The Blessing is recited daily in synagogues in Israel by descendants of Aaron the Priest, and only on festivals in the Diaspora.

The special visit was held to commemorate the 842nd anniversary of Maimonides's famous visit to the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site. A group of some 25 Jews, organized by the Temple Institute in Jerusalem, marked the special day with a commemorative visit. Giving extra-special meaning to the occasion was a spontaneous Priestly Blessing delivered to the group by Yehuda Katz, the lead singer of the Reva L'Sheva band, and Eliezer Breuer, originally of the former Soviet Union and now from Kiryat Arba.

Rabbi Chaim Richman, one of the organizers of the trip, said, "This was probably the first time since the destruction of the Temple [1,928 years ago] that the Priestly Blessing was delivered on our holiest site. At times like these, when there is talk of giving away our precious places, and when despair is sometimes in the air, events of this nature serve to remind us that G-d has not forgotten about us, and that He still has big plans for both us and the Holy Temple - and that the Temple will yet become the focal point of the world once again."

Another notable aspect of the visit was the welcoming attitude of the police. "In an unusual departure from standard procedure," one participant said, "we found that the police were particularly sympathetic to our needs. At one point, when the Moslem Wakf guards started yelling that we were praying, one of the policemen took our side and even threatened to remove them if necessary."

Critics said the British Board of Film Classification's members had adopted a policy of "anything goes" and were a "law unto themselves". The controversy was triggered by the board's decision to approve the ultra-violent film Eastern Promises without any cuts.

The 18-certificate movie, which is released this week, includes graphic scenes of throatslitting, child prostitution and a man having an eye gouged out. A spokesman for the board said it was up to adults to decide what they wanted to watch and that movie-goers were free to look away from the screen.

But John Beyer, of pressure group Mediawatch UK, said the board should be sacked for failing to show leadership at a time when street violence is spiralling. "The BBFC has become increasingly lax and ineffective and is completely out of touch with public opinion," he told the Mail.

- These are some of the milestones in 70 years of censorship:

1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Enchanted forest scenes deemed unsuitable for "nervous children".
1939, Gone with the Wind: Clark Gable's line, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn", cleared in U.S. after special appeal.
1962, Lawrence of Arabia: Battle scenes cut for being too brutal.
1964, Carry on Cleo: Bawdy humour and near nudity trimmed to win an "A" rating.
1974, Cockfighter: Film about clandestine sport in the Deep South refused BBFC certificate because of "extreme" violence.
2004, 9 Songs: Featured real sex but granted 18 certificate with no cuts.
2006, Destricted: Series of pornographic films passed uncut by BBFC as "a work of art not intended to arouse".

THE price of peas and other vegetables have soared by as much as 65 per cent because of this summer's floods, according to the latest industry figures. The sharp price rises in legumes, including peas and beans, as well as cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli and brussels sprouts, have been sparked by disastrous UK harvests.

Now leading trade magazine The Grocer claims retailers are desperately trying to slow the 40 per cent harvest shortfall by introducing dramatic price hikes. Its researchers found the sharpest increase was on the price of peas, with Tesco's own label frozen peas, which previously retailed at £1.08, now selling for £1.79 for a 1.2kg pack. Other packs in the same supermarket have increased by 23 per cent and Birds Eye frozen peas have also leapt substantially in price.

Tim Mudge, of the Processed Vegetable Growers' Association, confirmed the wet summer weather was starting to have a major impact on prices. "Earlier in the year retailers were locked in a price battle on peas, ignoring the realities of supply and demand," he said. "Now they are trying to avoid running out of stock."

Concerns were first raised by farmers - particularly those in the Gloucestershire and Worcestershire areas - who watched as their crops were submerged by the flood waters.

Steven Watkins, of Sheepcote Farm in Severn Stoke, saw his entire summer crop of sweetcorn, parsnips, potatoes, spring onions, peas and beans wiped out. He said: "It just shows how fragile the food supply chain is. I suppose these price rises may come as a bit of a wake-up call to some people."

Farmers have also been engaged in a long-standing fight with supermarkets to be paid a "fairer price" for their milk. However when Arla Food Milk Partnership increased the amount it paid dairy farmers by 5p per litre in August, the supermarkets raised shelf prices by the equivalent of 8.8p per litre, to make sure they didn't lose out.

The damage done to New Orleans in 2005 has spurred two rival teams of climate experts, in America and Israel, to redouble their efforts to enable people to play God with the weather. Under one scheme, aircraft would drop soot into the near-freezing cloud at the top of a hurricane, causing it to warm up and so reduce wind speeds. Computer simulations of the forces at work in the most violent storms have shown that even small changes can affect their paths - enabling them to be diverted from major cities.

But the hurricane modifiers are fighting more than the weather. Lawyers warn that diverting a hurricane from one city to save life and property could result in multi-billion dollar lawsuits from towns that bear the brunt instead. Hurricane Katrina caused about $41 billion in damage to New Orleans.

Hurricanes form when air warmed over the ocean rises to meet the cool upper atmosphere. The heat turns to kinetic energy, producing a spiral of wind and rain. The greater the temperature differences between top and bottom, and the narrower the eye of the hurricane, the faster it blows.

Moshe Alamaro, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), told The Sunday Telegraph of his plans to "paint" the tops of hurricanes black by scattering carbon particles - either soot or black particles from the manufacture of tyres - from aircraft flying above the storms. The particles would absorb heat from the sun, leading to changes in the airflows within the storm. Satellites could also heat the cloud tops by beaming microwaves from space.

The MIT team has now hired a professor of risk management to advise on steps necessary to protect themselves from legal action by communities affected if a hurricane is diverted. It is pressing for changes to US law and for an international treaty to settle possible disputes between neighbouring countries.

Mr Alamaro said: "The social and legal issues are daunting. If a hurricane were coming towards Miami with the potential to cause damage and kill people, and we diverted it, another town or village hit by it would sue us. They'll say the hurricane is no longer an act of God, but that we caused it."

US banks have raised reserves for loan losses by at least $6bn over the second quarter and by even larger amounts from last year, indicating financial executives believe consumers will be increasingly unable to make payments on a variety of loans.

Banks are adding to reserves not just for defaults on mortgages, but also on home equity loans, car loans and credit cards.

"What started out merely as a subprime problem has expanded more broadly in the mortgage space and problems are getting worse at a faster pace than many had expected," said Michael Mayo, Deutsche Bank analyst.

The Civic Platform defeated the conservative Law and Justice party of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski in Sunday's election after a record number of Poles turned up at the ballot box to reject social conservatism and isolationism. The Platform's victory will be greeted with relief in EU capitals where the Kaczynskis have earned a reputation of troublemakers with their nationalist agenda since coming to power in 2005.

"Poland's credibility will be rebuilt," said Zbigniew Lewicki, a foreign policy expert at the University of Warsaw. "We have a chance of becoming a normal European country." Despite a booming economy, the Kaczynskis had ruled during constant infighting, particularly over the campaign against post-communist graft that has been their central policy. Kaczynski, whose party got over 30 percent of the vote, conceded defeat. His twin brother Lech, the president, does not face an election until 2010 but opposition parties together looked set to get enough seats in parliament to trump his veto power.

The opposition had accused them of abusing secret services and undermining good democratic practice with attacks on independent judiciary and tight control of state media. Following its victory, Platform leaders said they would try to put Poland's all-but-abandoned drive to adopt the euro back on track, with 2012-13 seen as the earliest entry date.

It promised to seek lower taxes, cut red tape and speed up privatization to help slash the budget deficit and debt -- key euro zone criteria seen as the main obstacles to euro zone membership. It also plans to bring home some 900 troops from the U.S.-led force in Iraq and may bargain hard with Washington over U.S. plans to set up a missile defense site in Poland, vehemently opposed by neighboring Russia.

Children in England are currently measured at the ages of five and 10, but parents are informed of the results only if they request them. The new plan may see parents getting results automatically. The Department of Health said ministers were prepared to go further and faster in the fight against childhood obesity, but no firm decisions had been made.

Between a quarter and a third of children are thought to be overweight, and doctors fear there will be an epidemic of poor health related to obesity in coming decades. An obese person dies on average nine years earlier than somebody of normal weight, while a very obese person's life is cut short by an average of 13 years.

Under the proposals being considered, information obtained under the measurement programme could be given automatically to parents, and involvement may become compulsory unless people choose to opt out of the measurement scheme. A recent report by the Foresight Programme argued that dramatic and comprehensive action was required to stop the majority of us becoming obese by 2050.

Its authors predicted that if current trends continue, in that year, 60% of men and half of women will be obese and cases of type 2 diabetes will rise by 70%. The report also suggested that cases of stroke will rise by 30% by the middle of the century and cases of coronary heart disease will rise by 20%.

President Hu Jintao won a second term as party and army chief, while four new faces joined the party's top body, the Politburo Standing Committee. They included two men seen as potential successors to Mr Hu in 2012 - Shanghai party chief Xi Jinping and the head of Liaoning province, Li Keqiang. Mr Xi ranked above Mr Li, suggesting he might be ahead in the succession race.

They walked out onto the stage in order of rank, with Xi Jinping at the head of the new appointees. Chinese Communist tradition dictates that the first new face of the new generation becomes the heir apparent, says the BBC's James Reynolds in Beijing. As things stand, Xi Jinping can expect to take over from Hu Jintao in 2012, our correspondent says.

Analysts say President Hu has solidified his grip on power as a result of the eight-day conference. The departure of Zeng Qinghong, an ally of 81-year-old former President Jiang Zemin, is seen as a boost to Mr Hu.

The new appointees to the Standing Committee now sway the balance of power away from those loyal to Mr Jiang, GIVING MR HU MORE ROOM TO PROCEED WITH HIS AGENDA OF ECONOMIC REFORM. The party's decision to enshrine HIS "SCIENTIFIC OUTLOOK ON DEVELOPMENT" into its constitution is also seen as a victory for the president.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in seven counties, with 35,000 acres (14,000 hectares) burnt from Santa Barbara to San Diego. In Malibu, a large blaze forced stars including film director James Cameron and Olivia Newton-John to flee. Officials say the ground is tinder dry after a record summer heatwave.

"The wildfires have caused the loss of human life and serious injuries," Mr Schwarzenegger's office said. And with forecasters predicting hurricane-force winds to continue until later in the week, thousands more homes could be at risk, says the BBC's David Willis in California.

During a long heatwave in July, wildfires scorched thousands of acres across California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, South Dakota, Washington, New Mexico, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. More than 1,500 firefighters are battling the blazes, including one in the town of Potrero, near San Diego. That fire killed one person and injured four firefighters and at least 10 other people, said Matt Streck, a spokesman for California's Department of Forestry.

It burned more than 14,000 acres (5,700 hectares) just north of the Mexican border town of Tecate, Mr Streck said. All 36,000 residents of Ramona, north-east of San Diego, were ordered to leave their homes as another blaze razed more than 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares), said San Diego sheriff's office spokesman Phillip Brust. "I can't ever remember doing this," Mr Brust said. "This fire is crazy."

In seaside Malibu, several buildings were destroyed and thousands of local residents evacuated as flames swept across the hills overlooking the ocean. Fanned by winds of up to 80mph (130km/h), the wildfire around Malibu had burnt about 1,250 acres (505 hectares) by mid-afternoon on Sunday (2200 GMT Sunday), officials said.

"Religions must never become vehicles for hatred," the Pope told the leaders attending a peace summit in Naples. The Catholic Church, said the Pope, would continue to seek dialogue to bridge the gap between cultures.

Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Zoroastrians are attending the event organised by the Sant'Egidio Community, a Catholic lay organisation. The three-day conference - entitled For a World Without Violence: Religions and Cultures in Dialogue - gathers scholars and religious leaders.

They include Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Israel's chief rabbi Yona Metzger and the imam of the United Arab Emirates, Ibrahim Ezzeddin. "In a world wounded by conflicts, where violence is justified in God's name, it's important to repeat that religion can never become a vehicle of hatred, it can never be used in God's name to justify violence," the Pope told the gathering.

"On the contrary, religions can and must offer precious resources to build a peaceful humanity, because they speak about peace in the heart of man. With respect for the differences between different religions, we are all called to work for peace and an effective effort to promote reconciliation between peoples."

BUT HE ALSO MADE IT CLEAR THAT HE WILL NEVER BUDGE ON TRADITIONAL CATHOLIC TEACHING, THAT CATHOLICISM ALONE IS THE ONE TRUE FAITH, reports the BBC's David Willey from Naples.

"We have not yet completed our own forecasts, so I turn to experts' views, according to which inflation could be about 10 percent," Kudrin told reporters. With the State Duma and presidential elections looming on the horizon, rising consumer costs and spiraling inflation are emerging as political hot potatoes.

Higher food prices were a dominant theme in President Vladimir Putin's televised call-in show Thursday, as several pensioners quizzed him on what he proposed to do about it. Putin announced that the government had started to sell grain from national reserves to ease domestic prices, a measure that comes on top of cuts in import tariffs on milk and other dairy products earlier this week. Putin also backed calls for a crackdown on local monopolies in the country's food markets.

Over the last year, milk prices have risen 16.5 percent, butter has risen 20.3 percent, vegetable oil 17.1 percent and meat 7.4 percent, Russian Newsweek reported Monday. State television this week has shown footage of Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov checking food prices in stores, a visible sign to voters that the government is taking the hikes in food prices seriously.

This county once had more orange and grapefruit trees than almost any other place in Florida, the nation's largest citrus producer. Now it's one of the fastest-growing counties in one of America's fastest-growing states, and that land is fast giving way to housing tracts.

The same is happening in varying degrees across Florida's citrus belt. It has been for years, but the slow slide has suddenly quickened. FARMERS ARE REPLANTING FEWER TREES THAN ANY POINT SINCE THE 1970S, AND CROPLAND IS RAPIDLY DISAPPEARING. High land prices, diseases such as citrus canker and greening, and even the rising cost of trees are hurting farmers and driving orange juice prices to record levels, up more than a third since 2002.

"It's a very, very expensive process to get back into the business, even though you have land sitting there fallow," said Doug Bournique, head of the Indian River Citrus League. "It's not a dollar a tree like it was 20 years ago, just to pop them into the ground." It can now cost $10 a tree.

Florida lost 127,182 acres (17 percent of its total) in the 2006 crop census - the second-worst drop in history behind only a January 1986 freeze. The net loss was higher than the previous eight years combined. THE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM IS THAT IT KEEPS COSTING MORE TO GROW. Canker and greening bacteria have forced farmers into tedious and expensive procedures to decontaminate workers and find infected trees.

CANKER, which makes fruit unusable, is spread by the wind and contaminated clothes and equipment. The disease has made three waves in Florida, the most recent starting in 1995. It quickly infected not only groves but also nurseries, leaving replacement trees in scarce supply. Previously, any tree within 1,900 feet of one tested positive for canker had to be destroyed. THE STATE ABANDONED THAT PROGRAM AFTER HURRICANES SPREAD THE DISEASE SO FAR IT COULDN'T BE CONTAINED.

GREENING kills trees and is spread by an Asian insect accidentally brought to Florida. Neither disease harms humans.

To protect trees, citrus nurseries now grow in greenhouses, and many are relocating away from commercial citrus territory. The changes have sent tree prices soaring. New stock won't be available until spring 2009 for Leroy Smith Inc., said Trey Smith, vice president of marketing.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran said this in an interview published today by the French Catholic daily La Croix, in which he commented on the letter sent last week. The text was addressed to Benedict XVI and the heads of Christian churches, and proposed that the two faiths cooperate IN ESTABLISHING PEACE AND UNDERSTANDING IN THE WORLD.

The 138 signatories of the letter offered an open invitation to Christians to unite with Muslims over what is most essential to their respective faiths -- the commandment of love. The appeal was welcomed by Anglican, Lutheran and evangelical leaders and the World Council of Churches.

Cardinal Tauran called the letter a "positive initiative, insofar as the text proposes co-operation based on common values: acknowledgement of one God, love of God for all mankind and the necessity to love one's neighbour. One aspect that struck me in a particular way is that, perhaps for the first time, the text signed by the Muslims presented Jesus of the Gospel with citations from the New Testament, and not from citations of the Koran."

The president of the dicastery said, however, that theological dialogue with Muslims would be difficult: "Muslims do not accept that one can question the Quran, because it was written, they say, by dictation from God. With such an absolute interpretation, it is difficult to discuss the contents of faith."

Cardinal Tauran commented on the 21st International Encounter of Peoples and Religions, which will take place Sunday. Benedict XVI will preside over the meeting's opening Mass in Naples' Piazza del Plebiscito. This year's meeting has the theme "Toward a World Without Violence: Religions and Cultures in Dialogue." The international encounters were inspired by the WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR PEACE convened by Pope John Paul II in Assisi in October 1986.

For the cardinal, inter-religious meetings such as the one in Naples "allow the 'spirit of Assisi' to survive." HE ADDED THAT THE GATHERINGS ARE ALSO REMINDERS OF THE GOAL OF PEACE, AND THAT RELIGION SHOULD BE A FACTOR IN THAT PROCESS. "If believers were consistent with their faith," he said, "maybe the world would be different. Because it is not religion that makes war, but men. In the end, religions are accused because of those who use religion for terrorist activities. Religion created fear because it was perverted by terrorism."

Ministers will announce that the unpopular hosepipe ban will go even further from next spring. In the event of shortages, householders will be banned from using water for a long list of activities from cleaning boats to jet-washing patios. A range of everyday uses of water will be deemed "luxuries", including washing the windows of a house.

Phil Woolas, the environment minister, said: "The plain fact is we can no longer use drinking water for luxuries at times of crisis. These new measures may seem harsh to some but future droughts, especially in southern England, are inevitable and we have to act."

Under the new rules, referred to as a "discretionary use ban", water companies will be able to restrict or prohibit the use of hosepipes or similar apparatus to wash private cars, to water gardens, lawns and landscaped areas; to operate ornamental fountains; to wash caravans and boats; to clean garden ornaments; to clean the exteriors, including windows, of domestic buildings and to fill domestic ponds, other than fish ponds. They will also be able to ban the filling of domestic swimming pools, paddling pools, hot tubs and similar facilities "whether by hosepipe or by permanent plumbing".

Jacob Tompkins, of the water protection agency Waterwise, said the actions of some householders during recent droughts had left the Government no choice. "During the last drought we saw some people, a small minority, still washing their patios," he said. "People have to realise that pressure washers and sprinklers are not toys. I know that a lot of people will feel resentful so we need to get more information to the public to explain why. It is quite obvious that more droughts are going to be inevitable, so taking action now to tighten up legislation restricting people from using pressure washers when there is an emergency is vital."

On Sunday, however, Benedict will be centre stage at the most lavish, and well-attended inter-religious ceremony of his papacy, organized by the same Sant'Egidio community that helped launch Assisi. What has changed? Why is Benedict marking 21 years since "the spirit of Assisi" was uncorked, after skipping out on the 20th anniversary?

A letter earlier this month addressed to the Pope and other Christian leaders, signed by 138 prominent Muslim clerics and scholars, is seen as a potential breakthrough in relations between Islam and Christianity. Of course, inter-faith dialogue for Catholics is hardly limited to Muslims. Perhaps highest of the priorities is finding unity with other Christian denominations. Benedict has also made clear his desire to reinforce John Paul's good relations with Jews. But both those dialogues have suffered some nasty hiccoughs.

The new Pope delivered his provocative lecture on faith, reason and violence that set off widespread criticism in the Muslim world, punctuated by acts of violence, including the burning of churches and the killing of a nun in Somalia. In July, the Pope allowed for expanded use of the old-rite Latin Mass, WHICH CONTAINS A GOOD FRIDAY PRAYER THAT OFFENDS SOME JEWS. A few days later, the Vatican's doctrinal office reiterated Benedict's stance - first stated when he was cardinal - THAT NON-CATHOLIC DENOMINATIONS OF CHRISTIANITY, EXCEPTING THE ORTHODOX, ARE NOT TRUE CHURCHES BECAUSE THEY CANNOT TRACE THEIR HIERACHIES BACK TO THE APOSTLES. (The Orthodox, however, are a reduced Church because they do not recognize the primacy of the Apostle Peter's successor, the Pope.)

IT IS AS CLEAR AS EVER THAT BENEDICT WILL NOT MINCE WORDS IN LAYING OUT HIS VISION OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE CATHOLIC, EVEN IF IT RISKS OFFENDING BOTH THOSE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE HIS OWN CHURCH.

Still, to mark 21 years since the Assisi gathering - to be held in the southern city of Naples - Benedict made sure to offer not only his written words, but his physical presence. Indeed, the Pope's positive RSVP means that some of the most influential leaders of other faiths will arrive as well, including ORTHODOX PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW I OF CONSTANTINOPLE, THE ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, ROWAN WILLIAMS, ISRAEL'S CHIEF RABBI, YONA METZGER, AND THE RECTOR OF THE AL-AZHAR UNIVERSITY IN EGYPT, AHMAD AL-TAYYEB.

"It is very encouraging that the Pope has decided to come," says Mario Marazziti, a spokesman for the Catholic Community of Sant'Egidio, the Rome-based group behind both the Assisi and Naples events. "At the same time we know this is a different Pope than John Paul who touched so many with the charisma of his person. This is a theologian-pope, who governs with his word." But more and more, Benedict also seems to understand that gestures - and even just showing up - are sometimes the best way to be heard.