A large dome of high pressure over the Gulf Coast states is pumping hot air into most areas east of the Rockies. The Severe Weather Center lists the widespread heat-related Warnings and Advisories in effect through much of this week.

Temperatures today will soar into the mid-to-upper 90s across the southern Plains, the Ohio Valley and the Southeast. Some centers top the century mark and challenge record highs. According to the East Regional News story, 90-degree heat will spread through the mid-Atlantic and parts of southern New England. Increased humidity will create dangerous RealFeel® temperatures near or above 100 degrees along the Interstate 95 corridor as far north as Massachusetts.

Residents should use extreme care during this heat wave to avoid suffering from heat-related illnesses. While the heat in the Northeast will ease slightly later in the week, there will be little or no relief from the sizzling temperatures in other regions.

The Southwest Regional News story reports the heat across the southern Plains during the upcoming days will be noteworthy. Today, the forecast high of 95 degrees in San Antonio, Tex., will be the first 95-degree day this year. By this date last year, the city had recorded more than 65 days of 95 degrees or higher.

Puberty is an unsettling stage in anyone's life, but if it happens at an age when you are still playing with dolls, it can be very worrying indeed. Doctors are increasingly worried about the number of girls - and boys - being referred to specialists because of this phenomenon of 'precocious' puberty.

The normal age at which puberty starts in both boys and girls has dropped by about two years since the 19th century, to 14 for boys and 12 for girls. This is largely due to improved nutrition - onset of puberty is believed to be triggered by physical size. Another theory is that the epidemic of obesity is to blame.

But modern social conditions may also be a contributory factor. Research suggests that children from broken homes experience earlier puberty. The stress of family breakdown apparently alters the balance of growth hormones and other chemicals in the body, speeding up a child's physical development. Absent fathers may be another cause. American researchers have found that biological fathers send out chemical signals that inhibit their daughters' sexual maturity. Girls whose fathers had left home started their periods earlier.

Early puberty has even been linked to watching too much television. A few years ago, Italian scientists found that children who watched three hours a day produced less of the sleep hormone melatonin - low levels of the hormone play an important role in the timing of puberty.

But perhaps more worrying is the theory that it's exposure to environmental chemicals which is causing the drop in the age of puberty. These chemicals mimic the effect of hormones, disrupting the normal timing of sexual maturing.

Whatever the cause, growing numbers of children are being deprived of childhood and are turning, physically, into mini-adults at an increasingly young age. But without the emotional maturity to deal with these changes, they are vulnerable to exploitation. In Britain, it is now estimated that up to at least one in six children under ten is affected.

Over the centuries there has been a steady decline in the onset age for puberty. In Victorian times, it was about 15 for girls and older for boys; before that, records from Renaissance choirs show that youths of 17 and 18 were often still to hit puberty because their voices had not yet broken.

There are increasing reports of very young girls getting pregnant. Most recent statistics (for 2003) show 148 girls aged 13 or younger had abortions. However, it could be that although the whole process is inexplicably starting earlier, it is taking longer to complete, and that parents are worrying unnecessarily.

TERRORISTS WHO HAD PLANNED TO DETONATE GEL-BASED EXPLOSIVES ON U.S.- BOUND FLIGHTS FROM LONDON LAST AUGUST WOULD HAVE ACHIEVED MASS DEVASTATION, according to new information from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in an exclusive interview with ABC News.

"I THINK THAT THE PLOT, IN TERMS OF ITS INTENT, WAS LOOKING AT DEVASTATION ON A SCALE THAT WOULD HAVE RIVALED 9/11," Chertoff told ABC's Pierre Thomas. "If they had succeeded in bringing liquid explosives on seven or eight aircraft, there could have been thousands of lives lost and an enormous economic impact with devastating consequences for international air travel."

Sources tell ABC News that after studying the plot, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS HAVE CONCLUDED THAT WITHOUT THE TIP TO BRITISH AUTHORITIES, THE SUSPECTS COULD HAVE LIKELY SMUGGLED THE BOMB COMPONENTS ONBOARD USING SPORTS DRINKS. THE COMPONENTS OF THAT EXPLOSIVES MIXTURE CAN BE BOUGHT AT ANY DRUGSTORE OR SUPERMARKET; scientists at Sandia National Laboratory conducted a test using the formula, and when a small amount of liquid in a container was hit with a tiny burst of electrical current, a large explosion followed.

The test results were reviewed today by ABC terrorism consultant Richard Clarke, who said that while frequent travelers are upset by the current limits on liquids in carry-on baggage, "when they see this film, they ought to know it's worth going through those problems." One official who briefed ABC News said explosives and security experts who examined the plot were "stunned at the extent that the suspects had gamed the system to exploit its weaknesses."

"There's no question that they had given a lot of thought to how they might smuggle containers with liquid explosives onto airplanes," Chertoff said. "Without getting into things that are still classified, they obviously paid attention to the ways in which they thought they might be able to disguise these explosives as very innocent types of everyday articles."

PASSENGERS ARE STILL RESTRICTED WHEN BRINGING LIQUIDS ONBOARD, AND THOSE RULES MAY REMAIN IN PLACE FOREVER.

And while he is confronted by pieces of data daily as Homeland Security tries to assess credible threats and piece together information, Chertoff said he remains continually struck by the nature of the enemy. "You know, we go about our business during the summer, other times of the year. People are going to ballgames or watching their children graduate from high school," he said, "AND IT CHILLS ME SOMETIMES TO THINK THERE ARE PEOPLE A HALF A WORLD AWAY WHO ARE SPENDING THE SAME PERIOD OF TIME IN A CAVE, TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO KILL US."

Ibrahim Mohammad Lawal was convicted of immoral behaviour by religious police who enforce the state's strict code banning women from mixing with men other than relatives. His "charitable act" has landed him 50 days and counting behind bars", Arab News, an English language daily, said.

The religious force has faced rare criticism and unprecedented legal action in recent months following the deaths of two men in its custody. Its officers wear long beards, loose headscarves and white robes and carry sticks. They patrol public places to ensure women are covered, the sexes do not mingle and that shops close five times a day for prayers. They also enforce bans on drugs, alcohol and prostitution.

Lawal, an Islamic studies student in Riyadh, took his 63-year-old neighbour to hospital after discovering she needed medical attention. When she returned home he wanted to check on her progress and was admitted to her apartment where she was with three female relatives.

Five members of the force, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, barged in and took him into custody, he said. "They accused me of being alone with the woman unrelated to me and suspected my intention," Lawal said. "I wanted to do a good thing for a woman who was sick and this is what I get. I'm languishing in prison."

SAN DIEGO'S FIRE CHIEF, TRACY JARMAN, IS AN OPEN LESBIAN WHO CALLED THE JULY 21 PARADE A "FUN EVENT" IN WHICH "ALL EMPLOYEES ARE ENCOURAGED TO PARTICIPATE."

But the firefighters said, unlike previous years, they were ordered into uniform to participate in the parade in their fire truck, despite repeating their protests. The firefighters' legal counsel, the Thomas More Law Center, said THE MEN WERE "LEFT WITH THE HOBSON'S CHOICE OF EITHER VIOLATING THEIR CONSCIENCE OR BEING DISCIPLINED FOR DISOBEYING A DIRECT ORDER."

The firefighters, described as devoted husbands and fathers, said they were subject to the most vulgar kinds of sexual harassment. "You could not even look at the crowd without getting some type of sexual gesture," one said, adding, "If any crew member were to hang up pictures at the station of what we saw, we would be disciplined."

JARMAN, THE CITY FIRE CHIEF, INSISTED WHEN SHE WAS APPOINTED THAT HER HOMOSEXUALITY HAD NEVER BEEN AN ISSUE AT THE DEPARTMENT. BUT THOMPSON MAINTAINED THE FIREFIGHTERS' ORDEAL WAS "ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF HOW RADICAL HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVISTS IN POSITIONS OF AUTHORITY FORCE THEIR AGENDA ON UNWILLING CITIZENS."

"Although the local media avoided mentioning the debauchery and the obscenity that pervaded the parade, the general public should know what went on and how these firefighters were forced to participate against their will," he said.

As WND reported, prior to the parade, THE SAN DIEGO CITY COUNCIL UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED A RESOLUTION INTRODUCED BY MAYOR JERRY SANDERS TO DESIGNATE JULY AS "LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH."

A US team of astronomers observed the four-way cosmic smash-up using Nasa's Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes along with ground-based observatories. The clashing galaxies are expected to eventually merge into a single, behemoth galaxy up to 10 times as massive as our own Milky Way.

"When this merger finishes, the giant galaxy left at the end will be one of the biggest ones in the Universe. This shows how these giant galaxies get assembled." All the galaxies in the merger are categorised as large; three are about the size of our own Milky Way, while the biggest one is about three times the size.

Mr Benn said the speed with which the second outbreak was identified showed measures to control the disease were working. He said vets first spotted signs of foot and mouth in the animals on the farm close to Wolford Farm, near Guildford - the first infected location - on Monday. "A swift decision was taken to cull them, the tests were done overnight," he added. He urged farmers to continue to examine their stock.

Microbiologist Professor Hugh Pennington said people should not read too much into the second cull because the government would now be acting on even the "slightest whiff" of further infection. But farmer Laurence Matthews, who owns the land where the second outbreak struck, said the farmer whose cattle were culled, and his family, were "absolutely devastated". "We were starting to think that maybe this virus had been contained... now with this second outbreak this has set us back again," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"Most farmers... are very, very scared and all activity on farms has almost come to a standstill."

Chief veterinary officer Debby Reynolds has said it was possible recent floods may have contributed to an accidental release of the virus from one of the labs.

IT IS THOUGHT CONTAMINATED WATER MAY HAVE BEEN INCORRECTLY DISPOSED OF DOWN A DRAIN WHICH SUBSEQUENTLY OVERFLOWED DURING HEAVY RAIN AND CARRIED THE CONTAMINATED WATER ON TO FARMLAND. Ms Reynolds said no decision had been made on vaccines for livestock, but 300,000 doses had been ordered from private firm Merial.

Mr Benn, defending that decision, said: "In order to consider [vaccination] as an option, we've got to have the vaccine ready. "It's the best place we can go if we take the decision that we want to do it." HE WOULD NOT COMMENT ON THE SUGGESTION THAT MERIAL SHOULD BE STRIPPED OF SUBSEQUENT PROFITS IF IT WAS FOUND TO BE RESPONSIBLE.

PLANS FOR NEW EU POSTS TO BE FILLED BEFORE CONSTITUTION IS APPROVED
The Mail reports that THE EU WANTS TO FILL THE POSTS IN THE CONSTITUTIONAL TREATY - such as the EU Foreign Minister - BEFORE THE TEXT HAS BEEN APPROVED. The small print of the revised EU Constitution says that appointees should take up their positions "as soon as the Treaty is signed".

EU THREATENS PACIFIC COUNTRIES WITH 50% CUT IN AID UNLESS THEY SIGN TRADE OPENING DEAL
South Pacific trade ministers said yesterday they will halt all talks with the European Commission for a new trade deal if EU development aid remains conditional on the signing of an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). In a message to the trade ministers, the EC said that if a goods-only economic agreement is signed, aid funding would be cut by 26 percent, from £95 million (US$130 million) to £70 million (US$95 million). If no deal is signed, the funds would be reduced by 48 percent, to £49 million (US$67 million).
IHT

SARKOZY TO SCRAP COMPULSORY REFERENDUMS ON NEW EU ACCESSIONS?
According to Euobserver, Nicolas Sarkozy is reportedly considering scrapping France's constitutional commitment to compulsory referendums on new EU accessions. The article notes that the referendum clause - which could lead to a series of French "no" votes against new states knocking on the EU's door - is reportedly disliked not only by Mr Sarkozy, but also by large parts of the country's political establishment.
Euobserver

EU CAPS ON MILK PRODUCTION FORCE UP PRICES
Experts say the only way to increase global milk yields without breaking the EU milk quotas is to encourage the breeding of cows outside the EU, with the result that GERMAN FARMERS HAVE STARTED SELLING THEIR BEST HIGH-PERFORMANCE MILK COWS TO CHINESE FARMERS.
Guardian

THE BUSINESS: BROWN SHOULD WITHDRAW FROM EU TRADE POLICY
A leader in The Business calls for Gordon Brown to establish a "new world order". It argues that "If he were truly serious about free trade, he would put the new European constitution to a referendum and then use the inevitable, resounding 'no' as an excuse to renegotiate Britain's relationship with the EU, making it much looser. This would allow him to pull out of the common agricultural policy, which he rightly hates, and start unilaterally cutting tariffs, which he supports but cannot presently do."
Business

EU WELCOMES CONSTITUTION'S RATCHET CLAUSE
The Telegraph article notes that EU officials have welcomed a "simplified revision procedure" taken from clauses of the old Constitution - sometimes described as the "ratchet clause." THE RATCHET CLAUSE WILL ALLOW MEETINGS OF EUROPEAN LEADERS TO SCRAP INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL VETOES, WITHOUT THE NEED FOR WHOLESALE TREATY CHANGE.
Telegraph Mail

MALLOCH BROWN CALLS FOR SINGLE EU SEAT AT THE UN
Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch Brown has called for THE UK TO GIVE ITS SEAT ON THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL TO THE EU. Last October, when he was Deputy General Secretary of the UN, he told Brussels diplomats that the EU was heading toward one single seat within the UN institutions. He said: "I think it will go in stages. We are going to see a growing spread of it institution by institution. It is not going to happen with a flash and a bang." He added that he hoped that it would happen - "as quickly as possible. I'm a huge fan of it." William Hague used the comments to step up pressure on the Government to hold a referendum.
Sunday Telegraph

Like the National Identity Register - the linked databases at the heart of the ID cards scheme - ContactPoint will contain significant amounts of personal information ON EVERY CHILD IN THE UK. Over 300,000 people will have access to the system, which is intended to be up and running by next year. WE UNDERSTAND THAT THE DETAILS OF CELEBRITIES' AND PUBLIC FIGURES' CHILDREN MAY BE KEPT HIDDEN, A TWO-TIER PRIVACY POLICY THAT DEMONSTRATES THE VERY REAL SECURITY RISKS SUCH A SYSTEM INTRODUCES.

Each child will be given an ID number, and their record will contain details about their parents, doctor, health visitor, midwife and/or school nurse, school and/or college, services they have accessed - specifically flagging up vulnerable children who have accessed "sensitive services", e.g. to do with sexual or mental health - and a link to a new social services assessment, the eCAF*.

FAR FROM REDUCING RISKS TO CHILDREN, CHILD PROTECTION SPECIALISTS HAVE EXPRESSED ALARM THAT PRACTITIONERS WILL BE SO OVERWHELMED WITH LOW-LEVEL DATA ABOUT ALL 11 MILLION CHILDREN IN THE COUNTRY THAT THOSE AT RISK OF HARM WILL IN FACT BE LESS LIKELY TO BE NOTICED.

MPs Debate Child Fingerprinting

On July 23rd Greg Mulholland MP introduced an adjournment debate to an almost empty House of Commons on biometric data in schools. The debate coincided with the release of guidelines by the British Education Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA). Mr Mulholland said: "The collection of biometric data in our schools is unnecessary, intrusive and insecure. A can of worms has been opened and, as yet, the Government have failed adequately to close it."

The Minister for Schools and Learners (Jim Knight) replied that: "It is not '1984' by the backdoor. There are no sinister forces at work here, and I would argue that it is irresponsible to suggest otherwise to get some cheap headlines." He went on to point out that "the guidance specifically recommends that schools give pupils and parents with genuine concerns the opportunity to opt out. Those who choose to do so should be offered an alternative means of accessing the same services."

The government's focus has been solely on data protection issues whilst disregarding whether it is morally acceptable for a society to allow widespread fingerprinting of children. The guidelines state: "There is nothing explicit in the Data Protection Act to require schools to seek the consent of parents before implementing a biometric technology system."

Intelligent Optical Systems, Inc., of Torrance, Calif., has been granted a contract by the Department of Homeland Security to develop what it calls the "LED Incapacitator," according to a DHS online newsletter. The handheld device using light-emitting diodes to emit super-bright pulses of light at rapidly changing wavelengths, causing disorientation, nausea and even vomiting in whomever it's pointed at.

"There's one wavelength that gets everybody," says IOS President Bob Lieberman. "Vlad [IOS top scientist Vladimir Rubtsov] calls it 'the evil color.'"

Phase 1 of the contract - creating a working prototype - has already been completed, and Phase 2 will begin this fall as researchers at Penn State's Institute of Nonlethal Defense Technology put the puke-saber through its paces.

"Phase 3 will be our shrink phase," Lieberman said, admitting that the prototype, 15 inches long with a 4-inch lens, is too large and heavy to be comfortably carried on a belt.

DHS hopes to equip police, Border Patrol agents and National Guardsmen with the barf-beamers by 2010.

Cattle, within the 3km protection zone set up around the farm where the first outbreak occurred, are being culled as a precaution. Chief veterinary officer Debby Reynolds said they had found something "suspect" and the animals were being culled to "minimise any chance of spread".

A report, due on Tuesday, will establish if it is another outbreak. The BBC understands the new foot-and-mouth cull will affect between 50 and 100 cattle. Dr Reynolds said the second potential outbreak site was a "small number of kilometres" from Wolford Farm, near Guildford, the first infected premises.

Vets identified clinical signs of the disease in a herd on one of their regular visits to farms in the protection zone.

Fear of a bank run spread throughout the United States. The young country fell into a 7 year depression. How could two decades of prosperity end so suddenly? According to America: A Narrative History: "monetary inflation had fuelled an era of speculation in real estate, canals, and railroad stocks."

Cracks in the dam were visible much earlier, as the stock market peaked in inflation-adjusted value three years prior. According to Rolf Nef, debt levels in the private sector rose to 150% of GDP. In late 1836, the Bank of England concerned with inflation raised interest rates. As rates rose in England, credit tightened, and U.S. asset prices began to fall.

On May 10, investors panicked and scrambled for cash. "By the fall of 1837 one third of the work force was jobless, and those still fortunate to have jobs saw their wages fall 30-50% within 2 years. At the same time, prices for food and clothing soared."

WE CAN EXPECT A SIMILAR SCENARIO IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE. As Edward Chancellor, author of "Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation" says: "The growth of credit has created an illusory prosperity while producing profound imbalances" in the American economy." At some point the system will have to adjust "to face a new reality. The process of adjustment is likely to be painful. It may well end in either an extraordinary deflation...or an extraordinary inflation."

Get ready. The credit boom is coming to an end.

"The markets are just responding to the growth in the money supply which is in double-digits just about everywhere around the world. When there are more dollars chasing the same number of assets---stocks go up. It's just that simple. What we're seeing isn't the result of investor confidence or industrial output. Heck no! Stocks are rising because our $800 billion current account deficit is recycling into the stock market. WHAT WE ARE REALLY SEEING IS THE FIRST SIGNS OF INFLATION--- GALLOPING INFLATION WHICH WILL SOON SPILL OVER INTO THE BROADER ECONOMY."

"Currently, THE US GOBBLES UP TWO-THIRDS OF THE WORLD'S CREDIT EACH YEAR WITH NO CONCEIVABLE WAY OF PAYING IT BACK. That won't last much longer. Central banks around the world are increasingly hesitant to accept our flaccid greenbacks and the Chinese are the only ones who are still buying our Treasuries. That's mainly because it gives them power over political decision-making in Washington. THE TRUTH IS THE CHINESE ARE PLANNING TO SEND THE US INTO RECEIVERSHIP AND TAKE OVER AS THE WORLD'S BANK. With dollar-backed reserves of $1.3 trillion, their plan appears to be going "full-steam ahead".

"THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT WE ARE BURIED BENEATH A $9 TRILLION MOUNTAIN OF DEBT AND THERE'S NO WAY TO DIG OUT. If there's a break in the liquidity-flows to our stock market---stocks will crash, unemployment will soar, and we'll be pulled into a deflationary downspin."

Consider these comments from Princeton University economist Alan Blinder, who recently attended the business summit at Davos, Switzerland: (summarized by Rep. Ron Paul)

"WORD HAS IT THAT THERE MAY BE PLANS YET AGAIN TO "OUTSOURCE" HIGHLY SKILLED AMERICAN JOBS TO OTHER COUNTRIES. Approximately 40-million American jobs could be at stake and yet US workers have not been told or consulted about it, until now. Just to put the number of 40 million into perspective, that is more than twice the amount of people that are employed in manufacturing." According to Alan Blinder, "The 'choice' jobs of skilled Americans could be lost and given to foreign countries within the next decade or two." 40 MILLION HIGH-PAYING US JOBS WILL BE OUTSOURCED TO LOWER-WAGE COUNTRIES WITHIN THE DECADE?!? THIS IS A BLUEPRINT FOR THE ECONOMIC DESTRUCTION OF AMERICA!

Thorsten Polleit of the Mises Institute explains it like this in his article "The Dark Side of the Credit Boom":

"Today's government-controlled paper-money systems have decoupled credit expansion from the economies' productive capacities: 'circulation credit' feeds a "credit boom" that is doomed to end in severe economic, social and political crisis. Austrian economists of the Mises Institute fear that the collapse of the credit boom will lead to the destruction of the currency through a deliberate policy of (hyper-) inflation, destroying the free-market order."

"DESTRUCTION OF THE CURRENCY"; IS THAT TOO STRONG? NO. IN FACT, THE UNITED NATIONS ISSUED THIS GLOOMY STATEMENT JUST LAST WEEK: "THE UNITED STATES DOLLAR IS FACING IMMINENT COLLAPSE IN THE FACE OF AN UNSUSTAINABLE DEBT".

America's current account deficit is now a matter of international concern.

Thousands of soldiers and 500 combat vehicles will take part in "Peace Mission 2007", organised by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia. Russian officials have also proposed an alliance between the SCO and a body representing most of the former Soviet republics.

Scores of Russian and Chinese aircraft begin joint exercises tomorrow before a week of military manoeuvres from Thursday that will include Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. At least 6,500 troops are involved in what is described as an antiterror exercise.

Colonel-General Vladimir Moltenskoi, the deputy commander of Russian ground forces, said: "The exercise will involve practically all SCO members for the first time in its history.

Leaders of SCO member states will meet in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital, next week for their annual summit. TURKMENISTAN WILL ALSO ATTEND FOR THE FIRST TIME, WHILE MONGOLIA, IRAN, INDIA AND PAKISTAN HAVE OBSERVER STATUS.

Igor Ivanov, the head of Russian security, played down concerns in May that the SCO was evolving into a military alliance to counter the expansion of Nato into Asia as part of the War on Terror. But MPs on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee expressed fears last year that the West could be on a collision course in the struggle for energy resources with "an authoritarian bloc opposed to democracy" that was based on an alliance between China and Russia.

A newly assertive Russia, flush with oil and gas revenues, is moving rapidly to increase its military capability amid tensions with the West over missile defence and Nato expansion. ALMOST £100 BILLION HAS BEEN SET ASIDE FOR RE-ARMAMENT OVER THE NEXT EIGHT YEARS.

Mr Gates said on NBC's Meet the Press there was a possibility that the US could begin to withdraw forces by the end of this year. But he also made clear that any decision would depend on the outcome of a progress report by General David Petraeus, the senior military commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador, which is to be released to Congress in September.

The US defence secretary reiterated that he was disappointed with the resignation of Sunnis from the Iraqi cabinet last week and admitted that the administration had underestimated the deep mistrust between Iraq's sectarian factions.

But Mr Gates said that he disagreed with the recommendation by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group last year that the US reduce military and economic support for the Iraqi government if it failed to make substantial progress towards national reconciliation.