The findings from the survey, which was carried out for the BBC, highlight growing worries over social breakdown and rising levels of crime. The poll suggested that most passers-by would be too scared to intervene if they witnessed a minor offence.

Two thirds of those questioned said they would shy away from action if they saw teenagers daubing graffiti.

More than three quarters said they would not reprimand a fellow traveller talking excessively loudly on a mobile phone.

It comes in the wake of the shooting of 11-year- old Rhys Jones in Liverpool, apparently by a gang member, and follows a series of gang-related killings of teenagers and adults who challenged yobbish behaviour.

MOST OF THOSE QUESTIONED THOUGHT THE RETREAT OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF WAS A FACTOR IN MORAL DECLINE. Nearly two thirds, 62 per cent, said religion was an important factor in guiding the morals of the nation. The proportion who considered religion important was higher among the young than the middle aged. More than two thirds of 16- to 24-year- olds thought religion should be a major influence.

This week Church of England leaders expressed alarm over the moral direction of the Government, complaining that proposed equality laws will suppress religious belief and stop Christians from expressing their views.

SO POLITICALLY CORRECT HAS ADOPTION BECOME, a council allowed these gay paedophiles to foster young boys - even, as one mother reveals here, turning a blind eye when presented with evidence of their horrifying abuse

Craig Faunch and Ian Wathey were the first homosexual couple in Yorkshire to be approved by the authorities as foster parents. The pair had looked after 18 children in only 15 months after being approved by the council, but under the guise of caring men offering a helping hand to disadvantaged youngsters, had sexually abused vulnerable children for their own gratification. Neither man, Leeds Crown Court was told last year, had shown any empathy or remorse. Both are now serving prison sentences for their despicable crimes.

Nonetheless, the repercussions have continued to rumble, and in a scathing independently authored report issued this week, Wakefield Metropolitan District Council found itself the subject of robust condemnation.
THEY HAD, THE REPORT CONCLUDED, LEFT THE COUPLE FREE TO SEXUALLY ABUSE YOUNGSTERS IN THEIR CARE BECAUSE OF FEARS OF DISCRIMINATION IF THEY LAUNCHED AN INVESTIGATION.

By virtue of their sexuality, the report suggested, the men were "trophy carers" who were not subject to the same rigorous assessment as others. At a time when GAY COUPLES CAN LEGALLY ADOPT CHILDREN FOR THE FIRST TIME, the criticism raises serious questions about vetting procedures, as well as fears that the crimes of two men could have repercussions FOR GENUINE GAY FOSTER PARENTS.

A petty dispute about fixing a leaky drain could have allowed foot and mouth disease to escape from a high-security research base, it has been revealed. The official inquiry into last month's outbreak found that staff at the Institute for Animal Health at Pirbright, Surrey, knew the drain - which carries virus- contaminated waste - needed repairs four years ago. BUT THEY FAILED TO CARRY OUT THE WORK BECAUSE OF A ROW WITH THE NEIGHBOURING VACCINE FACTORY ABOUT HOW TO SPLIT THE £50,000 BILL.

The astonishing revelation came as investigators concluded that leaking pipes, freak floods and building work at Pirbright laboratories probably allowed the virus to escape. The Government-funded institute was accused of a "culture of complacency" and was blamed for serious lapses in security for the spread of disease to nearby farms. The centre needed to review its safety systems and tighten up, investigators added.

Although the inquiry fell short of blaming the Government directly, critics said its decision to starve the institute of money - and its failure to spot the problems at Pirbright - meant it was also culpable. Yesterday's reports by the Health and Safety Executive and Professor Brian Spratt, of Imperial College, London, came as the chief vet Debby Reynolds announced that Surrey was disease free. She said the remaining restrictions on the movement of livestock nationwide would be lifted at noon today.

Foot and mouth was spotted a month ago in farms near Guildford, with hundreds of animals slaughtered and farmers losing £1million a week. The president of the National Farmers Union, Peter Kendall, said it was "indefensible" that such a high-risk environment could have been allowed to get into a state of disrepair. He said: "I find it well-nigh incredible that standards should have been as lax as these reports appear to reveal, given that those concerned were handling some of the most dangerous animal viruses on the planet." He said the union was talking to lawyers about suing for compensation.

Lib Dem environment spokesman Chris Huhne said: "It is shocking and appalling that facilities designed to protect British farming have actually damaged it. Farmers are right to be angry and concerned about the slapdash, complacent and negligent handling of a deadly virus. Defra was warned, but completely failed to act. Heads must roll." A spokesman for the institute said its management of waste had been based on the assumption that any virus was sterilised before it entered the drains.

READER COMMENT:- "How very convenient, the government lab gets blamed so the taxpayers, rather than shareholders of the bio company, will pay any compensation.

"We have an ecosystem that has turned from the big turbot and halibut and the shoals of herring and cod of the 1880s, into prawns, scallops and mud," says the author, Callum Roberts, Professor of Marine Conservation at York University.

His book tells the story of the profusion of fish and marine mammals that were in the sea in previous centuries - North Sea cod, he calculates, is now just two per cent of its former, pre-industrial profusion of two million tons.
"The fishing industry - with the active collaboration of bureaucrats and politicians - is going to destroy itself."

(The Unnatural History of the Sea, The past and future of humanity and fishing, by Callum Roberts. Gaia )

The Government is proposing to introduce the laws to protect individuals from hostile or humiliating "environments" as part of an overhaul of discrimination legislation.

But Christian lawyers and the Church of England warned that Christians could face legal action if they offended gays by expressing the traditional teaching that homosexual sex was immoral. The Lawyers' Christian Fellowship said that the new proposals, which may be included in a Single Equality Bill, could allow gays to sue if they heard a sermon that condemned homosexuality. It added that while a church could "gently refuse membership" to an unrepentant, practising homosexual, "that person, if they felt that they had been put in a 'humiliating position', could sue the Church."

The Fellowship also warned that suggestions that local authorities should have a duty to promote gay equality could be "taken too far" and result in state funding being removed from Christian projects. The Church said it could lead to people objecting to religious symbols such as crosses on hospital walls on the grounds that they were an affront to atheists.

It added that the proposals were in danger of undermining religious freedom.

The two leaders met on the sidelines of the annual economic leaders' meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Australia. "This year and next year are going to be a highly dangerous period for the situation in the Taiwan Straits," Hu said.

Regardless of warnings from different quarters, the island authorities have flagrantly pursued secessionist activities, such as proposing a "referendum on UN membership" and "seeking to join the UN under the name of Taiwan". "We must issue harsher warnings to the Taiwan authorities that any secessionist attempt aimed at 'Taiwan independence' in any form will be doomed," Hu said.

Bush said Washington firmly adheres to the one-China policy, observes the three US-China joint communiques and opposes any unilateral act to change the status quo across the Taiwan Straits. Hu said that it has been proved that China and the United States are joint stakeholders in global affairs and cooperate constructively.

He described the talks as "candid and friendly", saying both sides expressed the desire to work toward further development of commercial ties. Bush said he appreciated China's efforts, adding that the US is opposed to trade protectionism and should not set obstacles to bilateral trade.

The influence of the ultra-conservative Deobandi sect, which is characterised by its total rejection of western values, has grown to such an extent that police now believe it runs more than 600 of Britain's 1,350 mosques.
The revelations will put further scrutiny on plans for a "mega mosque" in east London by a group called Tablighi Jamaat, who are closely linked to the Deobandi movement.

The £100 million plan to build the "Islamic village" next to the Olympic site is already mired in controversy after intelligence services said the group was a recruiting ground for al Qaeda. The Deobandi- controlled mosques are predominantly found in the Midlands and the North - such as the Tablighi Jamaat mosque which 7/7 bombers Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer were known to attend. But about 170 London mosques are classified as Deobandi-run compared with less than 100 run by the moderate Sufi-based Barelwi movement.

Mr ul Haq, 36, who runs an Islamic academy in Leicester, gained notoriety with a series of outspoken lectures after 9/11 when he was Imam of Birmingham Central Mosque. He has since travelled the world preaching that America and its allies are seeking to wipe out Islam. A favourite talk of his, however, warns Muslims of the perils of befriending the "kuffar", or non-believer. He says: "The Koran teaches Muslims not to follow in the footsteps of the Jews and the Christians, yet of our own choice we decide to live, act, work, behave, enjoy and play just like the kuffar".

"Do not befriend the kuffarî", was Allah's warning to Muslims, and Muhammad told his companions "to distance themselves and fear this alignment with the kuffar in every way, even to the manner of dressing".

Ghayasuddin Siddiqui of the Muslim Parliament said: "There is no doubt the Deobandi movement became more influential in Britain's mosques in the Nineties and this went largely unchecked. The situation now is of great concern as almost all Islamic extremism originates from the Deobandi thinking".

A rolling credit crunch emanating from U.S. subprime lending has spread through the asset backed commercial paper market through to interbank money markets, the very heart of the global financial system. And while central banks have regained a semblance of control, more or less, over the overnight lending markets, there is still a hugely unusual unwillingness by financial institutions to lend each other money for three months.

There is debate about why this is happening, but what is clear is that there are people out there with a huge mismatch between how long their commitments to lend money are compared to the length of time for which they are able to borrow. That leaves these financial entities, be they conduits or mortgage lenders or whoever else, extremely vulnerable in a market which is already highly agitated.

This knowledge must, in turn, make the money markets still less willing to extend credit for longer periods.

So, how did we come to be here, and who is responsible for getting things back on track? It's easier to answer the first question than the second. The problems with U.S. mortgages and structured finance has shaken the faith of the world's lenders in the value of collateral and the credit ratings upon which the whole edifice has been built.

The asset backed commercial paper market, where many of the people who made such mortgage loans found financing, has partially shut, with many unable to get funding and many now only able to get it for a week at a time, where previously they might have obtained 30 or 60 day loans.

These markets have shrunk by about quarter of a trillion dollars in a month in the U.S. alone, and much of the money has found its way on to banks' balance sheets, either because the banks had extended a commercial paper backup line to someone which has now been drawn, or because they have chosen to bail out a conduit or other entity with which they had a relationship.

At the same time, the banks look like getting stuck with something like another $300 billion of bridge bank loans extended to private equity and other acquirers under very aggressive terms. These loans may now be difficult or impossible to sell.

The storm has been checked out by hurricane hunters and so far it hasn't been given a name or a number. It's a low pressure system sitting about 400 miles off the Carolina coast.

Four RAF F3 Tornado aircraft were scrambled in response to the Russian action, the UK's defence ministry said. The Russian planes - long-range bombers - had earlier been followed by Norwegian F16 jets. Russia recently revived a Cold War-era practice of flying bombers on long-range patrols.

The IDF officially refused to comment on reports from Syria that its air defenses fired on a formation of IAF warplanes that entered Syrian airspace from the Mediterranean. In addition, fears mounted that Hizbullah would use the escalating tensions along the Golan Heights as an excuse to initiate its own conflict with Israel.

Counterterrorism expert Boaz Ganor said that if Thursday's flyover did occur, it was possible that Israel was "collecting intelligence on long-range missiles" deployed by Syria in the North. Imad Fawzi Shoaibi, a Syrian political analyst, speculated that Israel may have been probing Syria's new air defense systems, provided by Russia, at a time when tension was running high between the two countries.

Israel has acknowledged making routine flights over Lebanon, but it is unclear how often the IAF flies over Syria, if at all. At the beginning of the Second Lebanon War last summer, warplanes buzzed the palace of Syrian President Bashar Assad in what analysts called a warning to Damascus. In June of the same year, they also flew over Assad's summer home in Latakia, near the border with Turkey, after Hamas terrorists abducted Cpl. Gilad Schalit in Gaza.

"His initial inclination is to do it next year," Peres told a news conference. "I believe he will try to do whatever he can to have his visit not postponed for any length of time." The Pope told Peres's predecessor two years ago that he hoped to visit Israel in 2006, but that failed to happen and his spokesman said the timing of a visit was still not clear. "As you know, the Pope is ready but the timetable still needs to be seen," Federico Lombardi told reporters after the audience.

Proposals for draconian new laws that target the country's immigrants have been condemned as unjust and racist. A poster campaign, the work of its leading political party, is decried as xenophobic. Has Switzerland become Europe's heart of darkness?

At first sight, the poster looks like an innocent children's cartoon. Three white sheep stand beside a black sheep. The drawing makes it looks as though the animals are smiling. But then you notice that the three white beasts are standing on the Swiss flag. One of the white sheep is kicking the black one off the flag, with a crafty flick of its back legs. The poster is, according to the United Nations, the sinister symbol of the rise of a new racism and xenophobia in the heart of one of the world's oldest independent democracies.

A worrying new extremism is on the rise. For the poster - which bears the slogan "For More Security" - is not the work of a fringe neo-Nazi group. It has been conceived - and plastered on to billboards, into newspapers and posted to every home in a direct mailshot - by the Swiss People's Party (the Schweizerische Volkspartei or SVP) which has the largest number of seats in the Swiss parliament and is a member of the country's coalition government.

With a general election due next month, it has launched a twofold campaign which has caused the UN's special rapporteur on racism to ask for an official explanation from the government. The party has launched a campaign to raise the 100,000 signatures necessary to force a referendum to reintroduce into the penal code a measure to allow judges to deport foreigners who commit serious crimes once they have served their jail sentence.

But far more dramatically, it has announced its intention to lay before parliament a law allowing the entire family of a criminal under the age of 18 to be deported as soon as sentence is passed. It will be the first such law in Europe since the Nazi practice of Sippenhaft - kin liability - whereby relatives of criminals were held responsible for their crimes and punished equally. The proposal will be a test case not just for Switzerland but for the whole of Europe, where a division between liberal multiculturalism and a conservative isolationism is opening up in political discourse in many countries, the UK included.

The truth is that at the heart of the Swiss People's Party's vision is a visceral notion of kinship, breeding and blood that liberals would like to think sits very much at odds with the received wisdom of most of the Western world. It is what lies behind the SVP's fear of even moderate Islam. It has warned that because of their higher birth rates Muslims would eventually become a majority in Switzerland if the citizenship rules were eased. It is what lies behind his fierce support for the militia system.

To those who say that Germany, France, Italy and Austria are nowadays unlikely to invade, he invokes again the shadow of militant Islam. "The character of war is changing. There could be riots or eruptions in a town anywhere in Switzerland. There could be terrorism in a financial centre."

The race issue goes wider than politics in a tiny nation. "I'm broadly optimistic that the tide is moving in our direction both here and in other countries across Europe," said Dr Schlüer. "I feel more supported than criticised from outside." The drama which is being played out in such direct politically incorrect language in Switzerland is one which has repercussions all across Europe, and wider.

The price increase was triggered by claims that Israeli warplanes had penetrated Syrian airspace.

As US crude rose to less than $1.50 short of its record peak, Christophe de Margerie, chief executive of Total, the French oil group, told the Financial Times he expected the oil price to stay high, and suggested the cycle in the market had been broken. "Demand is still strong in Asia, [and there is] strong demand in the Middle East," Mr de Margerie said. "So definitely the price will remain high, and we have to build our strategy on this."

West Texas Intermediate surged to $77.43 a barrel, just below early August's all-time high of $78.77. Later, it fell to $76.67. Brent crude rose above $75. US crude oil inventories fell last week by 3.9m barrels to 329.7m barrels, down year-on-year. Gasoline stocks fell by 2.3m barrels to 132.2m barrels, the lowest level in absolute terms in nearly two years.