Using biofuels rather than oil would reduce the greenhouse gases that accelerate global warming, because plants absorb carbon dioxide when they grow, balancing out the carbon released when burned in cars or trucks. Using homegrown biofuels would help the U.S. reduce its utter dependence on foreign oil, and provide needed income for rural farmers around the world. And unlike cars powered purely by electric batteries or hydrogen fuel cells - two alternate technologies that have yet to pan out - biofuels could be used right now.

But according to a pair of studies published in the journal Science recently, biofuels may not fulfill that promise - and in fact, may be worse for the climate than the fossil fuels they're meant to supplement. According to researchers at Princeton University and the Nature Conservancy, almost all the biofuels used today cause more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels, if the full environmental cost of producing them is factored in.

As virgin land is converted for growing biofuels, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere; at the same time, biofuel crops themselves are much less effective at absorbing carbon than the natural forests or grasslands they may be replacing. "When land is converted from natural ecosystems it releases carbon," says Joseph Fargione, a lead author of one of the papers and a scientist at the Nature Conservancy. "Any climate change policy that doesn't take this fact into account doesn't work.

Worse, as demand for biofuels go up - the European Union alone targets 5.75% of all its transport fuel to come from biofuel by the end of the year - the price of crops rises. That in turn encourages farmers to clear virgin land and plant more crops, releasing even more carbon in a vicious cycle. If the U.S. managed to use 15 billion gallons of ethanol by 2015 - as is mandated in last year's energy bill - it would still only offset 7% of projected energy demand. That won't put Venezuela or Iran out of business.

"We want a genuine peace and not a virtual peace where the current government is convincing itself that it is bringing peace closer," Netanyahu said at the 34th annual Leadership Mission of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem. "Any program that fabricates a virtual peace will ultimately crash, but we are committed to a genuine peace."

Netanyahu added that the foundation of any future peace agreement should be the hope generated by economic growth. "In order to bring about a real peace, there are a number of steps that we must take. Creating an economic peace creates real hope - it gives people jobs and it gives people hope"

"We shouldn't build a basis for militant Islam at our doorstep. This is what successive Israeli governments have done by quickly withdrawing from Lebanon and from Gaza," the opposition leader said. "The Israeli withdrawal from Gaza has in no way advanced our security or brought us any closer to a real peace. If we withdraw from Jerusalem, a possibility that seems to be more of a reality each day, it will just put us one step closer to being forced out of the whole country," he concluded.

The inquiry, into allegations of bribery in a telecoms deal, has prompted renewed calls for Arroyo's resignation and sparked the biggest protests since 2005, when tens of thousands of people demonstrated against her amid accusations of election fraud. Rodolfo Lozada, the probe's star witness, told senators that Romulo Neri, Arroyo's former economic planning chief, had wanted to resign due to controversy over the state's $329 million deal with China's ZTE Corp, which was allegedly overpriced by $130 million to fund kickbacks.

Analysts say Arroyo's position remains secure because the powerful Catholic Church has not called for her to go and she has the support of the military and the lower house of Congress. She has already survived three impeachment bids and at least three coup plots and her final term runs out in mid-2010.

Last week, around 10,000 people demonstrated in Manila's financial district and opposition groups are planning further rallies, particularly on February 25, the anniversary of the overthrow of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

It comes from a company in California, which officials said allowed meat from cattle unable to stand at the time of slaughter to enter the food chain. The USDA recalled frozen beef products from the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co in Chino, dating back to 1 February 2006. The move surpasses a 1999 recall of 35m lbs of ready-to-eat meats, officials said. Some of the beef was destined for federal welfare assistance programmes, as well as some major fast-food chains. But officials said most of the recalled meat has probably already been eaten.

The recall was ordered after department officials said the plant did not consistently order inspections of cattle which lost the ability to walk prior to slaughter. Such "downer" cattle are at greater risk of contamination by E. coli, salmonella or contracting mad cow disease, as they have weaker immune systems and greater contact with faeces than walking cattle.

Operations at the plant had already been suspended after an undercover video shot by the Humane Society of America came to light. The video appeared to show crippled and ill animals being prodded with the blades of a forklift truck, kicked, given electric shocks and sprayed with high-pressure water hoses by staff.

Neither of the two private proposals to take over the beleaguered bank offered "sufficient value for money to the taxpayer", Mr Darling said. He said the public would gain if the government held on to Northern Rock until market conditions improved. The government's move has been fiercely criticised by shareholders who face losing almost all their investment.

Emergency legislation is to be introduced to temporarily nationalise the stricken Northern Rock bank. Trading in Northern Rock shares has been suspended. Under nationalisation rules, Northern Rock's shareholders will be offered compensation for their holding at a level set by a government-appointed panel. The calculation will be based on the bank's value without government guarantees. However, analysts say under those conditions shareholders will receive very little.

It seems likely that shareholder groups will take legal action over the government's move.

One, an American satanist who boasts of writing a guide to the subject, says: "What's the problem with ending your life via suicide?" Another is a "pro-choice" Dutch writer whose website includes detailed accounts of dozens of suicide methods. Campaigners have uncovered 29 "internet suicides" in Britain since 2001, including two new cases reported this weekend.

The findings follow the cluster of suicides among young people in Bridgend, where a coroner is now re-examining nine deaths on top of 16 suspected suicides under investigation. It emerged on Friday that another two young people from the Welsh town had been found hanged. Nathaniel Pritchard, 15, and his cousin Kelly Stephenson, 20, were both members of a social networking website.

Among the most notorious suicide websites, which The Sunday Telegraph has decided not to name to avoid encouraging their use, are two discussion forums, or "chatrooms", in which users offer advice on how to end one's life. In some cases, people with suicidal feelings have been encouraged to take their own lives rather than to seek professional advice.

One of the most notorious figures on the internet suicide scene is Nagasiva Yronwode, a self-confessed satanist who runs a shop selling occult books and charms in the small Californian town of Forestville, north of San Francisco. Yronwode, 46, describes himself as the "outreach director" for an extremist cult called the Church of Euthanasia, which advocates suicide as a means of saving the world from the effects of overpopulation.

UK TO PUT IN 10,000 TROOPS FOR EU ARMY
According to EUROPEAN VOICE, Nicolas Sarkozy plans to create an elite defence group of the EU's six biggest member states once the Lisbon Treaty comes into force next year. The UK will not support the plan publicly until the new Treaty comes into force, but an EU official told the paper that the UK had pushed for the provision when the Constitution was being drafted. The six would provide 10,000 troops for a 60,000 strong intervention force, agree to 'Europeanise' their foreign military bases and launch common major defence infrastructure projects such as space and intelligence technology (including intelligence-gathering satellites) and missile defence.

CHILD FINGERPRINT SCANS AT EUROPEAN BORDERS
Evening Standard - Reporting on EU proposals for automated border controls, the Evening Standard writes that children as young as six could be ushered into private booths and fingerprinted at European borders.

KOSOVO BREAKAWAY ILLEGAL, SAYS PUTIN
Guardian - Vladimir Putin yesterday accused Europe and the United States of double standards over their support for an independent Kosovo, and warned that any declaration of statehood by Pristina would be "illegal, ill-conceived and immoral". If Kosovo's Albanian leaders ignored Russian objections and announced independence this Sunday Moscow would be forced to act, he said. Yesterday the EU gave its final "operational" go-ahead to the 1,800-strong mission of policemen, prosecutors and judges to be deployed to Kosovo, with the actual deployment expected to start on Saturday morning.

THE NEXT GLOBAL CRISIS
In the FINANCIAL TIMES, Gillian Tett argues that the next global crisis could well derive from RISING FOOD PRICES, not limited oil supply or instability on the financial markets.

A large hole opened up on the Temple Mount during Friday's earthquake which was soon covered by officials from the Wakf Islamic Authority that administers the mosques built atop Judaism's holiest site. Wakf officials tried to blame Israel for the 6-foot by 5-foot hole, which is about three feet deep, claiming it was caused by Israel, which it accuses of tunneling beneath the Temple Mount. They demanded an end to all Israeli excavations in the area.

Though several excavation projects are taking place around the Western Wall Plaza, none of them entail tunneling past the wall itself and beneath the mount. The Wakf's official position is that there was never a Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount and has gone to great efforts to erase archaeological evidence of Judaism's historical ties to the site.

Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz issued a statement rejecting the Muslim claims. "These are mendacious reports without a grain of truth," he said, adding that work in the Temple Mount compound would be contrary to Jewish law. "Such claims are a desecration and cause hatred and incitement for no reason whatsoever," Rabbi Rabinowitz said.

There have been numerous disputes concerning the correct courts to be used in different cases. One of the most famous controversies concerns Lina Joy. Actually that's only her name now, her Christian name. Her birth name is Azlina Jailani, and she was born a Muslim. In 1981 Lina Joy became a Christian and she is trying to have herself declared as such on her identity card, her MyKad. One reason is that she wishes to marry her Christian boyfriend and it is illegal for her to do this while she remains classified as a Muslim. However her attempts to have her conversion recognised have failed.

The civil courts, and finally the highest court - the Federal court - have ruled that she can't decide on her religion for herself. She has to be given approval by the Islamic courts. Which, of course, is not forthcoming. As the decision was announced last May, outside the federal courts a crowd chanted Allahu Akhbar. This is not the only type of case, by any means, where the joint jurisdiction poses fundamental problems of human rights. Another type concerns what is known as body snatching.

The conversion of non-Muslims near death without the knowledge of their families has caused fierce rows. One reason, according to my correspondents, is that conversion changes the destination of any inheritance with Islamic courts deciding and inherited assets flowing only to Muslim relatives or the community. Divorce battles raise similar questions. Conversion by the father in the run-up to a divorce gives him crucial advantages - he gets custody, turns the children into Muslims and prevents his wife using the civil courts. Running a dual court system produces extraordinary practical difficulties and the opportunity for human rights abuses.

Last year the agencies and bailiffs pursued no fewer than 20 million cases and the methods they used to squeeze money from people are so aggressive that experts ranging from the Citizens' Advice Bureau (CAB) to members of the House of Lords are now calling for legislation to curb these excesses. A growing army of thousands of "debt chasers" is making millions from the misery of Britons who have spent years spending above their means, in what campaigners have slammed as "legalised profiteering".

Personal debt is at a record high of £1.4 trillion, averaging £29,684 for every adult in the country. And people now face the possibility of bailiffs being able to break into their homes and take possessions by force. The sweeping new powers will be outlined by the Government in May, when it publishes details of how a new 'Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act' will work in practice. In a statement to the IoS, a Ministry of Justice (MoJ) spokesperson claimed that the new powers for forcing entry will be used only "as a last resort - in strictly controlled circumstances", and only "once full independent regulation of all private-sector bailiffs has been implemented".

But it emerged last night that, despite bailiffs remaining unregulated, MoJ officials are proposing that they be allowed "to use reasonable force, restraint or violence against debtors thwarting the bailiff's seizure of their goods".

Parents of his classmates are unaware of the Afghan child's terrifying past. MP Philip Davies said the youngster should be removed from school immediately so a proper investigation can take place into any potential danger he poses. The Tory MP for Shipley, West Yorks, said, "This boy has had a tragic upbringing through no fault of his own. But there should be a detailed and thorough look at his past and the threat he could pose in the future. I am sure that the parents in the school would be concerned if they were told about it."

Extremists recruited the boy shortly after his father, a Taliban fighter, was shot dead by British soldiers in a gun battle. One elder told him: "You must avenge his death by becoming a martyr." During intensive mountain training the youngster learned how to handle explosives and sophisticated detonators. He even went on dummy missions with bags taped to his body.

Taliban fanatics instructed him to wander towards British patrols, pretending to be a tearful lost child, and once surrounded by soldiers - or taken to an Army base - he would blow himself up. But after weeks of secret training the boy blurted out to his mother what he was doing. She could not bear the thought of losing a son as well as her husband, so worried family members pulled all their resources together and paid for him to be spirited out of Afghanistan to escape the clutches of evil Taliban leaders.

The imminent departure of the 1st Bn Welsh Guards to Kosovo has been ordered in response to fears that the newly formed independent state could slide into "ethnic cleansing". But last night MPs and former military chiefs described the move as "irresponsible" and "demented", accusing the Ministry of Defence of being "bankrupt". The deployment - part of Britain's commitment to the Nato-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) - takes place at a time of growing pressure on the military. It will mean that more than 14,000 British troops are on overseas operations, a figure last equalled at the end of the Iraq War in May 2003.

The Army is currently 3,800 men under strength, virtually every infantry battalion is undermanned and one in 14 serving soldiers is not fit for active service. In the next few weeks thousands of Paras from 16 Air Assault Brigade will fly out to Helmand in southern Afghanistan for the start of a widely anticipated Taliban "spring offensive". Sources have also indicated that despite the troop shortages, the British Task Force in Helmand might need to be reinforced before the summer in order to hold on to the strategic town of Musa Qala, which was taken from the Taliban in December.

The military overstretch has been described by General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the Army, as "unsustainable". Patrick Mercer, the Tory MP and a former infantry commander, added: "Committing all of your reserves is a basic failure of military planning. This is a demented action."

In a confidential presentation to colleagues at a meeting in the Ministry of Defence to discuss budget cuts, he said defence spending had been so severely pruned that vitally needed equipment was simply unaffordable. He also warned that the government risked "mortgaging the future" of national defence.

The official, a senior defence equipment capability manager, resorted to black humour, portraying the Treasury as an axeman who has cut off the arms of his MoD victim and is saying: "Stop whingeing . . . at least you have got your legs." The meeting, one of a series to try to work out how to pay for all the equipment the forces need to meet their commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan, was also told that the Treasury has exaggerated the increase in the military budget.

Officially, it will rise by a modest 1.5% this year. In fact, it will increase by only 0.6% in cash terms, leaving a black hole of hundreds of millions of pounds, the meeting was told. Gerald Howarth, Conservative defence spokesman, said yesterday that the way in which funding for defence had been cut was "an absolute scandal of catastrophic proportions". He said the government was "guilty as charged by the coroners last week - unforgivable and inexcusable ".

Nick Harvey, Liberal Democrat defence spokesman, said: "The words of the coroners last week should be ringing in their ears. This is the reality of why Paul Drayson quit [as defence procurement minister] - there is such a gross mismatch it wasn't possible to look anybody straight in the eye and defend it."

BRITAIN IS TO BECOME THE FIRST WESTERN NATION TO ISSUE BONDS APPROVED BY MUSLIM CLERICS in line with sharia law, which bans conventional loans involving interest payments as "sinful". THE SCHEME WOULD MARK ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ECONOMIC ADVANCES OF SHARIA LAW IN THE NON-MUSLIM WORLD. It will lead to the ownership of Government buildings and other assets currently belonging to British taxpayers being switched wholesale to wealthy Middle-Eastern businessmen and banks.

The Government sees sharia-compliant bonds as a way of tapping Middle-East money and building bridges with the Muslim community. But CRITICS SAY THE SCHEME WOULD WASTE MONEY AND COULD UNDERMINE BRITAIN'S FINANCIAL AND LEGAL SYSTEMS. Senior Conservative MP Edward Leigh, chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said: "I am concerned about the signal this would send - it could be the thin end of the wedge. British Common Law must be supreme and should apply to everyone."

A spokesman for the National Secular Society said: "There are lots of different ways to arrange financing. Constructing financial instruments to be sharia-compliant seems to me to involve a lot of unnecessary complication, which will serve only to make a lot of lawyers very rich." THE ATTEMPT TO EMBRACE ISLAMIC FINANCING WOULD ALSO APPEAR TO BE AT ODDS WITH MR BROWN'S PROMISE TO PROMOTE BRITISHNESS AND BRITISH VALUES AND INSTITUTIONS. The Treasury has already faced heavy criticism for removing Britannia from 50p coins.

Other Western nations have been reluctant to issue Islamic bonds. In the United States the bonds are banned partly as a result of claims that the money could be linked to terrorism. THE GOVERNMENT HAS ALREADY BACKED ISLAMIC CAR LOANS AND MORTGAGES. Sharia-compliant bonds were designed to get round the ban on paying interest - "riba" in Islamic law. The Koran says it is sinful to make money from money.

Unlike a conventional bond which is debt-based, a "sukuk" is asset-based. INSTEAD OF RECEIVING INTEREST, BOND HOLDERS RECEIVE "RENT" ON THE ASSET, THEREBY COMPLYING WITH SHARIA LAW. The Treasury consultation document says Government assets such as "buildings or a piece of infrastructure" would be switched to a "special-purpose vehicle" set up to administer the bond. This would be carried out by a contract known as an "ijara".

The asset would then be leased back by the Government, generating rental payments for the Islamic bond holders. When the "sukuk" matured, the Government would guarantee to buy back the asset, allowing the bond-holders to get their redemption payments. "Sukuk are akin to Islamic investment certificates," the document says. "They are designed to be in compliance with sharia law, the divine law in Islam which is based on the Quran."

Even the 2007 growth rate wasn't that high when compared with the peaks of the 1980s and 1990s, when GDP growth in some years surpassed 15 percent, coming out of the stagnation and even losses at the end of the Maoist era. The downturn is going to be welcomed in some Chinese leadership quarters because of the fear of runaway inflation from an overheated economy - now fed by food shortages and the impact of the worst winter in 50 years.

But a look over that horizon isn't good news either: massive unemployment is China's continuing biggest long-term problem. The macro-statistics look good: China's official GDP reached $3.43 trillion in 2007, the National Bureau of Statistics reported, making it the third-largest economy in the world after the United States and Japan. China is also the third-largest exporting country after the U.S. and Germany. China's foreign currency reserves are the largest in the world, driving up more than $1.4 trillion. And China appears to have shifted from a primarily agricultural country to an industrial one.

The official urban unemployment rate has typically remained around 4 percent, but that isn't the real story. Chinese unemployment statistics do not include the laid off - and workers can be laid off for up to three years before they officially count as unemployed. Nor did the officially "unemployed" include men past the age of 50 and women over 45 or those who have migrated to the cities and are thus not registered as formally urban dwellers.

The official long-term policy is for as many as 800 million people to migrate to the cities from the virtually stagnant rural areas where subsistence agriculture does not support them and is an impediment through land dispersion to a reform of agriculture. So, faced with something like 300 million people without jobs, it is easy to see why, despite all the talk about inflation (and pollution), Beijing leadership will always go for growth and providing new jobs. That is true even when threatened by inflation.