He was speaking on the final day of his three-day visit to Austria. In his sermon, the Pope said leisure was a good thing amid the mad rush of the modern world, but warned of the dangers of it becoming wasted time.
Correspondents say the papal visit to Austria comes as the influence of the Catholic Church is in decline there.

"Give the soul its Sunday, give Sunday its soul," the Pope said, quoting a phrase coined by a German bishop in the 20th Century. "Leisure time is certainly something good and necessary, especially amid the mad rush of the modern world," he said in his sermon.

The Pope added though that if leisure lacked an inner focus, it could easily become wasted time. The Pope has come to Austria not only as a pilgrim, but also as a missionary, according to the local press. His aim during this brief three-day visit is to help revitalise religious practice in an increasingly secular Austrian society, our correspondent adds.

According to Einstein's special theory of relativity, it would require an infinite amount of energy to propel an object at more than 186,000 miles per second. However, Dr Gunter Nimtz and Dr Alfons Stahlhofen, of the University of Koblenz, say they may have breached a key tenet of that theory.

The pair say they have conducted an experiment in which microwave photons - energetic packets of light - travelled "instantaneously" between a pair of prisms that had been moved up to 3ft apart.

Being able to travel faster than the speed of light would lead to a wide variety of bizarre consequences. For instance, an astronaut moving faster than it would theoretically arrive at a destination before leaving.

The scientists were investigating a phenomenon called quantum tunnelling, which allows sub-atomic particles to break apparently unbreakable laws. Dr Nimtz told New Scientist magazine: "For the time being, this is the only violation of special relativity that I know of."

Now, in another report that sounds like it comes out of the pages of a Harry Potter book, the University of St Andrews team has created 'incredible levitation effects' by engineering the force of nature which normally causes objects to stick together. Professor Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Thomas Philbin, from the University of St Andrews in Scotland, have worked out a way of reversing this pheneomenon, known as the Casimir force, so that it repels instead of attracts.

Their discovery could ultimately lead to frictionless micro-machines with moving parts that levitate But they say that, in principle at least, the same effect could be used to levitate bigger objects too, even a person. The Casimir force is a consequence of quantum mechanics, the theory that describes the world of atoms and subatomic particles that is not only the most successful theory of physics but also the most baffling.

The force is due to neither electrical charge or gravity, for example, but the fluctuations in all-pervasive energy fields in the intervening empty space between the objects and is one reason atoms stick together, also explaining a "dry glue" effect that enables a gecko to walk across a ceiling.

Now, using a special lens of a kind that has already been built, Prof Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Thomas Philbin report in the New Journal of Physics they can engineer the Casimir force to repel, rather than attract.

Because the Casimir force causes problems for nanotechnologists, who are trying to build electrical circuits and tiny mechanical devices on silicon chips, among other things, the team believes the feat could initially be used to stop tiny objects from sticking to each other.

Prof Leonhardt explained, "The Casimir force is the ultimate cause of friction in the nano-world, in particular in some microelectromechanical systems."

Almost 20 per cent of the short-term money market loans issued by European banks are due to mature between September 11 and September 19. Senior bankers fear that they will have to refinance almost all of these debts with funds from their own coffers, putting a further strain on bank balance sheets.

Tens of billions of pounds of these commercial paper loans have already built up in the financial system, because fear-ridden investors no longer want to buy them. Roughly £23bn of these loans expire on September 17 alone. Fears of this impending call on bank credit lines are the true reason that lending between banks has ground to a halt, according to senior money market sources.

Banks have been stockpiling cash in preparation for this "double rollover" week, which sees quarterly loans expire alongside shorter term debts - exacerbating a problem that lies at the heart of the credit crisis.

"Banks are hoarding cash," said David Brickman, the head of European credit strategy at Lehman Brothers. "We think the reason for that is the commercial paper markets. There was $100bn of commercial paper issued by European institutions that was scheduled to roll over in August, much of which struggled to do so.

"Those markets are just not functioning normally, so some debt has already come on to bank balance sheets and more will have to follow. We estimate that between September 11 and 19 $139bn [£68.5bn] of European commercial paper [will come] up for renewal, including monthly and quarterly maturities. That's why banks are hoarding cash."

Market sources believe confidence will be restored only when all the sub-prime losses in the system have been exposed. Christopher Wood, the strategist at Hong Kong-based brokerage CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets credited with predicting the US sub-prime crisis two years ago, said: "The sub-prime crisis has exposed the structured credit asset class as highly dubious. In five years' time it won't exist."

In the latest sign of the "great wall of money" from Asia heading towards western Europe, the infrastructure company of Li Ka-shing is understood to be among a number of suitors preparing first-round offers for the network, which delivers electricity to some 2.2m customers in north-west England.

Li Ka-shing may be an unknown name in Britain but over the past 20 years his Hong Kong-based conglomerate, Hutchison Whampoa, has amassed a sizeable UK portfolio worth around £15bn - making him Asia's biggest investor in Britain. His empire over here includes household names such as 3, the mobile phone network, Superdrug, the health and beauty chain, three of Britain's biggest ports, including Felixstowe and Harwich, and Cambridge Water.

Cash-rich bidders from emerging markets in Asia and the Middle East have been at the forefront of the recent spate of takeovers in Britain. Two years ago Dubai Ports World bought P&O, while the investment arm of the Qatar government is considering a bid for J Sainsbury. Earlier this year Tata, the Indian conglomerate, bought Corus and in 2005 Appejay International picked up Typhoo, taking tea back to India.

The commodities boom has underpinned much of the growth in these countries. China, Russia and India have all registered triple-digit percentage growth over the past decade, while some oil-rich nations have grown faster still.

The huge amount of cash has led to the emergence of sovereign investment funds, such as the one stalking Sainsbury. For many of these countries the issue is how to diversify away from foreign debt and into tangible assets; China alone has earmarked a staggering $200bn-$300bn to fund further acquisitions. Last month the China Development Bank, an arm of the Beijing government, took a sizeable stake in Barclays, which was intended to help boost the British group's chances in the battle for ABN Amro, the Dutch bank.

The last (and only) time Huawei made headlines in the UK was when it emerged two years ago as a bidder for Marconi, the British group that had come close to collapse after a string of disastrous acquisitions. Located a few miles from the centre of Shenzhen, the Chinese city that neighbours Hong Kong, Huawei's campus stretches to nearly a square mile. A three-lane highway runs through the complex.

The company's chairman is in the habit of visiting a different country, noting the architecture he likes and putting up buildings of the same design at Huawei's HQ. Hence there is a large office complex that bears a close resemblance to the White House in Washington and a "chill out" area for staff that looks like a Bali beach hut.

Over 20,000 staff work here, while 3,000 live on site in a residential area that has schools, playing fields and all the other trappings of urban living. There is a massive research department, a highly automated distribution centre that handles 30,000 different raw materials but only employs 38 workers, and a manufacturing complex.

In 2005, when it made its abortive bid for Marconi, Huawei had turnover of $3.8bn (£1.9bn) and net income of $681m. Last year its turnover was $8.5bn, with revenues of $512m. It now holds over 20,000 patents and counts most of Europe's major telecoms companies among its customers.

Its relatively low profile is explained by the fact that in Europe it does not sell directly to the consumer. But in the UK, for example, its technology will play a key role in the country's telecoms infrastructure. BT's £10bn 21CN project will create a next-generation telecoms network with an unprecedented bandwidth and speed. For Huawei, winning this assignment was a bridgehead to an assault on European markets that has accelerated over the past two years. Its customers now include Vodafone, Orange and Telefonica, to name but a few.

It was founded in 1988 by Ren Zhengfei, a former officer in the People's Liberation Army. Little is known about him or his fellow board members. A company spokesman says it began as a third-party reseller of other groups' telecoms devices, before selling its own technology to the domestic market. Huawei has apparently never had any outside investment, although its expansion has been funded in part by unspecified loans from nationalised Chinese banks.

Mr Zhengfei and his fellow directors never give interviews. In fact, in Huawei's annual report, the identities of the board members are not even mentioned. Instead there is a message from the "executive management team".

While this may seem odd from a Western business perspective, it is more normal in Chinese culture, where it is bad form to boast about success.

All visitors, or rather "distinguished guests", are ushered around the vast hall to marvel at Huawei's technological achievements. In total, the company shipped 27 million such devices in 2006 and a further 17 million in the first half of 2007, including three million for Europe.

Most of its products to European markets are "white label" goods, which carry the operators' brands. For example, Hua- wei makes one of Vodafone's most popular 3G mobile phones, called the V710. Nearly one million of the devices have been shipped so far.

Huawei has achieved what most Chinese companies have failed to do: it has become a genuine global giant. However, until the group opens the door to its boardroom, as well as its exhibition hall, its achievements will remain open to question.

Tar sands extraction - mining oil from a mixture of sand or clay, water and very heavy crude oil - uses a huge amount of energy and water. Environmentalists say it results in more than three times as many emissions of carbon dioxide compared to conventional oil production.

Now Canadian firms AECL and Energy Alberta have proposed building a nuclear reactor near the site of Shell's vast Athabasca tar sands development. The boss of Energy Alberta has said the C$6bn (£2.8bn) reactor has the backing of a large unnamed company that would take 70 per cent of the reactor's energy.

A spokeswoman for Shell Canada refused to confirm that the company would take electricity from the reactor but said: "We have had a number of power options presented to us. Yes, it includes nuclear."

Shell and its Athabasca partners currently pump over 155,000 barrels of oil per day from the tar sands but want to increase this by five times over the next 20 years. This would need more than an extra 1,000MW of generating capacity. Most of the project's existing power comes from a gas-fired plant, but gas production in North America is declining.

When the Frankfurt Motor Show opens on Thursday, it will not be the glittering new cars from Europe, Japan and the US that attract the most attention; hogging the headlights will be the motor manufacturers of China.
Their latest models are accused of copying the world's finest. Shuanghuan's Ufo off-roader does bear some resemblance to Toyota's Rav4, its larger Ceo has a distinct whiff of the BMW X5, and its Noble makes the Smart Fortwo seem not quite so unique.

"If a car suddenly appears that looks like a Smart, yet is not one but a copy which was produced not quite legally, then that is not great," observed German Chancellor Angela Merkel, noting that Chinese product piracy "is a relatively big issue".

The world's car companies - particularly in Germany - are less diplomatic. A BMW spokesman said: "We are looking at taking legal measures. This is the first time that this has happened."

Mark Binder, a Smart spokesman, said: "We saw the Shuanghuan vehicle at Auto Shanghai - It is a blatant attempt to copy the design of the Smart Fortwo. We reserve the right to pursue legal action - also with regard to a possible exhibition of the car at the Frankfurt motor show."

Shuanghuan is not alone in finding inspiration elsewhere. The Hongqi HQD bears the stature of the Rolls-Royce Phantom, while the Geely's Merry seems to imitate the Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

GM, the largest car maker in China through two joint ventures, claims its Spark has been very precisely copied by Chery's QQ. Their doors are said to be interchangeable. Yet GM has still to find help from China's courts. Meanwhile, the QQ is undercutting and outselling the Spark.

Eric Thun of Said Business School, Oxford, an expert on the Chinese motor industry, identifies two key weaknesses: "Process skills they learn from working with foreign groups; design skills will take a long time. Right now, there is no Chinese company able to develop its own vehicles. Copying is a short-term solution which works in the domestic market."

China already insists on a high level of local content, so ensuring the creation of a thriving, indeed crowded, indigenous industry. The market share of domestic brands has risen to 25 per cent from 10 per cent within a year.

The announcement capped marathon discussions between lawyers for the diocese and the victims, who are to receive $1.37 million each. Church officials had filed for bankruptcy reorganization, but recent court rulings pressured them to settle the case.

Investors were taken aback by the Labor Department's report that payrolls dropped by 4,000 in August. Economists had forecast payrolls would increase by 110,000. However, the unemployment rate held steady at 4.6 percent as expected.

Wall Street had been awaiting the report all week as it sought to determine how well the economy was holding up under the weight of a faltering housing market, a rise in mortgage defaults and tightening availability of credit. While the report is backward looking, investors regard it as an important proxy of the economy's overall health.

"This certainly cements the case for a Fed action at the next meeting. The debate has really become about whether it will be 25 or 50 basis points," said Zach Pandl, economist at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., referring to whether the central bank would reduce rates by a quarter point or a half percentage point. He expects the Fed will reduce rates by 25 basis points to 5 percent when it meets Sept. 18.

JUSTICE MUHAMMAD TAQI USMANI ARGUES THAT MUSLIMS SHOULD LIVE PEACEFULLY IN COUNTRIES SUCH AS BRITAIN, WHERE THEY HAVE THE FREEDOM TO PRACTISE ISLAM, ONLY UNTIL THEY GAIN ENOUGH POWER TO ENGAGE IN BATTLE.

His views explode the myth that the creed of offensive, expansionist jihad represents a distortion of traditional Islamic thinking.

Mr Usmani, 64, sat for 20 years as a Sharia judge in Pakistan's Supreme Court. He is an adviser to several global financial institutions and a regular visitor to Britain. Polite and softly spoken, he revealed to The Times a detailed knowledge of world events and his words, for the most part, were balanced and considered.

Archaeologists fear that Muslims have used the work as an excuse to employ bulldozers and backhoes to remove remains of the wall from the outer courtyard of the Second Temple.

Klein and a camera crew from an Internet-based television network ascended the Mount to obtain footage of the trench that has been dug by Waqf Muslim authorities. They restricted the photographers to taking pictures of a trench that already has been closed.

The Muslims received a permit from the Antiquities Authorities, who may have been ordered by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to issue the permit as another "good will" measure to Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The Prime Minister has not commented on the work, which might destroy what would be the most significant archeological find of ruins of the Holy Temples.

Klein and the crew were escorted from the site by the Waqf and an Israeli policeman.

The Pope said that today when he received in audience bishops from Laos and Cambodia, in Italy for their five-yearly visit.

He added, "Jesus is the Good News for the men and women of every time and place in their search for the meaning of existence and for the truth of their own humanity, and in her announcement to all peoples, THE CHURCH DOES NOT WISH TO IMPOSE HERSELF but to bear witness to her respect for human beings and for the society in which she lives."

It's important that we show resolve and determination to protect ourselves, deny al-Qaida safe havens," Bush said during a visit to Australia. Israel Radio quoted top CIA officials as saying Al Qaida was likely to attempt a major terror attack on US soil in the near future, the target of which would probably be related in a significant way to the American economy.

The video was released just days before the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States that killed almost 3,000 people. In a 30-minute speech addressed to Americans, bin Laden boasts about the impact of the 2001 attacks, mocks the democratic system of government in the United States and lambastes the Bush administration for initiating the war in Iraq.

Israel Radio quoted top CIA officials as saying Al Qaida was likely to attempt a major terror attack on US soil in the near future, the target of which would probably be related in a significant way to the American economy. The video was released just days before the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States that killed almost 3,000 people.

Simon France, 38, already a convicted sex offender, was being monitored by the authorities and supposedly getting "help" for his crimes from probation officers in a special programme. But between meetings of a sex offenders group, FRANCE WAS SECRETLY LOGGING ONTO FACEBOX TO LOOK FOR TEENAGE GIRLS TO SEDUCE.

Rachel Shenton, prosecuting, said: "The defendant was a regular user of the internet site Facebox. Facebox is now known as Netlog