Retired Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez also LABELLED US POLITICAL LEADERS AS "INCOMPETENT" AND "CORRUPTED". He said they would have faced court martials for dereliction of duty had they been in the military.

The best the US could manage under the current approach in Iraq was to "stave off defeat", Gen Sanchez warned. "There is no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight," he said, addressing journalists at Arlington, near Washington.

Gen Sanchez also quoted an ancient Japanese proverb:- "VISION WITHOUT ACTION IS A DAYDREAM; ACTION WITHOUT VISION IS A NIGHTMARE. "

David Cameron signals today that he will try to extend the dramatic political gains the Conservatives have made over the last fortnight by pressing ahead with his centrist, liberal agenda, inspired by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the Tory leader says his success in halting Gordon Brown's general election plans was not down solely to the Tories' promise to cut inheritance tax, but the product of two years of recasting his party as ready for the 21st century.

Speaking during an upbeat tour of the US west coast, Mr Cameron hailed Mr Schwarzenegger as a model centre-right politician and acknowledged his debt to the filmstar-turned-politician, describing himself as a fan. He said: "My wife said to me: 'How are you going to explain to an American audience what sort of Conservative you are?' I said: 'I'll say look at me and think of Arnold Schwarzenegger'."

Speaking later to the Guardian, Mr Cameron said: "He's [Mr Schwarzenegger] a very impressive politician. He's achieved huge amounts in California because he's had to work with a Democratic legislature, so he's very good at making compromises, making deals, getting things done. His analysis of US politics is very sharp."

"We are shocked and appalled that the governor has blatantly attacked traditional family values in California," said Karen England, executive director of Capitol Resource Institute. "WITH THIS DECISION, GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER HAS TOLD PARENTS THAT THEIR VALUES ARE IRRELEVANT. Many parents will have no choice but to pull their children out of the public schools that have now become sexualized indoctrination centers."

"ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER HAS DELIVERED YOUNG CHILDREN INTO THE HANDS OF THOSE WHO WILL INTRODUCE THEM TO ALTERNATIVE SEXUAL LIFESTYLES," said Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families, which worked to defeat the plans. "This means children as young as five years old will be mentally molested in school classrooms.

"Shame on Schwarzenegger and the Democrat politicians for ensuring that EVERY CALIFORNIA SCHOOL BECOMES A HOMOSEXUAL-BISEXUAL-TRANSSEXUAL INDOCTRINATION CENTER," he said.

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Muriel Newman, director of the New Zealand Centre for Political Research, told Academy President Sid Ganis and Executive Director Bruce Davis "the situation is not unlike that confronting sports bodies when their sports stars are found to be drug cheats."

"In such cases, the sportsmen and women are stripped of their medals and titles, with the next place-getter elevated," she said, according to the Australian Associated Press. "While this is an extremely unpleasant duty, it is necessary if the integrity of competitive sport is to be protected. "

The inaccuracies, according to the court, are:

1 - The film claims that melting snows on Mount Kilimanjaro evidence global warming. The Government's expert was forced to concede that this is not correct.

2 - The film suggests that evidence from ice cores proves that rising CO2 causes temperature increases over 650,000 years. The court found that the film was misleading: Over that period the rises in CO2 lagged behind the temperature rises by 800-2000 years.

3 - The film uses emotive images of Hurricane Katrina and suggests that this has been caused by global warming. The Government's expert had to accept that it was "not possible" to attribute one-off events to global warming.

4 - The film shows the drying up of Lake Chad and claims that this was caused by global warming. The Government's expert had to accept that this was not the case.

5 - The film claims that a study showed that polar bears had drowned due to disappearing arctic ice. It turned out that Mr. Gore had misread the study: In fact four polar bears drowned, and this was because of a particularly violent storm.

6 - The film threatens that global warming could stop the Gulf Stream, throwing Europe into an ice age: The Claimant's evidence was that this was a scientific impossibility.

7 - The film blames global warming for species losses including coral reef bleaching. The Government could not find any evidence to support this claim.

8 - The film suggests that the Greenland ice covering could melt, causing sea levels to rise dangerously. The evidence is that Greenland will not melt for millennia.

9 - The film suggests that the Antarctic ice covering is melting; the evidence was that it is in fact increasing.

10 - The film suggests that sea levels could rise by seven meters, causing the displacement of millions of people. In fact, the evidence is that sea levels are expected to rise by about 40 centimeters over the next hundred years and that there is no such threat of massive migration.

11 - The film claims that rising sea levels has caused the evacuation of certain Pacific islands to New Zealand. The Government are unable to substantiate this and the Court observed that this appears to be a false claim.

David Levy, a British artificial intelligence researcher at the college, wrote in his thesis, "Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners," that trends in robotics and shifting attitudes on marriage are likely to result in sophisticated robots that will eventually be seen as suitable marriage partners.

Levy's conclusion was based on about 450 publications in the fields of psychology, sexology, sociology, robotics, materials science, artificial intelligence, gender studies and computer-human interaction.

The thesis examines human attitudes toward affection, love and sexuality and concluded that the findings are just as applicable to human interaction with robots of the future as they are to the relationships between humans of today.

As Robert Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem bureau, both Jews and Muslims are claiming the city's holy sites as their own. A senior Palestinian official has thrown a wrench into peace talks by saying that the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, the holiest place in Judaism, belongs to Islam and the Palestinians.

The Palestinian Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Adnan Husseini says the Western Wall is a "Wakf" or Islamic Trust that must be returned to Palestinian control. He told Israel Radio that it is a supporting wall for the al-Aksa Mosque, the third holiest place in Islam.

For Israel, the wall is the last remnant of the biblical Temple, and turning it over to the Palestinians is unthinkable. As Israel and the Palestinians try to hammer out a declaration of principles to be presented at an international peace conference this year, Jerusalem is back on the negotiating table.

Reinforcing Palestinian demands, President Mahmoud Abbas said Israel must withdraw from all territory captured in the 1967 war, including Jerusalem's Old City. Israel's government says that is a non-starter.

"His strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change," the citation said. "He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted."

This year, climate change has been at the top of the world agenda. The UN climate panel has been releasing its reports; talks on a replacement for the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate are set to resume; and on Europe's northern fringe, where the awards committee works, concern about the melting Arctic has been underscored by this being International Polar Year.

Yesterday, a High Court judge in London made some distinctly inconvenient criticisms of "An Inconvenient Truth," the Oscar-winning documentary on global warming made by Al Gore. THE JUDGE FORENSICALLY EXAMINED THE DOCUMENTARY'S "ONE-SIDED" CASE AND FOUND "AT LEAST NINE SCIENTIFIC ERRORS" IN ITS CONTENT.

There were fewer than 133,000 divorces last year, a 6 per cent fall on 2005 and the lowest number since the mid-1970s. ONE REASON FOR THE DECLINE IS THAT FEWER PEOPLE ARE MARRYING. Only around half of women now have a husband and the ranks of cohabiting couples have grown by two thirds in a decade. THERE ARE NOW 2.3MILLION COHABITING COUPLES.

Last year just over 125,000 children under 16 were from homes with broken-marriages, down from over 153,500 in 2003. Among the most vulnerable children, those aged under five, numbers in families hit by divorce fell from 33,000 to 25,300 over the same period.

HOWEVER, THESE FIGURES COMPARE WITH INCREASING NUMBERS OF CHILDREN SUFFERING AS A RESULT OF BREAK-UPS AMONG COHABITING PARENTS. Each is statistically likely to split up after around three years, compared with 11 years for married couples.

The passing of the resolution by a House committee on Wednesday despite appeals by the Bush administration was denounced by President Abdullah Gul. Turkey accepts there were mass killings in 1915-17 but denies genocide.

Turkey's foreign ministry said the ambassador would return to Turkey for a stay of "a week or 10 days". "We are not withdrawing our ambassador," said ministry spokesman Levent Bilman. US President George W Bush had argued against the resolution, saying its passage would do "great harm" to relations with "a key ally in Nato and in the global war on terror".

Turkey is a regional operational hub for the US military, and some suggest access to Incirlik airbase or other supply lines crucial to US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan could be affected by the row. The US also fears Turkey may make a military incursion into northern Iraq to neutralise Kurdish separatist guerrillas, who continue to cross the border to ambush Turkish troops there.

Armenia alleges that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed in an organised campaign to force them out of what is now eastern Turkey. That is strongly denied by Turkey, which says that large numbers of both Turks and Armenians were killed in the chaos surrounding World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, when there was an uprising by Armenians.

Farmers in areas considered at low risk from both diseases - which excludes parts of SOUTH-EAST ENGLAND AND EAST ANGLIA - can resume exports. FARMERS SAY RESTRICTIONS THEY MUST COMPLY WITH ARE SO COMPLICATED THAT ONLY A MINORITY CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE. Exports were banned after the first foot-and-mouth outbreak in August.

All farms outside of an area which takes in south-east England and the Home Counties - deemed a "foot-and-mouth risk area" - and outside of bluetongue control areas - taking in Suffolk, parts of Norfolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire - are now allowed to export meat to the EU. Farmers say the people they supply in Europe are confident that demand for British meat is strong.

BUT INDUSTRY EXPERTS SAY THE REGULATIONS SURROUNDING THE LIFTING OF THE EXPORT BAN ARE SO TIGHT IT WILL BE VERY DIFFICULT FOR MOST FARMERS TO MEET THEM. Some are angry about what they say was the government's lack of consultation when the EU first made these proposals.

They say that, while British officials are now trying to make the lifting of the export ban workable, it is an uphill struggle. Last week, farmers in areas at low risk of foot-and-mouth disease were allowed to take their animals to market for the first time in almost a month.

Animals cannot be moved outside the zone, which had previously included much of East Anglia. The government's deputy chief vet, Fred Landeg, said the proximity of new cases in livestock to zone boundaries meant that they had to be widened. Farmers cannot move animals outside the control and protection zones.

On Wednesday, the number of confirmed cases of bluetongue disease rose to 34, the Department for the Evironment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said. The protection zone - from Lincolnshire to East Sussex - was set up after government vets confirmed bluetongue disease was circulating in the UK and was classed as an outbreak. Livestock owners within the protection zone are allowed to move animals only within its boundaries.

A stricter 20km (12-mile) control zone was set up in East Anglia around the known bluetongue cases. The control zone has been extended south into Essex and the protection zone extended to the south west, a spokeswoman for Defra said. Mr Landeg urged all farmers to remain vigilant and check their animals twice daily.

He said: "Finding further cases is not unexpected, particularly given the nature of the disease and its spread by midges, and we expect to see more cases before the end of the active midge season this winter. If we are to contain disease within the Control and Protection Zone, we must have an accurate picture of how far the disease has spread."

The majority of cases have been in Suffolk, with a cluster around Ipswich and another case near to Lowestoft.

The disease is transmitted by biting midges and the symptoms, which are most severe in sheep, include swelling and haemorrhaging in and around the mouth and nose.

E coli, Salmonella and Listeria are all susceptible to the effects of red wine, and Helicobacter pylori, a stomach ulcer-causing bug which is spread through food and drink, is particularly vulnerable. The study, carried out at the University of Missouri in the US, showed that Cabernet, Zinfandel and Merlot are particularly effective in fighting food-borne bugs. White wine, however, has no effect.

The researchers told a Chicago conference that their findings added to mounting evidence about the health benefits of a glass or two of red wine. Other recent research has shown that a glass or two of alcohol a day can extend life expectancy by almost four years. Wine was particularly beneficial, with just half a glass a day being enough to slash the risk of death from heart disease.

It is thought that the alcohol's health benefits come from its ability to prevent blood clots from forming and raise levels of HDL cholesterol - 'good cholesterol' which protects against hardening of the blood vessels. Red wine is packed with polyphenols, naturally-occurring compounds which are thought to hinder the build up of dangerous fatty deposits in the arteries.

Previous research has credited red wine with reducing the risk of developing cancer and staving off gum disease.

London was the area with the highest number of ceremonies, about 4,000, followed by the South-East, which accounted for about 2,700. There have been no gay "divorces" - formally known as a partnership dissolution - since the new law came in, although this is largely explained by the fact that a couple must have been married for a year before this can be legally approved.

The falling dollar led more foreigners to buy American in August, helping to push the trade deficit down to the lowest point in seven months. That was welcome news for the Bush administration as it tries to deal with A CONGRESS UNHAPPY OVER HUGE TRADE IMBALANCES AND 3 MILLION LOST MANUFACTURING JOBS.

President Bush also got good news Thursday on his other deficit headache. The budget deficit declined in 2007 to the lowest level in five years, dropping to $162.8 billion, an $85 billion improvement over 2006. Bush said the declining budget deficit was a sign that his economic strategy of cutting taxes to grow the economy was working. BUT DEMOCRATS POINTED TO THE SOARING NATIONAL DEBT UNDER BUSH AS EVIDENCE OF HIS FISCAL IRRESPONSIBILITY.

The Commerce Department reported that the trade deficit declined to $57.6 billion in August, down 2.4 percent from the July imbalance. It was the lowest gap between exports and imports since January and a much better showing than had been expected. A weaker dollar makes the cost of imports and foreign trips more expensive for Americans, but MAKES AMERICAN PRODUCTS CHEAPER ON OVERSEAS MARKETS.

THE BOOM IN U.S. EXPORTS IS HELPING TO CUSHION THE U.S. ECONOMY FROM THE ADVERSE EFFECTS OF THE HOUSING BUST AND A SEVERE CREDIT CRUNCH. Analysts said about one-third of overall economic growth in the July-September quarter is likely to come from the improved trade showing.

THROUGH THE FIRST EIGHT MONTHS OF THIS YEAR, THE TRADE DEFICIT IS RUNNING AT AN ANNUAL RATE OF $708 BILLION, DOWN 6.7 PERCENT FROM LAST YEAR'S IMBALANCE OF $758.5 BILLION, WHICH HAD BEEN THE FIFTH CONSECUTIVE RECORD DEFICIT.

"The global value of the dollar is really helping us," said Frank Vargo, vice president for international affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers. "U.S. manufactured goods exports are the strongest element in our economy now."

Even with the third straight monthly decline in the deficit, Bush's critics contended that the imbalance remains at harmfully high levels and the string of record deficits has contributed to the loss of 3 million manufacturing jobs since 2000. They linked the high trade deficits to the high budget deficits, which increase the country's dependence on foreigners to hold U.S. debt.

"UNLESS THE ADMINISTRATION REINS IN SOARING BUDGET AND WIDENING TRADE DEFICITS, ITS LASTING LEGACY WILL BE SELLING THE FUTURE OF OUR ECONOMY TO OUR TRADING PARTNERS AROUND THE WORLD," SAID SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER, D-N.Y.

The White House had previously announced that Bush and his wife, Laura, would attend the award ceremony on Capitol Hill. China views the Dalai Lama, who fled his homeland in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese Communist rule, as a separatist. The Nobel Peace Prize winner says he only wants greater autonomy for the predominantly Buddhist Himalayan region.

China reacted angrily when the U.S. Congress decided to give the Dalai Lama the medal, denouncing the decision as interference in its internal affairs. "The Chinese government strongly opposes the U.S. Congress giving the Dalai Lama a so-called award," said government spokesman Liu Jianchao. The award ceremony will be the first time Bush will have appeared in public with the Dalai Lama, who has visited the White House before but always for private meetings.

White House press secretary Dana Perino defended Bush's decision to attend the award ceremony. "This is a spiritual leader who is fighting for freedom and democracy, which the president is supporting as well," she said. "(Bush) understands that the Chinese have concerns about this. We would hope that the Chinese leader would get to know the Dalai Lama as the president sees him, as a spiritual leader and someone who wants peace."