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."

Olympic chiefs remained concerned with smog, fearing the high level of pollution, which is 10 times that in London, would cast a pall over the Games. British athletes have been training in anti-smog masks. Poor conditions pose the greatest risk to endurance athletes such as world marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe, an asthmatic.

Such has been the concern about the smog that men's marathon champion, Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie, withdrew earlier this year citing air quality.

Barclays said the outlook would remain difficult. "It would be wrong to suggest that the market conditions over the foreseeable future will be anything other than tough," said chief executive John Varley - pointing to slowing economies around the world. "That means that we must remain very vigilant to managing risk."

He added that some parts of the business "may take quite some time" to return to the profitability of previous years.

The Department of Health has asked primary care trusts (PCTs) to offer the jab to all children up to the age of 18 not already fully protected. An epidemic of measles - which can be fatal - COULD potentially affect up to 100,000 young people in England alone. The MMR vaccine protects against measles, mumps and rubella.

Experts say it is perfectly safe, but vaccination rates dipped following controversy about its safety. A study which raised the possibility that MMR was linked to autism has since been dismissed by the vast majority of research, but levels of public confidence in the jab have still not fully recovered. In 2006 and 2007 there were 1,726 confirmed cases of measles in England and Wales - more than the previous 10 years put together. From 1996 to 2005 there was a total of 1,621 confirmed cases. Scientific advice from both the Department of Health and the Health Protection Agency suggests vaccination levels need to be increased as a matter of urgency.

Dr Patricia Hamilton, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: "We cannot stress too strongly that all children and young people should have the MMR vaccine. Overwhelming scientific evidence shows that it is safe."

"We view this as a serious and drastic move toward the fruition of extremist organizations to establish a temple in place of al-Aksa Mosque," said Zahi Nujidat of the Islamic Movement. "THIS REPRESENTS A REAL DANGER TO AL-AKSA." The Aksa Foundation issued a similar statement.

The course, offered at roughly 200 locations throughout Israel, comes during the two weeks leading up to Tisha B'Av, THE FAST DAY THAT COMMEMORATES THE DESTRUCTION OF BOTH THE FIRST AND THE SECOND TEMPLE. According to Chabad Lubavitch spokesman Rabbi Menachem Brod, the Muslim groups are cynically pointing to the short courses as proof that the Israeli establishment wants to destroy the mosque.

Tisha B'Av, the Fast of the Ninth of Av, will occur on the following days of the Gregorian calendar:

Jewish Year 5768: SUNSET AUGUST 9, 2008 - NIGHTFALL AUGUST 10, 2008

Jewish Year 5769: sunset July 29, 2009 - nightfall July 30, 2009
Jewish Year 5770: sunset July 19, 2010 - nightfall July 20, 2010
Jewish Year 5771: sunset August 8, 2011 - nightfall August 9, 2011
Jewish Year 5772: sunset July 27, 2012 - nightfall July 28, 2012

MOURNING OVER THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM IS NORMAL IN THE MONTH OF AV, but at the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faith Movement all focus is on the "big day" - the day in which the Third Temple will be built. As part of the preparations, hundreds of teenagers are expected to sign the "Temple Treaty" and to proclaim, "We commit to doing everything in our power to abide by this commandment and to devote at least half an hour a week toward this effort."

In the youth conference conducted by the Temple Institute in the Old City of Jerusalem, scheduled for Thursday, participants will discuss possible plans of action to further the building of the Temple. Under the title, "Building the Temple, it's in Our Hands," lessons will be given by rabbis identified with the Temple and for the first time ever, a treaty pertaining to the necessity of building the Temple will be revealed.

"God commanded us in his Torah, 'build me a Temple and I shall dwell amongst you'," as written in the document, "All of Israel must do everything they can to obey this commandment. THIS TEMPLE IS NOT JUST SOMETHING HISTORIC STORED IN A MEMORY CHEST," said Glick, "everyone has the opportunity to contribute to this goal."

China's officially atheistic Communist Party forced Chinese Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951, and the two sides have not restored formal relations. Many of the country's estimated 12 million Catholics worship in congregations outside the state-approved church and often are arrested or harassed.

"It is important for this great country to open itself to the Gospel," said Benedict, who has made the improvement of relations with China a priority of his papacy. The pope sent a special letter to Catholics in China last year, praising the underground church, but also urging the faithful to reconcile with followers of the official church.

Freinademetz was proclaimed a saint by Pope John Paul II in 2003. Several thousand people had walked through fields and woods to reach the village and greet the pope, who is spending a two-week vacation at the seminary in the nearby town of Bressanone. Addressing them in front of the house, BENEDICT NOTED THE INCREASING IMPORTANCE OF CHINA IN THE WORLD

USING THE EVENT TO SHOWCASE CHINA'S EMERGENCE AS A POTENTIALLY DOMINANT WORLD POWER WAS ALWAYS PART OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY'S GAME PLAN. In this sense, the medals table, which China expects to dominate, is a metaphor for broader international competition for resources and influence. After centuries of humiliation by the West, few could fairly deny China a self-glorifying day in the sun. But how to stop Beijing over-egging its nationalist pudding - HOW TO PREVENT SUPERPOWER TURNING TO SUPER-ARROGANCE­ AS HAS HAPPENED ELSEWHERE - is the big post-Olympic question.

In a pamphlet co-authored with Katinka Barysch, 'Can Europe and China Shape a New World Order?', Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, highlights China's fierce adherence to principles of national sovereignty and non-interference. Its vetoing of Western efforts to rein in Zimbabwe's pariah regime is one recent example of a holdover non-aligned mentality.

ECONOMIC AND TRADE TENSIONS WITH EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES, the environmental impact of its rapid development, authoritarian governance and human rights abuses and its rapid military build-up are all factors feeding Western perceptions, measured in recent polls, that a resurgent CHINA REPRESENTS "THE BIGGEST THREAT TO GLOBAL STABILITY".

The MoD is carrying out research and development to enable the spy planes, which are equipped with highly sophisticated monitoring equipment that allows them to secretly track and photograph suspects without their knowledge, to be deployed within three years. The plans have been backed by the House of Commons Defence Committee but have attracted criticism from civil liberties campaigners concerned about the implications of covert surveillance of civilians.

The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can obtain clear images while flying at up to 50,000ft. If ministers give the scheme the go-ahead the UK will be among the first countries to use UAVs to monitor its own citizens. The Israeli military operates them over Palestinian cities such as Gaza and Ramallah, while the US Customs and Border Protection agency flies them over the Mexican border to detect illegal migrants along specified routes.

The UAVs will give law enforcement agencies huge scope for surveillance. Robert Emerson, a security analyst who specialises in deciphering aerial images, said: "Satellite images can be affected by clouds and lack of light, with UAVs you can avoid that by choosing the height at which you fly. There is now also Google Earth, but these are often old images out of date. There is tremendous potential in material gathered by UAVs."