The Korean Customs Service unveiled Thursday seven cloned Labrador retrievers being trained near Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. The dogs were born five to six months ago after being separately cloned from a skilled drug-sniffing canine in active service. Due to the difficulties in finding dogs who are up to snuff for the critical jobs, officials said using clones could help reduce costs.

The cloning work was conducted by a team of Seoul National University scientists who in 2005 successfully created the world's first known dog clone, an Afghan hound named Snuppy. The team is led by Professor Lee Byeong-chun, who was a key aide to disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk. Hwang's purported breakthroughs in stem cell research were revealed as false, but independent tests proved the team's dog cloning was genuine.

"They have a superior nature. They are active and excel in accepting the training," said Kim Nak-seung, a trainer at the Customs Service-affiliated dog training center. In February, all seven dogs passed a behavior test aimed at finding whether they are genetically qualified to work as sniffing dogs. Only 10 percent to 15 percent of naturally born dogs typically pass the test.

Police said the woman, identified as 42-year-old Elisabeth F, told them her father Josef had lured her into the basement of the block where they lived in the town of Amstetten in 1984, and drugged and handcuffed her before imprisoning her. Three of her children were locked up since birth in the basement of the drab, grey building along with their mother and had never seen sunlight or received any education, police said.

Authorities in Amstetten, 130 km (80 miles) west of Vienna, were still piecing together details of the case, reminiscent of that of Austrian Natascha Kampusch who spent eight years locked up in a windowless cell before escaping in August 2006.

"We are faced with a crime that is incomprehensible," Interior Minister Guenther Platter said on Austrian television. "Everything that has happened here goes beyond one's imagination. It is not going to be possible to go back to everyday normality after this," the daily Der Standard wrote in an editorial. "The whole country must ask itself just what is really, fundamentally going wrong," the paper said.

Broderick Lloyd Laswell, who is awaiting trial for murder, dropped to 22 stone (140kg) after eight months inside the Arkansas prison. He claims his vision has gone blurry while trying to exercise. The prison says the meals average 3,000 calories a day - more than the US recommended daily intake for adults. Laswell has filed a federal law suit complaining Benton County jail does not provide inmates with enough food.

According to the suit, Laswell weighed 29 stone (187kg) when he was jailed in September. Police say he has been charged with fatally beating and stabbing a man, the Associated Press news agency reported.

For more than 40 years Lazari Kozmaoglu has been selling pork to his own fast-shrinking Christian community, to defiant Muslims, and to foreigners. Now, he is being squeezed out of business. Lazari's being prevented from slaughtering pigs and the stock of meat in his freezer is running critically low. He owns an abattoir but the Agriculture Ministry has refused him a licence to operate it, saying it does not meet strict new regulations.

Curiously, all the other slaughter houses that once dealt with pork have been closed too. Lazari's reluctant to say what he suspects is happening. "There are only 2,000 Greeks left in Istanbul," he grumbled. "None of us dares speak out." So a rare customer filled in the gaps. "It's all about Islam," Sami said, as the shop assistant wrapped his sausages in greaseproof paper. "Most people are more religious these days. They don't want to eat pork, and they don't let others produce it either." In a typical "Istanbul" twist, the customer himself was Jewish. Behind him I spotted my Muslim colleagues - munching contentedly on ham sandwiches.

Back in Istanbul, the local agriculture ministry man denied the situation's anything to do with Islam. He insists the regulations were introduced to bring Turkey up to European standards. "We've got no problem with pork," Ahmet Kavak told me. "The farmers just need to meet the criteria."

Olmert had asked to keep the Old City of Jerusalem along with the Mount of Olives and the neighborhood of Mei Shiloach (Silwan), they said, but was willing to split control in a manner that would allow all religions freedom of worship.

The sources said negotiations between Olmert and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas had failed, as Olmert's offers did not come close to meeting Abbas's expectations. Olmert wants to keep 15 percent of Judea and Samaria, including part of the Jordan River Valley, they said, and is unwilling to allow hundreds of thousands of foreign Arabs to settle in Israel. Abbas, on the other hand, says he will allow Israel to keep a maximum of two percent of Judea and Samaria, and insists that at least 100,000 foreign Arabs be granted Israeli citizenship in the next decade.

Marta Torino quit as an education minister after the error provoked a wave of protests. Argentine veterans of the 1982 Falklands War with Britain are considering taking legal action if the book is not withdrawn.

Publishers were paid £1million to print thousands of copies of the encylopaedia for children. But instead of calling the islands Las Malvinas - the name Argentina insists on using despite losing the war - a map depicted the territory as the Falkland Islands and put the initials GB in brackets alongside.

The publishers have printed thousands of clarification slips, but critics want the entire encyclopaedia replaced with a version showing the islands under Argentine sovereignty.

So then why the push to "decriminalize" abortion - a measure Parliament is expected to consider in the coming months - the bishops asked. "The motivation seems to be to remove the 'unlawful' stigma currently attached to 'medical' abortion in virtue of the fact that it is named as an offense in the Crimes Act," the pastoral letter proposed. "But the law is a great educator and if the law approves something then people gradually accept a new understanding of what is right and what is wrong. People begin to think: 'Abortion is lawful now, so it's right.'"

"Taking abortion out of the Crimes Act would undoubtedly be a victory for the pro-abortion forces. But moving the regulation of abortion from the Crimes Act to the Health Act would also give strength to the fallacy that abortion is just an ordinary medical procedure."

The pastoral letter concludes by calling on Victorians to write their Members of Parliament, clearly expressing their views against decriminalization. The authors asked "Members of Parliament to listen calmly and rationally to the voice of conscience, to weigh carefully the harm involved in this legislation" and "all men and women of good will to reject abortion and choose life."

Monsignor Renato Volante, the permanent observer of the Holy See at the Rome-based U.N. Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO), participated in the FAO Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean, which was held in Brasilia, Brazil, April 17-18. Monsignor Volante proposed that the production of biofuels should not bring about a decrease in the production of agricultural products destined for the food market.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon encouraged today a coordinated effort to face the steeply rising price of food, which he said has developed into a "real global crisis." He said some 100 million of the world's poor now need aid to be able to buy food. Riots have broken out in some countries, such as Haiti, over the increased prices. A member of the U.N. World Food Program called the phenomenon a "silent tsunami."

The Holy See representative called on states to consider options, keeping in mind the "essential objective" of protecting and ensuring the right to food. It is not an option, he said, to "diminish the quantity of agricultural products that must be introduced into the food market or of keeping them reserved for emergencies that could come to pass, in favor of other ends, even if acceptable ones, that do not satisfy a fundamental right, such as the right to food."

The dairy aisle has grown increasingly cluttered with options - and state lawmakers are now wrestling over labeling one of those options: Milk made without recombinant bovine growth hormones (rBGH).

The synthetic hormone - LINKED BY SOME TO HEALTH PROBLEMS IN HUMANS WHEN INGESTED - artificially reproduces a naturally occurring hormone found in dairy cows. It's produced by Monsanto Corp. and sold under the name Posilac. Dairy farmers administer Posilac to lactating cows to increase yields. Its use is banned in Europe and Canada, but the US Food and Drug Administration approved the use of the artificial hormone in 1993.

Many in the dairy industry see Wal-Mart's recent decision to sell rBGH-free milk as a *bellwether. "It'll probably put the death knell to synthetic growth hormone," Mr. Newman says.

Some say Monsanto is behind attempts to remove mentions of hormones. "Clearly what's going on is Monsanto is trying to get states to thwart the market from working," says Michael Hansen, senior scientist for Consumers Union. Monsanto contends that milk from cows treated with Posilac is safe and no different from milk from cows with naturally occurring hormones. They say labeling claims about hormones mislead consumers into thinking there is a difference in milk quality.

Furthermore, Monsanto spokeswoman Lori Hoag says that farmers decrease their profits by not treating cows with Posilac. "It makes [cows] more efficient and productive," she says. "In general, the producers are not getting compensated for the ability not to use that product."

Maine dairy processor Stanley Bennett, of Oakhurst Dairy, contests that statement. He was the first bottler to tout rBGH-free milk. "In addition to premiums to not use growth hormone," he says, "there are basic incentives for a dairy farmer to 'go off the needle.' THEY RELATE TO WEAR AND TEAR ON THE ANIMAL." Poor management can lead to health problems in cows treated with rBGH, he says.

As other new agricultural technology reaches the market, labeling debates appear likely to increase, industry analysts say. For example, milk made from cloned animals and their offspring, approved Jan. 15 by the FDA, has already prompted one labeling bill in California. In addition, cheese and other products made with milk have not faced the same level of labeling scrutiny that milk has. "This issue will not go away," says the Consumer Union's Mr. Hansen.

*bellwether:- A leading indicator of trends. A bellwether stock is a stock which is used to gauge the performance of the market in general.

The collective wealth of the 1,000 richest has jumped to £412 billion, up from £99 billion in 1997. Total net wealth during the same period has slightly more than doubled. "The 11 years of Labour have been absolutely fantastic for the super-rich," said Philip Beresford, compiler of the list. "Having a friendly Labour government has almost been better than having a Tory one; it has neutered politicians on the left."

The wealthiest man in Britain is the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal whose fortune has rocketed to £27.7 billion, up from £19.25 billion last year, thanks to strong global demand for steel. Mittal is now the sixth richest person in the world and far ahead of any other billionaire in Britain. He is followed by Roman Abramovich, the Russian owner of Chelsea football club, on £11.7 billion, and the Duke of Westminster on £7 billion.

The list, which includes people born or based in the UK, reveals that THE NATIVE BRITISH ARE BEING OVERTAKEN BY FOREIGN BILLIONAIRES. ONLY SIX OF THE TOP 20 WERE BORN IN BRITAIN.

Now research has revealed that hospital superbug Clostridium difficile (C.diff) is responsible for 6,500 deaths in British hospitals each year - the equivalent of one person dying every hour. These are the shocking findings of a Panorama investigation, which found that in the UK in the past year the bug had claimed the lives of ten times the number of hospital patients over the age of 65 than anywhere else in the world.

Sally Magnusson, who made the programme, said: 'Thousands of families are in exactly the same position - angrily grieving for relatives who went into hospital with one thing, only to be struck down by a superbug in the wards. It is a frightening picture. And hospitals which may already be struggling with overcrowded wards, and the effort to implement Government targets, are finding themselves under pressure.'

Professor Richard James, who runs a Nottingham University centre investigating hospital infections, described the findings as evidence of an 'extraordinarily bad situation'. He said: 'More than 50 per cent of hospital trusts have a rate of infection that's more than ten times that of any other country.'

Ironically, measures brought in to combat MRSA in hospitals are actually contributing to the spread of C.diff. According to Professor Brendan Wren, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, alcohol handwashes, which are now used in 94 per cent of hospitals, encourage the growth of C.diff spores. He said: 'In the laboratory, if we want the organism to form spores, we treat it with alcohol. So the use of alcohol wipes in hospitals should be stopped for C.diff.'

In just nine years, Mr Ratcliffe has built up his company, Ineos, from nothing to become the third-largest chemicals firm in the world - yet he remains a largely secretive figure. Experts say his group, which is valued at £5billion, has transformed the energy sector by buying up unwanted plants from industrial giants such as BP, then slashing costs to maximise profits. Mr Ratcliffe owns two-thirds of the company's shares, giving him a personal fortune of around £3.5billion and making him the 25th richest man in Britain.

But his tough approach has sparked conflict with unions who fear long-standing agreements are being torn up. It is Mr Ratcliffe's refusal to negotiate in their dispute over pension rights that prompted union bosses to call a 48-hour strike at his refinery in Grangemouth, starting at 6am today. The industrial action could result in the biggest fuel shortages since the petrol price protests in 2000. Last night, drivers were panic-buying, ignoring Government assurances, and causing some petrol stations to run dry. Some garages hiked their prices up to £1.10 a litre ($10/uk gallon).

In March last year, Ineos received £9million from the Scottish Executive to safeguard 410 jobs at Grangemouth. Three years ago, Mr Ratcliffe bought BP's entire petrochemicals division, including Grangemouth, for £6billion, quadrupling his company's value overnight. But Ineos's rapid growth has caused it to take on £9billion of debt, including a £430million 'black hole' in its pensions fund.

The crisis is set to worsen after senior union sources revealed they plan a further two-day walkout a week tomorrow. The workers do not need to be balloted again because their previous vote gives the union a mandate for another strike, providing they give seven days' notice.

It was that encounter - along with Wojtyla's belief that a prayer by the Capuchin monk had cured a friend's cancer in 1962 - that helps explain why Padre Pio was fast-tracked for sainthood once Wojtyla had risen to the papacy as John Paul II. But some may now wonder if the current pope, the cerebral and professorial Benedict XVI, has the same affinity for the popular Italian wonder-worker who died in 1968?

The issue emerges as tearful pilgrims and television crews flocked this week to the friar-saint's final resting place, San Giovanni Rotondo, a kind of Las Vegas-meets-Bethlehem hilltop pilgrimage destination. They were there to see the exhumed corpse of Padre Pio, which had been put on display in a glass casket, with a special silicon mask - beard, bushy eyebrows and all - created by London-based wax museum artisans. Everyone knows what John Paul II felt about Padre Pio. But how can Benedict, the intellectually rigorous theologian, dubbed "the Pope of Reason," sanction such widespread belief in faith-healing and emotional attachments to icons and relics?

Still, every Pope has his favorite saints. Benedict's leans most of all toward St. Augustine, the fourth century philosopher Father of the Church, who he regularly cites in his homilies. Last year, Benedict made a pilgrimage to Pavia to pray at Augustine's relics there.

The fire about broke out Saturday afternoon and earlier forced the evacuation of a scout camp and left hikers temporarily stranded, said Elisa Weaver of the Arcadia Fire Department. Firefighters had hoped to have the blaze contained Sunday, Weaver said, but it was still burning out of control late Saturday night. The blaze was reported just after 1:40 p.m. in a wooded area off Santa Anita Canyon Road about 10 miles northeast of Pasadena, Weaver said.

Temperatures in parts of Southern California approached 100 degrees Saturday afternoon, with mild but extremely dry winds. In San Diego County, a brush fire in the Tijuana River Valley was brought under control after burning about 25 acres in two hours and briefly threatening homes.

The company said that assuming it got power back as soon as the strike ended and Forties fields resumed production rapidly, the pipeline could be back in operation within 24 hours but might take a few more days to get back to full flow. The strike is the first to close a British refinery in more than 70 years.

The Forties pipeline carries an average of 700,000 barrels per day (bpd), close to half the 1.5 million barrels the country produces daily. One fifth of Britain's gas supply also relies on the Forties system. The Forties oil alone is worth 50 million pounds a day and the pipeline's closure will make a significant dent in already stretched government coffers which take half of the revenues in tax.