Agence Europe reveals that a new report from the European Commission has shown that the EU lost 1.4 billion euros in reported fraud and financial irregularities in 2007, compared with around 1.2 billion euros in 2006. This amounts to 6.5 million euros lost every working day.

The number of structural measures and Cohesion Fund irregularities reported rose by 19.2% (3,832 cases in 2007, compared with 3,216 in 2006). The estimated financial impact (828 million euros, or around 1.83% of commitment appropriations) was up by 17.7%. The Commission report reveals that suspected fraud has also increased - 208.9 million euros in 2007, compared with 188.93 euros million in 2006.

The article notes that for the first time, the report contains statistics on expenditure directly managed by the Commission. The estimated number of irregularities in this area came to 411, with an estimated financial impact of 33 million euros, 18.1 million euros of which was accounted for by 136 reported cases of suspected fraud.

However, French Trade Minister Anne-Marie Idrac stated that the EU would refuse to compromise on opening its markets for farm goods: "We can't go further; we won't go further on agriculture and we expect more open market access from emerging countries". UK Trade Minister Gareth Thomas told the programme that the EU had unveiled a 60% tariff reduction - but did not mention that the EU Commission admitted on Monday that this offer was in fact "nothing new", or that Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson had merely shifted the way the pre-existing tariff cut figure was presented. Mandelson conceded that the 60% cut was actually a "reiteration" of the EU's existing position.

Mandelson's actions show that "the Commission is more interested in propaganda than in proposing real pro-development solutions on trade - perhaps this emphasis on spin is a tactic designed to pre-empt a breakdown in the talks this week, ALLOWING THE EU TO SHIFT THE BLAME ONTO OTHER NEGOTIATING PARTIES AND DIVERT MEDIA ATTENTION AWAY FROM ITS OWN INTRANSIGENCE."

The Irish Times reports that the EU Commission has reassured EU Member States that the single-farm payment is not threatened by reforms proposed in global trade talks taking place this week.

Mr Hague added that a Cameron administration would look to scupper the Lisbon Treaty if it had not already been ratified by all other states: "WE WOULD WITHDRAW RATIFICATION BY BRITAIN AND SUBJECT IT TO A REFERENDUM, IN WHICH WE WOULD RECOMMEND A NO VOTE".

Mr Hague said that the party are, '"very positive about many aspects of the EU", including its commitment to tackling climate change and opening markets, particularly in the services area, and joint foreign policy action on issues such as Iran. The paper suggests that Mr Hague is worried voters are being 'turned off' by the perception that the Conservatives are 'obsessed' by Europe and he therefore preferred talking about nuclear proliferation than the EU.

Rabbi Elyakim Levanon of Elon Moreh said at the conference: "This council needs to be not just an entity that elects Knesset Members or creates the infrastructure for election of the party's candidates. It must accompany the Knesset Members with consultation, advice and guidance."

The unification initiative calls on members of the splintered national-religious camp to learn to work side by side with other people who share their ideals but disagree on methods, priorities, nuances and style.

"Everyone lifts his flag and says - only this way!" Levanon explained the problem emotionally. "If the other deviate by a millimetre to the left or to the right they are not willing to listen. The others become the enemies of the vision."

Officials feared Dolly's rains still would cause flooding problems in the coming days, possibly overwhelming levees along the Rio Grande. Dolly, the second hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, dropped up to 12 inches of rain in the first few hours after coming ashore at the barrier island of South Padre Island, where it ripped off roofs, bent palm trees in half and left thousands of residents without power.

The full effect of the flooding might not be seen for days as rain dumped by Dolly's inland march flows back down the Rio Grande to coastal areas, Nielsen-Gammon said. Rain was falling as rapidly as 4 inches (10 cm) per hour and the worst flooding could occur on the Mexican side of the border, he said.

In Cameron County near the Mexico border, officials had expected up to 20 inches of rain. "That's going to do a number on our county," said Johnny Cavazos, the county's emergency management coordinator. He said levees holding back the Rio Grande held under similar conditions during Hurricane Beulah in 1967 but have "seriously deteriorated" since then.

The second-quarter loss was deeper than analysts had forecast and Ford shares fell by 15 percent. Its bonds also traded lower. Ford cautioned that it did not expect a U.S. economic turnaround until 2010 with oil prices remaining "high and volatile" and no relief for the high prices for steel and other commodities that have hit automakers hard.

In response to the sudden premium on fuel efficiency, the No. 2 U.S. automaker said it would retool truck plants in Michigan and Kentucky to make small cars in addition to an already announced conversion for a Mexican truck plant.

In addition, Ford will bring four previously unannounced small cars to North America, including a Mercury-branded derivative of its popular Focus. It also said it would double its hybrid output in 2009 and double its capacity to make fuel-saving four-cylinder engines by 2011.

A low number of healthy sperm is thought to be one of the major causes of male infertility. Researchers asked 99 men attending a fertility clinic whether they had eaten foods including soy milk, tofu, soy sausages or other soy products such as roasted nuts, drinks, powders and energy bars in the last three months.

They then excluded other factors which can affect fertility including age, body mass index (BMI), alcohol and caffeine intake and smoking. The findings, published in the journal Human Reproduction, show that the men who ate the most soy food, on average more than half a portion a day, had around 41 million fewer healthy sperm per millilitre less than men who did not eat soy.

Although they do not know the reason for the findings, the researchers, from Harvard University, believe they could be linked to a plant chemical present within soy which mimics the effects of oestrogen, the female sex hormone, on the body. The study also found that the link was particularly marked in men who were overweight or obese, who already produce more natural oestrogen than thin men.

Bees pollinate numerous crops, and scientists have been expressing alarm over their falling numbers in recent years in North America. Experts warn the bee disappearance eventually could harm agriculture and the food supply. Scientists have been struggling to understand the recent decline in various bee populations in North America. For example, a virus brought from Australia has been implicated in massive honeybee deaths last year.

Canadian researchers studied another type of bee, the bumblebee, near two large greenhouse operations in southern Ontario where commercially reared pollination bees are used in the growing of crops such as tomatoes, bell peppers and cucumbers. The researchers first observed that the commercial bumblebees regularly flew in and out of vents in the sides of the greenhouses, escaping from the facilities.

"EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) says it has increased concerns regarding animal welfare and possible concerns regarding food safety due to the limited data available," one source said, citing from the EFSA document to be published on Thursday.

Obama, wearing a Jewish skullcap, placed a prayer he had written in the wall and bowed his head while a rabbi read a psalm calling for peace in the holy city. One worshipper chanted "Obama, Jerusalem is not for sale" and "Jerusalem is our land" as the Illinois senator stood at the wall, a relic of the ancient Jewish temple destroyed during Roman rule nearly 2,000 years ago.

Obama assured Israel and its U.S. Jewish supporters on Wednesday he was a friend who would not press for concessions in peace talks with Palestinians that would compromise its security. Hailing Israel as a "miracle", he vowed staunch support and held only a low-profile meeting with Palestinian leaders in the occupied West Bank.

He is due to fly on Thursday to Germany, where he will give the only public speech of his week-long foreign tour, an outdoor address on transatlantic ties that is likely to draw tens of thousands. Highly popular in Germany, where he is often likened to former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Obama will also meet for the first time Chancellor Angela Merkel, who opposed his initial plan to speak at the Brandenburg Gate.

Despite a long fall that has brought down several major financial institutions and taken the economy as a whole to the brink of recession, housing in the United States is still too expensive relative to incomes, rent and the availability of mortgage money with which to buy it.

And that's before you factor in rising unemployment or oil price inflation that is crimping budgets and making long commutes, and the houses built at the end of those commutes, no longer affordable. The implications are pretty dire; rising levels of write-downs at banks, more failures of financial firms and lousy economic growth, if any, until six months or so after a base is found.

While the overall disease is a debt bubble, the most debilitating symptom of its unwinding is house price falls.

Toyota sold 4,817,941 vehicles globally during the first six months of the year, company spokesman Hideaki Homma said Wednesday, beating GM by 277,532 vehicles. Toyota said its global sales rose 2 percent from the same period the year before, while GM's sales fell 3 percent.

It's the second time Toyota has beaten GM in sales in the first half of the year. In 2007, Toyota outsold GM by about 50,000 vehicles, although GM eked out a win for the full year, retaining its 77-year position as the world's largest automaker by sales.

Toyota didn't release regional sales totals, but the weakened U.S. market appeared to be the biggest battleground. With its reputation for small, fuel-efficient cars and less exposure to the plummeting truck and SUV market, Toyota's U.S. sales fell 6 percent, compared with a 16 percent drop for GM. Industry-wide sales fell 10 percent.

One-third of the undiscovered oil is in Alaskan territory, the agency found in a study released today. By contrast, a geologic formation beneath the North Pole claimed by Russian scientists last year probably holds just 1.2 percent of the Arctic's crude, the U.S. report showed. Energy producers such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp. have accelerated exploration of the northernmost regions for untapped reserves amid record prices and receding access to deposits in more hospitable climates. Russia's move to scrap a United Nations convention and carve out an exclusive Arctic zone sparked protests from Canada, the U.S., Norway and Denmark.

"Most of the Arctic, especially offshore, is essentially unexplored with respect to petroleum," Donald Gautier, the project chief for the assessment, said in the report. "The extensive Arctic continental shelves may constitute the geographically largest unexplored prospective area for petroleum remaining on Earth."

Russia dispatched a nuclear-powered icebreaker to the Arctic Ocean last year to map a subsea link between Siberia and the North Pole as part of a bid to refute a UN convention limiting resource claims beyond 200 miles (321 kilometers) offshore. Canada said earlier this month that it plans to counter the Russian overture with "a very strong claim" to Arctic exploration rights.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Microsoft founder Bill Gates warn one billion people could die this century from smoking-related illnesses. The billionaire philanthropists have pledged $500m (£250m) in the next five years to help people quit smoking. The two men want to run public-information campaigns warning of the dangers of tobacco. There are more than 1 billion smokers worldwide.

As the developed world curbs tobacco use - with such moves as the ban on smoking in public places in London, New York and Dublin - so the tobacco companies are shifting their focus to Asia and Africa. "Bill and I want to highlight the enormity of this problem and catalyse a global movement of governments and civil society to stop the tobacco epidemic," said Mr Bloomberg.

Mr Gates and Mr Bloomberg are aiming to help governments with policies which have been shown to curb smoking, such as raising tobacco taxes and banning tobacco advertising. The question is how effective $500m can be against the concerted efforts of the tobacco companies to expand their markets.

A few months later the beleaguered bank was taken into government hands after it was nationalised, with loans worth £100bn on its balance sheet. It was doubtless a disaster for shareholders, the Rock and the government - but is perhaps put into perspective by the troubles faced by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Together, the two firms own or guarantee about $5.3 trillion (£2.7 trillion) worth of home loans - about half the outstanding mortgages in the US. That is about 25 times as big as the Rock's obligations, and twice the size of the UK economy. Now the worries about their financial health have intensified so much that the US government has been forced to come up with a promise that taxpayers will prop them up to prevent their problems becoming a crisis.

There will be no queues outside branches of Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae - quite simply because there are not any. In fact, despite them guaranteeing or owning just under half of the entire US mortgage market, you cannot actually get a home loan from either firm. But while they are invisible to the average borrower, the two firms are highly influential institutions and are key to the US housing market.

"If they were unable to lend," says BBC business editor Robert Peston, "well, THE US HOUSING MARKET WOULD PROBABLY IMPLODE - WITH DIRE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM AND THE ENTIRE GLOBAL ECONOMY." As one US Treasury official puts it, the two firms are "way too intertwined with everyone in the world" to fail.

But it seems that Washington wants to keep Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae alive and kicking, not least so that they can play a key role in reinvigorating the housing market. The cost to taxpayers will be large, observers predict, but they argue that the price of not intervening would be far worse.