What it describes as a "possible source of redemption" for Ms Rice could be costly for us. It is hard to be encouraged by what some distinguished commentators, quoted in the article, say about her efforts. HER STRATEGY IS TO JUST KEEP KNOCKING ON THIS DOOR, WITHOUT A STRATEGY, MAKING IT UP AS SHE GOES ALONG IN AN EFFORT TO PUT SOMETHING TOGETHER . . . This determination is now tied to not just the perception of the national interest, but her own personal interest too.

It is possible, though unlikely, that Ms. Rice could change the historical record in her remaining time in office. If she pulls a rabbit out of her hat on the Israeli-Palestinian question, and some kind of political compromise in Iraq, it could partially salvage her legacy.

One of Ms Rice's partners in her effort is our prime minister. And he, too, seems inclined to salvage something from a damaged reputation. Hanging over him is an official recommendation to open police investigations about one charge of corruption, several other charges working their way through the bureaucracies, and the prospects of a damning report by an official commission investigating last year's war in Lebanon.

A METAPHOR FOR BOTH RICE AND OLMERT COMES FROM AMERICAN FOOTBALL. BOTH ARE THROWING A "HAIL MARY" PASS. IT IS LATE IN THE GAME; THEY ARE BEHIND; AND A LONG PASS MIGHT SALVAGE THINGS. MY RECOLLECTION FROM WATCHING AMERICAN FOOTBALL IS THAT LONG PASSES USUALLY GO ASTRAY.

The football is in the air. We do not know where it will land by November. We have not yet concluded the worst and left the stadium, but the Rice-Olmert team may have to chock up a loss on this game

Stuart Hine, of the National History Museum, said: "We are getting a lot of reports of people finding them in their gardens. Last year we had unprecedented numbers.

"We are about to start the spider season - when females are at their largest and when the males look for mates - so we could see more." Female wasp spiders are around the size of a 2p piece, with body marking resembling those of wasps and bees.

But while they can bite, the creatures are not poisonous. The males, which are far smaller and brown, are often eaten by the females after mating. Because of this danger, males lurk on the edge of the female's web until she sheds her skin. For a while after this process her jaws are soft so he can mate in relative safety. Despite such precautions, many males are still devoured by their partners.

Climate has been linked to the spread of a number alien species across Britain in recent years.

Among them are scorpions which are reported to have migrated from colonies in London's docks.

A plausible connection to tantrums, poor concentration and slow progress at school is understood to have been found in a study to be published by the Government's Food Standards Agency. Food industry leaders have been summoned to a meeting with the FSA today for a briefing on the research and its implications.

THE FINDINGS, FROM SOUTHAMPTON UNIVERSITY, RAISE THE POSSIBILITY OF PARENTS SUING FOOD MANUFACTURERS IN THE SAME WAY TOBACCO FIRMS HAVE BEEN PURSUED BY CANCER VICTIMS IN THE U.S. The study could also mean the industry will have to reformulate a vast array of children's products. Some supermarkets and manufacturers have pre- empted the study by announcing bans on suspect additives in sweets, cakes and soft drinks.

THE FSA HAS CLOAKED THE FINDINGS IN SECRECY but its experts are expected to tell parents the only way to avoid any risk is to cut the additives from their children's diet. Health campaigners, however, believe a more stringent legal ban is necessary. The risk of allergic reactions, such as breathing problems and asthma, from certain additives was established more than 20 years ago.

The Southampton research is expected to support the fears of Sally Bunday of the Hyperactive Children's Support Group. She said the reaction to the artificial chemicals could be "horrendous in terms of mood swings with crying, screaming, inability to sleep". She added: "There can also be physical reactions such as difficulty in breathing and skin rashes".

The additives may help explain the rise in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in children. Some 359,000 prescriptions for ADHD prevention drugs are issued each year, up 90-fold since the early 1990s. Critics of food additives believe this disruptive behaviour can be cured by a return to natural food, rather than drugs.

Vyvyan Howard, professor of bioimaging at Ulster University and an adviser to the FSA, called for the additives to be removed on a precautionary basis. HE SAID: "THEY HAVE NO NUTRITIONAL VALUE, SO WHY PUT THEM IN? "There are very tight restrictions banning these additives from foods designed for children under the age of one. But why stop there? "Children's brains and nervous systems are developing beyond the age of one."

THE COLOURS, TESTED ON GROUPS OF THREE-YEAR-OLDS AND EIGHT-TO-NINE YEAR OLDS BY THE SOUTHAMPTON RESEARCHERS, WERE TARTRAZINE (E102), PONCEAU 4R (E124), SUNSET YELLOW (E110), CARMOISINE (E122), QUINOLINE YELLOW (E104) AND ALLURA RED AC (E129). THE TEAM ALSO LOOKED AT THE EFFECT OF THE PRESERVATIVE SODIUM BENZOATE (E211), WHICH IS COMMONLY USED IN SOFT DRINKS.

For instance, science still cannot pinpoint what makes a person's eyes blue. Initial study of genome entrepreneur Craig Venter's own DNA map shows 4.1 million places where his genetic code is different from the basic "reference" human genome. This is many more than had been expected, including big differences that extend far beyond the single-letter changes that account for much of the variation seen so far.

"I think the biggest surprise is we are lot more different from one another than we thought," Venter said in a telephone interview. But there are still some mysteries. "I found out that I have a high probability of having blue eyes," the blue-eyed Venter said in a telephone interview. "You can't even tell with 100 percent accuracy if I would have blue eyes, looking at my genetic code," he laughed. "We all thought that would be simple."

The researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Maryland, along with teams at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and the University of California San Diego, analyzed Venter's genetic code to compare it with the rival human genome maps published in 2001 by Venter's private company and the publicly funded Human Genome Project.

The study is available freely to the public at http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-

But the president, flanked by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, did not say how many troops could be withdrawn or how soon. Despite intense pressure at home for cutbacks, Bush said decisions about troop levels "will be based on a calm assessment by our military commanders on the conditions on the ground - not a nervous reaction by Washington politicians to poll results in the media.

"In other words," the president told cheering troops, "when we begin to draw down troops from Iraq it will be from a position of strength and success - not from a position of fear and failure."

Critics of the war argue that while the troop buildup may have tamped down violence, the Iraqis are making almost no headway toward political reconciliation. They cite a handful of gloomy progress reports trickling out of Washington that show some success in curbing violence, but little progress toward political power-sharing agreements.

There are now 162,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, including 30,000 that arrived since February as part of Bush's revised strategy to provide security so Iraqi leaders could build a unity government.

And research suggests their cynicism is justified - with green taxes raking in £10 billion more for the Treasury than it would cost to offset the entire UK's carbon footprint. The figures are contained in a dossier compiled by pressure group the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA).

The document is likely to provide grim reading for politicians of all colours - including Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Tory leader David Cameron - who are committed to making individuals pay for habits which damage the environment.

Using previous international research into climate change, the report estimated that covering the social cost of carbon emissions would have cost £11.7 billion in 2005. But receipts from green taxes such as fuel duty, road tax and the Climate Change Levy totalled £21.9 billion. On average every household in the UK paid £400 more in levies than it cost to cover their own footprint, the TPA claimed.

North Korea may be impotent in cyberspace, but its neighbour is not. The Chinese military sent a shiver down the Pentagon's spine in June by successfully hacking into an unclassified network used by the top policy advisers to Robert Gates, the defence secretary.

Sami Saydjari, chief executive of Cyber Defense Agency and a former Pentagon cyber expert, warns of the potential for terrorist groups, such as al-Qaeda, to attack the financial, telecoms, and power sectors.

TO UNDERSCORE THE THREAT, HE NOTES THAT NO CYBER RED TEAM - HACKERS ENLISTED TO ATTACK SYSTEMS TO HELP IDENTIFY WEAKNESSES - HAS EVER FAILED TO MEET ITS OBJECTIVE.

Gregory Garcia, the assistant secretary for cyber security at the department of Homeland Security, says the number of cyber incidents reported to the department's computer readiness team so far this year is 35,000. That compares to 4,100 for the whole of 2005.

The Pentagon acknowledged shutting down part of a computer system serving the office of Robert Gates, defence secretary, but declined to say who it believed was behind the attack. Current and former officials have told the Financial Times an internal investigation has revealed that the incursion came from the People's Liberation Army.

Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, raised reports of Chinese infiltration of German government computers with Wen Jiabao, China's premier, in a visit to Beijing, after which the Chinese foreign ministry said the government opposed and forbade "any criminal acts undermining computer systems, including hacking".

"We have explicit laws and regulations in this regard," said Jiang Yu, from the ministry. "Hacking is a global issue and China is frequently a victim."

The PLA regularly probes US military networks - and the Pentagon is widely assumed to scan Chinese networks - but US officials said the penetration in June raised concerns to a new level because of fears that China had shown it could disrupt systems at critical times.

"The PLA has demonstrated the ability to conduct attacks that disable our system - and the ability in a conflict situation to re-enter and disrupt on a very large scale," said a former official, who said the PLA had penetrated the networks of US defence companies and think-tanks. Hackers from numerous locations in China spent several months probing the Pentagon system before overcoming its defences, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Pentagon took down the network for more than a week while the attacks continued, and is to conduct a comprehensive diagnosis. "These are multiple wake-up calls stirring us to levels of more aggressive vigilance," said Richard Lawless, the Pentagon's top Asia official at the time of the attacks.

DO BANK share prices matter? And to the extent that they do, are they now signalling a recession ahead?

The crisis that has gripped the financial sector in recent weeks has centred on a collapse of confidence in financial products, starting with US subprime mortgage loans and spreading out across the much larger market in asset backed commercial paper. While dealings in this market tend to be undertaken at one remove from the retail banks, giants such as HBOS, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland are seen as the most exposed to this flight of confidence and for the debt as it ultimately falls due.

This is why the banking sector of the London stock market has been so badly affected by the turbulence of the past few weeks. There are now signs of some recovery but few are convinced that we have seen the end of this crisis. These concerns are of particular interest to the financial sector in Scotland as it has come to be dominated by two large banks - Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS. Shares in these companies are down by 20 per cent and 24 per cent respectively from their high points just a few months ago.

There are three ways in which the liquidity crisis in the banking sector could transmit a slowdown in the wider economy.

The first and most immediate is through a sharp fall in corporate mergers and acquisitions. The second conduit is through the adoption by the banks of tighter lending criteria, both for business borrowers and for households. And the third transmission mechanism is the effect on business and household confidence.

Financial sector retrenchment is likely to come in banking and corporate advisory work and to a lesser extent in fund management. And as this has been the fastest sector of the economy in Scotland, the repercussions could soon be felt. Markets will continue to be watched with apprehension.

For this we can thank those who recklessly - or mischievously - chose to revive the European Constitution after rejection by the French and Dutch people, when common sense urged Brussels to lie low, lick its wounds, and rediscover patience.

By reopening this can of worms, they have already let France's Nicolas Sarkozy excise the clause "free and undistorted competition" from the core objectives of the Union. Adieu to the single market, the one incontrovertible benefit of EU membership.

It would never have been easy to win a British referendum on the original (better) text, which furnishes the EU with the apparatus of a thrusting state - president, foreign minister, justice department, supreme court, energy tsar, and treaty-making powers. It will be much harder now.

Gordon Brown's plan to slip it through Parliament is becoming untenable in the face of a backbench revolt by Labour MPs, a united Tory opposition, and likely calls for a vote by the Liberal Democrats. As David Blunkett said last week, Downing Street has failed to justify why Labour is violating its manifesto pledge to hold a referendum. "It is critical for the Government to demonstrate the difference between the original constitutional treaty and the current treaty," he said.

Well, yes, and how is this to be done when Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the author, himself says the changes are "more cosmetic than real", that "the substance is similar or even the same," and that the label constitution has been dropped to "make a few people happy"?

Should Gordon Brown persist with this charade, he will be chased out of Downing Street within two years.

Where all this might end is anybody's guess, but it is a fair assumption that Mr Sarkozy will quickly press for a core-Europe, one more willing to entertain his plans for "Community Preference" (a semi-closed trade bloc), a managed exchange rate, and perhaps capital controls - as allowed by majority vote under Article 59. By then, the French, Spanish, Greek, and Italian housing booms will have popped, so the mood will be receptive.

What we take for granted as the permanent post-War order is more fragile than it looks. Tug too hard on the British thread, and the European system quickly starts to unravel. Jean Monnet would have seen the dangers of this. Germany's Angela Merkel does not. The provincial and ill-advised Kanzlerin has over-played a tactical hand, heedless of strategic risk. The die is caste.

US President George Bush has made an unannounced visit to Iraq on the day British troops completed their pull out of Basra. Iraqis are celebrating the move as a defeat, but Gordon Brown insisted Britain could still intervene in Basra when necessary. The American response to the pull out has so far been muted, despite its crucial timing.

Bush administration officials were reportedly furious that the operation was launched at a time when the president is begging for more time for his "surge" strategy to turn the tide of the war - though no official comment has yet been made. The MoD dismissed claims that the Americans had been left out of the loop.

The decision to hand the palace to Iraqi authorities was taken with the backing of the US and other coalition forces and in consultation with the Iraqi government, said a spokesman. Downing Street refused to say if Mr Brown had discussed the withdrawal with President George Bush but a spokesman said the Prime Minister was in "close contact" with the White House.

With 145 mph winds, Felix headed west, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, which warned the "extremely dangerous" storm could strengthen before it reaches the Honduran coast on Tuesday and then slams into Belize, where many residents were still cleaning up from last month's Hurricane Dean.

Some 300 tourists were evacuated from Honduras' islands by midday Monday, and 400 others were awaiting flights, said Armando Funez, a spokesman for the country's National Airline Association. Winds and surf were picking up, with some waves crashing 15 feet higher than normal.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE.

ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP) -- Hurricane Felix rapidly strengthened into a dangerous Category 5 storm and churned on Monday toward Central America, where forecasters said it could arrive as a "potentially catastrophic" storm. Tourists jammed the airports seeking flights out.

Felix was packing winds of up to 165 mph as it headed west, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. It could hit Honduras' coastline on Tuesday before slamming into Belize, where many residents were still cleaning up from last month's Hurricane Dean.

The 550 soldiers have handed Basra Palace over to Iraqi control and joined 5,000 troops at the UK's last base, near the airport, outside the city. The Ministry of Defence said the handover of Basra province was now due in the autumn. The prime minister said the withdrawal was "pre-planned and organised" and UK forces would take an "overwatch" role.

This will mean troops cannot go out unless requested by Iraqi authorities, but they will still train and mentor Iraqi security forces. The PM told the BBC's Today programme that the number of British troops in Iraq would remain roughly the same, and that they could "re-intervene" if necessary.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made the announcement on state media. His claim has met with scepticism at the UN.

Western powers accuse Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons - a charge Iran denies. There's particular concern about progress in Tehran's uranium enrichment programme because the process can be used to make fuel for power plants or material for bombs.

Iran says it wants to master nuclear technology so it can generate electricity and save its oil and gas resources for exports.

Until now, Tasers - which emit a 50,000-volt electric shock - have been used only by specialist officers as a "non lethal" alternative to firearms. However, they can now be used against all potentially violent offenders even if they are unarmed.

Tasers work by firing metal barbs into the skin which then discharge an electrical charge which is designed to disable someone long enough to allow police to detain them safely.

Amnesty International claims Tasers have been responsible for 220 deaths in America since 2001. Many cities and police forces there have banned their use against minors.

Taser International, the American firm that makes the device, said tests on pigs suggested the weapons were safe. The Association of Chief Police Officers, which issues guidance to forces on the use of weapons, said Tasers would be made "readily available" for "conflict management" at incidents of "violence and threats of violence of such severity that they will need force".

Non-firearms officers in ten forces will be trained to use the weapons. Every incident they are involved in will be assessed over a 12-month trial period.