Australian troops are due to begin returning home in a few days in line with a promise by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who swept to power in November. He said the Iraq deployment was making Australia more of a terrorist target. The Australians had deployed more than 500 troops in Iraq, helping to train some 33,000 Iraqi soldiers. About 300 Australians will remain inside Iraq on logistical and air surveillance duties. No Australian soldiers were killed in combat in Iraq though several were wounded.

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said the Australian mission had been a success. "Our soldiers have worked tirelessly to ensure that local people in southern Iraq have the best possible chance to move on from their suffering under Saddam's regime and, as a government, we are extremely proud of their service," he said in a statement on Sunday.

Maybe the problem isn't that the job they're offering is "too hard," maybe it's that the wages they're offering are "too low." No one paints the undersides of bridges for fun, they do it for the money. That's how capitalism works.

The unspoken truth is that these businesses don't hire illegal aliens because they can't find American workers, they hire illegal aliens because they don't want American workers. And it has nothing to do with wages. Illegal aliens mean no workers' comp claims, no age, race or sex discrimination lawsuits, no healthcare premiums, no unions, and no demands for raises, vacations or bigger offices. In fact, illegal immigrants are the perfect employees because they're not employees at all; they're corporate slaves.

Economist Dr. Thomas Sowell once said, "Blacks were not enslaved because they were black, but because they were available." Can't the exact same thing be said for illegal aliens? They're available and we're allowing them to be exploited in the name of cheap groceries. Is the price of fruit really the standard we want to live up to as a country? Is that really who we've become?

The spike came in a year that saw the highest US casualties in Iraq and increased levels of violence in Afghanistan, but officials said the trend has continued into 2008. Barack Obama, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, called it "a tragic reminder of the staggering and ongoing costs of the Iraq war, particularly on our troops and their families."

Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil told reporters THE CARTEL WILL MAKE NO NEW DECISION ON PRODUCTION LEVELS UNTIL ITS SEPT. 9 MEETING IN VIENNA.

He notes that OPEC controls only 40 percent of world oil production, and says the high prices do not reflect market conditions but rather other factors linked to the weakening dollar, market speculation and the U.S. subprime mortgage market turmoil. Oil prices recently reached $135 a barrel before falling to less than $130 Friday.

The Christian Institute has complained to West Midlands Police the men were told to leave Alum Rock Road. THE US CHRISTIANS SAID THEY WERE ADVISED THEY WERE COMMITTING A HATE CRIME BY TRYING TO CONVERT MUSLIMS. West Midlands Police has investigated the complaint and said the officer intervened to diffuse a row. They claimed he warned them to leave the area, saying: "If you come back here and get beat up, well you have been warned."

Mr Cunningham and Mr Abraham then agreed to leave. The men, backed by the Christian Institute, have complained to the force, saying their human rights were infringed. They have also demanded an apology and damages. A West Midlands Police spokeswoman said: "One of the neighbourhood PCSOs intervened for the protection of all parties and to prevent the situation becoming inflamed."

WHY DID WE HAVE TO WAIT FOR BISHOP MICHAEL NAZIR-ALI, BORN AND RAISED IN MUSLIM PAKISTAN, to remind us that, as he put it, 'the beliefs, values and virtues of Great Britain have been formed by the Christian faith'? Just as important, why did we have to wait for him to urge us to do something about restoring that faith before we either sink into a yelling chaos of knives, fists and boots, or swoon into the strong, implacable arms of Islam?

MOST OF OUR HOMEGROWN PRELATES ARE MORE INTERESTED IN HOMOSEXUALITY OR IN SPREADING DOUBT ABOUT THE GOSPEL OR URGING THE ADOPTION OF SHARIA LAW. Then again, why did it take the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, to explain to us that our parliamentary system was the best guarantee of liberty in the world and to remind us of the courage and valour of our people in war? This is not what British leaders say or even think, not least because they are busy pulling the constitution to pieces. It is not what our children are taught in schools. IN FACT, ANY EXPRESSION OF NATIONAL PRIDE IS VIEWED WITH SUSPICION BY THE STATE, by the education system and above all by the BBC. It was not always so.

Half a century ago, we had churchmen, broadcasters, academics and military men who thought it normal to love their own country, normal to support the Christian faith which made us what we are, and were willing to defend it. The question of what happened in the years between is one of the most interesting in history. We know, thanks to their endless memoirs and the dramas about them, that this country's foreign and intelligence services were maggoty with Communist penetration.

I am sometimes tempted to wonder if the same organisation targeted both political parties (especially the Unconservatives), the Church of England, the BBC, the Civil Service, the legal profession and the universities. THE COMMUNIST LEADER HARRY POLLITT CERTAINLY URGED HIS SUPPORTERS BACK IN THE FORTIES TO HIDE THEIR TRUE VIEWS AND WORK THEIR WAY INTO THE ESTABLISHMENT. An organised conspiracy could not have done much more damage than whatever did happen.

We have a country demoralised in every sense, its people robbed of their own pride, its children deprived of stability and authority, terrifyingly ignorant of their own culture, its tottering economy largely owned from abroad, its armed forces weak, its justice system a sick joke, its masses distracted by pornography, drink and drugs, its constitution menaced, its elite in the grip of a destructive, intolerant atheism. RIPE, IN FACT, FOR A FOREIGN TAKEOVER.

TALKS ON THE CREATION OF THE "EUROPEAN EXTERNAL ACTION SERVICE" (EEAS), first reported by The Daily Telegraph, are now at an advanced stage, contradicting statements to MPs made by the Foreign Secretary. William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, said: "The Government is not being straight with the British people IN ATTEMPTING TO CONCEAL JUST HOW FAR PLANS HAVE ALREADY PROGRESSED ON THE EU DIPLOMATIC SERVICE. Mr Miliband said that plans would not commence until the Treaty enters force. This is obviously not the case."

Mr Miliband had told the Commons that work would not begin until the treaty had been ratified by Parliament and entered force next year. "There have been no discussions at ministerial or working level on the detailed organisation and functioning of the EEAS," he said on Feb 28. But EU diplomatic and official sources in Brussels have confirmed that negotiations have reached a concrete stage. There is already agreement that all new EU representations - there are currently more than 160 offices around the world - will be given the same status as national ambassadors.

Robert Cooper, the director general of the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU, the body that represents national governments, has argued that THE EEAS WOULD MAKE BRUSSELS THE DIPLOMATIC CAPITAL OF EUROPE.

The sea's water level is currently reported at about 212.5 m. below sea level. THIS IS JUST 50 CM. AWAY FROM THE "RED LINE" OF -213 M., the level at which the water supply situation is seen as worrying. It is not far away from the "black line," either: the absolute minimum level of -215 m.

Fishing statistics show a decline from 300 tons of fish that were harvested in the Kinneret five years ago, to less than 70 tons fished in 2007. Some observers claimed that the decline is due to the lower level of water in the lake. Others blamed a spate of fish poisonings, inadequate law enforcement and a slacking in the artificial repopulation of the lake, which is usually carried out by the government.

THERE IS NO QUESTION THAT IF THE LABOUR PARTY WAS A PRIVATE COMPANY IT WOULD HAVE LONG BEEN DECLARED BANKRUPT. An insolvency practitioner would already be at work and creditors waiting in vain to be paid off. Since the sale of its Old Queen Street headquarters in central London for some £6 million two years ago, the party has no substantial assets. YET ITS DEBTS TOTAL MORE THAN £20 MILLION, and there is a serious possibility that accountants may refuse to formally approve the party's accounts, due to be completed later this month.

It is important to bear in mind that the highly reputable firm of Horwath Clark Whitehill can sign off on its annual financial statement only if Labour is regarded as a 'viable going concern'. However, as matters stand, this is not the case. Even ignoring the party's vanishing asset base, there is also a deeply worrying mismatch between income and expenditure. Every member of the NEC (Labour's ruling National Executive Committee) now faces the prospect of personal bankruptcy if Labour goes to the wall. These include the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Labour Deputy Leader Harriet Harman, Employment Minister Pat McFadden and Treasury Minister Angela Eagle.

IN ORDER TO AVERT THIS UTTER DISASTER, THE PRIME MINISTER HAS HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO THROW HIMSELF PERSONALLY INTO FINDING A SOLUTION. He is now being forced to devote hours of his time to saving Labour from bankruptcy, when he ought to be running the country. This has meant going down on his knees to keep lenders from pulling the plug, and to keep trade union money coming in. The trouble is that there is a very heavy political cost for this abasement. TRADE UNION SUPPORT - AS THE LABOUR PM JIM CALLAGHAN DISCOVERED IN THE SEVENTIES - COMES WITH MULTIPLE STRINGS ATTACHED.

Modern union barons might, with immense reluctance, bail out Gordon Brown's Labour Party, but only if the Prime Minister makes commitments that carry a very heavy political cost. In a terrifying development for Downing Street, GMB MEMBERS WILL VOTE ON A MOTION TO DISAFFILIATE FROM THE LABOUR PARTY AT ITS ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN A WEEK'S TIME.

So the result of a referendum on June 12 on whether to consolidate EU powers by ratifying the Treaty of Lisbon must surely be a foregone conclusion. Think again. In Brussels, European parliamentarians are twitchy about the future of the EU's 495 million citizens resting in the hands of the one million Irish voters expected to turn out on polling day. Having spent two years rebuilding the Treaty of Lisbon from the scrap parts of the defeated European Constitution, the Eurocrats can only watch as a learner driver takes the wheel of their juggernaut and drives it towards the edge of a cliff.

MR BARROSO AND HIS COHORTS ARGUE THAT THE TREATY REPRESENTS THE NEXT GLORIOUS STAGE IN THE EU'S FUTURE, creating a new post of full-time European Council president, streamlining the European Commission and redistributing voting powers. IF YOU DON'T FIND THESE ALLEGEDLY CRUCIAL CHANGES INSPIRING, YOU'RE NOT ALONE.

And therein lies the fundamental problem for Ireland's Yes campaigners. Try as they might, they have been unable to come up with anything approaching a coherent, inspirational argument for a Yes. Most tellingly of all, the new Irish premier, Brian Cowen, has admitted he hasn't read all of the 287-page treaty, and nor has Ireland's EU Commissioner, Charlie McCreevy, who said no sane person could read it from cover to cover.

The fact that France and Holland rejected the European Constitution in 2005 was a clear warning that support for the project among ordinary people may be waning. This time, only Ireland has dared risk asking what people think. And if a country that has benefited so clearly from EU membership decides to distance itself from Brussels, IT WOULD BE PROOF POSITIVE OF JUST HOW FAR DISILLUSIONMENT WITH THE EU HAS SPREAD.

José Manuel Durão Barroso, a Thatcherite reformer and supporter of the Iraq war, will take over from Romano Prodi in November, assuming that he is confirmed by Euro-MPs later this month. At a special summit of European Union leaders, Javier Solana of Spain was re-appointed to run the foreign policy machinery, military staff headquarters and the new anti-terrorism agency, as well as the 60,000-man rapid reaction force.

MR BARROSO, 48, A MAOIST TURNED CONSERVATIVE LAWYER, emerged from near obscurity last week after a long list of candidates were vetoed by one EU faction or another, or refused to accept the poisoned chalice of the commission chief. Even though Germany has slid down the EU growth tables - with per capita income well below Ireland, Denmark, Holland, Britain and France - Mr Schröder insisted that his country merited "special responsibility for economic policy". Frits Bolkestein, the Dutch commissioner, said the Germans wanted to install "a poodle" to do their bidding, giving warning that it would be "terrible" to put one of Europe's least-reformed countries in charge of restructuring.

Paris is targeting the powerful job of competition commissioner. The competition boss is a feared figure, wielding powers to impose vast fines, launch dawn raids and seize files without a judicial warrant. One EU diplomat said letting Paris take over the dossier would be tantamount to "putting the fox in charge of the henhouse". Downing Street is angling for the job of single market commissioner with the former Cabinet minister Peter Mandelson the favourite. The post covers taxation, financial rules, which are crucial to the City of London, and the task of breaking down cross-border barriers to the service industry.

Mr Barroso will be in charge of 20,000 Eurocrats, a modest number that disguises the real reach of commission power.

The state's Supreme Court ruled earlier that PROTECTION AGENTS HAD HAD NO AUTHORITY TO SEIZE THE CHILDREN IN A RAID ON THE RANCH where they all lived. State officials had accused adult sect members of abusing children. The children, aged between six months and 17 years, have spent nearly two months away from their families. But the court attached restrictions to the reunions.

Children will be allowed back home to the ranch near Eldorado but they must not be taken out of Texas and their parents must agree to take parenting classes. The biggest child custody case in US history has effectively collapsed, the BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani says.

Members of the breakaway Mormon sect that runs the ranch claimed they were being persecuted for their religious beliefs which include polygamy. HEAVILY ARMED POLICE WERE ON HAND DURING THE RAID IN APRIL.

Sheila Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, said it was likely loan-loss provisions and bank failures would rise in coming quarters as the fallout from market turmoil hits the real economy. "While we may be past the worst of the turmoil in financial markets, WE'RE STILL IN THE EARLY STAGES OF THE TRADITIONAL CREDIT CRISIS YOU TYPICALLY SEE DURING AN ECONOMIC DOWNTURN," she said, adding: "What we really need to focus on is the uncertainty surrounding the economy . . . And again it is all about housing."

Ms Bair spoke as the FDIC released its quarterly banking profile, which showed loan-loss provisions in the first quarter were more than four times higher than last year's level. That was the main reason bank earnings fell 46 per cent to $19.3bn from the first quarter in 2007 for the commercial banks and savings institutions where the FDIC insures customer deposits.

Meanwhile, the FDIC said the number of "problem" banks rose in the first quarter from 76 to 90, with combined assets of $26.3bn. Three US banks have failed this year, compared with three for the whole of last year and none in 2005 and 2006. In a sign that SOME US BANKS MAY HAVE UNDERESTIMATED THE COST OF THE HOUSING SLUMP, KeyCorp this week doubled its forecast for loan losses - its second revision in as many months - sending its share price tumbling by more than 10 per cent. During the property boom, KeyCorp expanded in fast-growing regions such as southern California and Florida, where problem loans are now growing.

IN SPAIN, EUROPE'S LARGEST FISH PRODUCER, the action is expected to bring the industry to a halt. Fishermen in France have been protesting for weeks, and their counterparts in PORTUGAL, BELGIUM AND ITALY ARE ALSO JOINING THE CAMPAIGN. UK AND DUTCH LORRY-DRIVERS HELD SIMILAR PROTESTS EARLIER THIS WEEK. The strike reflects anger at the rising cost of fuel, with oil prices above $130 (83.4 euros) a barrel. Trade unions say the cost of diesel has become prohibitively high, after rising 300% over the past five years.

In France the authorities have offered 100m euros in aid, prompting some fishermen to return to work. At dawn on Thursday, French riot police cleared protesters from the Mediterranean oil depots of Fos-sur-Mer and Lavera, and a Total refinery at La Mede in the south. On the same day police clashed with protesters who burned tyres in the Atlantic port of Lorient, while hundreds protested in Quimper, Brittany. Hundreds of farmers have also been blocking oil terminals near the cities of Dijon and Toulouse.

In Italy, at least 5,000 fishermen are expected to strike, the main trade union Federcoopesca says. The government has already refused emergency aid to the industry. BULGARIAN BUS DRIVERS ARE ALSO PLANNING A ONE-HOUR STRIKE ON FRIDAY, following protests by lorry-drivers on Wednesday.

The talks in Caracas, Venezuela, mark the beginning of a week of meetings on the issue, leading up to a three-day UN food crisis summit in Rome on Tuesday. According to the World Bank, GLOBAL FOOD PRICES HAVE RISEN BY 83% OVER THE PAST THREE YEARS. The lender has announced a package of food grants totalling $1.2bn (£608m).

An influential report on Thursday warned that higher food prices might be here to stay as demand from developing countries and production costs rose. Prices would fall, but only gradually, the report by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said.