But the increase in child protection measures is so great it is "poisoning" relationships between the generations, according to respected sociologist Professor Frank Furedi. In a report for think tank Civitas, he said the use of criminal records bureau checks to ensure the safety of children and vulnerable adults has created an atmosphere of suspicion. As a result ordinary parents - many of whom are volunteers at sports and social clubs - now find themselves regarded "potential child abusers".

Professor Furedi said most adults now think twice before telling off children who were misbehaving, or helping children in distress for fear of the consequences. He said that the need for the checks had transformed parents "in the regulatory and public imagination into potential child abusers, barred from any contact with children until the database gives them the green light".

He said: "When parents feel in need of official reassurance that other parents have passed the paedophile test before they even start on the pleasantries, something has gone badly wrong in our communities. We should question whether there is anything healthy in a response where communities look at children's own fathers with suspicion, but would balk at helping a lost child find their way home."

Martin Narey, chief executive of children's charity Barnado's, said "We need urgently to expose the nonsense of 'stranger danger' and convince parents that, although the risk of a child of theirs being abused at all is small, THAT RISK COMES NOT FROM LURKING STRANGERS, BUT FROM PEOPLE KNOWN BY THEIR CHILDREN - OFTEN RELATIVES - WHO ARE ABLE TO EXPLOIT A CHILD'S TRUST."

The damage could rise or contract, depending on weather conditions for the rest of the growing season in the United States, the world's top exporter of corn, soybeans and wheat, the American Farm Bureau Federation said. The flood damage in the Midwest over the past two weeks has lifted prices for U.S. corn, used for food, renewable fuel ethanol and animal feed, to a record high above $7 a bushel, up about 85 percent since the end of 2006 as of Wednesday.

"Wet weather and flooding create issues, as farmers are unable to plant their crops," said AFBF senior economist Terry Francl. "The crops they do plant do not sprout and grow, resulting in few acres harvest. Additionally, the difficult growing conditions greatly reduce the yield of the crop that is harvested," he added.

The AFBF said some states were experiencing dry weather, with drought taking a toll in several Western and South Eastern states. It said northern California battled the driest spring in its history, and as a whole the state suffered $500 million in estimated damage. AFBF said the damage estimate is based on the assumption that weather conditions will be normal for the remainder of the growing season.

UPDATE - A new round of storms dumped a half foot or more of rain across parts of the U.S. Midwest on Wednesday, dealing fresh trouble to a region already struggling with billions of dollars in flood damage.

Rice prices have more than doubled in Iran since March but farmers working from sunrise to sunset in the rice-growing northern region around Chalus, a city on the Caspian Sea, say little of that money goes into their pockets. "TRADERS BOUGHT OUR RICE VERY CHEAP. They have put it in storage and now capital investors are selling it for a high price. WE DID NOT MAKE A PROFIT BUT TRADERS DID," Baqer Kefayati said at his farm in Dasht-e Nesha.

Capital investors are rich traders who buy rice wholesale from farmers. Dealers buy rice in small amounts from capital investors and sell it to shops. They act as brokers and tend not to make large sums of money. Some brokers also blame the Islamic Republic's government, saying its tardiness in importing rice this year helped fuel the price rise by creating a vacuum that could be exploited.

Iran is at once a beneficiary of the oil boom, that has seen prices rise to nearly $140 a barrel, and a victim - high oil prices are one factor behind rising inflation that is punishing the country's poor. Economists blame profligate spending of windfall oil revenues by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government for stoking inflation, which rose to 25.3 percent year-on-year in May. World food prices - which have risen on supply fears and export restrictions - have also contributed.

Société Télévision Française 1 and M6-Metropole Télévision, the largest commercial broadcasters in France, may benefit from increased ad spending as a result of the change. TF1 shares rose the most in almost six weeks, while M6 had the biggest gain in three weeks.

"By suppressing advertising, we want to give our public television the means of a greater freedom," Sarkozy said in the speech at Élysée Palace. "For viewers, things will change from Jan. 1, 2009." All advertising will be phased out by Dec. 1, 2011, he said. The tax will apply to both fixed-line and mobile operators. The panel, headed by Jean-François Copé, the governing party leader in the National Assembly, had suggested the ban take effect Sept. 1, 2009.

"Texas is like our home," said Garza, 45, who joined hundreds of Mexicans poring over lists of Texas properties at the four-day event. Garza, who owns manufacturing sites and other land in Mexico, said he and five partners may invest as much as $8 million in Texas. "We believe there can be some opportunities."

A rising peso and an economy growing faster than the U.S. have given some Mexicans the buying power to take advantage of the housing slump in Texas, which the U.S. annexed in 1845 after Texans gained independence from Mexico nine years earlier. A three-year war followed and ended with Mexico ceding about half its territory, including Arizona, Nevada and California, to the U.S. under an 1848 treaty.

Mexico is better known for providing the U.S. with cheap labor than investment. The U.S. is home to an estimated 12 million Mexican-born residents, about half of them living there illegally, according to the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington.

The bad news came as a key farm group ESTIMATED U.S. CROP DAMAGE THIS YEAR HAD HIT $8 BILLION NATIONWIDE, most of it in the key Midwest growing areas of the world's biggest grain and food exporter amid the worst flooding in 15 years.

The new storms that soaked Missouri on Wednesday closed roads and sent smaller streams out of their banks, pushing more water into the basin that feeds both the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, just as the Mississippi was cresting or about to in areas upstream from St. Louis.

The Midwest storms and torrential rains have killed 24 people and caused billions of dollars in damage since late May. More than 38,000 people have been displaced, mostly in Iowa.

Obama's representative Carolyn Sauvage-Mar on Tuesday received A GOLD-PLATED TWO-FEET-HIGH IDOL which she will pass it on to Obama after it is sanctified. The idol is being presented to Obama as he is reported to be a Lord Hanuman devotee and carries with him a locket of the monkey god along with other good luck charms.

An hour-long prayer meeting to sanctify the idol was earlier organised at Sankat Mochan Dham and by Congress leader Brijmohan Bhama, Balmiki Samaj and the temple's priests. "OBAMA HAS DEEP FAITH IN LORD HANUMAN and that is why we are presenting an idol of Hanuman to him," said Bhama.

However, questions on Obama's religious beliefs elicited just a smile from Sauvage-Mar, apparently to avoid controversy back home where the Democrat senator is pitted against the Republican Party's John McCain in the Presidential polls.

Routine tests by Anglian Water found cryptosporidium in a sample from supplies to Northampton, Daventry and surrounding villages at about 0100 BST. The parasite causes stomach upsets and the most common symptom is diarrhoea. Anglian Water is now conducting further tests to track down the source of the bug and then they will flush it out.

The original tests found the bug in a sample taken from Pitsford Water Treatment Works which serves the area in Northamptonshire. Twenty schools in the area that rely on tap water for drinking fountains have now shut. About 108,000 homes across 85 communities in the north of Northamptonshire are affected by the contamination.

Some supermarkets in Daventry ran out of bottled water because of PANIC BUYING in the morning.

The fenced-off military compound has been set up just south of the Olympic Sports Center Stadium, a venue for football and modern pentathlon. It is also within a half mile of the Water Cube and the Bird's Nest National Stadium, the £225 million showpiece venue of the games. At least two Hongqi 7 missile launchers were visible behind a 7ft fence, with military hardware and vehicles hidden under camouflage netting.

Dozen of soldiers guarded the compound on Tuesday with a notice posted on the fence: "Military Administrative District No Admittance." The Beijing Olympics are intended to showcase the country's rising political and economic power. But THE INTENSE MEDIA SCRUTINY is also giving environmentalists and political activists with grievances a potential stage for protest, which COULD LEAD TO A PUBLIC-RELATIONS DISASTER FOR THE IMAGE-CONSCIOUS COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT.

Many foreign security experts question the scale of the threat while rights groups say Beijing may be using terrorism as cover for crackdowns on legitimate peaceful dissent. Last week Beijing said it had mobilized a 100,000-STRONG ANTI-TERRORISM FORCE to guard against threats to the Olympics.

The Queen has approved the annulment of the honour on the advice of the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, in protest at Mr Mugabe's misrule. "This action has been taken as a mark of revulsion at the abuse of human rights and abject disregard for the democratic process in Zimbabwe over which President Mugabe has presided," the Foreign Office said. The move came as it emerged Nelson Mandela is planning to speak out about the situation in Zimbabwe tonight.

Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose and others are selling vegetables and fish exported amid the violence. Foreign currency from such deals is understood to be propping up Robert Mugabe's regime. Governments around the world are under pressure to impose tough economic sanctions on the country. And Prime Minister Gordon Brown has made clear he would ban the Zimbabwean cricket team from participating in Test and one-day matches here next year.

However, there is no sign of any ban on the sale of produce or limits on the commercial activities of other British firms who have dealings in Zimbabwe. These include Barclays, British American Tobacco, Standard Chartered bank, the advertising agency WPP, insurerance company Old Mutual and mining conglomerate Rio Tinto. Tesco apparently pours millions of pounds of foreign currency into Zimbabwe through purchases of fresh produce. Products on its shelves include sugar snap peas and mange tout. At different points in the year runner beans, fine beans, corn and broccoli are also available. Britain's biggest retailer insists the deal plays a very positive role in supporting the ordinary people of Zimbabwe.

Wilf Mbanga, editor of The Zimbabwean, a UK-based newspaper, said he was shocked that food from Zimbabwe is being sold here. "HOW CAN ZIMBABWE BE EXPORTING FOOD WHEN PEOPLE ARE STARVING? Food is not available to a large section of the population. When it is, the price is beyond the reach of many," he said.

Anglo will invest $400 million (£200 million) to build a platinum mine in Zimbabwe - a move that has raised concern among some of the company's shareholders and been condemned by politicians. The Foreign Office was investigating tonight whether the company's investment breached sanctions against Zimbabwe. Anglo insisted that its involvement in the country did not break the law.

The decision, which was criticised roundly as likely to give succour - and possibly money - to the Mugabe regime, is in stark contrast to the policy of nearly all other main British corporations in Zimbabwe. They are either withdrawing from the country or waiting for Mr Mugabe to be deposed before expanding their businesses.

The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, claimed the declining importance of the church was creating a "double jeopardy" situation where faith was being challenged at a time when society would most benefit. He said believers needed to "recover their nerve" and spread the Gospel again. The outspoken bishop, who earlier this week told those who tolerate homosexuality in the clergy to repent, also said he was "frustrated" that decisions which had been made in the church had not been stuck to.

Dr Nazir-Ali was greeted with a standing ovation as he gave a speech to A BREAKAWAY SUMMIT IN JERUSALEM OF MORE THAN 1,000 TRADITIONALISTS FROM ACROSS THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION who oppose gay priests and the blessing of same-sex unions. He did not say that divisions over sexuality would lead to a schism in Anglicanism, and referred to unity being a "very precious thing".

THE PAKISTAN-BORN BISHOP REPEATED HIS CLAIM THAT THE CHURCH BEGAN ITS DECLINE IN INFLUENCE WHEN PARENTS STOPPED PASSING THE FAITH ON TO THEIR CHILDREN. "DON'T BLAME ANYONE ELSE," he said. Dr Nazir-Ali added, returning to the theme of parents not passing on religion to their children: "Many of society's problems particularly in young people are related to the fact that so many have not experienced a stable family life. So many have grown up without a recognisable father figure."

THE TWO WARS HAVE LEFT THE FORCES "STRETCHED BEYOND THE CAPABILITIES WE HAVE," Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup said. It is the first time the most senior officer in the British military has expressed such grave doubts about the struggle faced by troops fighting wars on two fronts. There are 4,000 British troops in Iraq and numbers in Afghanistan will soon exceed 8,000.

Ten British service personnel have been killed in Afghanistan in little over two weeks, fuelling fears that the UK has been sucked into a long and unwinnable struggle in the country. Sir Jock admitted that Britain could face decades more involvement in Afghanistan, which he called a "mediaeval" state lacking even basic government structures. Labour ministers have repeatedly denied suggestions that the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have left the Forces overstretched, and opposition MPs said Sir Jock's candid remarks have made that position untenable.

Sir Jock was speaking after being asked why, after seven years in Afghanistan and five in Iraq, British forces still do not have enough helicopters.

Israel condemned the attack as a "gross violation" of the truce, but did not say whether it would retaliate. The barrage wounded two people and capped a day of violence that presented the truce with its first serious test. Just before midnight, Palestinian militants fired a mortar shell into an empty area in southern Israel. And in a pre-dawn raid, Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus.

Islamic Jihad, a small armed group backed by Syria and Iran, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire. Although the West Bank is not included in the truce, the group said the Nablus raid had soured the atmosphere of calm. "We cannot keep our hands tied when this is happening to our brothers in the West Bank," the militant group said.

The Egyptian-brokered truce went into effect Thursday. The immediate aim was to end fighting that has killed seven Israelis and more than 400 Palestinians - many of them civilians - since Hamas gained control of Gaza a year ago. It also obliges Israel to ease a punishing blockade of the coastal strip. In a final stage, the sides are to address Hamas' demand to reopen a major border passage between Gaza and Egypt and Israel's insistence that Hamas release an Israeli soldier it has held for two years. The cease-fire is meant to avert an Israeli invasion of Gaza, a tiny, impoverished seaside territory of 1.4 million people that Israel evacuated in 2005 after a 38-year military occupation.