The move comes as China itself faces international criticism, especially in the United States, over a series of scandals that have plagued Chinese food, drugs and other products from poisoned cough syrup to tainted toothpaste and pet food.

Inspectors in the ports of Ningbo and Shenzhen found bacteria and sulfur dioxide in products shipped by three American companies, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said.

"The products failed to meet the sanitary standards of China," the agency said in a brief notice posted on its Web site. No details were given on when or how the inspections were conducted.

The agency said it was asking "all local departments to increase quarantine examinations of foods imported from the United States."

The Golan Heights is strategic mountainous territory looking down on Israeli population centers twice used by Syria to launch wars against the Jewish state. Mainstream U.S. and Israeli military experts have long maintained Israel must retain the Golan to ensure against a ground invasion from Syria.

Israel's leading newspaper Yediot Aharonot today quoted top Jerusalem officials stating Olmert used German and Turkish mediators to tell Syrian President Bashar Assad Israel would relinquish the territory in exchange for a peace agreement and Damascus' severing of ties with Iran and Palestinian terror groups. The report said Olmert's offer was approved by the Bush administration.

Knesset members today bashed Olmert's willingness to relinquish the Golan, stating the prime minister was endangering his country's security to save his political career. "Ehud Olmert would sell the Golan Heights for his seat. He is trying to save his own skin, and his statement regarding a withdrawal from the Golan is a desperate attempt to survive," said National Union Party Chairman Zevulun Orlev.

"The Golan will not be sold like Gush Katif," said Orlev, referring to the slate of Gaza Strip Jewish communities the Jewish state evacuated in 2005. Gideon Saar, Likud opposition faction head, said Olmert "has no public legitimacy for a withdrawal from the Golan. Far from our eyes, processes are taking place that will be hard to stop in the future. The responsibility for this lies upon all the members of the government and coalition." Likud Knesset Member Yisrael Katz commented, "It would be better to replace Olmert than to give up the Golan Heights."

National Union Knesset Member Effie Eitam said Olmert was endangering Israeli security to cover up his "failures" during last summer's Lebanon war. The Syrian army has improved its fortifications, according to the Israeli security officials, and has received modern, Russian-made anti-tank missiles similar to the ones that devastated Israeli tanks during the last Lebanon war, causing the highest number of Israeli troop casualties during the 34 days of military confrontations. Syria also received from Russia advanced anti-aircraft missiles.

The officials noted Syria stepped up the pace of weapons, including rockets, being shipped from the Syrian border to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. Just yesterday, a truckload of weaponry meant for Hezbollah was confiscated by the Lebanese army.

Assad on a number of occasions the past few months has told his state-run media Damascus is preparing for war. He warned Israel to evacuate the Golan Heights. Last weekend, Assad called for "better cooperation" between Damascus and Tehran in "the confrontation with the Zionist regime and the USA," according to a report published Sunday by Iran's official state news agency, IRNA.

Benedict XVI is expected to raise the war in Iraq and the plight of Christians there, as well as the issues of abortion and gay marriage. The Pope has criticised the US-led invasion. In his Easter address, he said: "Nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civilian population flees."
The pontiff is expected to raise the plight of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians who have been forced into exile during the conflict.

Former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton told the BBC that Mr Bush would give the Pope a detailed explanation of US policy on Iraq. "The president, over the course of the last four-and-a-half years, has made a number of efforts with the Vatican to explain America's position because of the importance he attaches to the moral force that any Pope has," Mr Bolton said. "But I do think it is a question of explaining the policy and not modifying it," he added.

The bacteria was found in a 43-year-old American woman who had traveled across Peru for three weeks and suffered from symptoms similar to typhoid fever or malaria. The woman has since recovered. Named Bartonella rochalimae, the new species is a close relative of a microbe that sickened thousands of soldiers during the First World War with what became known as trench fever, spread through body lice.

It is also related to a bacteria identified 10 years ago during the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco as the cause of cat scratch disease, which infects 25,000 people a year in the United States. Two weeks after returning to the United States from her trip to Peru, the woman experienced potentially life-threatening anemia, a rash, an enlarged spleen, insomnia and a high fever that lasted for several weeks. Her traveling companion did not fall ill.

The Peruvian Andes is home to a related bacteria, spread by sand flies, and at first this was what experts thought was causing her illness. Further investigation indicated the culprit was a new species altogether. The new discovery is the sixth species identified that can infect humans, said Dr. Jane Koehler, professor of infectious diseases at UCSF and senior author of the paper.

In 1987, Koehler encountered her first patient infected with Bartonella at the AIDS Clinic at San Francisco General Hospital. "The bacteria were eating away a bone in the arm of an AIDS patient - for months," Koehler said. "They can cause extremely painful lesions and tumors of blood vessels on the skin of immunocompromised patients."

Motorcycle spotters monitor large vehicles bound for the British capital and random checkpoints are set up to check any suspicious loads, the officials said.The checks, which began earlier this year, are part of an operation to guard against terrorists using trucks to carry huge bombs into London, Scotland Yard said.

Officers have stepped up security in London -- and claim to have foiled a string of terrorist plots -- since four suicide bombers killed 52 commuters on three subway trains and a bus July 7, 2005. London was the site of a failed repeat transit attack two weeks later, and police and intelligence agents say they have prevented a number of other planned attacks -- including an alleged plan to down trans-Atlantic airliners last summer.

During the London trial of confessed al-Qaida operative Dhiren Barot, who was jailed last year for a minimum of 40 years, prosecutors said the British citizen plotted to ram prominent London landmarks with gasoline tankers packed with explosives.

Barot also was alleged to have studied targets in New Jersey, including the Prudential Building in Newark, writing in a memo that ramming trucks "straight through the glass front entrance into the lobby area" would be an effective bombing technique.

The mechanical warrior, called Bear, looks like an oversized toy with a teddy bear's face. However, it can squeeze through doorways while carrying a wounded serviceman.The 6ft-tall remote-controlled device can travel long distances over bumpy terrain and carry out the toughest assignments.

Bear, short for Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot, is part of the new generation of "steel soldiers" being developed for Afghanistan and Iraq, reports New Scientist. In tests, Bear - equipped with cameras and microphones through which a human operator sees and hears - has climbed up and down stairs carrying a human-size dummy.

The robot, which is expected to be ready for testing in the field in five years, can also carry heavy loads over long distances. Robots are becoming common in the US military. When the Americans encountered tough resistance from the Taliban in their Afghan cave networks, the troops sent in Packbot robots to explore the corridors. They are also used to defuse mines.

"It is inconceivable that it is anyone other than the Iranian government that's doing it," said former White House counterterrorism official Richard Clarke, an ABC News consultant. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stopped short earlier this week of blaming Iran, saying the U.S. did not have evidence "of the involvement of the Iranian government in support of the Taliban."

But an analysis by a senior coalition official, obtained by the Blotter on ABCNews.com, concludes there is clear evidence of Iran's involvement."This is part of a considered policy," says the analysis, "rather than the result of low-level corruption and weapons smuggling."

Iran and the Taliban had been fierce enemies when the Taliban was in power in Afghanistan, and their apparent collaboration came as a surprise to some in the intelligence community. "I think their goal is to make it very clear that Iran has the capability to make life worse for the United States on a variety of fronts," said Seth Jones of the Rand Institute, "even if they have to do some business with a group that has historically been their enemy."

"We believe these intercepted munitions are part of a much bigger flow of support from Iran to the Taliban," the message says. The Taliban receives larger supplies of weapons through profits from opium dealing, officials say, but the Iranian presence could be significant. "It means the insurgency in Afghanistan is likely to be prolonged," said Jones. "It would be a much more potent force."

With downtown Los Angeles seeing a record low of 4 inches of rain since July 2006 -- less than a quarter of normal -- and with a hot, dry summer ahead, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the city needed "to change course and conserve water to steer clear of this perfect storm." It is the driest year since rainfall records began 130 years ago.

The Eastern Sierra mountains, where Los Angeles gets about half of its water supply, marked its second-lowest snowpack on record this year.That and the lack of rainfall could force the nation's second largest city into full drought mode in coming months, officials said.

Below average rainfall for the past few years has also turned the traditional summer southern California fire season into an all-round event. Firefighters battled two major brush fires in May alone, at the Los Angeles landmark Griffith Park and on the tourist island of Catalina.

"Vulgarity has literally exploded," Robert Peters, chief of Morality in Media, told WND. "What went on in 1978 is not what's going on today." The court ruling was in a case brought by Fox, CBS, NBC and ABC, who went to court against the FCC after the agency cited the networks for allowing various objectionable words to hit the air ? and ears of consumers.

The case was based on those words that television characters sometimes blurt out - whether intentional or not. But observers noted it could have ramifications for other speech on television or radio. "There is a role for government in all of this. It's not the whole answer," he said. "But the goodwill of the industry is not going to solve the problem."

The old rule effectively instructed that an "isolated" incident of an objectionable word would not generate an FCC fine. The Bush administration ordered that changed after a series of incidents developed, including an actor swearing at an awards show.

The networks were pleased with the ruling. "Viewers should be allowed to determine for themselves and their families - what is appropriate viewing for their home," said Scott Grogin, a spokesman from Fox.

The development comes as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday told the Knesset he is ready for direct negotiations with Syria aimed at an Israeli retreat from the Golan Heights, strategic mountainous territory that looks down on Israeli population centers twice used by Damascus to attack the Jewish state.

With Israelis this week commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Six-Day War - when neighbors Egypt, Jordan and Syria attacked the Jewish state - Israeli security officials told WND Syria has prepared for a confrontation and is capable of launching an immediate war.

The officials say the Syrian army is deployed along the Syrian side of the Golan Heights with strengthened forces after carrying out the past few weeks stepped-up training of troops. The officials noted the open movement of Syrian Scud missiles near the border with Israel and said Syria recently increased production of rockets and acquired missiles capable of hitting central Israeli population centers.

The Syrian army has improved its fortifications, according to the Israeli security officials, and has received modern, Russian-made anti-tank missiles similar to the ones that devastated Israeli tanks during the last Lebanon war, causing the highest number of Israeli troop casualties during the 34 days of military confrontations. Syria also received from Russia advanced anti-aircraft missiles.

The officials noted Syria stepped up the pace of weapons, including rockets, being shipped from the Syrian border to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. Just yesterday, a truckload of weaponry meant for Hezbollah was confiscated by the Lebanese army.

Syria, which signed a military alliance with Iran, openly hosts Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders. The U.S. accuses Syria of fueling and aiding the insurgency in Iraq. Israel says Syria has been allowing large quantities of weapons to be transported from its borders to Hezbollah. Syria has been widely blamed for the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Syria is accused by Israel and pro-Democratic Lebanese politicians of fueling instability in Lebanon the past few weeks by backing Fatah al-Islam, a group claiming connections to al-Qaida that has been battling the Lebanese Army since May 20, killing some 107 people, including 47 soldiers and 60 terrorists.

The clashes erupted just before the U.N. was set to call for the establishment of an international tribunal to try the killers of Hariri. Syria has been widely blamed for the assassination and for a string of subsequent attacks that have rocked Lebanon.

The meeting began on Sunday in Bethlehem and gathered 47 religious, representatives of all the Franciscans of the Custody. THE THEME IS "LORD, WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO IN THE HOLY LAND?"

The Pope assured the Franciscan of his prayers so that "this important meeting, faithful to the spirit" of St. Francis, "may respond with renewed apostolic zeal to the new challenges of our times."

Since early last month, Sichuan has witnessed a rise in rainfall. But due to the uneven distribution of rainfall and continued high temperatures, 46 cities, districts and counties in the province are suffering from drought, Zuo Xiong, deputy chief of Sichuan Weather Bureau, said.

A total of 3.988 million people and 4.46 million cattle have inadequate drinking water, and 116,000 people have to rely on water wagons to supply them drinking water, he said. Droughts are hampering farm production in the province as about 333,000 hectares of paddy fields are waiting for rain to plant rice, according to Zhao Shiyong, an agronomist in the Sichuan provincial department of agriculture.

In some drought-hit areas, rice has been planted in fewer than 50 percent of paddy fields. In Luzhou and Zigong in southern Sichuan, between 30 percent and 50 percent of the paddy fields become dry soon after rice is planted, and some rice crops have withered because of the lack of water, he said.

The ministers are expected to hear briefings from various governmental agencies - the Mossad, the National Security Council, military intelligence and the Foreign Ministry - regarding Syria's intentions.

In recent weeks, more and more voices - including central figures in the IDF such as Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen Gabi Ashkenazi - have advocated discreetly talking to the Syrians. Various IDF officials have been quoted as saying that Syria may opt for war if its overtures were not positively received.

Others, however, foremost among them Mossad head Meir Dagan, have come out against responding to Syrian President Bashar Assad's overtures, saying that they were meant only to relieve international pressure on Assad, pressure likely to increase now with the establishment of an international tribunal to investigate the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

The US also believes that the focus of attention now should be on the Palestinian track, rather than the Syrian one, on the assumption that Israel cannot work on both tracks at the same time, and that the Palestinian situation is more urgent.

In a related development, Olmert spoke by phone Tuesday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Olmert, according to his office, discussed his planned meeting Thursday with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Olmert confirmed that the meeting would be held in the Palestinian Authority, the first time he will meet Abbas outside of Jerusalem. Although the site has not yet been officially announced, the meeting is expected to take place in Jericho.

If that figure shocks you, it's probably because women who have had one may never have discussed it, not even with their closest friends. Even the most brazen 21st-century female would draw the line at behaving like the celebrated feminist who went to a lunch in the Seventies and announced to horrified fellow guests: "I was pregnant, but I killed it." Abortion is back in the news with a vengeance, but guilt or squeamishness seem to hold ordinary women back from bringing their experiences to the debate.

Yesterday, Pro-Life MPs tried to push through another Bill that would require women to be counselled about possible side-effects and to be made to wait a week for a termination, to allow time for second thoughts. Then, breathing hellfire like a fundamentalist dragon, along came Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien.

The cardinal called on politicians to stop supporting an "unspeakable crime". He told his flock that abortion in their country was the equivalent of "two Dunblane massacres" every day. "Every child is a wanted child," insist the Pro-Lifers. They should get out more. To be an unwanted child - and there are tens of thousands of them in Britain - is a purgatory that even the most righteous should hesitate to inflict on a baby.

However, almost as blinkered are the Pro-Choice brigade. They insist on a woman's right to choose, come what may. NEVER MIND THAT 39 PER CENT OF 24-WEEK FOETUSES NOW SURVIVE OUTSIDE THE WOMB, WHICH MEANS THAT A TERMINATION AT THAT STILL-LEGAL POINT IS KILLING A VIABLE HUMAN BEING.

We are glad that termination is available as a last resort, but disgusted when we hear the Pregnancy Advisory Service say that abortion is "just another means of contraception". We support the idea that the abortion limit should go down to 21 weeks, a sensible, humane move which is backed by the majority of doctors and nurses who have to attend those grim, late procedures.

Attempts by the Pro-Choice zealots to make abortion a trivial thing won't succeed because we understand instinctively that it is a grave matter - something serious that is written in the body and has the power to come back and haunt us.

Yet the recent efforts by the Pro-Lifers to put the clock back, with the ultimate threat of an outright ban, are even more depressing. Having a baby is one of the biggest responsibilities a person can take on. That's why the freedom not to take it on is so valuable and worth defending. And we should remember that freedom was very hard won.

Gisele is idolized by many young women in Brazil, the world's largest Roman Catholic country, where debate over sexual issues has intensified around a visit by Pope Benedict last month.THE POPE STRESSED THE CHURCH'S FIRM OPPOSITION TO ABORTION AND CONTRACEPTION AND RAILED AGAINST SEX OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE.

The Brazilian beauty, one of the world's top models, told Folha de S.Paulo newspaper in an interview that when the Church made its laws centuries ago, women were expected to be virgins.Today no one is a virgin when they get married - show me someone who's a virgin!" she said. Asked about abortion, she said a woman should have the right to choose what is best for her.

"If she thinks she doesn't have the money or the emotional condition to raise a child, why should she give birth?"