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.

A computer generated image posted on terror forums depict what would happen if a nuclear attack took place in Washington D.C. IT APPEARED AS RUMOURS SWEPT THE INTERNET that the FBI was warning that an Al Qaeda video was about to be released urging militants to use weapons of mass destruction to attack the West. The information WAS SAID TO BE coming from 'groups that monitor Islamic militant websites'.

U.S. analysts said a lot of effort had been put into the video - entitled Nuclear Jihad, The Ultimate Terror - with graphics, music, and clips of different leaders and groups. The same expertise seems to have gone into creating this image of a devastated Washington. One message with the Washington picture said: 'THE NEXT STRIKE'S IN THE HEART OF AMERICA. WHEN? WHEN? WHEN? AND HOW?'

Last night FBI sources said Al Qaeda was desperate to get its hands on a weapon of mass destruction, be it nuclear, chemical, or biological. So far that is only a dream... or, as this picture suggests, a nightmare.

PUBLIC FOUNTAINS ARE DRY IN BARCELONA, SPAIN, a city so parched there's a €9,000 ($13,000) fine if you're caught watering your flowers. A tanker ship docked there this month carrying 5 million gallons of precious fresh water - and officials are scrambling to line up more such shipments to slake public thirst. Barcelona is not alone. CYPRUS WILL FERRY WATER FROM GREECE THIS SUMMER. AUSTRALIAN CITIES ARE BUYING WATER from that nation's farmers and building desalination plants. Thirsty CHINA PLANS TO DIVERT HIMALAYAN WATER. And 18 MILLION SOUTHERN CALIFORNIANS ARE BRACING FOR THEIR FIRST WATER-RATIONING IN YEARS.

Water, Dow Chemical Chairman Andrew Liveris told the World Economic Forum in February, "is the oil of this century." Developed nations have taken cheap, abundant fresh water largely for granted. Now global population growth, pollution, and climate change are shaping a new view of water as "blue gold."

Global water markets, including drinking water distribution, management, waste treatment, and agriculture are a nearly $500 billion market and growing fast, says a 2007 global investment report. But governments pushing to privatize costly to maintain public water systems are colliding with a global "water is a human right" movement. Because water is essential for human life, its distribution is best left to more publicly accountable government authorities to distribute at prices the poorest can afford, those water warriors say. The profit motive and basic human need [for water] are just inherently in conflict."

The new speaker, Ali Larijani, who resigned as the country's nuclear negotiator in October over differences with Ahmadinejad, is a conservative and an ardent advocate of the Iranian nuclear program but is seen as more pragmatic in his approach and perhaps willing to engage in diplomacy with the West. THE POST OF SPEAKER IS NORMALLY A POWERFUL ONE IN IRANIAN POLITICS, and Larijani's elevation also suggests that the new Parliament will be much more likely than the last one to challenge Ahmadinejad, who is up for re-election in June 2009.

In his first speech Wednesday as speaker, Larijani, who won by a vote of 232-31, said one of Parliament's top priorities would be to strengthen the economy. HIS LOPSIDED VICTORY APPEARED TO BE A REBUKE OF AHMADINEJAD, who has faced growing dissatisfaction over grinding inflation and fresh memories of rolling blackouts last winter that left people without electricity and heat for hours at a time - even as the nation's oil revenues were soaring. The economic problems have apparently deepened tensions between Ahmadinejad and the religious establishment he ultimately answers to, in what seems to be A COLLECTIVE RETHINKING OF HIS STEWARDSHIP.

In Washington, a senior administration official said that THE REAL DECISION MAKER IN IRAN WAS STILL AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, the country's supreme religious leader.

The decree was written by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and published in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, giving it immediate effect. A Vatican spokesman said the decree made THE CHURCH'S EXISTING BAN ON WOMEN PRIESTS MORE EXPLICIT BY CLARIFYING THAT EXCOMMUNICATION WOULD FOLLOW ALL SUCH ORDINATIONS. Excommunication forbids those affected from receiving the sacraments or sharing in acts of public worship.

Rev. Tom Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, said he thought the decree was meant to send a warning to the growing number of Catholics who favor admitting women to the priesthood. "I think the reason they're doing this is that they've realized there is more and more support among Catholics for ordaining women, and they want to make clear that this is a no-no," Reese said.

THE CHURCH SAYS IT CANNOT CHANGE THE RULES BANNING WOMEN FROM THE PRIESTHOOD BECAUSE CHRIST CHOSE ONLY MEN AS HIS APOSTLES. Church law states that only a baptized male can be made a priest. Proponents of women's ordination say Christ was only acting according to the social norms of his time.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake struck at 1546 GMT at a shallow 6.2 miles (10 km). "It was close to the town of Selfoss and there is apparently, according to the preliminary news, considerable damage in that town," he said. "Iceland is sitting on a plate boundary where the North America and Eurasian plates are drifting apart. So it's a country of volcanoes and earthquakes and so earthquakes are common but large earthquakes are relatively rare," he added.

Iceland, which has a population of about 300,000, is a geologically unstable volcanic island in the north Atlantic. A spokesman for Iceland's Institute of Earth Sciences said the country had been expecting further quakes after a series of tremors in the same area in 2000.

Mr Blair, who is now A PEACE ENVOY TO THE MIDDLE EAST, told Time Magazine that religious belief had given him "strength" while in power. He is launching a "faith foundation" in New York on Friday. Mr Blair, who recently converted to Catholicism, said: "Faith is part of our future, and faith and the values it brings with it are an essential part of MAKING GLOBALISATION WORK."

His foundation WILL ATTEMPT TO BRING RELIGIONS TOGETHER to tackle global issues such as the UN's eight millennium development goals, which range from eradicating extreme poverty to ensuring environmental sustainability. One of its first priorities will be to fight the spread of malaria. Mr Blair said: "If you got churches and mosques and those of the Jewish faith working together to provide the bed nets that are necessary to eliminate malaria, what a fantastic thing that would be."

Mr Blair is not being paid for his work as a Middle East envoy for the "quartet" of the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia. But he has lucrative consultancy posts with insurer Zurich and merchant bank JP Morgan, on top of a reported £5m deal for his Downing Street memoirs.