The paper accuses Independent MEP Tom Wise, and Conservative MEPs Robert Atkins, David Sumberg, Roger Helmer and Conservative leader in the European Parliament Giles Chichester of exploiting the system by making exorbitant claims for expenses such as flights, daily allowances, staff allowances and office costs. Sumberg reportedly paid his wife £95,000 a year to work as his secretary and Chichester employed his wife on a part-time basis at £30,000 a year.

The main feature focuses on comments from Tom Wise, who told an undercover reporter: "It's cushy - £60,000 a year! Thank you very much indeed! WHAT HAVE WE GOT TO DO FOR IT? NOT A LOT! I don't know what an MEP's job is. NO ONE'S EVER GIVEN ME A JOB DESCRIPTION. I've no idea what an MEP should or shouldn't do. So you make it up as you go along."

When the News of the World asked Sir Robert Atkins about his staffing allowance, he said: "It's very complicated and I don't suppose any of your readers would understand it." The paper's leader describes THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AS A "MONEY-PIT FOR CASH-GRABBING FREELOADERS WHO CYNICALLY MILK OUR TAXES FOR THOUSANDS OF POUNDS A WEEK EACH."

The article quotes a senior Commission official saying, "The French use [chlorine washing] for exports to Saudi Arabia. This fact has been concealed. Not once has it been mentioned in all the Commission meetings on this subject. This is all about protecting vested interests." The European Food Safety Agency has found that chlorine washing "does not indicate a safety concern" and Commission lawyers say the import bar breaches World Trade Organisation rules.

"IN TODAY'S WORLD, THERE ARE 2 BILLION PEOPLE UNDER THE DROUGHT CONDITIONS, 90 percent of which come from development countries," said Du Ying, vice chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission. "With poor infrastructure and vulnerable ecosystem, developing countries are most vulnerable to the adverse effects of drought, desertification and climate change," Du told a ministerial roundtable during the 16th meeting of the Commission on Sustainable development.

ON FOOD SECURITY, Du noted that there are still 850 MILLION PEOPLE in the world hardly getting enough to eat. He called for more efforts to address food security, including increasing food supply, managing demand AND BUILDING A NEW INTERNATIONAL TRADE ORDER.

THE SHIP WILL NOT, BE CARRYING OIL OR PETROLEUM. It is the first of many shipments of DRINKING WATER that form part of a program to slake the thirst of this drought-plagued city. Other proposals, such as a controversial plan TO DIVERT WATER FROM THE EBRO RIVER, have pitted the Catalan capital against farmers and other cities, in a mild foretaste of the WATER-WARS that some have darkly predicted will afflict major regions of the planet in the coming years.

Spain is in the grip of its worst drought in a century, this year's total rainfall, for example, has been 40% lower than average for the equivalent period, and the country's reservoirs are, on average, only 30% full. The reservoirs serving Barcelona are only 20% full, and without significant rainfall, supplies of drinking water will likely run dry by October. "WE'RE IN CRISIS," says Joan Armengol, professor of ecology at the University of Barcelona. "AND YOU CAN'T LEAVE 5.5 MILLION PEOPLE IN CRISIS. The government has to take the bull by the horns."

Even the farmers to the north of the city are suffering from the city's all-consuming thirst. "Already, some FARMERS IN THE TER AREA ARE PROHIBITED FROM IRRIGATING BECAUSE THE WATER IS NEEDED FOR BARCELONA," says Peasants' Union spokesman Felip Domenech. "THIS DIVERSION COULD CAUSE ENTIRE HARVESTS TO FAIL."

The most widely used drugs are those to lower high blood pressure and cholesterol - problems often linked to heart disease, obesity and diabetes. Experts say the data reflect not just worsening public health but better medicines for chronic conditions and more aggressive treatment by doctors. For example, more people are now taking blood pressure and cholesterol-lowering medicines because they need them, said Dr. Daniel W. Jones, president of the American Heart Association.

In addition, there is the pharmaceutical industry's relentless advertising. With those factors unlikely to change, doctors say the proportion of Americans on chronic medications can only grow. "Unless we do things to change the way we're managing health in this country - things will get worse instead of getting better," predicted Jones, a heart specialist and dean of the University of Mississippi's medical school.

MEDCO'S DATA SHOW THAT LAST YEAR, 51 PERCENT OF AMERICAN CHILDREN AND ADULTS WERE TAKING ONE OR MORE PRESCRIPTION DRUGS FOR A CHRONIC CONDITION, up from 50 percent the previous four years and 47 percent in 2001. Most of the drugs are taken daily, although some are needed less often. Dr. Robert Epstein, chief medical officer at Franklin Lakes, N.J.-based Medco, said he sees both bad news and good in the findings. "Honestly, a lot of it is related to obesity," he said. "We've become a couch potato culture (and) it's a lot easier to pop a pill" than to exercise regularly or diet.

Teams of 15 officers will be deployed across the 10 boroughs in London that have recorded the most knife crime. Assistant Commissioner Tim Godwin, head of territorial policing in the capital, said officers would be deployed in areas blighted by stabbings to stop and search teenagers suspected of carrying weapons.

Police admit the "in your face policing" is expected to raise community tensions in some areas. But they say they are getting significant support from communities desperate for them to crack down on the problem.
Officers will use contentious Section 60 powers to enforce effective "no-go" areas for people carrying knives.

The powers enable officers to stop people and search them without the need to have "reasonable suspicion" that they are engaged in wrong doing. There has been criticism of the powers because research has found it hits black communities disproportionately. Search teams of officers are using a total of 550 metal-detecting wands and 244 airport-style detection arches.

The ants - formally known as "paratrenicha species near pubens" - have spread to five Houston-area counties since they were first spotted in Texas in 2002. The newly recognized species is believed to have arrived in a cargo shipment through the port of Houston. The good news? They eat fire ants, the stinging red terrors of Texas summers.

But the ants also like to suck the sweet juices from plants, feed on such beneficial insects as ladybugs, and eat the hatchlings of a small, endangered type of grouse known as the Attwater prairie chicken. They also bite humans, though not with a stinger like fire ants. Worse, they, like some other species of ants, are attracted to electrical equipment, for reasons that are not well understood by scientists.

They have ruined pumps at sewage pumping stations, fouled computers and at least one homeowner's gas meter, and caused fire alarms to malfunction. They have been spotted at NASA's Johnson Space Center and close to Hobby Airport. Exterminators say calls from frustrated homeowners and businesses are increasing because the ants, which are starting to emerge by the billions with the onset of the warm, humid season, appear to be resistant to over-the-counter ant killers.

Its Astrium division has designed a variant of its space station freighter that could also transport astronauts. Limited details were released in Bremen, Germany, on Tuesday; further information and a mock-up are expected at the Berlin Air Show this month.

Europe does not currently possess its own human space transportation system and is reliant on the Americans and the Russians to get its people into orbit. European Space Agency (Esa) boss Jean-Jacques Dordain has spoken frequently of his desire to see an independent system; and the US space agency (Nasa) chief, Mike Griffin, has also urged Europe to build its own crew carrier.

Astrium senior executive Evert Dudok and DLR boss Johann-Dietrich Worner told German journalists that the concept could be realised without spending billions of euros. They envisage a version ready for unmanned testing by 2013, with the first manned flight four or five years later.

THE UNITED NATIONS' WEATHER CENTER IS TRACKING A NASCENT TROPICAL STORM that is likely to become a cyclone, said Amanda Pitt, the spokeswoman of the world body's humanitarian relief program, in Bangkok, Thailand. Pitt said if the cyclone warnings come true, the inadequate relief efforts for survivors of Nargis will be jeopardized. "This is always a worry when you have further hazards affecting people," she said, adding that it "impacts people's ability to survive and cope with what happened to them. They are already weak. This is a great problem and impacts on how we can help people," she said.

The U.N. is leading the international relief effort, which is trying to supplement the Burma junta's aid delivery that has been criticized by aid groups and survivors as woefully inadequate. YET, THE ISOLATIONIST JUNTA HAS REFUSED TO LET INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS HELP who have experience in managing humanitarian crises, saying it is capable of dealing with it on its own.

MEANWHILE, SOME 2 MILLION PEOPLE ARE LIVING IN MISERABLE CONDITIONS, MANY OF THEM DEPENDING ON RAIN FOR FRESH DRINKING WATER, AND MEAGER FOOD RATIONS. Most water sources such as rivers and canals, which are littered with bodies and animal carcasses, are also contaminated by fecal matter and bacteria. Aid agencies have warned that a humanitarian and medical catastrophe is building in the absence of a full-fledged relief program.

A "seismic event provoking a strong explosion was recorded Tuesday at 0424 GMT (6:42 am local) in parts of the peak of the volcano," the National Geophysics and Vulcanology Institute in Sicily's Catania region said in a statement. The explosion on Etna, Europe's tallest active volcano at 3,295 metres (10,810 feet), was followed by a rain of ash on the southeast crater, "where significant gas emissions are occurring," the statement said.

The institute dispatched experts on Tuesday to the site, but "the phenomenon currently represents no danger to people or property," it said. Saturday's eruption, accompanied by streams of lava, was also at the volcano's southeast crater. The last eruption of Mount Etna was in November 2007, two months after another eruption forced a temporary closure of nearby Catania airport due to flowing lava and clouds of ash.

The last major eruption was in 2001.

It is the second time within less than three years that the Iranian president predicted the eradication of the Jewish state. The first time was in 2005 when Ahmadinejad hoped that Israel would be eradicated from the Middle East map. "This terrorist and criminal state is backed by foreign powers, but this regime would soon be swept away by the Palestinians," Ahmadinejad said in a press conference in Tehran.

Referring to worldwide celebrations for the 60th anniversary of Israel's foundation, he said that "it would be futile to hold a birthday ceremony for something which is already dead. As far as the regional countries are concerned, this regime does not exist," Ahmadinejad added. The Iranian president said last week that the anniversary feasts could not save this "rotten and stinking corpse."

In a White House interview with Politico and Yahoo News - a president's first for an online audience - Bush said HIS DOOMSDAY SCENARIO FOR A PREMATURE WITHDRAWAL "is that extremists throughout the Middle East would be emboldened, which would eventually lead to another attack on the United States."

"THE UNITED STATES PULLING OUT OF IRAQ OR PULLING OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST or not maintaining a forward presence would send all kinds of signals throughout the Middle East," he said in the Roosevelt Room. "And it WOULD SHAKE EVERYBODY'S NERVES, AND IT WOULD EMBOLDEN THE VERY SAME PEOPLE THAT WE'RE TRYING TO DEFEAT."

As he prepared to head out Tuesday night for a trip to Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, he said Americans should be concerned about incremental progress in the Middle East, even though a grand peace between Israelis and Palestinians continues to look distant.

"Americans at home ought to care for the advance of free societies throughout the Middle East. After all, this is the center of anti-Americanism and hatred," he said. "The big challenge in the 21st century is to advance freedom in the Middle East for our security."

The country had threatened to veto the talks unless demands on energy and other issues were met. Three EU foreign ministers, including current EU presidency holder, Slovenia, had visited Vilnius to apply pressure. A previous 10-year partnership between energy-rich Russia and the EU expired in 2007.

Poland had also initially raised concerns to talks but their objections were overcome earlier this year. Lithuania wants discussions on what are known as the "frozen conflicts" - Russia's support for Russian-speaking separatists in the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions of Georgia and the Transdniestria region of Moldova. The BBC's Mike Sanders says some 8% of Lithuanians are Russian speakers and Lithuania does not want any encouragement for potential secessionists at home.

Lithuania also wants the EU to persuade Russia to resume oil supplies to its Mazekiu oil refinery. Deliveries dried up in 2006 after Lithuania sold a stake in the refinery to a Polish firm in preference to Russian rivals. The EU-Russia negotiations have been stalled since late 2006, when Warsaw cried foul after Russia banned meat imports from Poland.

NEW INDUSTRIES ARE BEING BUILT UP AMID MASSIVE RURAL POVERTY, AND INDUSTRIAL WAGES AMOUNT TO JUST A FEW DOLLARS PER DAY. In fact, it is precisely low wages and large-scale poverty that foreign corporations are seeking, as they move inland from higher-wage coastal regions around Guangzhou and Shanghai.

In Chengdu, local authorities have promoted a new, high-tech industrial park housing operations of multinational firms such as Motorola, Alcatel, Intel, IBM, and Nokia in an attempt to make the city the "Silicon Valley of China." However, other buildings in the city and region are largely old and vulnerable. This state of affairs is emblematic of the CALLOUSNESS OF THE RULING CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY, which has become an agent for corporate interests as it has transformed China into the low-wage workshop of the world.

Even though Sichuan has a history of violent earthquakes, few buildings there are built to withstand them. EVEN THE INADEQUATE BUILDING CODES PASSED IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE 1976 TANGSHAN EARTHQUAKE - WHICH KILLED 270,000 PEOPLE" WERE NOT ENFORCED.

Sichuan province houses 40 percent of China's natural gas deposits and 22 percent of its natural gas production, and its pipelines and treatment facilities were shut down after the earthquake as a safety measure. CHINA FACES LARGE-SCALE POWER SHORTAGES due to insufficient power-generating capacity, and the central government provides subsidies for Chinese energy companies to sell oil and natural gas to users at low prices. If, however, China is forced to buy natural gas directly on international markets, these subsidies would become more expensive to maintain, raising the risk that Chinese industry would pay higher energy bills and pass the costs along to consumers.

SICHUAN PROVINCE IS ALSO A LARGE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCER, OF RICE AND ESPECIALLY PORK. Should transport and freight disruptions persist, the result could be smaller supply and higher prices for food in China at a time when food costs are already rising very quickly.

Late on Tuesday, a few hundred soldiers reached the epicentre in Wenchuan county, where an estimated 60,000 people remain missing. They found 500 bodies within a few hours - but have still not searched many devastated areas. The official death toll is more than 12,000, and looks set to rise sharply.

Thirty Chinese troops in the town of Yingxiu, in Wenchuan, rescued 300 injured residents, state news agency Xinhua said. But of an estimated population of around 10,000, only 2,000 residents were found alive, a local official said. "They could hear people under the debris calling for help but no one could, because there were no professional rescue teams," He Biao said. The military says it will start dropping aid and medical supplies into worst-hit regions as soon as weather conditions improve.

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao promised no effort would be spared to rescue those trapped and look after the survivors. "We will save the people," he declared through a loudhailer to people in Shifang. But he expressed frustration that rescue efforts were being held up by testing conditions. "The disaster situation is worse than expected, and the rescue sites are quite complex," he admitted.