While there was no question the president would attend the Olympic Games in August, his plans for the opening ceremonies had not been confirmed until now. Some world leaders have said they may boycott the Aug. 8 opening event to protest the most recent Chinese security crackdown in Tibetan areas of China. The trip is built around the Olympics, which the White House long has said Bush plans to attend as a celebration of sports.

But the admiral, who is chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and who has just visited Israel, spoke of Israel's vulnerability to "very real threats". So the possibility remains that Israel might undertake an operation against Iran by itself. Recent large-scale Israeli air force exercises have strengthened this possibility, according to military observers.

Nor does Adm Mullen's intervention resolve the ambiguity of the Bush administration's position that "all options" are on the table. But his views do indicate that the body of US military opinion is that they have their hands full in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military opposition to an attack on Iran is bound to weigh heavily on President George W Bush but would not necessarily be the determining factor. Whether President Bush would dissuade Israel from launching its own attack is not known.

Iran has warned that any attack would bring consequences, one of which could be an Iranian move to close the Straits of Hormuz, through which oil is transported from the Gulf. The effect on oil prices would be serious. An Israeli cabinet minister and former chief of staff, Shaul Mofaz, has said that an attack on Iran is "unavoidable" if it "continues with its nuclear programme". However, the timing of any attack remains uncertain.

Priestly garments have not been worn since the destruction of the Second Temple almost 2000 years ago. Each set has a turban, tunic pants and belt which must be individually tailored at a cost of NIS 2,500 per Kohen. At the inauguration ceremony on Monday, Efrat Chief Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, himself a Kohen, was measured for a set of the garments.

The garments are the fruits of a worldwide search. Special flaxen thread from India and Turkish mountain worms for the correct shade of crimson are two examples of the necessary materials. "The Temple is not a message (to only) the Jewish people. It reunites the world all around one central prayer house... ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE COMING TO JERUSALEM" Temple Institute Director Rabbi Yehuda Glick said.

The five are said to be two employees of Continental Airlines, two from Concorde maker Aerospatiale, and the French civilian aviation authority. The trial will take place in two to three months' time, the officials say. The plane caught fire after its tyres were punctured by a piece of metal on the runway from a Continental plane.

Rubber from the tyres ruptured the plane's fuel tanks shortly after take-off from Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport. A French accident inquiry in 2004 found that the strip of metal had fallen on the runway from a Continental Airlines DC10 that took off just before the Concorde flight. It is claimed that the metal was titanium, when safety rules dictated it should have been aluminium which is softer, and less likely to puncture tyres.

It is also claimed that Concorde's fuel tanks had a design defect that made them susceptible to damage. All 109 people on board the Concorde flight and four people on the ground were killed.

In an interview with Ynet, Kuperwasser confirmed what may already be seen on the headlines of many of the world's newspapers - a global expectation THAT ISRAEL ALONE WILL CONFRONT MILITARILY THE IRANIAN REGIME, and that an Israeli air attack on Iran is imminent. Meir Amit, a former head of the Mossad intelligence service, told World Net Daily's Aaron Klein that he supports an Israeli attack against Iran. Amit, who until today has opposed using force against Iran, said, "If we let things go as they are, we will find ourselves in a very dangerous situation. We have good intelligence, and we shall decide what is the right timing for any attack."

A U.S. Pentagon source late Tuesday published its assessment that Israel will likely strike in Iran by the end of the year. As the Iranian threat escalates against Israel, the Western nations assume Israel will do their dirty work for them, Kuperwasser asserts.

These statements by a member of Israel's intelligence elite follow recent comments from the United States defense establishment, widely published in the international press, that Israel is expected to respond militarily to the Iranian nuclear threat. Israeli government officials late Tuesday slammed the reports, calling them "irresponsible" and CHARGING THE WESTERN MEDIA WITH PRE-EMPTING ISRAELI POLICY BEFORE ISRAEL ITSELF HAS A CHANCE TO DETERMINE ONE.

About this idea, Lord Keynes wrote: "Lenin is certainly right. THERE IS NO SUBTLER, NO SURER MEANS OF OVERTURNING THE EXISTING BASIS OF SOCIETY THAN TO DEBAUCH THE CURRENCY. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose."

Capitalism contains, within itself, the germs of its own destruction. The dollar has become a paper currency and the collapse of the dollar is therefore inevitable. This collapse may not happen today or tomorrow; but one day, it will happen. The fever of financial crisis has already raised our collective temperature. Real estate values are falling. The stock market cannot remain high. There is a banking crisis, a credit crunch, an energy crunch and more. An economic unraveling has begun. Once this process becomes full blown the unity of the Western world will be undermined. The free world will become unstable. Demagogues will rise to power. Violent political passions will be engendered. Russia will be powerful again.

WE CLING TO COMFORT, REFUSING TO SEE THE PROBLEM. Are Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley sitting at the bottom of a credit crater? Have they "overused" hybrid securities? What is low quality capital, anyway? Shut your eyes and plug your ears. There is "nothing to fear but fear itself." It's no big deal if real estate values are falling faster than they did during the Great Depression.

According to economist and Nobel laureate Robert Mundell, the U.S. dollar is headed for a major crisis. "I see the problem coming maybe in the next recession," he explained. Perhaps the day is coming when oil-producing countries won't accept dollars in exchange for oil. PERHAPS THEY'LL WANT REAL MONEY INSTEAD OF PAPER. Behind the "new financial instruments" intended to save the banks we find paper. Behind the paper we find the dollar. That is to say, more paper. The U.S. Constitution is also made of paper. WHAT PREVIOUSLY BACKED ALL THIS PAPER WAS CHARACTER; a willingness to work hard and accept pain - as well as painful truths.

These are not your daddy's or granddaddy's floods. These are 500-year floods, events not seen before non-Indian people started living out on that stretch of the North American prairie. The vast majority of homeowners in Eastern Iowa did not have flood insurance because the likelihood of being affected above the 500-year-line was so miniscule - their insurance agents actually advised them against getting it.

WE'RE HEADED, IT SEEMS, TOWARD A FALL 'CRUNCH TIME', and that crunching sound will not be of cheese doodles and taco chips consumed on the sofas of America. I think we're heading into a season of hoarding. As the presidential campaign moves into its final round, Americans may be hard up for both food and gasoline. On the oil scene, the next event on the horizon is not just higher prices but shortages. Chances are they will occur first in the Southeast states because oil exports from Mexico and Venezuela feeding the Gulf of Mexico refineries are down more than 30%+ over 2007.

The yet-more-ominous thing here is that shortages of food and oil are two fiascos that are pretty clearly predictable for the second half of the year. That's bad enough without figuring in the 'unknowns' that could kick up American hardship a few more notches. The hurricane season just got underway - obscured for the moment by the bigger weather story in Iowa. The fate of the banks is a train wreck still waiting to happen. As it occurs - also heading into the high political and hurricane seasons - WE COULD FIND OURSELVES NOT ONLY A NATION WET, HUNGRY, AND OUT-OF-GAS, BUT ALSO COMPLETELY BROKE.

Drought, heat and lightning storms have contributed to more than 1,100 separate fires that have blackened 680 square miles of land statewide in the past two weeks. The blazes have destroyed 60 homes and other buildings while threatening thousands more, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

In the Sequoia National Forest east of Bakersfield, crews struggled to contain a 13,500-acre blaze. Powerful gusts and choking smoke traveling up the steep canyons hampered their progress, and residents of neighboring towns were ordered to evacuate. Federal fire managers predict an increase in severe wildfire activity in northern California through October due to the unusually hot, dry weather and scant rain.

"THE COUNTRIES OF EUROPE NEED TO BE BETTER AT USING HARD POWER. That is why I strongly welcome President (Nicolas) Sarkozy's proposals to reintegrate France into NATO's military structure and support his call for the EU to play a greater role in crisis management," Miliband told Progress, an independent organisation of Labour Party members.

While Britain has privately backed Sarkozy's European defence plans, it has not previously made such a strong public statement of support. It hopes to undermine the arguments of eurosceptics by discussing the issues more openly. After the speech, Miliband dismissed any notion British troops would don EU uniforms or join a "European army".

"It's not a European army. THERE'S NO QUESTION OF A EUROPEAN ARMY. President Sarkozy is against a European army and so am I. What we are in favour of is British, French and other troops working together," he told Channel Four news.

High-level discussions among top advisers have escalated in the past week, with the most senior administration officials in continuous talks about the future of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay - and how it will be dramatically changed and/or closed in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling that gave detainees there access to federal courts.

Sources have confirmed that President Bush is expected to be briefed on these pressing GTMO issues - and may reach a decision on the future of the naval base as a prison for al Qaeda suspects - before he leaves for the G8 on Saturday. An announcement, however, is not expected before he leaves the country.

High-level administration officials say the Court's decision dramatically changes the legal landscape - and raises questions about whether the government has solid evidence to present to federal judges to justify ongoing detentions.

Dozens of people were hurt, at least seven critically, in the rampage on Jaffa Road, in the city centre. A police officer shot the driver of the bulldozer dead after a struggle in the vehicle's cab. Police said the attacker, aged 30, was from east Jerusalem, with no known affiliations to militant groups.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told the BBC that an initial inquiry indicated the attacker had been acting alone. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called the incident a terrorist attack, and condemned it as "an act of senseless murderous violence".

An aide to the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, said the attack was an attempt to wreck peace negotiations, and urged a restrained response from Israel. The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which controls Gaza and is maintaining a fragile truce with Israel, denied responsibility. Hamas added that it was a "natural" response to "a continued aggression against our people in the West Bank and Jerusalem".

Work on the two vessels is to go to shipyards at Govan in Glasgow and Rosyth in Fife, as well as Barrow in Furness and Portsmouth. The ships - 280 metres long and capable of carrying up to 40 planes - are due in service in 2014 and 2016. Each ship will be a similar size to the ocean liner, the QE2, with a flight deck the size of three football pitches. This will make them more than three times the size of the existing Invincible-class carriers.

Each vessel will be crewed by 1,450 sailors and airmen. The building of the two aircraft carriers is expected to secure a total of 10,000 jobs across the UK. Although both will eventually carry the new Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, those will not be ready on time for when the ships enter service. This means that at first, the ships will carry the ageing Harrier aircraft instead.

BBC defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt said the Navy sees the new carriers as its future flagships to replace Ark Royal and Illustrious, transforming Britain's ability to operate in hostile waters. Our correspondent added that the project is going ahead DESPITE SERIOUS MISGIVINGS AMONG SOME IN THE MILITARY ABOUT THE HUGE FINANCIAL BURDEN they will place on a defence budget already under severe pressure.

MORTGAGE APPROVALS PLUNGED BY AN ASTONISHING 28% IN MAY AND WERE 64% LOWER THAN A YEAR EARLIER. Fears of a continued and prolonged fall in house prices were heightened and the scale and speed of the slowdown have surprised even the housing market bears. There was no respite from the dire mood in the house building industry. Taylor Wimpey told the Stock Exchange that it had not been able to finalise a cash-raising exercise with shareholders and that it might be in breach of banking covenants next year. It is to cut 900 jobs and close 13 regional offices.

Tuesday brought grim news from manufacturing. A survey of purchasing managers (CIPS) revealed that output had fallen at its sharpest rate in nearly a decade. Manufacturing has been seen as one potential bright spot for the economy as exporters benefited from the weaker pound. It was not looking quite so bright by Tuesday evening. Wednesday brought the shock profits warning and news of a sharp drop in sales from the high street giant Marks & Spencer.

The preliminary estimate of growth in the second quarter will be out soon. IF IT IS NEGATIVE AND STAYS THAT WAY AFTER FURTHER REVISIONS THEN THE FIRST STAGE OF A TECHNICAL RECESSION WILL BE IN PLACE.

A period of extremely warm temperatures started as of this weekend and will last at least three weeks, meteorologists in the region said. They warned that temperatures - even above 40 degrees Celsius - may be set creating temperature highs not seen in the last 100 years.

The first registered victim of the heat wave was a construction worker who collapsed and died in Zagreb on Monday. On the same day more than 700 people sought medical assistance in Zagreb and 500 in Sarajevo. A farmer near Bosnia's southern town of Mostar was also killed by the severe heat while working his land. Medical workers warned the population to remain indoors between 11:00 and 17:00 and drink plenty of water.

The mercury in Serbia has topped 36 degrees Celsius over the past three days. The heat wave in Macedonia has led the national Crisis Management Centre there to warn of possible wildfires due to the tinder dry conditions.

Barbara Wilding, the Chief Constable of South Wales, says family ties have been abandoned in place of "tribal loyalty" among young gang members, who have become "almost feral". Ms Wilding, the longest-serving female chief constable, said that social breakdown means violence and drugs has become a way of life in deprived parts of many larger English cities.

She said: "In many of our larger cities, in areas of extreme deprivation, there are almost feral groups of very angry young people. Many have experienced family breakdown, and in place of parental and family role models, the gang culture is now established. Tribal loyalty has replaced family loyalty and gang culture based on violence and drugs is a way of life."