Tamir said that Hamas was "building an army" in the Gaza Strip and had obtained unprecedented capabilities through smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt. On Monday, head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Yuval Diskin said that since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, the Palestinians have smuggled over 112 tons of explosives into the Strip.

"They are trying to dig tunnels, build surveillance positions and mortar-fire stations along the fence," Tamir told reporters during a briefing concerning the death of IDF reservist Ehud Efrati during clashes with Hamas gunmen early Monday morning. Tamir said that for the IDF's current purposes there was no point in expanding the operations deeper into Gaza. He also said that while the IDF was working to reduce the Kassam fire from Gaza there was no perfect solution. "They can fire Kassams from one edge of Gaza all the way to the other and farther," he explained. "We are operating close to the fence since that is where they fire mortar shells, anti-tank missiles and dig tunnels."

Also on Monday, senior Hamas official Nizar Riyan said Hamas will overthrow Fatah and takeover the West Bank in less than a year. "Next fall we shall pray in Ramallah," Israel Radio on Monday evening quoted Riyan as saying during a rally in the Gaza Strip refugee camp of Jabaliya. Senior PLO official Yasser Abed Rabbo said in response that Riyan should be "admitted to a mental institution."

Despite reports over the weekend that A GAP SUPPLIER had sub-contracted work to the illegal sweatshop in the Shahpur Jat area of Delhi, Indian police did not raid the address until the Daily Telegraph produced photographs of the children still at work.

The Telegraph visited the complex posing as a buyer for a fictional boutique fashion outlet in London. After negotiations with managers to view the quality of the workmanship and photograph samples, The Telegraph was shown to a series of 12 dingy rooms where both adults and children squatted on the floor performing delicate embroidery and stitching.

"Once we saw the photographs we knew that we had to act fast," said Bhuwan Ribhu, a Delhi lawyer and activist with the Indian branch of Global March Against Child Labour. "THE CHILDREN ARE AGED EIGHT TO 15 and at least three of them have told me already that they were working for no pay at all."

THE UNITED NATIONS ESTIMATES THAT 55 MILLION CHILDREN AGED FROM 5 TO 14 ARE CURRENTLY EMPLOYED IN THE DOMESTIC AND BUSINESS SECTORS IN INDIA, PRODUCING UP TO 20 PER CENT OF INDIA'S ANNUAL GDP. "Many of the children are conned from their parents by unscrupulous people-trafficking operations," Mr Ribhu said. "The agents make promises that the children will earn thousands of rupees and make their fortune in the big cities." But in reality, most work for nothing except their food for at least the first 12 months and then earn between 1,200 and 1,500 rupees (£15-£19) a month, which is half the minimum wage of 3,200 rupees (£40)."

After news broke that a Gap supplier had been using child labour - a piece of Gap packaging was still on view at Shahpur Jat - the company immediately ordered an investigation, describing the allegations as deeply upsetting. "We appreciate that the media identified this subcontractor and we acted swiftly in this situation. Under no circumstances is it acceptable for children to produce or work on garments," said a spokesman for Gap, which employs 90 inspectors to ensure suppliers follow the company's guidelines.

After the police raid, the man responsible for bringing the children to Delhi, Sheikh Mubidul, was to be found not in hiding, but giving interviews to local TV stations, angrily denouncing the police action. "The children came from Madnipur District, West Bengal, and their parents sent them with me so they could learn how to work and get enough to eat," he said. "In their villages they have nothing, so we help them in this way."

Asked if he thought it was wrong to condemn children to a life of labour at such a young age, he replied: "They have no food to eat, so they must work. What else can they do?".

Nine French nationals working for child relief NGO Zoe's Ark were arrested on Thursday as they prepared to spirit 103 Darfur orphans away from the Chadian city of Abéché on a chartered plane. According to press comments by Zoe's Ark colleagues in France, the unauthorized attempt to hustle the children out of the region flouted administrative procedure to obtain permission. Such time-consuming steps, they say, clashed with the greater humanitarian urgency of getting the orphans to care and safety in France.

Chadian authorities arrested the local Zoe's Ark official involved in the operation on charges of "kidnapping and child trafficking" - condemning the entire effort as a humanitarian-masked scheme to sell orphans to French families for profit. Chadian President Idriss Déby went so far as to accuse the group of being "paedophile" while the groups French lawyer called the entire matter politically motivated.

So why the suspicion that the placement of those 103 children with French families were permanent transactions? First off, all of the 103 families paid between $2,800 and $8,400 as part of the process of volunteering - that is, money to the NGO above whatever amount caring for the children will cost. Meanwhile, Chadian authorities say the Darfur children - taken from refugee centers administered by the NGO - showed no signs of hunger or illness that would make their departure urgent. Finally, with neither the nationality nor even exact identity of most children fully established, officials in Chad and France wonder how Zoe's Ark leaders could possibly know if the parents are indeed dead.

Zoe's Ark's French lawyer, meanwhile, has pointed out the Chadian officials remain angered by a French-inspired deployment of U.N. peacekeeping troops to eastern Chad to protect Darfur refugees - an attitude he says may motivate what he considers a framing of the Zoe's Ark workers.

In July, a post was made to numerous jihadist boards citing a previously issued fatwa authorizing the setting of forest fires as a weapon of jihad. The post began "this is an invitation to the Muslims of Europe and America, Australia and Russia to burn forests." It went on to state the justification under Islamic Sharia law for this action and to cite its benefits for jihadists.

The post, revealed in G2 Bulletin's report, cites an undated video that shows Abu Mus'ab al Suri, author of "Call to Global Islamic Resistance" and advocate of the doctrine of individual terrorism, discussing the benefits to the jihad of setting forest fires. CALIFORNIA AUTHORITIES HAVE CONFIRMED SOME OF THE WILDFIRES WERE SET DELIBERATELY, and a terror watch organization says THE CIRCUMSTANCES MATCH TERROR PLANS THE FBI ALERTED LAW ENFORCEMENT TO SEVERAL YEARS AGO.

"In 2003 an FBI memo alerted law enforcement agencies that an al-Qaida terrorist being held in detention had talked of masterminding a plot to set a series of devastating forest fires around the western United States," the National Terror Alert Response Center warned. "It was reported that the detainee, who was not identified, said the plan involved three or four people setting wildfires using timed devices in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming that would detonate in forests and grasslands after the operatives had left the country," the advisory continued. "The detainee believed that significant damage to the U.S. economy would result and once it was realized that the fires were terrorist acts, U.S. citizens would put pressure on the U.S. government to change its policies."

WND reported in 2004 that an Arabic-language jihadi website also posted a message purporting to be "al-Qaida's plan of economic attack" on the U.S. that including proposals to turn the nation's forests into raging infernos.

Less than two months ago, more than 50 people were killed and scores more hospitalized with serious injuries as a result of wildfires in portions of Greece. Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis expressed his suspicions. "SO MANY FIRES SPARKED SIMULTANEOUSLY IN SO MANY PLACES IS NO COINCIDENCE," he said when the blazes erupted.

And Terror Watch notes a top prosecutor in Greece now has begun investigating whether the arsons were, in fact, terrorism. Dimitris Papangelopoulos said the investigation will determine "whether the crimes of arsonists and of arson attacks on forests" should be prosecuted under the nation's anti-terrorism law.

Arab terrorists in Israel have started dozens of major forest fires over the years. As far back as 1988, Israeli police caught more than a dozen Palestinian adults in the act of setting fires, while other Arabs confessed to arson after arrest. Some fires followed specific calls by underground Arab terrorists. A leaflet issued by the Palestinian uprising's underground leadership called for "the destruction and burning of the enemy's properties, industry and agriculture."

During the past 30 years, only 1977, 1981, and 1983 have had less activity to date. For the period of June 1 - TODAY, only 1977 has experienced LESS tropical cyclone activity than 2007. For the North Atlantic basin, Tropical Storm Noel is currently too weak to impact any of these results.

However, one should always be prepared for late-season developments since hurricane season ends on November 30.

Mr Mubarak said he had decided to go ahead with the programme because energy security was such an important factor in Egypt's development. Egyptian officials announced plans last year to revive civilian nuclear activities but at the time they spoke of building a single power station. The United States said it would offer its co-operation in the project.

Mr Mubarak's announcement comes just a few days before his party holds its annual conference and the BBC's Heba Saleh in Cairo says the timing seems calculated to give a boost to the party's image. Many Egyptians view the development of a nuclear programme as an issue of national pride, our correspondent adds. Demand for electricity has been growing at an average rate of 7% a year in Egypt and the country faces worsening shortages.

Cairo froze its nuclear power programme 20 years ago, following the accident at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine. However, it did maintain a small experimental nuclear reactor. In February 2005, the International Atomic Energy Agency disclosed that it was investigating Egypt's nuclear activities. Egypt admitted to failing to disclose the full extent of its nuclear research activities to the UN's watchdog. Officials said the failure arose because of a misunderstanding over exactly what had to be disclosed.

Egypt is a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which allows countries to build nuclear power stations under international supervision.

The decision will see Mr O'Neal, 56, pay the price for the company's disastrous involvement in the US sub-prime mortgage sector and a bungled personal attempt to merge the bank with rival Wachovia. Mr O'Neal could walk away from Merrill with stock, options and retirement benefits worth about $160m.

The grandson of a former slave, Mr O'Neal is the first African-American to head a bulge bracket US investment bank. But his position has become increasingly unstable in recent weeks as the cost of writedowns due to the credit market's turmoil have mushroomed dramatically.

Three weeks ago, Merrill announced a $4.5bn writedown on the value of its securities and sub-prime assets. Last week it revealed a further $3.4bn of writedowns, taking the total to $7.9bn and leading the company to report a $3.5bn loss for the third quarter - the biggest quarterly loss in the company's 93-year history.

This year more than 1,000 sq km (386 sq miles) of GM maize was harvested. The biotech industry says this proves its products are appealing to farmers and are safe for the environment. The only genetically modified crop grown widely in Europe is maize which is resistant to the corn borer - a moth larva which eats the stem.

THE MAIZE IS CULTIVATED FOR ANIMAL FEED - NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. Planted in Spain for the last 10 years, the maize is now proving popular in France where the acreage has tripled in a year and also in Germany and the Czech Republic. Neither the pest nor the GM maize is found in Britain.

One thousand sq km (386 sq miles) is still a small fraction of the total farmed area of Europe and also tiny compared with the ONE MILLION SQ KM (0.38 MILLION SQ MILES) UNDER GM AROUND THE WORLD - an expanse four times the size of Britain.

Clare Oxborrow is a Friends of the Earth food campaigner. She told the BBC that the increase in the area planted with GM crops should not be viewed as beneficial. "The reality is, these crops have failed to deliver benefits, and more and more evidence is, in fact, coming to light showing that THERE ARE INCREASED CONCERNS ABOUT THEIR ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS," she said.

"GM crops, GM industry is not competitive, it is not creating jobs, it is not creating any new environmental benefits, it's not accepted by consumers, and I think we need to take a long, hard look. THESE FIGURES TODAY ARE MORE ABOUT THE INDUSTRY TRYING TO REASSURE ITS INVESTORS THAN ANY SIGNIFICANT SUCCESS."

We ought to be realistic about the future. And yes, scary things are happening. We read about an impending cyber-storm and the storm super-worm. Is someone taking over the world's computers for sinister purposes? It seems they are. Last June the Chinese military successfully hacked into Pentagon computers, demonstrating a capability to disable U.S. defense systems.

In Europe Russia is rearming and one of its new weapons is the world's most powerful fuel-air bomb, made specifically for destroying urban resistance. The news in the Middle East gets worse and worse. The United States has announced sanctions on Iran despite Russian and Chinese objections. Meanwhile, the U.S. government appears nervous about an impending terror attack. The American public is confused and the people are no longer united. The economic news is even more frightening.

The United States is headed into a crisis of unprecedented proportions. The dollar continues to lose its value versus other currencies. Look at the price of oil this week. Look at the price of gold. These are objective measurements that defy market optimism. Consider the following sources of trouble: (1) runway debt, (2) credit inflation, (3) the bursting real estate bubble, (4) government spending and (5) hidden monetary inflation. In Michael J. Panzner's book, Financial Armageddon, we learn how creaky America's retirement regime is, and how liable to collapse. We read about that great house of cards, the derivatives business.

In fact, it now appears that default is inevitable on many fronts. The U.S. government has made big promises related to financial and economic matters. Today's government takes care of millions of people; but this cannot continue indefinitely. And America's financial crisis isn't an exclusively American problem. The welfare state advances toward bankruptcy in Europe, North America and Japan.

Ancient political thinkers wrote about basic human corruption. When exposed to money and power for any length of time, people tended to become spoiled. The occasion of this spoiling heralded bloody upheavals and revolutions. In America and Europe we have already seen a social revolution. The attitudes of our grandparents have been disputed and set aside - in matters of church, state and family. New attitudes have taken their place. Our grandparents were strict in ways we are not strict. They were disciplined in ways we are no longer capable of discipline. They were frugal, and the Great Depression was real to them. Today we borrow money, and we borrow again. We are addicted to debt.

The dollar has been compromised in this process. And a new political situation will flow from this, both at home and abroad. The enemies of the United States are poised to take advantage of America's financial demise. Demagogues and troublemakers from within the country are also prepared. We have right wing fanatics and left wing fanatics eager to win followers. In a severe crisis the moderates of the political "center" tend to melt away. Discredited by the failure of the status quo, the moderate loses his voice. His truth no longer rings true. Instead, the unbalanced fanatic appears to be correct. People discover that the system is rotten after all. The system, in fact, is collapsing.

One might assume that this crisis is merely bad for Americans. The truth is that when the United States turns inward, global impoverishment and war must follow. Those who argue that the United States is the author of the world's miseries have misread their history. The period following World War II was a period of unprecedented progress and prosperity for mankind. The United States deserves the credit, not the blame, for the last sixty-two years of peace.

The decline of the United States unleashes the genie that was bottled up in the 1940s. Dictatorship and war will break free. Nuclear and biological weapons will be used to settle old scores. The use of these weapons will not be restrained. Billions of people will perish. Most will die of starvation.

Once a downward motion begins it is sustained by something akin to momentum. Civilization has climbed so high that any stumble must be fatal. Much of what unfolds will be made possible by false thinking and the spread of false ideas. We have the accumulated wisdom of great economists and political thinkers to fall back upon. But we have neglected their works. We have grown superficial and stupid in our prosperity, adopting policies that guarantee catastrophe.

It is madness, all madness. It continues, it unfolds and nobody can arrest its progress.

Just before Sir Isaac Newton died, he described how humbled he felt by the thought that he had glimpsed only a fraction of the potential of the great scientific revolution he had helped to launch: "I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

Three centuries later, that great ocean of truth is not so mysterious. According to the theoretical physicist Professor Michio Kaku of the City College of New York, we are entering an empowered new era: "We have unlocked the secrets of matter. We have unravelled the molecule of life, DNA. And we have created a form of artificial intelligence, the computer. We are making the historic transition from the age of scientific discovery to the age of scientific mastery in which we will be able to manipulate and mould nature almost to our wishes."

Among the technologies he believes will change our lives in the coming decades are cars that drive themselves, lab-grown human organs, 3D television, robots that can perform household tasks, eye glasses that double as home-entertainment centres, the exploitation of genes that alter human ageing and the possibility of invisibility and forms of teleportation.

"We will have the power to animate the inanimate, the power to create life itself," says Prof Kaku. "WE WILL HAVE THE POWER OF GODS. BUT WILL WE ALSO HAVE THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON?"

CRUDE OIL prices appear increasingly likely to hit a record in real terms reached during the second oil crisis in 1979, as nominal prices on Monday continued rising well above $90 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude hit a fresh nominal all-time high of $93.20 a barrel on Monday on a combination of renewed geopolitical tension over Iran's nuclear programme, weakness of the US dollar and low inventories.

THE PRICE OF GOLD edged closer to 800 dollars an ounce on Monday, as it struck the highest level since the start of 1980 owing to the weak dollar and record high crude oil prices, traders said. On the London Bullion Market, gold prices surged as high as 794.70 dollars an ounce, which was last seen in January 1980. Gold prices have jumped by about a third in value over the past year. Gold's all-time record high price stands at exactly 850 dollars an ounce, which it reached on January 21, 1980.

THE DOLLAR slipped lower against the euro, reaching a record low, then continuing its slide in morning European trading on Monday, as markets looked for signals from the U.S. Federal Reserve about a likely rate cut this week. The 13-nation euro opened at $1.4428, besting its previous high of $1.4393 on Friday in New York and then proceeded to climb to $1.4438 in midmorning trading, before falling back to $1.4430 -- well above the $1.4385 it bought in late New York trading on Friday.

In trading Monday, one British pound bought $2.0566 compared with $2.0521 on Friday while the dollar was down against the yen, dipping to 114.19 yen from 114.22 yen on Friday.

Its rulers face the delicate task of responding to pressure for reform while combating a growing problem of extremist violence.

Named after the ruling Al Saud family, which came to power in the 18th century, the country includes the Hijaz region - the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and the cradle of Islam. This fact, combined with the Al Sauds' espousal of a strict interpretation of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism, has led it to develop a strongly religious self-identity.

Saudi Arabia was established in 1932 by King Abd-al-Aziz - known as the Lion of Najd - who took over Hijaz from the Hashemite family and united the country under his family's rule. Since his death in 1953, he has been succeeded by various sons. The Al Saud dynasty's monopoly of power meant that during the 20th century successive kings were able to concentrate on modernisation and on developing the country's role as a regional power.

The Al Saud dynasty holds a monopoly of power; political parties are banned and the opposition is organised from abroad; militant Islamists have launched several deadly attacks. It has always been in the ruling family's interests to preserve stability in the region and to clamp down on extremist elements. To this end, it welcomed the stationing of US troops in the country after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. But the leadership's refusal to tolerate any kind of opposition may have encouraged the growth of dissident groups such as Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda, which benefited from popular resentment against the role of the US in the Middle East.

After the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington of 11 September 2001 - carried out mainly by Saudi nationals - the Saudi authorities were further torn between their natural instincts to step up internal security and pressure to allow a greater degree of democracy. In 2003 suicide bombers suspected of having links with al-Qaeda killed 35 people - including a number of foreigners - in the capital Riyadh. Some Saudis referred to the attacks as their own 9/11.

Since then, demands for political reform have increased, as has the frequency of militant attacks, some of them targeted at foreign workers. The security forces have made thousands of arrests. Municipal elections in 2005 were a first, limited exercise in democracy. But political parties are banned - the opposition is organised from outside the country - and activists who publicly broach the subject of reform risk being jailed.

Saudi Arabia sits on more than 25% of the world's known oil reserves. It is capable of producing more than 10 million barrels per day; that figure is set to rise. Saudi Arabia is one of the main players in the Arab and Muslim worlds; its stature is built on its geographic size, its prestige as the custodian of the birthplace of Islam and status as major oil producer

Full name: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Population: 25.6 million (UN, 2005)
Capital: Riyadh
Area: 2.24 million sq km (864,869 sq miles)
Major language: Arabic
Major religion: Islam
Life expectancy: 70 years (men), 74 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 Riyal = 100 halalah
Main exports: Oil, gas, cereals
GNI per capita: US $11,770 (World Bank, 2006)

He also said Britain failed to act on information passed by the Saudis which might have averted terrorist attacks. BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says Whitehall officials have strenuously denied this.

Speaking through an interpreter, the Saudi monarch said he believed most countries were not taking the issue seriously, "including, unfortunately, Great Britain".

"We have sent information to Great Britain before the terrorist attacks in Britain but unfortunately no action was taken. And it may have been able to maybe avert the tragedy." The Saudi leadership maintains that it passed the UK information that might have averted the London bombings of 2005 if it had been acted on. An investigation by Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) found no evidence of any intelligence passed on by the Saudis that could have prevented the 7 July 2005 bombings, the BBC's Frank Gardner said.

The king's visit has provoked controversy over Britain's relationship with Saudi Arabia. Acting Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable has announced he is boycotting the visit, citing the corruption scandal over Al Yamamah arms deal, and the Saudis' human rights record. "I think it's quite wrong that as a country we should give the leader of Saudi Arabia this honour," he said.

Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, urged Prime Minister Gordon Brown to tell the Saudis that their human rights record was "totally unacceptable". She added: "Mr Brown's message should be - reforms need to come, and they need to come quickly." A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said that the decision to invite King Abdullah was a reflection of the "long-standing friendship" between the two nations.

As Iraq has collapsed in bloodshed and chaos, in recent months a "blame game" between London and Washington has been opening up. At issue is the failure to plan properly for what would follow the invasion. There was looting and anarchy almost as soon as the statue of Saddam was toppled back in April 2003.

The Americans hadn't prepared for this - even though a power vacuum always follows the overthrow of a regime almost as night follows day. The insurgents soon filled it. The truth is both governments got just about everything wrong in their assumptions as to what would follow the fall of Saddam.

The reconstruction of Iraq was the biggest project of its kind since the American General George C Marshall planned for the reconstruction of Germany after World War II. Marshall got three and a half years to do it. Both London and Washington only put their planning units in place about eight weeks before the invasion.

The evidence suggests that in the rush to war, planning for what came afterwards was not a first order priority in either Washington - or London.

In the southeastern United States, farmers are struggling with failing crops, environmentalists warn of impending disaster and three states are locked in battle over the use of a rapidly dwindling manmade lake.

"Nearly half of the Southeast is in extreme drought and water supplies have reached critical levels in some cities," says Michael Halpert, head of forecast operations at the official Climate Prediction Center.

In California, a week of infernos destroyed hundreds of houses and businesses, forced over 500,000 people to flee their homes. Many parts of the state have experienced record low rainfalls this year as temperatures shot to all-time highs, leaving vast swaths of parched countryside at the mercy of fires propelled by powerful winds.

Los Angeles recorded just 8.15 centimeters (3.21 inches) of rain in the year to June 30, making it the driest year on record since 1877. The city draws half its water from the Sierra Nevada mountains, which have provided only around 20 percent of normal levels. Meteorologists fear a dry winter will prolong the drought in many of the affected regions.