This sounds very frightening, so let's look at the facts about polar sea ice. AS USUAL, THERE ARE A COUPLE OF HUGE PROBLEMS WITH THE REPORTS.

Firstly, the story is neither alarming nor unique. In the August 29, 2000 edition of the New York Times, the same NSIDC expert, Mark Serreze, said: "There's nothing to be necessarily alarmed about. There's been open water at the pole before. We have no clear evidence at this point that this is related to global climate change." During the summer of 2000 there was "a large body of ice-free water about 10 miles long and 3 miles wide near the pole". Also in 2000, Dr Claire Parkinson at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center was quoted as saying: "The fact of having no ice at the pole is not so stunning." Submarines regularly surface at the North Pole.

Secondly, the likelihood of the North Pole being ice free this summer is actually quite slim. There are only a few weeks left where the sun is high enough to melt ice at the North Pole. The sun is less than 23 degrees above the horizon, and by mid-August will be less than 15 degrees above it. Temperatures in Greenland have been cold this summer, and winds are not favorable for a repeat. Currently, there is about one million km2 more ice than there was on this date last summer.

Satellite records have been kept for polar sea ice over the last thirty years by the University Of Illinois. In 2007-2008, two very different records were set. The Arctic broke the previous record for the least sea ice area ever recorded, while the Antarctic broke the record for the most sea ice area ever recorded. Summed up over the entire earth, polar ice has remained constant. As seen below, there has been no net gain or loss of polar sea ice since records began.

Last summer, the headlines read "First ever traversal of the Northwest Passage". This sounds very dramatic, except that it is entirely incorrect. As the BBC reported: "In 1905, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first person to successfully navigate the Northwest Passage, in a wooden sailboat." The Northwest Passage has been navigated at least one hundred times over the last century.

According to official US Weather Bureau records (pdf) from 1922, there was open sailing very close to the North Pole that year. Anthony Watts unearthed this quote from the Weather Bureau: "In fact, so little ice has never before been noted." The expedition all but established a record, sailing as far north as 81 degrees in ice-free water. We must check back in seven weeks to see if the North Pole is ice-free. My money is on the experts being wrong - again.

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has set a tone ahead of this week's G-8 summit in Japan by sending a starkly-worded warning to her colleagues about the consequences of rising food prices. The crisis, she wrote in a six-page letter to other G-8 leaders last Monday, might "endanger democracy, destabilize nations and lead to international security problems."

Merkel organized a working group last April to analyze the recent rise in world food prices and to recommend solutions. Her government experts have found that "speculative trading in futures markets ? have a significant influence on the level and volatility of staple food prices." To answer the "dramatic nature" of the crisis, the commission recommends "heightened agricultural productivity" in developing nations, a "quick supply of seeds, fertilizer and farm equipment to selected regions" as well as "the instant abolition of export restrictions."

Droughts could hit the country twice as often as now and could be more severe in key agricultural production areas, the Bureau of Meteorology and the country's top science organisation, the CSIRO, said in a joint report. "Parts of these high-level projections read more like a disaster novel than a scientific report," said Tony Burke, the agriculture minister.

"What's clear is that the cycle of drought is going to be more regular and deeper than ever." Australia, which is currently suffering its worst drought in a century, has seen wheat exports tumble in the past two years.

The world's driest inhabited continent is normally THE SECOND-LARGEST WHEAT EXPORTER IN THE WORLD, but the harvest was decimated to just 13 million tonnes last year because of drought.

The discussions open at the Windsor Hotel, close to Lake Toyako, on Monday morning, with the heads of the United States, Japan, Germany, France Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia joined by 14 other heads of state in what is the largest ever G8 meeting.

Despite the efforts of police and immigration authorities in Japan, several thousand foreign demonstrators have joined forces with home-grown protesters to rail against everything from global warming to banning cluster bombs, poverty and even the G8 itself. One banner unveiled at a protest event in the nearby city of Sapporo declared: "No to the hypocritical G8 Summit promoting the destruction of the global environment."

Some 40,000 police have been mobilised across Japan to provide security for the summit, which will be US President George W Bush's final G8 meeting and is therefore considered a prime target for a potential terrorist attack.

The report by the TaxPayers' Alliance was highlighted by David Davis, the former shadow home secretary, who stands in a by-election this week on the issue of civil liberties. Mr Davis resigned as an MP after the opposition failed to defeat Government plans to hold terrorism suspects for 42 days.

Mr Davis said: "This is yet further damning evidence of Big Brother's expensive tastes. ID cards, CCTV, the DNA database and other measures are a huge waste of taxpayers' money on policies that undermine freedom and are utterly ineffective in fighting crime or terrorism. At the same time, the Government has failed to deal robustly with extremists and terrorists, like Abu Hamza. Yet again, this government penalise the innocent, and is a soft touch for the guilty."

Abu Hamza's extradition was requested in 2004 by the United States, where he is wanted for terrorism offences. But despite being convicted of a number of charges in Britain two years ago, he has still not been deported. The cost to taxpayers is estimated at £2.75 million in welfare payments, council housing, NHS bills, trials and legal appeals.

It quoted a confidential study by the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates as saying losses for banks holding risky assets could be four times greater than the 400 billion dollars previously estimated. The hedge fund expressed doubts that the financial institutes would be able to drum up enough funds to cover the losses, something it said could exacerbate the crisis.

Bridgewater, one of the world's biggest hedge funds, based its calculations on the state of risky debt-based US assets, such as mortgages, credit and credit card demands. The value of such risky assets is 26,600 billion dollars, according to the hedge fund. The losses would amount to 1,600 billion dollars if these assets were valued at market rates and not in the form of securitization, the newspaper said

THE AUTHORITY IS CONCERNED IT COULD BE ACCUSED OF DISCRIMINATION AFTER A WARNING FROM ITS OWN LESBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL ADVISORY GROUP. It has suspended work on the Circular Road above Avon Gorge, which would open up the area to wildlife and visitors. Talks are now being held to try to end the deadlock.

Head of parks, Peter Wilkinson, said the council had strong equality policies to protect the interests of all groups, irrespective of their sexuality. "The general public are unhappy about people taking part in lewd behaviour in public spaces, whether it's between men and women or people of the same sex", he said. "We are working together with the Terence Higgins Trust to make sure any work we will do is sensitive.

"We're making sure people know what we are doing so we are not seen to be discriminating." Although having sex in a public place could give rise to a criminal charge such as indecent exposure, police have said they are unlikely to investigate unless a formal complaint is made.

The PM said "unnecessary" purchases were contributing to price rises, and urged people to plan meals in advance and store food properly. A government study found the UK wastes 4m tonnes of food every year, adding £420 to a family's shopping bills.

Rising prices and the world economy are due to dominate the annual G8 summit. The Cabinet Office report, due to be published later, claims that up to 40% of food harvested in developing countries can be lost before it is consumed, due to the inadequacies of processing, storage and transport.

Over the last few decades, the Church of England has increasingly presented itself as one part of the global Anglican Communion. This seemed a way of reinventing itself, of edging away from the embarrassment of being a state church. But the move has turned out to be disastrous. It has been the undoing of the C of E and has led what was once a pacific, tolerant church to its present state of exhausted collapse.

On Monday, 1,333 'traditionalist' clergy threatened to defect to Rome in protest against women bishops. The same day, 2,300 clergy in favour of women bishops signed a statement protesting against the protesters. On Friday this week the General Synod will discuss the two separate, but equally intractable breakaway groups - the English traditionalists (whose beef is with women) and the worldwide evangelicals (who complain most of all about homosexuality).

On the eve of the Lambeth Conference (it begins on 16 July) we are witnessing the End Times of the C of E. The bickering factions in the worldwide Anglican Communion have simply pulled our church apart. Every day, in the run-up to Lambeth, there's a new crisis for poor Rowan Williams. The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has spoken of the "agonies and complexities" facing the Church as it struggles with the issues of homosexual priests and women bishops. Dr Williams said he believed Jesus would be with the groups within the Church affected by the controversies including traditionalists and gay clergy.

THEY MET SENIOR ADVISERS OF THE POPE IN AN ATTEMPT TO BUILD CLOSER TIES WITH THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt. Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was not told of the talks and the disclosure will be a fresh blow to his efforts to prevent a major split in the Church of England.

In highly confidential discussions, a group of conservative bishops expressed their dismay at the liberal direction of the Church of England and their fear for its future. They met members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the most powerful of the Vatican's departments, the successor to the medieval Inquisition, which enforces doctrine and was headed by Pope Benedict XVI before his election.

The Anglican communion has been arguing over homosexuality since the American Church made Gene Robinson the first openly gay bishop and issued rites for same-sex unions. Conservatives are concerned that gay blessing services are being conducted in Britain and last month this newspaper revealed that a "wedding" ceremony was held for two gay priests.

The issue of homosexual priests is likely to feature strongly at this month's Lambeth Conference of worldwide Anglican bishops. Now the Church of England is poised to endorse women bishops - a move that will seriously damage its relations with the Roman Catholic Church and could force hundreds of clergy to defect to Rome

THEY USE WORDS SUCH AS "TERRIFIED," "DISGUSTED" AND "SCARY" TO DESCRIBE WHAT ONE CALLS "THIS MESS" WE AMERICANS FIND OURSELVES IN. Then comes the list of problems constituting the mess: a protracted war, $4-a-gallon gas, soaring food prices, uncertainty about jobs, an erratic stock market, a tougher housing market, and so on and so forth.

One member's son is serving his second tour in Iraq. Another speaks of a daughter who's lost her job in the mortgage industry and a son in construction whose salary was slashed. Still another mentions a friend who can barely afford gas. Joanne Kontak, 60, an elementary school lunch aide inducted just this day as an Optimist, sums things up like this: "THERE'S JUST ENTIRELY TOO MUCH WRONG RIGHT NOW." Happy birthday, America? This year, we're not so sure.

THE NATION'S PSYCHE IS BATTERED AND BRUISED, THE SENSE OF PESSIMISM PALPABLE. Young or old, Republican or Democrat, economically stable or struggling, Americans are questioning where they are and where they are going. And they wonder who or what might ride to their rescue. These are more than mere gripes, but rather an expression of fears - concerns reflected not only in the many recent polls that show consumer confidence plummeting, personal happiness waning and more folks worrying that the country is headed in the wrong direction, but also in conversations happening all across the land.

Sherry White in Orlando, Florida, said, "THERE IS A SENSE OF HELPLESSNESS EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK. It's like you're stuck in one spot, and you can't do anything about it."

An estimated 145,000 mortgage holders already owe more in mortgage payments than their houses are worth, according to research undertaken for the Daily Telegraph. The research company CACI analysed the 1.2 million people who bought a home since the start of last year and calculated that one in eight are in negative equity. This figure could rise to as many as 360,000 by the end of this year if house prices fall by 20 per cent, as some economists fear is now possible.

As houses prices start to fall, the first to be hit by negative equity are those buyers that borrowed the maximum amount possible to get on the housing ladder, especially those that took out 100 per cent mortgages - worth the full value of the property. For many home buyers these loans were the only way they could afford to get onto the housing ladder, and some lenders - led by Northern Rock - offered loans far in excess of the value of the property.

During the early months of 2007 Northern Rock offered a very popular 120 per cent mortgage, which allowed people to not only buy the home but also pay for the fees, stamp duty and have money to redecorate the property without handing over a penny. Though these deals were offered in far smaller numbers than in the late 1980s, 30,000 home owners have taken out 100 per cent mortgages since the start of last year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

A further 115,000 people took out mortgage deals of about 92 or 93 per cent, CACI estimates. This means that all of these people are now in negative equity, because house prices have fallen by more than 7 per cent since their peak last year, according to figures released by Nationwide building society this week.

The outlook has darkened dramatically since last year's summit in Germany, WHEN THE LEADERS DECLARED THE GLOBAL ECONOMY WAS IN "GOOD CONDITION" AND OIL COST $70 A BARREL - which seemed high at the time. Since then, the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis has erupted, roiling markets and battering financial firms. Oil has doubled to above $140 and food prices have jumped, hurting the poor in particular and raising the threat of political instability.

"Things have changed for the worse across the board," said Robert Hormats, vice chairman at Goldman Sachs (International) Corp. in New York. "NOW YOU HAVE A FINANCIAL DISORDER WHERE THE EPICENTER IS THE U.S.," he said. And fuel and food inflation "are serious matters that affect large numbers of people."

The group's membership also has grown from six to eight, adding Canada in 1976 and more recently Russia in 1997. But many argue that it should be expanded to include China, the world's fourth-largest economy, and other emerging powerhouses like India and Brazil - especially to tackle global issues like energy and climate change. Already, the G-8 has been reaching out. It plans meetings with African leaders on the summit's first day, and later with leaders from China, India, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa - countries that someday might be a part of the Group of 13.

At 11, Sasha Bennington is too young to remember the days when Jordan was just a country and being branded 'fake' was something to be ashamed of. But maybe the youngster's biggest tragedy is that her mother, Jayne, 31, is in no hurry to paint a picture of how it used to be.

Jayne is talking breezily about how Sasha had her first set of false nails glued on at eight, and now enjoys the sort of rigorous beauty regime - hair extensions, fake tans, pedicures - THAT WAS ONCE THE PRESERVE OF PORN STARS AND DOLLY PARTON, not school children from Burnley in Lancashire. Still, times have changed. "All the kids are at it now," insists Jayne. "WE SPEND ABOUT £300 A MONTH ON BEAUTY TREATMENTS FOR HER. Sasha's friends are the same. All girls their age are. Of course they are! Why else would you be able to buy make-up for pre-teens at Boots?"

"Perhaps it's different in country areas, where they don't need to grow up so fast. But, around big cities, girls have got to be more forward and act older than they are. That's just the way it is. I don't understand why people get so upset about it. None of it is permanent. Tans wash off. Hair extensions come out. Why all the fuss?" Ask Sasha how she sees herself and she replies: "BLONDE, PRETTY, DUMB - I DON'T NEED BRAINS." Her mum laughs her head off at this, proud that the child is so like her.

About 10,000 people are scooping algae out of the sea at the eastern city of Qingdao, while officials in Inner Mongolia are preparing to fight off a plague of locusts that may arrive in the capital city during the Olympics. "There's an old saying in China that good things only come after enduring a lot of hardship," Jiang Xiaoyu, vice president of the Beijing organizing committee, said yesterday in Beijing. "We expected to face many challenges so it's not a surprise. These issues aren't major problems."

So far this year, the world's most populous nation has faced the worst winter snowstorms in 50 years, riots in Lhasa, violent protests about government policies toward Tibet along the Olympic torch relay route in Europe and North America, an earthquake and flooding. China is still recovering from the Sichuan earthquake that killed more than 69,000 people in May, tempering the run-up to an Olympics billed as the country's coming-out party.