Two lesbians desperate for children. One flamboyant drag queen happy to help out. The result? Two proud mums who insist - believe it or not - their babies have had the best start in life. When passers-by see Jo Bartle and Stephanie Burns pushing their two children in a double buggy, they would be forgiven for seeing nothing more than two proud mums out for a walk with their respective babies.

But the truth is rather more remarkable than first meets the eye.

Jo and Steph are a lesbian couple. Thirteen months ago, Steph gave birth to baby Elijah. Three months later, her partner, Jo, had little Martha in the same hospital. They chose the names together. Now they declare that they (each) consider themselves mothers of both babies.

The babies are indeed genetic siblings. Both were conceived with the help of a syringe and a "donation" of sperm from the same man. The father? A drag queen the women met in a nightclub, whose recompense for getting them both pregnant was a cheap flight to Gran Canaria. "Some people will think what we are doing is disgusting, and they are entitled to that opinion, but I believe we're giving all the children the best possible start. There will always be those who don't believe that gay people should have children, but that is their problem, not ours."

She remains convinced that her children are luckier than most. "There can be no doubt about how much they were wanted. We can say to them, hand on heart, that they weren't just 'accidents'. They were planned, and they are surrounded by more love than they will ever need."

But what of the story about how they came into this world. Is that really one any child needs to hear? "We will tell them," say Jo. "I think we'll make it sound like a fairytale, because really, it is."

The little blue engine, created in 1945 by clergymen Wilbert Awdry to entertain his sick son, has been found to help the learning process in autistic children. His large eyes and expressive face are credited with helping victims, who often find it hard to read people's faces, to distinguish between different emotions.

Books, comic strips and films featuring Thomas and his various friends also help youngsters learn about colours, numbers and words, a survey by the National Autistic Society found. Parents of autistic children said the combination of clear facial expressions and simple storylines have helped their children make remarkable progress.

Thomas the Tank Engine: His large eyes and expressive face are credited with helping victims, who often find it hard to read people's faces, to distinguish between different emotions. Thomas was named favourite toy in a survey of 750 parents of autistic youngsters, with Bob the Builder coming a distant second. The poll also found that his appeal endures longer among autistic children -almost 40 per cent of parents said that autistic children liked the character for two years longer than siblings without the condition.

Benet Middleton, of the National Autistic Society, said: "Parents feel that Thomas has played a pivotal role in the early learning of many children who have autism partly due to the clear facial expressions and simple story lines."

Analysts translating the text - WHICH HAS BEEN PUBLISHED ONLY IN FRENCH - have called it the 'cut-and-paste constitution' because they say 96 per cent is the same as its 2005 predecessor. But the Government insists that the concept of a constitution has been ' abandoned', making a referendum unnecessary.

MPS WILL GO ON THEIR SUMMER BREAK WITHOUT EVEN SEEING AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION.

However, the think-tank Open Europe said huge sections of the document are word-for-word the same as the 2005 version, which was abandoned when voters in France and the Netherlands rejected it.

UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage said the refusal to hold a referendum is 'utterly dishonest and totally cynical', adding: 'Only the British government seems to believe this is not the old, rejected and discredited constitution. Nine other European leaders say it is. The Government can bang on about their famous red lines as much as they want, but it will not change the facts. We have surrendered our veto in over 60 areas.'

EUROSCEPTIC MPS ARE ANGRY THAT THEY ARE UNLIKELY TO HAVE A FULL DEBATE ON THE TREATY UNTIL EARLY NEXT YEAR, BY WHICH TIME THE GOVERNMENT WILL ALREADY HAVE AGREED IT.

The decision to send 16,500 employees on an "integrity" course in the wake of the fake TV shows scandal was condemned by MPs. Two of the corporation's top executives appeared before a Commons committee investigating the affair.

Director general Mark Thompson is on a family holiday, so his deputy Mark Byford and chief operating officer Caroline Thomson were asked to explain how viewers were deceived by a string of shows including Children In Need and Comic Relief, as well as the doctored footage of the Queen. They were accused of "fighting a rearguard action" and being "dangerously out of touch" with the way programmes are made.

Tory MP Philip Davies asked: "Is funding a training programme to tell your staff not to lie and cheat viewers a good use of licence-fee payers' money? Perhaps you need to look at your recruitment process if you have to train them on such fundamentals as not lying or cheating?"

There are currently more than 12,000 foreign convicts in Britain's overcrowded prison system - 15 per cent of the 80,000-strong jail population. Mr Brown said: 'We are going to take a far tougher line. I want a message to go out - if you come here you work and learn our language. If you commit a crime you will be deported. You play by the rules or you face the consequences.'

Water levels rose steadily overnight and police said they had cleared up to 250 homes and gave people shelter in Oxford City's soccer stadium. In Gloucestershire, the western English county worst hit by the deluge, up to 350,000 people could be without running water for the next two weeks.

The flooding turned the historic market town of Tewkesbury into an island where only the 12th century abbey stood unscathed on high ground. Lifeboats scudded down the main street, boats moored in car parks.

While Britain struggled with floods, central and southeast Europe faced a heat wave. Up to 500 people are estimated to have died in Hungary as temperatures soared, and the heat also killed 12 Romanians.

Britain's Environment Secretary Hilary Benn warned the crisis was far from over and had "caused considerable human distress."

Alec Rawls' "Crescent of Betrayal: Dishonoring the Heroes of Flight 93," published by World Ahead, documents a long list of Islamic and terrorist memorializing features in the Flight 93 National Memorial. The primary feature, he says, is the giant central crescent of what originally was called the "Crescent of Embrace" design. A person facing into this half-mile wide crescent - still present in the superficially altered "Bowl of Embrace" redesign - will be oriented almost exactly at Mecca.

That is significant, Rawls said, because a crescent that Muslims face to point them in the direction of Mecca - called a "mihrab" - is the central feature around which every mosque is built. Rawls said it seems impossible such startling revelations could go unreported, but Pennsylvania newspapers have ignored him.

He learned from a reporter at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette that editors knew about the Mecca orientation of the giant crescent in September 2005 when the design was first unveiled. BUT THE EDITORS DECIDED THE INFORMATION SHOULD NOT BE PUBLISHED, ACCUSING CRITICS OF BEING PARANOID BIGOTS. "Like those who look at innocent kids trick-or-treating at Halloween and see only the devil's work," wrote the editors at the time, "A FEW SMALL AND SUSPICIOUS MINDS COULDN'T LOOK PAST THE CRESCENT TO SEE A REMARKABLY SENSITIVE DESIGN."

Defenders of the "Crescent of Embrace" design, Rawls contended, "choose their side first, then avoid or suppress all contrary reason and evidence." "That, of course, is the essence of how political correctness works, and why it is a threat to all of us," he said.

Rawls gave Kirk Swauger of the Johnstown Tribune Democrat the address of an Islamic website " Islam.com " that has a Mecca direction calculator. "While I was on the phone with him, Kirk set the calculator to Somerset, Pa., 10 miles from the crash site, and clicked the 'view qibla direction' button. WHEN HE PLACED THE RESULTING MECCA-DIRECTION GRAPHIC OVER THE ORIGINAL CRESCENT OF EMBRACE SITE PLAN, KIRK SAID TO ME: 'YUP. IT POINTS TO MECCA.'" Swauger said he would include the verification in his news story, but it never appeared, Rawls recounted.

Another feature, he says, is a separate section of the wall - centered exactly on the bisector of the giant crescent - that is in the exact position of the star on an Islamic flag. He says there also are 44 inscribed glass blocks placed along the path that Flight 93 followed to the ground, matching the number of passengers, crew and terrorists.

As WND reported in September 2005, REP. TOM TANCREDO, R-COLO., SENT A LETTER TO THE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT, ASKING OFFICIALS TO RECONSIDER THE "CRESCENT OF EMBRACE" DESIGN DUE TO THE SYMBOL'S TIES TO ISLAM.

"It has raised questions in some circles about whether the design, if constructed, WILL IN FACT MAKE THE MEMORIAL A TRIBUTE TO THE HIJACKERS RATHER THAN THE VICTIMS whose mission the flight's passengers helped to thwart," wrote Tancredo in a letter to Fran Mainella, director of the National Park Service. "REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT THE INVOCATION OF A MUSLIM SYMBOL BY THE MEMORIAL DESIGNER WAS INTENTIONAL OR NOT, IT SEEMS THAT SUCH A SYMBOL IS UNSUITABLE FOR PAYING APPROPRIATE TRIBUTE TO THE HEROES OF FLIGHT 93 OR THE ENSUING AMERICAN STRUGGLE AGAINST RADICAL ISLAM THAT THEIR LAST HISTORIC ACT AND THE 'LET'S ROLL' EFFORT HAS COME TO SYMBOLIZE."

"This is a memorial to the terrorists who killed those people, not a memorial to the folks who died there innocently," said Rev. Ron McRae, head of the Bible Anabaptist Church near Jerome, Pa.,

A website featuring comments by, for and about "principled conservatism" is being investigated by the Canadian government, and could be fined or ordered shut down for some postings about Islam and homosexuality.

AMONG THE STATEMENTS CITED IN THE COMPLAINT ARE POSTS FROM BILL WHATCOTT, WHO SAID: "I CAN'T FIGURE OUT WHY THE HOMOSEXUALS I RAN INTO ARE ON THE SIDE OF THE MUSLIMS. AFTER ALL, MUSLIMS WHO PRACTICE SHARIA LAW TEND TO ADVOCATE BEHEADING HOMOSEXUALS."

Wilkins told WND such cases are becoming more common. Recently a fraternal organization was sued when it objected to a homosexual wedding in a building used for rentals. Another man was sued simply for writing a letter to the editor expressing his opposition to having teachers instruct children in homosexuality at public schools, Wilkins said.

The problem is the wide open door the standards leave for interpreting whether something is a crime. "The problem is there are so many grey areas. If somebody posts on our site, and someone else, a member of an ethnic group, religion or identifiable minority of any kind reads it, we have no way of knowing if that is going to be perceived as a hate crime. All it takes is for someone to say my feelings were hurt."

THE PROCESS THEN, IS THAT, "IF THE TRIBUNAL BELIEVES THEIR FEELINGS WERE HURT, THAT'S IT FOR YOU."

Canada's commission refused to return a message from WND asking for an explanation on the conflict between a Christian exercising his faith and a homosexual's protection from any statement, including a quote from the Bible, of condemnation. However, a lawyer for the printer, Scott Brockie, in that case pointed out the difficulty. "Mr. [Ray] Brillinger can live his life the way he wants to," lawyer Philip McMullen said of the homosexual activist who had brought the complaint. "BUT MY CLIENT HAS TO TAKE HIS RELIGION OFF LIKE A HOUSECOAT AND LEAVE IT HANGING BEHIND THE FRONT DOOR WHEN HE GOES OUT IN THE MORNINGS."

WND columnist Janet Folger wrote the idea of arresting people for stating their religious beliefs that homosexuality is wrong is no longer something that "may" happen in the future. "Here's the Cliff Notes of what so called 'hate crime' legislation has already done IN AMERICA," she wrote. "This is no longer up for debate. Here are the facts."

David Ott, a former homosexual, was arrested for a "hate crime" for sharing his testimony with a homosexual at a gas station. He faced a $10,000 fine and one year behind bars. SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS IN LEGAL FEES LATER, [HE] WAS ORDERED TO ATTEND RE-EDUCATION CLASSES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN CONDUCTED BY A LESBIAN.

"Just how many cases do we need to cite before America stands up and stops the bill that will criminalize Christianity?" she asked. Rev. Rick Scarborough, president of Vision America, said the plan will "punish Christians for preaching certain biblical principles and lead to pastors being jailed in violation of their First Amendment rights as we have already witnessed in Europe."

A PASTOR IN EUROPE ALREADY HAS SERVED A PRISON TERM FOR PREACHING THAT THE BIBLE CONDEMNS HOMOSEXUALITY.

Two people were burned alive in their car near the town of Peschici, while another two were asphyxiated on a beach that was engulfed by flames nearby, ANSA said.

Meanwhile more than 1,000 beachgoers were evacuated by sea from beaches near Peschici, while in nearby Vieste, fires destroyed four campsites. Cities opened schools to shelter the displaced campers as well as residents whose homes were threatened.

Jeffrey Currie, a London-based commodity analyst at the world's biggest securities firm, says $95 crude is likely this year unless OPEC unexpectedly increases production, and declining inventories are raising the chances for $100 oil. Jeff Rubin at CIBC World Markets predicts $100 a barrel as soon as next year.

"We're only a headline of significance away from $100 oil," said John Kilduff, an analyst in the New York office of futures broker Man Financial Inc. "The unrelenting pressure of increased demand has left the market a coiled spring." New disruptions of Nigerian or Iraqi supplies, or any military strike against Iran, might trigger the rise, Kilduff said in a July 20 interview.

Higher prices will increase revenue for energy producers from Exxon Mobil Corp. to PetroChina Co., while eroding profit at airlines including EasyJet Plc and railroads such as Union Pacific Corp. The U.S. and other oil-importing nations risk accelerating inflation, while higher energy costs threaten to restrain growth.

Benchmark crude oil futures ended last week at $75.57 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 51 percent since mid- January and twice the level of early 2003.

Anna Paldy, deputy director of the National Institute of Environmental Health, told the BBC that the figure included 230 deaths in central Hungary. The deaths - from 15 to 22 July - were caused by heatstroke, cardiovascular problems and other illnesses aggravated by the heat, she said. Some 30 people have also died in the heatwave in neighbouring Romania.

The Romanian authorities have put emergency services in many areas on "red alert". Ms Paldy told the BBC News website that the death rate from heat in Hungary was the highest in recent years. In Serbia, the agriculture ministry says 30% of the country's annual harvest has been destroyed because of the heat, with the wheat, soya and vegetable crops worst hit.

Parts of northern Europe have meanwhile seen vast floods and heavy rainfall - sparking fears that climate change may be to blame for the extreme weather. Unusually high temperatures of more than 40C (104F) have been recorded in several parts of southern and eastern Europe. On Monday, temperatures of 45C (113F) were recorded in Bulgaria - the hottest since records began, officials said.

Hundreds of forest fires have been reported in Greece, where two pilots died on Monday after a water-bombing aircraft they were flying over a forest fire crashed. Another such aircraft flying over a forest fire in Italy crashed on Monday, killing three people.

In the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, thousands of firefighters, soldiers and local people battled throughout Monday night to stop a forest fire from reaching the country's second-largest city, Bitola.

The former UK prime minister said the two-day visit was a chance to listen and learn, and spoke of a "sense of possibility" in the region. His mandate from the Quartet of Middle East mediators is to work to strengthen Palestinian institutions. The Quartet is made up of Russia, the UN, the EU and the United States.

"This initial visit is a chance to listen, to learn and reflect. There will be a time when the many questions that are very obvious should be answered, but I feel that this is not the moment at this point," Mr Blair said on Tuesday morning." I think there is a sense of possibility, but whether that sense of possibility can be translated into something is something that needs to be worked out and thought about over time".

"Iran only has power when the world is divided," Peres told France's Le Figaro daily, referring to the stalemate over Iran's nuclear programme. "If Iran is confronted by a united front, it will change its policy on the nuclear issue", the veteran statesman added. Peres noted that four countries -- Ukraine, Libya, South Africa and North Korea -- had already given up nuclear weapons under pressure from the international community.

In the interview Peres also praised Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan after his party, which sprung from Islamist roots, won a landslide election victory Sunday. Erdogan "has promised he will continue the same policies, which led to excellent relations between Israel and Turkey, an open and progressive country," Peres said.

On the thorny issue of relations with the Palestinians, Peres said that "economics is the new creed", adding: "We have no need for colonisation. I propose to the Palestinians to try first to improve relations, and in parallel, to engage in negotiations," added the Nobel peace prize winner.

BUSH CONTINUES PUSH FOR DIVISION OF ISRAEL
Upon winning his second term in office, U.S. President George W. Bush pledged that he would do everything in his power to make the creation of an Arab state in the midst of Israel possible before leaving the White House at the end of next year. Since 2002 Bush has nurtured a "demonic vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace." On Monday, frustrated by the lack of progress towards this goal, the U.S. leader announced a plan to jump-start the long-stalled land-for-peace process.
Speaking at the White House, Bush said he would convene an international peace conference in the autumn. The conference, which will be chaired by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, would be held this fall in the region with senior envoys from Israel, the PA, and their neighbours.

BUSH SAID THOSE INVITED TO ATTEND WOULD HAVE TO BE COMMITTED TO FINDING A "TWO-STATE" SOLUTION TO THE PRESENT CONFLICT. IN HIS SPEECH, BUSH PRAISED VETERAN TERRORIST AND PA CHAIRMAN MAHMOUD ABBAS FOR WORKING TO BUILD MODERN DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS. HE FAVOURABLY CONTRASTED ABBAS, WHO IS ALSO THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BLOOD-DRENCHED FATAH FACTION OF THE PLO -- THE ARM RESPONSIBLE FOR KILLING MORE JEWS THAN ANY OTHER ARAB GROUP IN THE OSLO WAR -- WITH THE OTHER TERRORIST GROUP, HAMAS. The latter, Bush said, is devoted to "extremism" and "murder." The Arab state is to be a new -- never before existing -- entity established on ancient Jewish lands.

ISRAEL CUTS DOWN ARRESTS OF TERRORISTS IN JUDEA AND SAMARIA
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has significantly cut down on operations involving arrests of wanted Arab terrorists in Judea and Samaria, as a result of agreements reached between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Since Thursday morning, no such operations have been carried out in Judea and Samaria. Senior officers were quick to point to a number of similar, unsuccessful efforts in the past over the seven years of the Oslo War. DR. AARON LERNER (IMRA) POINTS OUT THAT EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN THAT SUCH "GESTURES" TO PLEASE WASHINGTON HAVE TURNED OUT BE LITERALLY "DYING TO PLEASE THE WHITE HOUSE". ISRAEL RADIO reported Monday morning that the terrorists being disarmed will ultimately be rearmed to serve within PA security forces. [Ha'aretz]

PERES' FIRST ACT: GET RID OF OUR BIBLICAL HEARTLAND
This past week Shimon Peres took the oath of office of President of Israel, administered by Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik, in a ceremony accompanied by musical interludes of Biblical verses. The singers were unaccompanied by musical instruments, except drums, apparently in respect for the current Three Weeks mourning period for the Holy Temples. PERES ALSO SAID HE WOULD CONTINUE HIS CRUSADE OF SURRENDERING PARTS OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL IN EXCHANGE FOR PROMISES OF PEACE FROM ISRAEL'S ENEMIES. He noted that this would require Israel to withdraw from Judea and Samaria. "We have to get rid of the territories," he said. "I won't make any secrets of my mind. I shall respect the minority. I shall not insult them. I changed my position [to President]. I didn't change my beliefs and concepts." MK (Member of Knesset) Aryeh Eldad responded with anger at Peres' remarks. "I wanted to accept Peres as the President of the entire country," Eldad said, "but he decided to begin with divisiveness and discord. TO SAY SO DERISIVELY THAT ISRAEL MUST 'GET RID' OF AREA AND, CONSEQUENTLY, A QUARTER OF A MILLION PEOPLE WHO LIVE THERE... THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO START." [Arutz Sheva]

ISRAELI PERMITS ARCH-TERRORIST TO VISIT PA
Perhaps the most controversial of the goodwill gestures Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert is presenting to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is permission for the mastermind of one of the most sensational and heinous terrorist attacks on Israel to visit the Arab-occupied territories this past week. In 1972, Nayef Hawatmeh, founder of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), orchestrated what was to become known as the "Ma'alot Massacre" -- the murder of 22 young Israeli children at a school in the northern Israeli town of Ma'alot. Some of the children were thrown to their deaths from school windows. Olmert's gesture has enraged Israelis, who note that throughout the years, Hawatmeh has remained defiant and has never expressed remorse for his deeds. Another gesture Israelis are troubled by is the inclusion of Zakariya Zubeidi on the amnesty list. Zubeidi has directed at least two suicide bombings and overseen scores of shooting attacks that have claimed the lives of dozens of Israeli civilians and soldiers. He has indicated that he is not ready to go along with Israeli conditions for that amnesty. One frequently asked question is, "What is Israel getting in return?" AND, AS EXPECTED, MANY ISRAELIS ARE OUTRAGED AT THE NUMBER OF KNOWN PERPETRATORS OF TERROR WHO ARE BEING "LET OFF" WHILE ISRAEL'S CAPTIVE SOLDIERS REMAIN IN ARAB HANDS. TO THEM THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN FATAH AND HAMAS IS IRRELEVANT. [The Media Line]

The arrangement was approved by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who Saturday night signed an agreement granting amnesty to 180 men on Israel's wanted list.

OPPOSITION KNESSET MEMBERS SLAMMED THE PLAN AS A "MIXTURE OF CRIMINAL SPIN AND PLAIN STUPIDITY."

In accordance with the deal, a terrorist who handed in an M-16 rifle received $15,000, while an AK-47 was "surrendered" for $3750. Smaller guns earned their owners up to $6,000. The money paid to these killers came from donations made to the PA by the international community.

Apart from the dollars, the men who had been wanted - some for years - for their acts of criminal violence against Israeli Jews were free to come out of hiding and bask in the embrace of their people.

AND A WEEK AFTER PAYING THIS "PRICE" FOR THEIR SINS, THE AGREEMENT STIPULATES THAT THESE TERRORISTS WILL BE "INTEGRATED" INTO THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY'S "SECURITY FORCES" AND ISSUED WITH WEAPONS TO REPLACE THE ONES THEY JUST SURRENDERED FOR CASH.