With exotic names such as Colonel Murphy's and the Black Valentine, they were once common sights in the vegetable plots of Britain. Now around 98 per cent of our traditional greens have been wiped out, a study claims. RED TAPE AND MODERN FARMING METHODS HAVE MEANT THAT VIRTUALLY ALL THE VEGETABLES WE NOW EAT COME FROM JUST 20 SPECIES OF PLANT.

And the few remaining varieties from the Edwardian and Victorian eras face extinction because of European rules which only allow companies to sell seeds on an "official" list. Some of the varieties that have vanished were victims of changing tastes. But others were killed off by European regulations, introduced in 1970, which only allowed companies to sell vegetable seeds on an approved list.

Because it costs thousands of pounds to get a species approved by Brussels, many big growers no longer bother producing unusual seeds.

House prices are stalling. Consumer confidence is collapsing. Bad debt hammers at the doors of the banks. Things are "very, very tough" on the high street, according to Sir Philip Green, boss of Top Shop.

Meanwhile, financial advisers Merrill Lynch this week said that interest rates would have to fall sharply on both sides of the Atlantic if central bankers are to help prevent a recession led by rising oil and food prices, the house boom collapse and rising unemployment. They predicted that the economy was on the brink of the first consumer-led recession since 1991.

There's no doubt about it - the panic buttons are glowing red and a nation is moving its jittery fingers towards them. If it sounds grim, it also sounds familiar - at least to anyone over 35 who can remember the recession that kicked off at the fag end of the Thatcher revolution. After the booming 1980s it left a jagged detritus of collapsing house prices, home repossessions and rocketing unemployment.

Hawkins spent four years in treatment centres, care homes and foster care after threatening to kill his stepmother in 2002. Finally, in August 2006, social workers, the courts and his father agreed it was time for Robert Hawkins to be released - nine months before he turned 19 and would have been required to leave anyway.

On Thursday, while some of those who knew Hawkins called the massacre at the busy Omaha mall unexpected, not everyone was surprised. "He should have gotten help, but I think he needed someone to help him and needed someone to be there when in the past he's said he wanted to kill himself," said Karissa Fox, who said she knew Hawkins through a friend. "Someone should have listened to him."

After reviewing surveillance tape, a suicide note and Hawkins' last conversations with those close to him, police said they do not know - and may never know - exactly why Hawkins went to the Von Maur store at Westroads Mall and shot more than a dozen people. But he clearly planned ahead, walking through the store, exiting, then returning a few minutes later with a gun concealed in a rolled-up sweatshirt he was carrying, authorities said.

Acquaintances said that Hawkins was a drug user and that he had a history of depression. In 2005 and 2006, according to court records, he underwent psychiatric evaluations, the reasons for which Mr Landry would not disclose, citing privacy rules. In May 2002, he was sent to a treatment centre in Missouri after threatening his stepmother. Four months later, a Nebraska court decided Hawkins' problems were serious enough that he should be under state supervision and made him a ward of the state.

He went through a series of institutions in Nebraska as he progressed through the system: months at a treatment centre and group home in Omaha in 2003; time in a foster care programme and treatment centre in 2004 and 2005; then a felony drug-possession charge later in 2005. Mr Landry said court records do not identify the drug. The drug charge was eventually dropped, but he was jailed in 2006 for not performing community service as required.

On 21 August, 2006, he was released from state custody.

The heads of state of the world's largest trading bloc and its poorest continent are to approve an ambitious action plan intended to revitalise trade and improve cooperation in sensitive areas like immigration and peacekeeping. Even before the summit started, differences over getting new trade deals in place and over the attendance of Mugabe -- accused by the West of ruling like a dictator and wrecking his country's economy -- clouded the atmosphere in Lisbon.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is boycotting the summit because of Mugabe's presence, depriving the weekend meeting of high-level representation from a major former colonial power in Africa. The Czech president also stayed away.

Previous attempts to hold the summit have failed over the question of Mugabe's attendance but this time the EU, mindful of growing Chinese influence in Africa, lifted its travel ban on the Zimbabwean president. He arrived late on Thursday. Host Portugal, the current EU chairman, played down the controversy over Mugabe, saying there would be "no taboos" and that the meeting would not shy away from points of friction. EU officials were keen to emphasize the need for the summit.

"Africa and Europe are two neighboring continents, rich in a complex history. They are today determined to forge a new partnership and give up their sterile relation between the donor of the North and the beneficiary of the South," EU Aid and Development Commissioner Louis Michel said.

The supermarkets, along with a number of dairy firms, have agreed to pay fines totalling some £116m after an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) probe. Cases against Tesco and Morrisons will continue after no deal was struck.
The OFT said that in-store prices went up after the collusion, but the amount received by farmers did not increase.

However, the firms insist that the farm gate price paid for milk did rise and that they were not ripping off customers. The OFT said the collusion saw customers being charged 3 pence extra for a pint of milk, 15p extra per quarter-pound of butter and 15p per half-pound of cheese, the watchdog said.

The poll found that 27% of people were unable to identify Bethlehem as his birthplace, rising to 36% of people aged between 18 and 24. The poll, for public theology think tank Theos, also found 27% did not know who told Mary she would have a son. Last week a Sunday Telegraph survey suggested only one in five schools is planning a traditional nativity play.

The majority of the 1,015 adults questioned, 52%, could not name John the Baptist as Jesus's cousin. When asked where Joseph, Mary and Jesus went to escape from King Herod - which was Egypt - more than three quarters of people, 78%, gave the wrong answer.

The majority, 52%, thought they escaped to Nazareth. Paul Woolley, director of Theos, said: "The fact that younger people are the least knowledgeable about the Christmas story may reflect a decline in the telling of Bible stories in schools and the popularity of nativity plays.

"No one seriously thinks that being a Christian or a member of the established church is the same thing as being British today. But, at the same time, if we are serious about social cohesion we can't afford to ignore the stories that have bound us together as a culture for 1,000 years."

The quantity and auction venues will be announced Thursday or Friday, an official from the State Grain Administration told China Daily on Wednesday. State Grain Administration chief Nie Zhenbang said more corn will be auctioned if the price surges continue. Corn prices have been on the rise mainly because of expanded ethanol demand as global crude oil prices keep surging and the corn yield decreases both at home and abroad.

About 2 percent of the country's corn output, or 3-4 million tons, is used each year to make ethanol; and much of the rest is used for animal feed. Ethanol production is profitable even if oil prices hover around the $60-$70 a barrel mark. They are currently around $90.

The delegates each will produce an average 4.07 metric tons of carbon dioxide, or CO2, to reach the resort island 950 kilometers (600 miles) from Jakarta, according to estimates e- mailed to Bloomberg by the UN agency holding the conference.

Some of the 187 nations participating in the two-week forum promised to offset their so-called carbon footprint by planting trees or buying emission credits. The symbolic actions won't help stop global warming, some scientists say.

"It's very hard for the public to understand that you come together with so many people to a very distant place and cause a lot of emissions, and at the same time talk about emission reductions," Artur Runge-Metzger, head of climate strategy for the European Commission, said yesterday in an interview in Bali, adding that he had offset his own emissions.

It's two feet tall, travels ten miles an hour, and spins on a dime. Remote-controlled over an encrypted frequency that jams nearby radios and cellphones, it'll blow a ten-inch hole through a steel door with deadly accuracy from 400 meters.

The robot is fitted with the $8,000 Atchisson Assault-12 shotgun. It's made of aircraft-grade stainless steel, never needs lubrication or cleaning, and won't rust. Pour sand through it and it won't clog. It doesn't recoil, so it's accurate even when it's firing in automatic mode, which it does at a rate of 300 rounds per minute. Along with firing ridiculously powerful FRAG-12 ammo - a "straight-out-of-Terminator shell" - that contains a whirling miniature grenade - the AA-12 can handle non-lethal Tasers and even bullets that are deadly up to 120 feet but fall harmlessly by 800 feet.

"It delivers the lead equivalent of 132 M16s," says Baber. "When they start firing from every direction, it's all over. This will take the soldiers out of harm's way."

Pilgrims to the shrine in south-west France will receive "PLENARY INDULGENCES" from the Pontiff, which THE CHURCH SAYS REDUCE THE TIME SPENT BEING "WASHED" OF SIN AFTER DEATH. The indulgences will be available from this weekend until Dec 8, 2008. THE CHURCH TEACHES THAT PEOPLE WHO DO NOT GO DIRECTLY TO HEAVEN MUST SPEND TIME IN PURGATORY, WHERE THEY CAN BE PURIFIED OF RESIDUAL SIN. It is the latest initiative to get more pilgrims to the shrine, famous for the reported healing properties of its water. In August the Vatican opened an airline service offering pilgrims direct flights from Rome to Lourdes.

For those who cannot make the journey to France, the Pope will also grant indulgences to Catholics who pray at places of worship dedicated to the Madonna of Lourdes from Feb 2 to Feb 11. Indulgences may also be granted under special circumstances to people too sick to visit the shrine, the Vatican said. The offer comes as the shrine prepares to commemorate the 150th anniversary of when the Madonna was said to have appeared to a peasant girl in 1858.

The Pope is expected to visit next year, possibly in September or October.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas formally relaunched a U.S.-sponsored peace process last week and Israel has since stepped up raids on Hamas-run Gaza to try to curb rocket fire by militants.

Hamas Islamists, who have vowed to undermine the peace effort by fighting Israel, seized control of Gaza in a brief civil war with Fatah in June, prompting Abbas to dismiss a Hamas-led government and reopen talks with the Jewish state.

Hamas has since called for dialogue with Fatah but Abbas, who holds sway in the larger West Bank, rules out talks unless the Islamist group first gives up control of the Gaza Strip -- a condition Hamas rejects.

The prayer service was followed by a massive protest, co-sponsored by the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea and Samaria (Yesha), near the Prime Minister's residence. The protest was entitled, "It Will Blow Up in Our Face." At the time of the Western Wall prayer vigil, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was meeting in Washington with US President George Bush in preparation for the Annapolis summit on Tuesday.

The front line of religious-Zionist rabbis, led by Former Chief Rabbi of Israel Mordechai Eliyahu, called for the public to attend the Western Wall prayers. MK Uri Ariel (National Union party), among those who initiated the prayer service, said, "IT IS CRITICAL FOR US TO OFFER PRAYER TO OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN WHEN THE PRIME MINISTER WANTS TO SELL OUR NATIONAL HOMELAND. WE ARE HERE [AT THE WALL] TO SAY THAT WE TRUST IN G-D, AND THAT OLMERT HAS NO MANDATE TO GIVE UP JERUSALEM."

"Thus says the L-rd of hosts, 'This people says, "The time has not come, even the time for the house of the L-rd to be rebuilt."' Then the word of the L-rd came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 'Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your panelled houses while this house lies desolate?' Now therefore, thus says the L-rd of hosts, 'Consider your ways! You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.' Thus says the L-rd of hosts, 'Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the Temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,' says the L-rd." Haggai 1.2-8 [Arutz Sheva]

Organizations, speakers and supporters from across the spectrum of nationalist, right-wing and religious thought were present at the Renaissance Jerusalem Hotel to take part in the opening sessions. Though many of the participants have been at many right-wing gatherings before, a sense of cautious enthusiasm that "THIS COULD REALLY BE IT" was palpable. Co-organizer, Dr. Gadi Eshel, read aloud the Congress charter, entitled: "THE ETERNAL PEOPLE IN AN ETERNAL COVENANT IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL."

EXCERPTS: - "G-d commanded the land of Israel to the People of Israel as a heritage - to settle it, to walk through it, to love even its dust, to know it, to observe the Torah in it, to long for it throughout 2,000 years of Exile. And when the time of the Return to Zion came, we were to ingather our dispersed exiles into it, take the barely-alive remnants of Israel and revive them upon it, raise pioneers in it, settle it with brides and grooms, children, families and communities, build upon it towns and factories, preserve it, rejoice in its rebuilding, build in it a national home that would be a light unto the nations - AND TO ESTABLISH G-D'S HOLY SANCTUARY IN ITS HEART, JERUSALEM, ZION, ON MT. MORIAH.

Everything is interwoven and inseparable - the tradition of Israel, the holiness of the Land, the unity of the Jewish People in Israel and abroad, defence and security, and life of creativity and deep bonds with the land. IT CANNOT BE THAT A TEMPORARY RULE IN THE STATE OF ISRAEL WILL STEAL FROM THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL ITS LAND, WILL CONSPIRE TO EXPEL THEM AND GIVE IT AWAY TO A FOREIGN NATION - OUR BITTEREST ENEMY... Any traitorous or anti-Semitic declaration that emanates from the second Munich conference, wherever it is held, has no value whatsoever. The Nation of Israel and its State must shred it into the trash bin of history.

A GROUP OF PEOPLE THAT TAKE UPON THEMSELVES, SEEMINGLY IN THE NAME OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL, TO COMMIT NATIONAL SUICIDE, LOSE THEIR RIGHT TO RULE IN THE STATE OF THE JEWISH NATION. We hereby determine that IDF soldier and members of the Israel Police are forbidden to take part in the crime of expelling Jews from their homes and inheritance, of transferring parts of our Holy Land to our enemies, and endangering the Nation of Israel - in any form!

We call upon all those who are loyal to the Land of Israel and the Nation of Israel and every Jew who loves life, to arise, unite, remove the decrees "from our people and from the cities of our G-d," and emplace Jewish sovereignty over the entire Land. In the words of Joshua and Caleb when Moses sent them to scout out the Land, 'Let us ascend and inherit the Land, for we can overcome it.'"

Pray for this group as they move forward in their efforts to stop the division of G-d's land. G-d has said that He will raise up a remnant who will believe the promises He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. G-D GAVE THE LAND -- from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River Euphrates -- TO ISRAEL AND NO ONE ELSE. Am Yisrael Chai! [Arutz Sheva]

He welcomed the report on the civilian nature of the Iranian nuclear program by the US National Intelligence Estimates (NIE), but, at the same time strongly rejected allegations in the report that Iran had a weapons program before 2003. "Iran had never had a weapons program to stop in 2003," he said.

Hosseini said that Iranian nuclear activities had always been in line with the Non-Proliferation Treaty and that the International Atomic Energy has verified non-diversion of the Iranian nuclear program several times so far. "The Supreme Leader has already made it clear that Iran respects the religious prohibition of nuclear arms and the international conventions consistent with the nuclear program." Hosseini said.

Pointing to the threat of the Mediterranean Union, Merkel said it could ultimately lead to the 'corrosion of the EU's core area'. "This could unleash explosive powers in the EU which I do not wish for," added the German leader, speaking at a conference in Berlin.

Merkel, who is due to meet Sarkozy in Paris on Thursday, said common EU resources should not be used to create a Mediterranean Union. The French president has repeatedly called for such a strategic alliance since winning elections in early May.

Sarkozy seeks to include countries like Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Libya, in this union. Merkel has been at odds with Sarkozy on several issues including the French nuclear deal with Libya and the degree of autonomy of the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank.

Both leaders are also openly vying for the European leadership role.