"The project is over in its entirety," Czech president Vaclav Klaus said after the rejection of the EU pact by Irish voters last week, AFP reports. "IT MAKES NO SENSE TO CONTINUE THE RATIFICATION OF A DEAD DOCUMENT." The Irish No vote represents a "VICTORY FOR FREEDOM AND REASON OVER ARTIFICIAL ELITIST PROJECTS AND EUROPEAN BUREAUCRACY," he added.

Mr Klaus' remarks come amid calls by the European Commission and some EU leaders - in particular French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel - for the ratification process to continue in the remaining EU countries. Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek did not comment himself on whether or not his country should approve the document, admitting nevertheless that the Irish result was a "political complication". The Czech Republic will take over the EU's rotating presidency from France on 1 January 2009.

So far, parliaments in 18 EU member states have approved the Lisbon treaty. The UK has also indicated it would proceed with the document's ratification. Meanwhile, an adviser to Polish president Lech Kaczynski - who still has to complete Poland's ratification by signing the document - has said that Mr Kaczynski should know whether the Lisbon treaty exists before he goes forward.

For the moment other member states have insisted that ratification of the treaty continue, despite the 53.4 to 46.6 percent No vote on Thursday (12 June). But they have made it clear that they expect the Irish government to come to the EU leaders summit later this week equipped with some answers.

The Slovenian EU presidency said it would ask Irish prime minister Brian Cowen "to explain the reasons for the rejection of the treaty by the Irish people" at the top-level meeting. The European Commission almost made it clear that this is more Dublin's problem, rather than a strictly EU one. A referendum is a "matter of national responsibility" said commission president Jose Manuel Barroso after the vote and pointed out that "our Irish friends always said it was a national campaign."

However Ireland has admitted it will be hard-pressed to come up an answer and has asked Europe to not isolate it. The EU would leave itself exposed to charges that it is ignoring the will of the people if it pushes Dublin towards a second vote.

"The others must continue ratification - so that the Irish incident does not become a crisis," said French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Scottish, English and British monarchs have been crowned on the ancient coronation stone since the ninth century. It spent 700 years under the chair in Westminster Abbey after it was seized in 1296 by King Edward I, and was finally returned to Scotland 12 years ago. It has since been viewed at Edinburgh Castle by tens of thousands of people, and is regarded as a symbol of Scottish independence.

According to legend, Jacob used the ancient stone as a pillow when he dreamt of a ladder to heaven. But Scotland's First Minister is convinced that it may be no more than a worthless lump of Perthshire sandstone. He believes it was passed off as the real coronation stone when Edward stormed Scone Abbey in 1296.

On Christmas Day 1950, the Stone of Destiny was stolen from below the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey by a group of radical nationalist students. There have long been rumours that a Glasgow stonemason, Baillie Robert Gray, made copies of the stone when he was asked to repair it after it broke in two during the raid. After a brief sojourn north of the border it was later handed back to British authorities and was used in the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. "There's no question that Bertie Gray made copies," said Mr Salmond. "It's like the Loch Ness monster, it's certainly a puzzle and a mystery which is best not definitively answered."

Ian Hamilton, a QC who was one of the four students who stole the relic 58 years ago, said he remained convinced it was the real thing. "Had it been a substitute for Edward to carry off it would have been produced when the king (Robert the Bruce) regained his kingdom. It wasn't," said Mr Hamilton, whose book, the Stone of Destiny, is published this week. A spokesman for Westminster Abbey said she had always believed the stone was genuine.

The price of corn at the Chicago Board of Trade soared above $8 a bushel for the first time as relentless rains and overflowing rivers raised fears that Midwest farmers will NOT BE ABLE TO GROW MUCH OF ANYTHING ON AS MANY AS 5 MILLION ACRES

"The market is being driven by water," said Glenn Hollander, a veteran grain merchant on the CBOT trading floor. "Estimates show 3 million acres of corn under water and probably 2 million didn't get planted. So that gets you up to 5 million or over 700 MILLION BUSHELS, and that takes out the entire carry-out," he said, referring to estimates for grain stocks carried over to the next crop year.

Overwhelmed river levees across Iowa and Illinois, which produce about a third of U.S. corn and soybeans, have also displaced thousands of people. Dry weather was forecast through Wednesday across the flooded region, allowing some rivers to recede. But those flows were surging into the Mississippi River, which was expected rise above 1993 records and test barriers guarding Burlington, Iowa, and Quincy, Illinois.

But the Commission says its efforts to simplify EU legislation have been resisted by some countries. The complicated marketing rules have spawned long-running debates about STRAIGHT BANANAS AND CUCUMBERS. The Commission says misshapen fruit should be sold "with some sort of label for use in cooking. In an era of high prices and growing demand, this makes more sense than just throwing them away," said a statement from the office of Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel.

Among the 26 foods designated to be removed from the Commission's standards list are: aubergines, beans, carrots, courgettes, cucumbers, leeks, melons, onions, plums and spinach. The standards would remain for: apples, citrus fruit, kiwi fruit, lettuces and endives, peaches and nectarines, pears, strawberries, sweet peppers, table grapes and tomatoes.

Commission regulations for fruit and vegetables are extremely detailed, specifying their desired appearance, weight, size and other features. For example, Regulation No 1292/81, laying down quality standards for leeks, aubergines and courgettes, states that for Class One leeks "the white part of the leek must represent at least one-third of the total length or half the sheathed part".

The smuggling ring was led by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. The now-defunct ring led by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan is previously known to have sold bomb-related parts to Libya, Iran and North Korea. A draft report by former top U.N. arms inspector David Albright says the smugglers also acquired designs for building a more sophisticated compact nuclear device that could be fitted on a type of ballistic missile used by Iran and other developing countries, according to the Post.

"These advanced nuclear weapons designs may have long ago been sold off to some of the most treacherous regimes in the world," Albright wrote in the draft report, which was expected to be published later this week, the Post reported. A spokesman for the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, Nadeem Kiani, did not rebut the report's findings.

"The government of Pakistan has adequately investigated allegations of nuclear proliferation by A.Q. Khan and shared the information with the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency," Kiani told the Post. "It considers the A.Q. Khan affair to be over."

Shields, who works in the communications office at the city's Department of Public Health, was inspired to help pronounce couples "SPOUSES FOR LIFE" because her daughter married a woman in Massachusetts last year and she wanted to help others share the same joy. "Those are powerful words and it's a very solemn responsibility," said Shields, who is volunteering on her own time.

On Monday, California is due to become the second state to allow gays to marry, and county officials state-wide are preparing for an expected flood of weddings over the next several weeks. To help absorb the crowds, they are adding staff, extending hours and training and deputizing hundreds of volunteer marriage commissioners.

Causes of death included heart attacks, blood infections and pneumonia, while asthma and kidney failure were among reported side-effects. The statistics, revealed by Health Minister Dawn Primarolo, raise fears over the safety of the vaccine, which is taken by eight million people in Britain every year. Government policy is to offer the jabs to everyone over 65 and those with existing conditions that could be worsened by flu.

Health Minister Dawn Primarolo insisted the flu vaccine was safe and added: 'The balance of benefits to risks remains overwhelmingly positive.'

DESPITE THE IRISH REFERENDUM, FRANCE, GERMANY AND SENIOR BRUSSELS OFFICIALS HAVE INSISTED THERE SHOULD BE NO DELAY IN IMPLEMENTING THE EUROPEAN UNION BLUEPRINT. But No 10 sources say the prime minister would rather see the entire constitutional treaty collapse than allow individual member states to be left trailing in a two-speed Europe.

The collapse of the Lisbon treaty would take the heat off Brown as he faces down renewed calls for Britain to have its own referendum. If Europe presses ahead without Ireland, it would set a precedent for a two-speed club, with Britain likely to be stuck in the second tier. A Downing Street source said: "The legal position on this is very clear: the treaty cannot come into force until all 27 countries have ratified it." One senior government official said anyone who thought the Irish vote could be ignored was "living in cloud-cuckoo-land". The leaders of the EU's 27 members states will meet this week in Brussels, but yesterday the Irish government ruled out forcing through a second referendum.

William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, said EUROPEAN LEADERS HAD TO HEED THE NO VOTE OR RISK LOOKING "REMOTE, OUT OF TOUCH AND MORE UNDEMOCRATIC THAN EVER".

Catholic congregations throughout the world will receive special instruction on how to appreciate the old services, formerly known as the Tridentine Rite. Yesterday's announcement by the senior Vatican cardinal in charge of Latin liturgy, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, speaking on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI, will horrify Catholic liberals, including many bishops of England and Wales.

The Pope upset the liberals last year when he issued a decree removing their power to block the celebration of the old Mass. Yesterday's move demonstrates that the Vatican intends to go much further in promoting the ancient liturgy. IN THE TRADITIONAL RITE, THE PRIEST FACES IN THE SAME DIRECTION AS THE PEOPLE AND READS THE MAIN PRAYER OF THE MASS IN LATIN, IN A VOICE SO LOW AS TO BE VIRTUALLY SILENT. By contrast, in the new rite the priest faces the people and speaks audibly in the local language.

Such sweeping liturgical changes are certain to cause intense controversy. At a press conference, a journalist from the liberal Tablet magazine, which is close to the English bishops, told the Cardinal that the new liturgical changes amounted to "going backwards".

A breakaway group of conservative Anglican archbishops meets this week, threatening to split the worldwide communion over the issue of homosexuality, and the 10-yearly Lambeth Conference starts next month. The future of the 80 million-strong Anglican Communion hangs by one of Dr Williams's whiskers.

Anglicans in Africa and Asia are infuriated enough with the liberal North American churches, where openly homosexual clergy and church blessings for same-sex couples are now commonplace. But the news that two male priests used a traditional wedding liturgy, involving the exchange of rings and vows, in a Church of England church could push them to the edge.

The eyes of the Anglican world will now be on Dr Williams. The archbishop will be expected to act by showing strong leadership. THIS WILL TEST HIS AUTHORITY AND POTENTIALLY SHAPE THE FUTURE OF ANGLICANISM. While the pro-gay lobby will argue that this wedding is part of being an inclusive Church, the traditionalists claim that homosexual behaviour is a sin and conceding on this would be to undermine the authority of the Bible. It is set to ignite a battle for the soul of the Church.

Officials guess it will be four days before the Cedar River drops enough for workers to even begin pumping out water that has submerged more than 400 blocks, threatened the city's drinking supply and forced the evacuation of a downtown hospital. "We're estimating at least a couple of weeks before the flood levels get down right around flood stage and below," said Dustin Hinrichs of the Linn County emergency operations center.

The Cedar River crested Friday night at nearly 32 feet, 12 feet higher than the old record set in 1929. County Supervisor Linda Langston estimated the number forced from their homes at 20,000 and said that figure could rise as officials got a better grasp of how many neighborhoods were flooded. Cedar Rapids has a population of about 120,000. "THIS IS OUR VERSION OF KATRINA," Johnson County Emergency Management spokesman Mike Sullivan said. "This is the worst flooding we've ever seen - much worse than 1993," when much of the Midwest was hit by record flooding

THE DRENCHING HAS ALSO SEVERELY DAMAGED CROPS IN AMERICA'S NO. 1 CORN STATE and other parts of the Midwest at a time when corn prices are soaring. Dave Miller, a grain farmer and director of research for the Iowa Farm Bureau, estimated that up to 1.3 million acres of corn and 2 million acres of soy beans - about 20 percent of the state's overall grain crop - had been lost to flooding.

Two male priests exchanged vows and rings in a ceremony that was conducted using one of the church's most traditional wedding rites - a decision seen as blasphemous by conservatives.

The ceremony broke Church of England guidelines and was carried out last month in defiance of the Bishop of London, in whose diocese it took place. News of the "wedding" emerged days before a crucial summit of the Anglican Church's conservative bishops and archbishops, who are threatening to split the worldwide Church over the issue of homosexual clergy. Although some liberal clergy have carried out "blessing ceremonies" for homosexual couples in the past, this is the first time a vicar has performed a "wedding ceremony", using a traditional marriage liturgy, with readings, hymns and a ­Eucharist.

THE MOST REV HENRY OROMBI, THE ARCHBISHOP OF UGANDA, SAID THAT THE CEREMONY WAS "BLASPHEMOUS." He called on Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to take decisive action if the Anglican Church were not to "disintegrate". Archbishop Orombi added: "WHAT REALLY SHOCKS ME IS THAT THIS IS HAPPENING IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND THAT FIRST BROUGHT THE GOSPEL TO US. The leadership tried to deny that this would happen, but now the truth is out. Our respect for the Church of England will erode unless we see a return to traditional teaching."

The couple, the Rev Peter Cowell, who is a cleric at one of the Queen's churches, and the Rev Dr David Lord, had registered their civil partnership before the ceremony. Mr Dudley opened the service by saying: "Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God to join these men in a holy covenant of love and fidelity. Such a covenant shows us the mystery of the union between God and God's people and between Christ and the Church." In the vows, Mr Cowell and Dr Lord pledged to "hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part".

Mr Dudley blessed the union with the words: "As David and Jonathan's souls were knit together, so these men may surely perform and keep the vow and covenant betwixt them made."

Public health workers in Maricopa County, which includes the cities of the Phoenix valley, are breeding thousands of so-called mosquito fish to gobble up larvae that thrive in the green pools of abandoned homes across the county. The tiny, silvery fish are being offered to residents and municipal authorities across the parched desert county, which has tens of thousands of swimming pools, AND ONE OF THE HIGHEST FORECLOSURE RATES IN THE UNITED STATES.

"The abandoned pools become a stagnant little swamp that breeds mosquitoes in the middle of a neighborhood," said John Townsend, Maricopa County Vector Control manager. "It is an important public health issue to keep the mosquito population down - and the fish are very effective at that," he added. West Nile virus, which came to the United States from Africa in the late 1990s, is now endemic in the county. Severe cases can produce high fever, stupor, tremors and paralysis, and can prove fatal.

In the first three months of the year, 17,214 HOMES IN MARICOPA COUNTY WERE OFFERED FOR FORECLOSURE SALES, a more than three-fold rise on the previous year, according to RealtyStore.com. In addition, an unknown number of local homes were simply abandoned as the owners skipped out on their spiraling debts, many leaving untreated backyard pools to stagnate, local authorities say.

In a homily to pilgrims in southern Italy, the Pope said the Church's role in politics - where it often speaks out against abortion, gay marriage and embryo research - was not intended to take the place of western secular ways of government.

"The Christian community cannot and does not want ever to substitute the legitimate and right competencies of institutions," the Pope told pilgrims at the start of a two-day visit to one of Italy's most economically depressed areas. A day after strolling through the Vatican Gardens with U.S. President George W. Bush, with whom he sees eye-to-eye on many moral issues, the Pope said the Church had the role of "supporting (governments) in their work and always proposes cooperating with them for the good of all".