An estimated 145,000 mortgage holders already owe more in mortgage payments than their houses are worth, according to research undertaken for the Daily Telegraph. The research company CACI analysed the 1.2 million people who bought a home since the start of last year and calculated that one in eight are in negative equity. This figure could rise to as many as 360,000 by the end of this year if house prices fall by 20 per cent, as some economists fear is now possible.

As houses prices start to fall, the first to be hit by negative equity are those buyers that borrowed the maximum amount possible to get on the housing ladder, especially those that took out 100 per cent mortgages - worth the full value of the property. For many home buyers these loans were the only way they could afford to get onto the housing ladder, and some lenders - led by Northern Rock - offered loans far in excess of the value of the property.

During the early months of 2007 Northern Rock offered a very popular 120 per cent mortgage, which allowed people to not only buy the home but also pay for the fees, stamp duty and have money to redecorate the property without handing over a penny. Though these deals were offered in far smaller numbers than in the late 1980s, 30,000 home owners have taken out 100 per cent mortgages since the start of last year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

A further 115,000 people took out mortgage deals of about 92 or 93 per cent, CACI estimates. This means that all of these people are now in negative equity, because house prices have fallen by more than 7 per cent since their peak last year, according to figures released by Nationwide building society this week.

The outlook has darkened dramatically since last year's summit in Germany, WHEN THE LEADERS DECLARED THE GLOBAL ECONOMY WAS IN "GOOD CONDITION" AND OIL COST $70 A BARREL - which seemed high at the time. Since then, the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis has erupted, roiling markets and battering financial firms. Oil has doubled to above $140 and food prices have jumped, hurting the poor in particular and raising the threat of political instability.

"Things have changed for the worse across the board," said Robert Hormats, vice chairman at Goldman Sachs (International) Corp. in New York. "NOW YOU HAVE A FINANCIAL DISORDER WHERE THE EPICENTER IS THE U.S.," he said. And fuel and food inflation "are serious matters that affect large numbers of people."

The group's membership also has grown from six to eight, adding Canada in 1976 and more recently Russia in 1997. But many argue that it should be expanded to include China, the world's fourth-largest economy, and other emerging powerhouses like India and Brazil - especially to tackle global issues like energy and climate change. Already, the G-8 has been reaching out. It plans meetings with African leaders on the summit's first day, and later with leaders from China, India, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa - countries that someday might be a part of the Group of 13.

At 11, Sasha Bennington is too young to remember the days when Jordan was just a country and being branded 'fake' was something to be ashamed of. But maybe the youngster's biggest tragedy is that her mother, Jayne, 31, is in no hurry to paint a picture of how it used to be.

Jayne is talking breezily about how Sasha had her first set of false nails glued on at eight, and now enjoys the sort of rigorous beauty regime - hair extensions, fake tans, pedicures - THAT WAS ONCE THE PRESERVE OF PORN STARS AND DOLLY PARTON, not school children from Burnley in Lancashire. Still, times have changed. "All the kids are at it now," insists Jayne. "WE SPEND ABOUT £300 A MONTH ON BEAUTY TREATMENTS FOR HER. Sasha's friends are the same. All girls their age are. Of course they are! Why else would you be able to buy make-up for pre-teens at Boots?"

"Perhaps it's different in country areas, where they don't need to grow up so fast. But, around big cities, girls have got to be more forward and act older than they are. That's just the way it is. I don't understand why people get so upset about it. None of it is permanent. Tans wash off. Hair extensions come out. Why all the fuss?" Ask Sasha how she sees herself and she replies: "BLONDE, PRETTY, DUMB - I DON'T NEED BRAINS." Her mum laughs her head off at this, proud that the child is so like her.

About 10,000 people are scooping algae out of the sea at the eastern city of Qingdao, while officials in Inner Mongolia are preparing to fight off a plague of locusts that may arrive in the capital city during the Olympics. "There's an old saying in China that good things only come after enduring a lot of hardship," Jiang Xiaoyu, vice president of the Beijing organizing committee, said yesterday in Beijing. "We expected to face many challenges so it's not a surprise. These issues aren't major problems."

So far this year, the world's most populous nation has faced the worst winter snowstorms in 50 years, riots in Lhasa, violent protests about government policies toward Tibet along the Olympic torch relay route in Europe and North America, an earthquake and flooding. China is still recovering from the Sichuan earthquake that killed more than 69,000 people in May, tempering the run-up to an Olympics billed as the country's coming-out party.

Put "9/11 conspiracy" into Google and you get 7.9 million hits. Put in "9/11 truth" and you get more than 22 million. Opinion polls in the US have picked up widespread doubts among the American people. A New York Times/CBS News poll in 2006 found that 53% of those questioned thought the Bush administration was hiding something. Another US poll found a third of those questioned thought government officials either assisted in the 9/11 attacks or allowed them to happen.

Nearly seven years after the terrible events of that September day, the US authorities are due to publish the final report on a third tower that also collapsed on 9/11. UNLIKE THE TWIN TOWERS, THIS 47-STOREY, 610-FOOT SKYSCRAPER WAS NOT HIT BY A PLANE. Tower 7 housed some unusual tenants: the CIA, the Secret Service, the Pentagon and the very agency meant to deal with disasters or terrorist attacks in New York - the Office of Emergency Management. And some people think Tower 7 was the place where a 9/11 conspiracy was hatched.

This summer we will find out whether NIST's report has answered the many questions that have been raised, or whether it will suffer the same fate as the Warren Commission on the assassination of President John F Kennedy and merely add fuel to the conspiracy theories.

Indeed, the comparisons to the Roman Empire are rarely favorable. For example, Cullen Murphy, author of Are We Rome? (2007), argues that the most alarming parallels are the blinding, insular culture of our capitals; the debilitating effect of corruption; the paradoxical issue of borders; and the weakening of the body politic through various forms of 'privatization.'

Murphy sees the eventual decline of the American Empire as inevitable, describing three possible scenarios for the future: there is the 'Fortress America' scenario, where everything revolves around national security and the power of the president expands to near dictatorial strength; the city-state scenario, where the central authority weakens and city-states emerge; and finally the boardroom scenario, where corporations privatize all crucial functions of the government and essentially rule what is commonly called fascism.

David Walker, former comptroller (accountant ) of the United States, has also drawn daunting comparisons between America and Rome. Walker believes that the American economy is standing on a burning platform of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments. TODAY, AMERICA IS IN A $53 TRILLION HOLE, WHICH TRANSLATES TO $455,000 PER HOUSEHOLD.

UNDENIABLY, SPENDING IS OUT OF CONTROL. This irresponsible spending has resulted in the devaluing of the dollar and untold damage to the economy. As acclaimed historian Chalmers Johnson points out, America's misguided economic policy, with its emphasis on frequent wars and military spending, has led to the decline of vital domestic areas, including the education system, manufacturing capabilities and health care. At the same time, the Department of Defense's planned spending for 2008 is larger than all other nations' military budgets combined and will exceed $1 trillion for the first time.

WITH MORE THAN 500,000 MILITARY SERVICE PEOPLE STATIONED ABROAD IN MORE THAN 130 COUNTRIES, America has become what Johnson describes as a foreign imperialist. This poses its own dangers, such as massive standing armies, an almost constant state of war, an increasing dependence on the 'military-industrial' complex, the dramatic economic drain of military spending and an excessive military budget.

If left unchecked, these will lead to the eventual decline of democracy. And as resources are drained, the republican nature of American government will break down, and the principles inherent in a democratic society will necessarily be compromised by what is needed to sustain such a militaristic empire. The breakdown is already underway.

ONE OF THE WORST CONTRIBUTORS TO TODAY'S PROBLEMS IS WHAT WALKER CALLS A LEADERSHIP DEFICIT WHERE TODAY'S LEADERS ARE SHIRKING THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES. They are concentrating on providing political quick fixes for the present, while giving little thought to how to create a better tomorrow. And with such irresponsible spending, America is mortgaging the future of our country, our kids and our grandkids' and leaving a legacy of a future of lower standards of living and with some major, major financial burdens.

Moreover, we face "a growing intellectual bankruptcy that is one of the symptoms of a dying culture," writes author Chris Hedges. "In ancient Rome, as the republic disintegrated and the Caesars were deified, as the Roman Senate became little more than an echo chamber of the emperor, the population's attention was diverted by a series of frontier wars and violent and elaborate spectacles in the arena. THE EXCITEMENT OF ENTERTAINMENT CONSUMED ANCIENT ROME'S EMOTIONAL AND INTELLECTUAL LIFE. It poisoned civic and political discourse. Social critics no longer had a forum in which to speak. They were answered with ridicule and rage. IT WAS NOT THE PREROGATIVE OF THE CITIZEN TO THINK."

'We the people' have not held our government accountable and have been content to lose ourselves in television, the Internet, cell phones and the technological gadgets that distract us from reality. We have, in the words of author Nicholas von Hoffman, become 'bobbleheads in bubbleland.'
CLEARLY, AMERICA IS AT A CROSSROADS. Thus, we have a decision to make: DO WE WANT A DEMOCRACY OR DO WE WANT AN EMPIRE, BECAUSE AS HISTORY HAS SHOWN, IT'S NOT POSSIBLE TO HAVE BOTH.

A confidential World Bank document indicates the true extent of the effect of biofuels on world food prices. Rising food prices have been blamed for pushing 100 million people beneath the poverty line. The confidential report, based on a detailed economic analysis of the effect of biofuels, will put pressure on the American and European governments, which have turned to biofuels in attempts to reduce the greenhouse gases associated with fossil fuels and to reduce their reliance on oil imports.

The report says: "Without the increase in biofuels, global wheat and maize stocks would not have declined appreciably and price increases due to other factors would have been moderate." Next week leaders of the G8 industrialised countries meet in Japan to discuss what action needs to be taken to alleviate the food crisis. They will be lobbied by campaigners calling for a moratorium on the use of biofuels.

"Political leaders seem intent on suppressing and ignoring the strong evidence that biofuels are a major factor in recent food price rises," said Robert Bailey, a policy adviser at Oxfam. "It is imperative that we have the full picture. WHILE POLITICIANS CONCENTRATE ON KEEPING INDUSTRY LOBBIES HAPPY, PEOPLE IN POOR COUNTRIES CANNOT AFFORD ENOUGH TO EAT."

Alain Lamassoure, French MEP and close advisor to Nicolas Sarkozy, has told the Irish Times that Ireland was wrong to hold a referendum, which is "a tool for dictators." He said: "If you hold 10 or 12 referendums and in every state there is 80 per cent support for an idea there is still only a less than 1 per cent probability that the measure will pass everywhere."

He warned that Ireland could spark a major crisis capable of splitting the EU if it cannot ratify the Lisbon Treaty by next spring. He said it was up to the Government to determine how it could pass the Treaty through either a new referendum or a majority in the Dáil.

Irish MEP Gay Mitchell added; "The last thing we need now is (French) President (Nicolas) Sarkozy riding into town with instructions and advice. What we need now is reflection by the Irish people themselves."

He said: "I expect heavy pressure to create an EU a la Francaise. Our position is different out of necessity and we must make an effort for the EU not to develop in a manner the French and the rejected Lisbon (treaty) are attempting to impose." Meanwhile Polish President Lech Kaczynski said in response to efforts by Sarkozy to urge him to ratify the Treaty, "Pressure sometimes has the opposite effect from what's expected."

According to Agence Europe Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer has defended his intention to put any future amendments to the Lisbon Treaty to a referendum, saying, "We have only 28% support in Austria in favour of the EU. One third of the population is fiercely opposed to the Union. Between the two, there are the sceptics. If we do not deal with the sceptics, there will soon be 50% or more tough opponents to the EU". In Süddeutsche Zeitung yesterday he said imposing referendums is "one of the few ways to make any political class explain itself to the population".

Following a relatively dry winter (rainfall was only 65% of average) and an early summer, the level of the Kinneret (SEA OF GALILEE), now stands only 6.5 centimetres above the red line set by the government. Its height is 212.935 meters below sea level, while the red line - below which it is not recommended to draw water from the Kinneret - is at 213 meters below sea level.

Barring unforeseen miracles in the coming week, the Kinneret's water level will drop below the 213 mark sometime next week. The question thus arises: Will water continue to be drawn from the Kinneret for the people of Israel to drink, bathe, water their crops and lawns, and wash their cars? The answer, a water economy official told Arutz-7, is yes. "You must understand," he said, "that the Red Line is merely a recommendation. The government definitely tries to make sure not to reach that level, but it really has no choice but to continue drawing water even beyond the 213 mark."

"However," he added, "in the past few years, the government has designated a Black Line, at 215 meters below sea level, and that is something that truly cannot be breached."

Zoellick's call is contained in a July 1 letter to the head of the upcoming G8 summit in Japan, in which the Bank, World Food Program (WFP) and International Monetary Fund estimate that about 10 billion dollars is needed to meet short term needs of people hit hardest by the crisis.

"What we are witnessing is not a natural disaster - a silent tsunami or a perfect storm: IT IS A MAN-MADE CATASTROPHE, AND AS SUCH MUST BE FIXED BY PEOPLE," Zoellick said in the letter made available to Xinhua on Wednesday.

"I urge the Group of Eight countries, in concert with major oil producers, to act now to address this crisis. This is a test of the global system to help the most vulnerable, AND IT CANNOT AFFORD TO FAIL," said the World Bank chief.

The Pray at the Pump Movement, founded by Rocky Twyman, has been holding prayer vigils at gas stations across the country. On Monday, Twyman decided to take his movement from Exxon and Shell stations straight to the steps of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, D.C., hoping to encourage the oil-rich country to raise the amount of barrels they release each day from 200,000 to 1.2 million.

"Our people are really suffering through this crisis," Twyman told Cybercast News Service. "We need the Saudis to release at least 1.2 [million] barrels of oil per day for about the next six months until we can get everything settled in America.

Twyman, who prompted the first national campaign aimed at getting African Americans to become bone marrow donors, has moved on to more active participation to lower gas prices than eliciting the help of God through prayer. "I think we have just entered a new phase. We were in the prayerful phase, but now we're going into a more activist phase, because we feel that whole faith without works is dead," Twyman told reporters.

The number of homes scheduled for auction in Los Angeles rose 14,505 compared with 3,797 in the same period a year earlier, PropertyShark said in a report distributed by e-mail. In Miami-Dade County, the number climbed to 2,677 from 1,282.

New York's foreclosures climbed 49 percent, to include 961 properties with an average lien of $460,970 for a total of $424 million in outstanding debt. Los Angeles had about 15 times as many foreclosed properties set to be sold.

The second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season is moving toward the west-northwest at about 14 mph, and forecasters expect that to continue for the next couple of days. Maximum sustained winds were near 40 mph. Some gradual strengthening is forecast during the next day or two. It's still too early to say if or where Bertha will hit land.

The first named storm this year, Arthur, formed in the Atlantic the day before the season officially started June 1 and soaked the Yucatan Peninsula.

The order raised concerns among users and privacy advocates that the online video viewing habits of tens of millions of people could be exposed. But Google and Viacom said they were hoping to come up with a way to protect the anonymity of YouTube viewers. Viacom said that the information would be safeguarded by a protective order restricting access to the data to outside advisers, who will use it solely to press Viacom's $1 billion copyright suit against Google.

Still, the judge's order, which was made public late Wednesday, renewed concerns among privacy advocates that Internet companies like Google are collecting unprecedented amounts of private information that could be misused or could unexpectedly fall into the hands of third parties.