WND. "Churches used to be sanctuaries that were regarded as sacred, now all church leaders must be prepared to effectively defend themselves and use deadly force if necessary to protect their congregations from violent acts."

He said a brief search found the following shootings, before last weekend's attacks:

August 12, 2007: A lone gunman, Eiken Elam Saimon, opened fire in a Missouri Micronesian church, killing a pastor and two other churchgoers.

May 20, 2007: A standoff between police and a suspect in the shootings of three people in a Moscow, Idaho, Presbyterian Church ended with three dead, including one police officer.

Although not at a church building, the Oct. 2, 2006, attack in Lancaster County, Pa., by a gunman who killed five girls and then himself at an Amish school targeted a religious site.

May 21, 2006: Louisiana. Four were killed by a man at Jesus Christ Church.

Feb. 26, 2006: Michigan. Two people were killed at Zion Hope Missionary Baptist Church by a man who reportedly went to the church looking for his girlfriend. He later killed himself.

April 9, 2005: A 27-year-old airman died after being shot at a church in College Park, Ga., where he had once worked as a security guard.

March 12, 2005: A man walked into the services of the Living Church of God in Milwaukee and open fired immediately, killing seven people.

Oct. 5, 2003: A woman opened fire in Turner Monumental AME church in Kirkwood, east of Atlanta, killing the pastor and two others.

Sept. 16, 1999: Seven young people were killed when a man opened fire during a prayer service for teen-agers at the Wedgewood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Tradition records that even as King Solomon built the First Temple, he already knew, through Divine inspiration, that eventually it would be destroyed. Thus Solomon, the wisest of all men, oversaw the construction of a vast system of labyrinths, mazes, chambers and corridors underneath the Temple Mount complex.

He commanded that a special place be built in the bowels of the earth, where the sacred vessels of the Temple could be hidden in case of approaching danger. Midrashic tradition teaches that King Josiah of Israel, who lived about forty years before the destruction of the First Temple, commanded the Levites to hide the Ark, together with the original menorah and several other items, in this secret hiding place which Solomon had prepared.

This location is recorded in our sources, and today, there are those who know exactly where this chamber is. And we know that the ark is still there, undisturbed, and waiting for the day when it will be revealed. An attempt was made some few years ago to excavate towards the direction of this chamber. This resulted in widespread Moslem unrest and rioting. They stand a great deal to lose if the Ark is revealed - for it will prove to the whole world that there really was a Holy Temple, and thus, that the Jews really do have a claim to the Temple Mount.

When it comes to climate change, America's image in the world is hardly the best. Wherever countries are trying to limit emissions of greenhouse gases, the US -- and especially the administration of President George W. Bush -- is seen as a dangerous spoil-sport, doing what it can to torpedo far-reaching climate agreements.

It is a role, recent US statements lead one to hope, the country may be tired of playing. The climate change conference currently being held on the Indonesian island of Bali is the beginning of a process to find an international climate change agreement to succeed the soon-to-expire Kyoto Protocol. American diplomats there have been doing their best to sound as though the US wants to be part of the solution.

For the moment, however, it continues to look as though the White House would have to make a 180 degree change of course. This Wednesday, Democrats in Congress released a report accusing the White House of having manipulated climate science for years.

"The Bush administration has engaged in a systematic effort to manipulate climate change science and mislead policymakers and the public about the dangers of global warming," the report, from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said.

The Vatican's doctrinal office issued guidelines on the missionary policy of the Roman Catholic Church, saying there is "growing confusion which leads many to leave the missionary command of the Lord unheard and ineffective. Often is it maintained that any attempt to convince others on religious matters is a limitation of their freedom," said the document issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The office head, American Cardinal William Levada, told a Vatican news conference that the "work of evangelization belongs to the very nature of the church" and that it was both the "desire and duty" of Christians to share the gift of faith.

With the fall of Communism and subsequent end to bars on religious practice across Eastern Europe, the Russian Orthodox Church has accused Catholics of improperly seeking converts in traditionally Orthodox areas - a claim the Vatican has always rejected. Roman Catholics have also faced tensions in several states in India, accused by Hindu nationalists of aggressive attempts to convert Hindus.

The Vatican restated its position that the church "severely prohibits forcing people to embrace the faith or leading or enticing them by improper technique; by the same token, she also strongly defends the right that no one be deterred from the faith by deplorable ill treatment." It also said that should a non-Catholic Christian seek to become a Catholic "this is to be respected as the work of the Holy Spirit and as an expression of freedom of conscience and religion."

The Rev. Agostino Di Noia, undersecretary of the doctrinal office, said in an interview with Vatican Radio that "it seemed to us that the church's freedom to evangelize was being questioned, as if it were an intrusion on other people's freedom of religion."

Earlier, the EU and US agreed that industrialised countries would not set firm emissions targets at this stage. The "Bali roadmap" initiates a two-year process of negotiations designed to agree a new set of emissions targets to replace those in the Kyoto Protocol. "I think we have come a long way here," said Paula Dobriansky, head of the US delegation. "In this, the United States is very committed to this effort and just wants to really ensure we all act together."

The US acceptance came just minutes after it had signalled it would reject the compromise, a statement that drew boos from delegates in the conference hall. The EU had earlier thrashed out the compromise text with developing countries including China. They had complained that language on reducing their emissions was too strong, and would commit them to measures that could retard their economic development.

They also wanted the West to pledge more action on transferring clean technology to developing societies. "This is a real breakthrough, a real opportunity for the international community to successfully fight climate change," said Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar, who served as conference president. "Parties have recognised the urgency of action on climate change and have now provided the political response to what scientists have been telling us is needed." Talks have been intense, and the meeting has run more than a day beyond its scheduled close, with several night-time sessions.

Environmental groups and some delegates have criticised the draft as being weak and a missed opportunity. France's Deputy Ecology Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet acknowledged the deal amounted to far less than the EU had wanted. But, she told the AFP news agency: "The public can understand that we brought the United States into the negotiations. It's a framework that is quite weak but which still moves forward."

Police are still hunting for the thieves - and the severed leg - in southern India as the 80-year-old priest recovers in hospital from the bizarre assault. Holy man Yanadi Kondaiah had a reputation around his local village, near the town of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh State, for using the leg to call on mystical powers which he said allowed him to see into the future. The thieves decided they didn't need the priest to tell their fortune - just his leg. So they devised the wicked plan to steal it. When Kondaiah fell into a stupor after being fed a drugged drink they set to work with the sickle, chopping and sawing, before running off into the night with the limb.

"Kondaiah told us that he ekes out a livelihood by soothsaying in his native village," said a police sub inspector, using the name of Dastagiri, in Tirupati town. "He claims his right leg possessed a rare mystic power which makes his predictions come true. The locals believe in his powers to cure spiritual and physical ailments."

The limb thieves, aged in their early 20s, became interested in owning the leg after previous predictions given to them by Kondaiah turned out to be correct, said the police inspector. He added: "We won't really know the motive until we catch the culprits and recover the leg, if they still have it. Possibly they thought they could make use of the magical powers allegedly possessed by the right leg."

Meanwhile Kondaiah, who was discovered in a drugged state with his leg missing, is said to be recovering in hospital, although he is far from happy about what happened to him.

Pilgrims trekked to the mosque hours in advance to reserve a space for their prayer mats as close as possible to the Kaaba, a cubic stone structure which Muslims regard as the centre of an ancestral monotheistic cult established by the prophet Ibrahim, known to Jews and Christians as the patriarch Abraham.

When the spaces in the inner courtyard filled up, the pilgrims chose spaces in the outer courtyard. Latecomers spread their mats on stairways of the shopping mall overlooking the vast mosque and later in the narrow alleys behind. More than 1.4 million have flocked to Saudi Arabia to prepare for the five-day rites which start on Monday and are a once-in-a-lifetime obligation for every Muslim who can afford it.

State Health Commissioner Dr. Fred M. Jacobs approved the requirement and three other vaccines for school children starting Sept. 1, 2008, over the objections of some parent groups. The new requirements "will have a direct impact on reducing illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths in one of New Jersey's most vulnerable populations - our children," Jacobs said in a statement.

A health advisory board Monday backed the new requirements on a 5-2 vote with one abstention after parents said they worried about the safety of giving young children dozens of vaccine doses. Some also say they don't want the government making their medical decisions for them.

Starting in September, all children attending preschool or licensed day care centers will have to get an annual flu shot, Jacobs said. New Jersey also will require preschoolers to get a pneumococcal vaccine and sixth-graders to get vaccines against meningitis, which New Jersey already requires for college dormitory residents, and a booster shot against whooping cough, which in recent years has seen a resurgence blamed on waning potency of shots given to infants and preschoolers.

New Jersey does grant an automatic exemption on religious grounds and allows exemptions for medical reasons.

The Royal United Services Institute said the number of positive tests for illegal drugs, like ecstasy and heroin, rose from 517 in 2003 to 769 last year.

Positive tests for cocaine use rose four-fold during the same period. A dishonourable discharge is likely after a positive test for illegal drug use.

The MoD said drug abuse was less common among forces personnel than civilians. Professor Bird analysed answers to Parliamentary questions to find out about army drug testing.

She said that in 2003 cannabis accounted for 50% of all CDT positive tests and cocaine 22%, but by 2006 the figures were 30% for cannabis and 50% for cocaine.

The switch could be the result of soldiers deliberately moving away from cannabis to "minimise their chance of testing positive" - traces of cannabis remain in the urine for two to three weeks, while cocaine remains for two or three days after use.

However, a former chief of staff, Chris Parker, told BBC Radio Oxford that some soldiers who were "not stupid" took drugs to cut short their contract with the Armed Forces.

"Young soldiers if they want to leave the Army have to give a year's notice, and if you take drugs, and you are basically found out by the Army's drug testing programme - which is a regular and random programme that's run - you could be discharged almost immediately," he said.

The news comes after Mr Brown came under fire in Britain last night after he turned up late for a solo signing of the treaty hailed hours earlier by all his EU colleagues as a "vision of the future". Sitting alone in a deserted hall, he put his name to a document that gives up Britain's veto in more than 60 areas and gives the EU the trappings of statehood. His signature was the last to be added because all 26 other leaders and their foreign ministers had signed up in a lavish midday ceremony at which Foreign Secretary David Miliband flew the flag for Britain.

The Prime Minister took the shine off an occasion Brussels had planned as a showcase for a united Europe.

In Britain, his absence was seen as an attempt to cover his embarrassment at his failure to hold a referendum on the treaty, which is widely viewed as almost identical to the European Constitution on which the Government had pledged to hold a vote. And in Brussels, his decision to skip the main event provoked a torrent of criticism, with diplomats warning he had left Britain looking petty and marginalised. In what critics said was a diplomatic snub to other EU leaders, Mr Brown missed the formal group photograph of the 26 heads of government who gathered to adopt what will in future be known as the Treaty of Lisbon.

It was left to Mr Miliband to represent Britain at the ceremony. With 26 prime ministers and presidents taking precedence, he was called last to the podium. And as he posed for the cameras, Portuguese premier Jose Socrates asked him: "Where is Mr Brown?", forcing the Foreign Secretary to look at his watch and assure him: "He's on his way." Several EU leaders appeared peeved that Mr Brown had chosen not to attend on the grounds he had other business. French president Nicolas Sarkozy summed up the mood by declaring: "We have all got our problems, but?"

Despite the Prime Minister's assurances that the constitution is a minor development, EU leaders were in no doubt that a historic point had been reached. Portugal's Mr Socrates said: "This was the European project that many generations dreamt of and others before us championed, with a vision of the future." The Treaty of Lisbon is designed to streamline the EU's workings following its enlargement to 27 members. It creates a permanent EU President and a High Representative for foreign affairs, as well as a legal personality for the EU, allowing it to sign international treaties.

Mr Brown claims the treaty bears no resemblance to the constitution, which was dropped after voters in France and Holland rejected it in 2005. But the Tories - and most EU leaders - say it is almost identical and implements nearly all the sweeping changes envisaged by the constitution. Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "Gordon Brown has left Britain with the worst of all worlds today. With a stroke of a pen he has signed away a swathe of powers to the EU, but his sulky rudeness to our European partners means that he has actually managed to lose influence in Brussels.

"This latest blunder is another sign that Gordon Brown is struggling to cope as Prime Minister."

The issue: The City Council has decided the Boy Scouts, because they prohibit participation by open homosexuals, do not comply with the city's anti-discrimination policies and can no longer rent their headquarters for $1 a year, as they have since the city approved its original resolution on the plan 80 years ago.

The city had set a Dec. 3 deadline for the Scouts' Cradle of Liberty Council to agree to pay $200,000 a year, instead of $1, but the Scouts simply ignored that deadline, and negotiations apparently have broken off. Assuming there are no changes in circumstances, that would mean the Scouts would have to be out of the building, which they built and paid for with their own funds decades ago, on June 1.

The headquarters building, the Marks Center, was built by the BSA, but the half-acre parcel of land is owned by the city. The city council voted last year to renege on its ongoing $1-a-year lease and decided to set the rent at $200,000 a year, something BSA leaders say they cannot pay and still serve the 69,000 youths who benefit from their programs.

"If the Boy Scouts were anti-God, championed homosexuality and were anti-establishment, I would venture to say they would find themselves welcome in Philadelphia," said Massie. "It's the fact that they stick to and seek to promote a responsible and reasonable code of ethics that makes them a target of the anti-family left that tends to dominate urban governments such as Philadelphia's these days."

The campaign against the Boy Scouts has been pursued by Romulo Diaz, the city solicitor, who, according to Philadelphia media reports, is an open homosexual.

China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949 and has vowed to bring the island back under mainland rule, by force if necessary. The director of a research centre on Taiwan's military at the People's Liberation Army College of Military Sciences in Beijing, Wang Weixing, wrote in state media that Taiwan's armed forces traditionally favored stronger ties with the mainland.

Beijing fears that as it prepares to host the 2008 Olympic Games, independence-leaning Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian will use a referendum and other steps to deepen the political divide between island and mainland. "Taiwan's military should also join hands with us to oppose Taiwan independence," Wang wrote in the article, reprinted by the China News Service on Friday.

Taiwan soldiers should "become a major force opposing separation of the motherland", Wang added. The signal from the People's Liberation Army is part of a war of words over the island's future that Beijing has warned could escalate into real confrontation if Taiwan pursues outright independence. Wang does not speak of mutiny or defection, but he urges Taiwan's soldiers to stand up against pro-independence forces.