In St Peter's Square, the Pontiff paid tribute to St Columbanus, a monk from Co Meath who led a mission into Europe in AD500. He said, "With his spiritual strength, with his faith, with his love of God and neighbour, he became one of the Fathers of Europe, SHOWING US TODAY THE WAY TO THOSE ROOTS FROM WHICH OUR CONTINENT MAY BE REBORN."

"We have noted with certain concern that there are signs of growing protectionism in a number of areas," reads the union's statement to the World Trade Organisation issued on Wednesday (11 June). The document attacks "mounting restrictive import requirements for security purposes" as they represent a "considerable burden" on EU exporters. The EU has hinted it may challenge the measures in front of the Geneva-based body.

"The EU raised doubts about the compliance of these measures with World Trade Organisation rules and their professed intent," the statement concludes. The two sides are the world's export leaders, with transatlantic trade amounting to €3 billion per day.

The EU has also criticised more generous hand-outs foreseen in the new 2008 US Farm Bill, especially in the context of the ongoing Doha development round of world trade talks. The Doha development round began in 2001 with the aim of cutting farm subsidies and tariffs and boosting free trade. The bill is the work of the US Congress which is pushing higher subsidies despite opposition from President George W. Bush.

He was later pardoned by former French President Jacques Chirac, a close friend. Barrot was never barred from holding public office and FAILED TO DECLARE HIS PAST WHEN HE JOINED THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION AS TRANSPORT COMMISSIONER IN 2000.

The Sun notes that his new job as Justice Commissioner will make him the second most powerful man in the EU, with control over laws on environmental crime, seizure of terrorist funds, copyright and patents across the 27 member states.

The Lisbon Treaty will also give him power to dictate how EU countries operate criminal law, policing, courts, rules of evidence, immigration and border controls. He will be paid £160,000 a year. Open Europe is quoted saying, "TO SAY THIS SMACKS OF POACHER TURNED GAMEKEEPER IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT."

"Instead of dwelling on our differences, we are increasingly united in our interests and ideals," Bush was to say in a speech Friday in Paris. "In leaders like Berlusconi and Brown, Merkel and Sarkozy, I see a commitment to a powerful and purposeful Europe that advances the values of liberty within its borders, and beyond."

With his own country and all the ones he is visiting far more interested in the race to find his successor than in his doings, Bush claimed a success that he would be passing on to the next president. "When the time comes to welcome a new American president next January, I will be pleased to report to him that the relationship between the United States and Europe is the broadest and most vibrant it has ever been," Bush said.

Bush will meet with the pope on Friday before departing to Paris to continue his farewell European tour. It will be Bush's third meeting with Benedict. The two last met in April at the White House in Washington.

According to many of the world's top scientists, the answer is yes, unless we take action now. This September, in Earth 2100, a dramatic ABC News 2-hour broadcast, the greatest minds across the globe will join together in a countdown to the year 2100 to tell us what we must do to survive the next century - And what may happen if we don't. The time to act is now, says Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute. "THE 21ST CENTURY IS GOING TO BE THE CENTURY WHICH DETERMINE[S] WHETHER WE LIVE OR DIE AS A SUSTAINABLE SPECIES," Gleick said. "As populations grow, as our use of resources grows, I think we get closer and closer to that edge."

Experts say that extreme changes in climate, combined with dwindling resources, famine, war and disease have the potential to create a post-apocalyptic world in less than a hundred years. Harvard University and Woods Hole climatologist John Holdrens says we cannot continue going down the same path. "If we continue on business as usual, we are going to see more floods, more droughts, more heat waves, more wildfires, more ice melting, faster sea level rise," Holdren said.

"We really have less than a decade to start getting this right. If we're still dragging our feet in 2015 I think it really becomes at that point almost impossible for the world to avert a degree of climate change that we simply will not be able to manage without intolerable cost and consequences."

"At least 500 million people in Asia and 250 million people in China are at risk from DECLINING GLACIAL FLOWS ON THE TIBETAN PLATEAU," said Rajendra k. Pachauri, chairman of the intergovernmental panel on climate change (ipcc) and winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, in an interview with circle of blue. "This is one of the great concerns - A STAGGERING NUMBER OF PEOPLE WILL BE AFFECTED IN THE NEAR FUTURE. There aren't too many researchers who have looked at this water situation and its far-reaching impacts."

Globally, the UN estimates that two-thirds of the world's population will live in areas of water stress within the next 20 years. Scientists and experts say an environmental catastrophe is brewing in the volatile region due to air and water pollution in China and global climate change - all of which foretell future water scarcity on an unprecedented scale. With more than a quarter of its land classified as desert, China has long sought Tibet's water resources.

Said Geoff Dabelko, director of the environmental change and security program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for scholars in Washington, D.C., "NEARLY TWO BILLION PEOPLE ARE IN SOME WAY DEPENDENT ON WATER ORIGINATING ON THE TIBETAN PLATEAU. By definition, that makes it high politics and critically important in a politically strategic sense."

There is only one problem with the picture of bounty: this province, MURCIA, IS RUNNING OUT OF WATER. Swaths of southeast Spain are steadily turning into desert. The battles of yesterday were fought over land, they warn. Those of the present center on oil. But those of the future - a future made hotter and drier by climate change in much of the world - seem likely to focus on water, they say.

Murcia, traditionally a poor farming region, has undergone a resort-building boom in recent years, even as many of its farmers have switched to more thirsty crops, encouraged by water transfer plans, which have become increasingly untenable. The combination has put new pressures on the land and its dwindling supply of water. THIS YEAR, FARMERS ARE FIGHTING DEVELOPERS OVER WATER RIGHTS. They are fighting one another over who gets to water their crops. And in a sign of their mounting desperation, they are buying and selling water like gold on a rapidly growing black market, mostly from illegal wells.

"Water will be the environmental issue this year - the problem is urgent and immediate," said Barbara Helferrich, a spokeswoman for the European Union's Environment Directorate. "IF YOU ALREADY HAVE WATER SHORTAGES IN SPRING, YOU KNOW IT'S GOING TO BE A REALLY BAD SUMMER."

"WATER IS ALL WE HAVE," said Gulbakhor, a 55-year-old mother of nine, pointing at swathes of parched land stretching towards the austere mountains of central Tajikistan. She did not want to give her last name. "BUT ALL THE PONDS AND RIVERS ARE DRY. We need to water our crop but we don't have enough even for ourselves." Gulbakhor's despair, shared by millions of Tajiks in this tiny ex-Soviet nation north of Afghanistan, reflects a growing sense of alarm throughout Central Asia where stability depends on the region's scarcest and most precious commodity: water.

Central Asia is one of the world's driest places where, thanks to 70 years of Soviet planning, thirsty crops such as cotton and grain remain the main livelihood for most of the 58 million people. Disputes over cross-border water use have simmered for years in this sprawling mass of land wedged between Iran, Russia and China. Afghanistan, linked to Central Asia by the Amu Daria river, is adding to the tension by claiming its own share of the water.

WATER SHORTAGES ARE CAUSING CONCERN THE WORLD OVER, BECAUSE OF RISING DEMAND, CLIMATE CHANGE AND SWELLING POPULATIONS.

An hour later they were back. They grabbed Dadirai Chipiro and chopped off one of her hands and both her feet. Then they threw her into her hut, locked the door and threw a petrol bomb through the window. The killing last Friday - one of the most grotesque atrocities committed by Robert Mugabe's regime since independence in 1980 - was carried out on a wave of worsening brutality before the run-off presidential elections in just over two weeks. It echoed the activities of Foday Sankoh, the rebel leader in the Sierra Leone civil war that ended in 2002, whose trade-mark was to chop off hands and feet.

About 70 local supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change gathered Wednesday in Patson Chipiro's small yard in Mhondoro to protect him. Inside the hut where his wife of 29 years died, women sang softly to a subdued drum beat next to the cheap wooden coffin. The thatched roof had been destroyed in the fire so they sat under the open sky. The lid could not be closed because Dadirai Chipiro's outstretched arm had burnt rigid. Her charred hand was found as women swept the hut.

The National Weather Service issued a flood warning for the Cedar River in east central Iowa, saying residents should expect "unprecedented river crests," calling the situation serious. One of the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, levees has already broken.

"The rest of the levees in the city have not broken down but what the problem is is the water went way up over the top - well over a foot over the top of the levees," said Dave Koch, the city's public information officer told FOX News, adding "it's a 500-year flood and it just overwhelmed us."

"We're just kind of at God's mercy right now, so hopefully people that never prayed before this, it might be a good time to start," Linn County Sheriff Don Zeller said. "We're going to need a lot of prayers, and people are going to need a lot of patience and understanding. We're in uncharted territory; this is an event beyond what anybody could even imagine."

The EU Parliament's President Hans-Gert Poettering (CDU) is demanding that "politicians of all sides" in Dublin explain the advantages of the EU to the population. Elmar Brok (CDU), a member of the European Parliament, declared that A "DEBATE ON IRELAND'S WITHDRAWAL" FROM THE EU SHOULD NOT BE EXCLUDED, IF THE TREATY IS REJECTED.

According to opinion polls, the approval sought by Berlin, is in danger and therefore also the EU treaty's coming into force, which would permit the smooth appointment of a EUROPEAN FOREIGN MINISTER and the corresponding European foreign service, ALONG WITH PREPARATIONS FOR ESTABLISHING A EUROPEAN ARMY. These objectives are very important to the German government, as Foreign Minister Steinmeier recently confirmed.

FEARING TO BE DRAWN INTO EUROPE'S FUTURE WARS, MANY IRISH ARE INSISTING ON THEIR COUNTRY'S NEUTRALITY. They are rejecting the "EU treaty", because it would accelerate the EU foreign policy's further standardization and militarization. Giving in to pressure from Berlin, the Irish government is campaigning against a significant portion of its own population, and therefore drawing criticism

The Pope was visited after the general audience by the members of the Islamic-Catholic committee established by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Saudi Arabia-based International Islamic Forum for Dialogue, L'Osservatore Romano reported. Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran and Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata, president and secretary, respectively, of that Vatican dicastery participated.

The committee is meeting through Friday on the theme "Christians and Muslims: Witnesses of the God of Justice, Peace and Compassion in a World That Suffers Violence."

Some Catholics fear the treaty will create loopholes allowing the EU to force Ireland to relax its strict abortion laws, permit same sex marriages and erode what they regard as traditional religious values. "PRAYER CAN CHANGE THE COURSE OF HISTORY," said Murphy, who runs a Catholic centre in the capital Dublin. "We cannot delegate to a more centralised authority our decision-making rights on matters so close to home."

Ireland is the only EU state planning a referendum on the treaty and a "no" vote could sink a treaty designed to end years of diplomatic wrangling over reform of the bloc's institutions. A number of Catholic prayer groups have put rejection of the treaty at the centre of their supplications. Some have sent text messages urging the devout to recite the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, a rosary-like prayer cycle which they believe is especially effective.

Ann Harland, a part-time bank worker, said she was praying about the outcome on June 12. "I WANT THE LAWS OF GOD AND CHRISTIAN VALUES TO BE UPHELD. WITHOUT IT, ANYTHING GOES," SHE SAID.

Local authorities will be urged to consult widely before coming forward, and may win financial support. Ministers hope to have the site open for business within about 20 years. Meanwhile, Business Secretary John Hutton told energy companies that THE UK SHOULD BECOME THE WORLD'S NUMBER ONE LOCATION FOR NEW NUCLEAR INVESTMENT. The government is keen to see at least 10 nuclear reactors starting operations around 2020, as existing installations reach the end of their lives, with more to follow.

The community finally chosen to host the waste would gain economically through the creation of new jobs, but could also receive funds from the government - which opponents of the scheme characterise as "bribery. In the surreal world of Labour's nuclear obsession, waste dumps are now being presented as an economic opportunity," said the Scottish National Party's Westminster energy spokesman Mike Weir.

"A NUCLEAR DUMP WILL REQUIRE EXCEPTIONAL LEVELS OF SECURITY FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS. What sort of blight and legacy is that for a local community?"

Peers dismissed a Conservative proposal by a margin of 62 votes. The Tories argued the treaty was largely similar to the discarded EU Constitution - on which a referendum was promised by all major parties. But the government and Lib Dems said it was not needed as the treaty would not alter the UK's own constitution. The Lords vote - by 280 to 218 - clears the way for the bill ratifying the EU treaty to become law next week.

However, the treaty - which paves the way for greater European integration, an EU presidency and the abolition of a host of national vetoes - will effectively be killed off if Ireland votes "no" on Thursday, as it must be passed by all 27 member states. The Lords vote came after judgement was reserved in a legal challenge brought by millionaire Tory donor Stuart Wheeler, who claims the government promised a referendum and is now obliged to hold one.

Ministers insist the pledge to hold a referendum - made by all three main parties at the last general election - related only to the EU Constitution, which was abandoned in 2005. They argue that the current treaty is significantly different. But, during the debate, Conservative Lord Howell said: "What has happened is that the treaty drafters and this government have achieved an illusion by using a methodological device which is used to say the constitution position is abandoned."

He added: "The public is being hoodwinked and the public knows that as well."