Heaven is an equal-opportunity destination, but to gain entry one needs a "passport" stamped with virtues such as humility, mercy and truth, says Benedict XVI.

THE PONTIFF ASKED: "WHAT IS MEANT BY THIS 'NARROW GATE'? WHY IS IT THAT MANY PEOPLE DO NOT SUCCEED IN ENTERING THROUGH IT? IS IT PERHAPS A PASSAGE THAT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR A FEW ELECT?"

The [Pope] said that the message of Christ is that everybody has an equal chance of entering through the narrow gate, "but it is 'narrow' because it is demanding, it requires commitment, self-denial and mortification of one's own egoism."

Christ invites all to heaven, he said, "but with one and the same condition: that of making the effort to follow him and imitate him, taking up one's cross, as he did, and dedicating one's life to the service of our brothers."

Benedict XVI makes the point that "we will not be judged on the basis of presumed privileges, but by our works."

"True friendship with Christ," he added, "is expressed by one's way of life: it is expressed by goodness of heart, with humility, meekness and mercy, love of justice and truth, sincere and honest commitment to peace and reconciliation."

The Pope adds, "This, we might say, is the 'I.D. card' that qualifies us as authentic 'friends'; this is the 'passport' that permits us to enter into eternal life."

After English breadmakers and Italian pasta makers, it is now the turn of French boulangers to put up prices of the country's staple - the baguette. With international wheat prices at a 10-year high, bakeries across France are expected to raise the price of the baguette by about 5 cents in the coming weeks.

The move comes after Italy's Association of Pasta Manufacturers announced last month that it would increase domestic pasta prices by 20 per cent, while Premier Foods, the UK maker of Hovis bread, said it was likely to pass on further rises in wheat prices.

Prices for agricultural commodities such as wheat, cocoa and coffee have risen sharply over the past year as severe droughts, rising consumption in developing countries and the increasing use of crops for biofuels lower supplies.

In Europe, wheat prices have nearly doubled from €130 ($177.8, £88) to €237 a tonne this year. In Chicago, wheat for December delivery surged to a record $7.54 (€5.50, £3.70) a bushel last week after Canada, the world's second-largest wheat exporter, warned output might be almost 20 per cent below last year's levels.

Bread plays an important role in the daily life of the French; many consume baked goods - baguettes, croissants, brioches - at least three times a day. Bread prices have been deregulated in France since 1978.

Barclays appears to have been responsible both for designing a complex fund that got Sachsen into difficulty and for helping to pull the plug on the bank by demanding margin calls in respect of another Sachsen investment.

Sachsen, a Saxony-based bank with assets of €68 billion (£46 billion) owned partly by the regional government, said last night that it was being taken over by Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) after a previously attempted €17.3 billion bailout failed. LBBW is paying €300 million to €800 million for Sachsen and has taken the precaution of inserting a clause in the deal allowing it to walk away if further big losses emerge.

Meanwhile, last week Barclays made margin calls on a client, Synapse Investment Management, a credit hedge fund in which Sachsen has an estimated €200 million stake - almost the entire equity in the fund - and later seized some of its collateral.

The relationship between Barclays and Sachsen is thought to have been particularly close. The German bank's 2006 annual report features a double-page photo spread of Jane Privett, a BarCap director, quoted as saying that Sachsen Funding I generates "attractive returns without neglecting the security aspect".

Barclays is likely to come under pressure to spell out its sub-prime exposure, especially as it is in the middle of a share-based offer for the Dutch bank ABN Amro. Barclays shares have fallen from 745p in mid-July to 611p on Friday, cutting the value of its ABN bid.

Sources close to Barclays said that any SIV losses appeared minimal for it and that it should not be blamed for clients' difficulties since it was not responsible for picking assets in the funds or running them. It foresaw "little flowback" - continuing financial or legal liabilities. Barclays would in theory be obliged to make a statement only if the loss topped £700 million, a tenth of annual profits.

America's generals are at war, and not just with al-Qai'da and the resistance in Iraq. Now they are fighting among themselves about the best way forward in the ever-deepening tragedy of Iraq.

A virtual civil war has erupted as senior US generals disagree in public about whether to cut and run or stay the course. On the airwaves, the internet and in newspapers the argument is raging with commanders in the field coming to the point of insubordination with Pentagon generals.

A senior US commander in Iraq, Maj- Gen Rick Lynch, on Saturday publicly challenged Marine General Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the highest ranking soldier in the US, who is reportedly planning to advise President Bush to cut combat troops in Iraq during 2008 to below 100,000.

Maj-Gen Lynch, who commands 15,000 US and 7,000 Iraqi troops guarding the southern approaches to Baghdad, said a reduction in forces would be "a major step backwards". He said until the Iraqi army was ready to take over "in my battlespace ... I need the forces".

Iraqi police reportedly left when the Shia fighters arrived and began emptying the facility. According to witnesses, they made off with generators, computers, furniture and even cars, saying it was war booty - and were still in the centre yesterday evening.

The embarrassing episode, which comes as the British in Basra are preparing to move their remaining soldiers to the city airport as part of a planned withdrawal, once again highlights the strength of the militia in the city.

It further undermines Britain's hopes of a smooth transfer and gives the impression of a rout. Mr Sadr boasted in an interview with The Independent last week that the British had "given up" and were retreating because of the Iraqi resistance.

The MoD also tried to scotch any suggestion that the Americans were poised to send a stabilisation force to southern Iraq in the wake of a British pull-out. "There hasn't even been a decision as to when we leave Iraq so this proposal seems very unlikely," said the spokesman.

The MoD said Basra does not have the heavy fighting experienced in Baghdad and Iraqi forces are demonstrating that they can take the lead in the city.

Edward Cahill, 33, walked out of Barclays Capital following the collapse of investment schemes under his control worth millions of pounds. His disappearance has revived memories of the trader Nick Leeson, who infamously fled Barings Bank in 1995 after losing £830million of the firm's money, leading to its collapse.

Mr Cahill, who was known as "Captain Sensible" because he was considered a safe pair of hands, joined Barclays Capital in 2004, where he was European head of collateralised debt obligations - the parcelling up of loans and selling them on.

However, many of these multi-million pound financial packages are thought to have become worthless as a result of the credit crisis in the U.S. Mr Cahill's resignation at a time of general anxiety in the financial markets has led to speculation that the bank may have suffered heavy losses.

A Barclays Capital spokesman said the idea Mr Cahill was a new Nick Leeson "was just stuff and nonsense".

A source at the bank said: "He would never have been in a position to do anything like Leeson."

The move underlines the kingdom's growing concern about its oil installations after threats from al-Qaeda to attack facilities in the Gulf, as well as rising tensions between Iran and the US. The force already numbers about 5,000 personnel, a Saudi adviser said on Sunday.

The kingdom, which is the world's biggest oil exporter and has 25 per cent of the world's proven oil reserves, is investing an estimated $4bn-$5bn in the new equipment and the force. The force is expected to reach 35,000 within two or three years.

Saudi Arabia has a 75,000-strong army, an air force of 18,000, a navy of 15,500 and an air defence force of 16,000. Its oil installations are protected from within by 5,000 agents employed by Aramco, the state oil company. It has more than 80 oil and gas fields and an estimated 11,000 miles of pipeline.

Former Clinton Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, a strong proponent of free trade and globalization, is warning the U.S. could be heading into recession due to the ongoing sub-prime mortgage crisis. "It would be far too premature to judge this crisis over," Summers told the London Telegraph for today's edition. "I would say the risks of recession are now greater than they've been any time since the period in the aftermath of 9/11."

Traders are bracing for another week of uncertainty after the near breakdown of America's $2,200 billion market for commercial paper. Investors are said to be waiting to learn whether or not the Federal Reserve would succeed in stabilizing the market, the latest domino to fall in the spreading contagion from sub-prime debt.

Investors have suddenly lost trust in this form of debt, fearing it may be tainted by exposure to [collateralized debt obligations]," writes veteran journalist Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in the Telegraph. He notes stock markets rallied late last week on the belief the Fed would start to cut its key lending rate next month, and that the European Central Bank would refrain from further tightening.

The US states of Idaho and California have, like Greece, been hit by wildfires, while Ohio, already suffering from flooding, was hit by tornados that left hundreds of thousands with no electricity. Meanwhile, China, India and Romania have been suffering from severe flooding.

In the US, a mandatory evacuation was ordered for residents of more than 1,000 homes south of Ketchum in Idaho where a massive wildfire raged. And in California, a seven-week-old wildfire has been burning in Santa Barbara county and a recommended evacuation has been put into effect.

In Ohio, beleaguered residents were picking up the pieces after tornado-bearing thunderstorms knocked out power across the state. Powerful storms during most of the past week caused disastrous floods from south-eastern Minnesota to Ohio that were blamed for at least 18 deaths.

In China, the official Xinhua News Agency yesterday reported torrential rainstorms had triggered landslides and floods, killing at least 13 people.

In India, nearly 2,000 people have been killed by snake bites, drowning, diarrhoea and in house collapses since July when swollen rivers burst their banks, inundating huge areas in eastern India and Bangladesh. The death toll rose by 74 over the weekend.

Overnight rains also caused widespread flooding in Romania, when rivers overflowed, leaving about 1,400 people stranded in villages and forcing the evacuation of the 17th-century Sambata de Sus Monastery. The rain followed three days of unusually high temperatures of up to 40C (104F).

Skies cleared over Chicago as the storms moved east and south, while tornado warnings were issued for parts of Ohio. Storms have battered US states from Minnesota down to Ohio in the last week or so, killing at least 17 people. More than 650,000 customers in Illinois lost their power supply after a major storm on Thursday.

"There's so much flooding continuing from the rain and run-off from two days ago," said Mark Ratzer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "That's going to take a while to recede," he told the Associated Press.

The states of Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota are cleaning up after their earlier flooding.

The £224m Contact Point System will contain details of the 11m children in the country. It goes live next year. But the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS) has outlined "significant" concerns, The Times said. However, the Department for Children, Schools and Families insisted the system would be secure.

The system was set up after the official inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie concluded the eight-year-old's murder could have been prevented if there had been better communication between the professionals involved. However, The Times said the ADCS had written to Christine Goodfellow, who is in charge of Contact Point, expressing concerns about the policing and vetting arrangements.

Richard Stiff, the chairman of the ADCS information systems and technology policy committee, said it "may allow a situation where an abuser could be able to access Contact Point for illegitimate purposes with limited fear of any repercussions".

Around 330,000 approved users, including head teachers, doctors and social workers, will have access to the database, The Times said. Security concerns were heightened by the disclosure that the details of the children of politicians and celebrities were expected to be excluded, the newspaper added.

However, the Department for Children, Schools and Families insisted the new system would be secure.

Father Vincent Brennan said this in a statement issued today that responds to the proposed legislation that would amend South Africa's 1996 act legalizing abortion. The bill exempts maternity clinics from a 24-hour waiting period to perform abortions, and allows nurses to perform the procedure. Until now, abortions have been restricted to only doctors and midwives.

The bishops' statement said: "Society and the Church cannot profess to support the right to life and yet allow thousands of women to experience the distress and need which causes them to contemplate abortion." It continued: "The genuineness of convictions about the right to life of the unborn child must be measured by our willingness to give the necessary support.

"Those who are in a position to help, and who do not, cannot escape their responsibility. No woman should feel that she must face an unhappy pregnancy alone. The Catholic Church," the statement added, "exercising this consistent life ethic, is committed to various initiatives that provide vulnerable women with alternative choices to abortion, such as adoption."

The U.S. bishops condemned Amnesty International's recent decision to support abortion, and said that it will only work with organizations that promote the right to life from conception to natural death. The bishops also urged the organization to reverse its policy, which they said "undermines Amnesty's longstanding moral credibility and unnecessarily diverts its mission."

Their position was outlined in a statement sent Thursday from Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. "In promoting abortion," said Bishop Skylstad, "Amnesty divides its own members -- many of whom are Catholics and others who defend the rights of unborn children -- and jeopardizes its support by people in many nations, cultures and religions who share a consistent commitment to all human rights."

The bishop said that while the "essential work of protecting human life and promoting human dignity must carry on - we will seek to do so in authentic ways, working most closely with organizations who do not oppose the fundamental right to life from conception to natural death."

"True commitment to women's rights," he continued, "puts us in solidarity with women and their unborn children. It does not pit one against the other but calls us to advocate on behalf of both." Bishop Skylstad added: "We call upon Amnesty International once again to act in accord with its noblest principles, reconsider its error, and reverse its policy on abortion."

It's costing the NHS £10bn a year, £200m of which is wasted on drugs that are never used. Nina Lakhani reports on a dangerous addiction Britain is in the grip of a prescription drug-taking epidemic, with unprecedented numbers of medicines being handed out by GPs, costing billions of pounds and stretching already tight NHS resources to breaking point.

Prescription drug use has increased by 27 per cent in the past five years and the NHS drug bill topped £10bn in 2006. GPs prescribed 918 million medicines last year compared with 721 million five years ago, according to figures obtained by The Independent on Sunday.

Health experts put rocketing prescription numbers down to medical advances, but also point to poor prescribing by GPs, growing public demand for a "pill for every ill" and aggressive marketing tactics by the pharmaceutical industry, which prompted one MP to warn that the UK is heading towards what he called "pharmageddon".

The worst infernos were concentrated in the mountains of southern Greece and on the island of Evia north of Athens, and early Sunday, flames approached villages just outside Ancient Olympia.

After first light Sunday, firefighting planes began dropping water in the area, and Ancient Olympia mayor Giorgos Aidonis said the site was no longer in imminent peril. Dozens of charred bodies were found across fields, homes, along roads and in cars, including the remains of a mother hugging her four children.

Church bells rang out in the village of Kolyri near Ancient Olympia as panicked residents tried to gather their belongings and flee through the night, said one man who called the television station. "The situation is desperate," said another. "I can't describe this in words, it is a national tragedy."

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said arson was suspected in some of the blazes. "So many fires breaking out simultaneously in so many parts of the country cannot be a coincidence," he said in a nationally televised address. "The state will do everything it can to find those responsible and punish them." The government also announced a reward of up to £500,000 for anyone providing information that would lead to the arrest of an arsonist.

Hot, dry seasonal winds drove the flames across a landscape parched by successive heat waves. Reduced winds and a slight dip in temperatures were forecast for Sunday. The fires were so severe that authorities said they could not yet provide an estimate of how much damage they had caused, nor what expanse of land had been burned.