Emirates Bank International and the National Bank of Dubai directors announced the deal on Monday after agreeing the terms of a merger first announced in March by Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE vice-president and prime minister.

The government of Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates federation, owns 76 per cent of Emirates Bank and 14 per cent of National Bank. Ahmad Humaid Al Tayer, chairman of EBI, said: "The objective of this merger is to create a strong entity that will play a major role in the banking industry."

They hover on the edge of space. Thin, wispy clouds, glowing electric blue. Some scientists think these mysterious clouds are seeded by space dust. Others suspect they're a telltale sign of global warming. Sky watchers on Earth see them, too, glowing in the night sky after sunset, although the view from Earth-orbit is better. Now a Nasa satellite has captured the first occurrence this summer of mysterious shiny polar clouds that form 50 miles above Earth's surface.

The first observations of these noctilucent or "night-shining" clouds has been made by a satellite named "AIM" which means Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere, the first satellite mission dedicated to the study of these unusual clouds.

The clouds form in an upper layer of the Earth's atmosphere, called the mesosphere, during the Northern Hemisphere's summer season which began in mid-May and extends through the end of August and are being seen by AIM's instruments more frequently as the season progresses. This is is why they are also called Polar Mesospheric Clouds.

Very little is known about how these clouds form over the poles, why they are being seen more frequently and at lower latitudes than ever before, or why they have been growing brighter. AIM will observe two complete cloud seasons over both poles, documenting an entire life cycle of the shiny clouds for the first time.

"It is clear that these clouds are changing, a sign that a part of our atmosphere is changing and we do not understand how, why or what it means," said AIM principal investigator James Russell III of Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia. "These observations suggest a connection with global change in the lower atmosphere and could represent an early warning that our Earth environment is being changed."

The report, produced in co-operation with Chinese government ministries over several years, found about 750,000 people die prematurely in China each year, mainly from air pollution in large cities.

China's State Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) and health ministry asked the World Bank to cut the calculations of premature deaths from the report when a draft was finished last year, according to Bank advisers and Chinese officials.

Advisers to the research team said ministries told them this information, including a detailed map showing which parts of the country suffered the most deaths, was too sensitive."The World Bank was told that it could not publish this information. It was too sensitive and could cause social unrest," one adviser to the study told the Financial Times.

Sixteen of the world's 20 most polluted cities are in China, according to previous World Bank research.

Before trading started on Tuesday morning, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) set the midpoint at 7.5951, breaking the 7.60 barrier for the first time since China ended its peg to the US dollar in July 2005. The PBoC widened the yuan's daily trading limit against the US dollar to 0.5 percent to 0.3 percent on May 18, making it possible for faster gains. The yuan has appreciated 6.35 percent against the US dollar since the exchange rate reform in 2005.

However, that has failed to appease the Bush administration, American lawmakers and businesses. US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Monday he was unhappy with the slow pace at which the yuan is rising in value. American lawmakers and businesses claim China is keeping the yuan artificially low to give its exports an unfair advantage and demand a faster rise in yuan's value.

Their findings add to a growing body of research that demonstrates the health benefits of wine. Moderate consumption of red is already known to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's. However, the drink's antibacterial qualities, although well- known by the ancient Romans, have been little investigated, said Professor Gabriella Gazzani, writing in the American Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Professor Gazzani's team used bottles of supermarket Valpolicella and Pinot Nero for their research, pouring the wines into bowls containing bacteria. "Overall, our findings seem to indicate that wine can act as an effective anti-microbial agent against streptococci bacteria and upper respiratory tract infections," she said.

(Reader comment:-" I've got a sore throat and an ear ache. Should I have two glasses?")

A damning report by a Commons committee will warn that the growing shortfall - fuelled by a recruitment crisis - is leaving the military increasingly overstretched in Iraq and Afghanistan. It found the number of RAF servicemen and Army officers returning to civilian life has hit a ten-year high.
Increasingly frequent overseas postings, heavier workloads, poor pay and disruption to family life were the key reasons more troops were quitting the military, MPs found.

Conservative MP Edward Leigh, the committee chairman, said: "The Ministry of Defence has been relying for too long on the goodwill and courageous spirit of our servicemen and women to compensate for the increasing shortages of personnel in all three services.

"There are simply not enough service people to meet levels of military activity planned some years ago, let alone the heightened demands now being placed on them by commitments such as the Iraq and Afghanistan operations. "Let us fervently hope that it will not take some future operational failure on the battlefield for the department to change its mind."

The pound rose to $2.0173 -- its highest level versus the dollar since June 1981 -- in New York trading before retreating to $2.0165. The dollar also dropped to within a cent of its all-time low versus the euro, as rising global interest rates made the currency less attractive to investors.

The 13-nation euro rose to $1.3637, just shy of its April 27 all-time high of $1.3682, before dipping back to $1.3623. Higher interest rates, a weapon against inflation, can bolster a currency by giving better returns on fixed-income investments.

The dollar has been especially weak for so many months, it's difficult to put a finger on a single catalyst for Monday's losses, said David Solin, a partner at Foreign Exchange Analytics in Essex, Conn. "What really triggered this sudden realization that the dollar should be sold off?" he said.

The dollar bought 122.32 yen, down from 123.14 yen late Friday. In other trading, the dollar bought 1.0562 Canadian dollars, down from 1.0626, and 1.2103 Swiss francs, dropping from 1.2219.

VERY STRONG HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT OVER THE SOUTHWESTERN UNITED
STATES WILL CONTINUE TO INTENSIFY INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK.
THIS WILL PRODUCE VERY HOT CONDITIONS OVER THE SOUTHWEST ARIZONA
AND SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA DESERTS THE NEXT FEW DAYS.

FORECAST HIGHS ON TUESDAY WILL RANGE FROM 113 DEGREES AT YUMA TO
AROUND 115 DEGREES AT PARKER. IT WILL LIKELY BE A FEW DEGREES
HOTTER ON INDEPENDENCE DAY...WITH EXPECTED HIGHS OF 116 AT YUMA...
117 AT IMPERIAL AND 118 AT PARKER.

Iraqi Bilal Abdullah, who was arrested at Glasgow Airport, worked as a locum doctor at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.

Strathclyde Police said two further men were detained at residences there, though officers would not confirm whether they were doctors. Two controlled explosions were carried out on two vehicles at the hospital. One of the two suspected of driving the flaming Jeep loaded with gas canisters into the arrivals hall at Glasgow Airport, suffered severe burns and remains in a critical condition.

Police investigating failed car bombings at Glasgow airport and London have seized a man at Brisbane airport. The Australian arrest brings the number of people held to eight. PM John Howard said the 27-year-old man was a doctor and that a second doctor was also being interviewed by Australian police.

Mr Howard said Australian police had been acting on information from the UK authorities. The detained man was an Indian national who was arrested while trying to return to India with a one-way ticket, he added.

Security has been stepped up with extra police patrols and vehicle searches taking place at airports and transport hubs. In a Commons statement, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the country would not be "intimidated" by "those who wish to destroy our way of life and our freedoms".

Chavez and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who both regularly rail against Washington, met during an official visit by the Venezuelan leader to the Islamic Republic. Chavez arrived on Saturday after visiting Russia and Belarus. The Venezuelan leader, who wants to forge an alliance of leftist states to counter U.S. policies, told Ahmadinejad according to the official IRNA news agency:

"Cooperation of independent countries such as Iran and Venezuela has an effective role in defeating the policies of imperialism and saving nations."Ahmadinejad, whose country is embroiled in an escalating standoff with the West over its disputed nuclear programme, took a similar line.

"The pillars of the global arrogance have become shaky and victory (can) be achieved with resistance and standing firm," he told Chavez. "Global arrogance" is a term Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials use to refer to the United States and its allies, but like Chavez he did not name America in comments on IRNA.

The text is based on the Tridentine Mass promulgated by the Council of Trent in the 16th century. Originally this mass contained a Good Friday prayer for the conversion of "the perfidious Jews." But in the 1960s, after his historic meeting with the historian and Holocaust survivor Jules Isaac, Pope John XXIII ordered this terminology removed, and the version that will be used dates back to 1962, when this phrase had already been eliminated.

Some Catholic circles, particularly those most open to interfaith dialogue, are concerned this change will divide Catholics and undo some of the good work of the Second Vatican Council. Jewish groups are upset that the mass contain a prayer for the conversion of the Jews.

Contemporary Good Friday prayers no longer ask for the conversion of Jews, and in contrast to the old version, the Jewish covenant with God is presented as eternally valid. During Easter celebrations one can hear these words in the modern version: "Lord our God, who chose the Jews before all other men, to receive his word, help them to continue progressing in the love of your name and faithfulness to your covenant." The prayer continues with wishes that Jews may reach "the fulfillment of redemption."

According to officials, HAMAS HAS INVESTED MILLIONS OF SHEKELS IN RECENT YEARS IN JERUSALEM CHARITIES, RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS, AS WELL AS IN CONSTRUCTION ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT IN AN EFFORT TO RECRUIT ISRAELI ARAB RESIDENTS OF JERUSALEM INTO ITS RANKS, THUS BOLSTERING ITS PRESENCE IN THE CAPITAL.

The official said that Hamas recently built a bathroom on the Temple Mount and also enlarged a library and prayer halls in Solomon's Stables. "THEIR GOAL IS TO GAIN FULL CONTROL OVER THE TEMPLE MOUNT," a high-ranking security officer said Monday, adding that Hamas also tried to infiltrate members into the Temple Mount as maintenance staff , in addition to its religious leaders who preach, give tours, and teach Koran classes there.

The official said Hamas had taken advantage of the Jordanian Wakf, which is responsible for the holy site. The Wakf has been suffering from finance constraints since 2000, when the Temple Mount mosques were closed to visitors. Officiasl said THE HAMAS TAKEOVER OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT WAS A "STRATEGIC" MOVE TO BOLSTER ITS STANDING IN THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES AND THROUGHOUT THE MUSLIM WORLD.

During a year-long operation, Shin Bet arrested 11 Hamas officials based in Jerusalem, 10 of whom held Israeli identity cards. Hamas's Jerusalem headquarters were funded by Hamas headquarters in Syria, as well as a chain of charity institutions based in Saudi Arabia . In addition to Hamas's efforts to take over the Temple Mount, the movement increased in recent years its activity in east Jerusalem, where it had set up religious institutions and used what seemed to be innocent festivities to "brainwash" Muslims with Hamas ideology.

Confidential figures obtained by the Daily Mail show that £36million in 'reward grants' has been promised to English councils in an attempt by Labour to increase adoptions of children by 50 per cent. The money-earning targets were introduced by Tony Blair in 2000 and were intended to lift more older children out of the care system.

But critics say it is the most 'adoptable' babies and children under four who are being removed in the biggest numbers. More than 900 newborn babies are now being taken from their mothers each year, a 300 per cent increase in little more than a decade.

The number of children aged between a week and a month removed from their parents has risen to 1,300 annually, a rise of 141 per cent in the same time. In the past two weeks alone, eight newborn babies have been taken from their mothers at hospitals in Newcastle and North Tyneside.

Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming has demanded an explanation. He said: "We are seeing a massive increase in the forced removal of newborns. Babies are being taken before they can even be breastfed. SOCIAL WORKERS ARE SEIZING VERY YOUNG CHILDREN ON THE FLIMSIEST OF EXCUSES AND GIVING THEM TO OTHER FAMILIES.

"This smacks of social engineering on a grand scale. The offer of monetary rewards for meeting the targets has created a frenzy among social workers. THERE ARE COUNCIL TARGETS FOR RECYCLING RUBBISH AND NOW TARGETS FOR RECYCLING CHILDREN." Critics say very young children are specifically selected - even before birth - by social workers to get the bonuses. IT IS BELIEVED THAT 1,000 EACH YEAR ARE WRONGLY TAKEN FROM THEIR PARENTS.

Beverley Beech, of the Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services - a body which advises new mothers - said: "The Government is denying that social workers are targeting babies for adoption. "But the desperate calls on our helpline from pregnant women who have already been told by social workers, for no good reason, that they will lose their babies immediately they are born, or from mothers of new babies taken for adoption, prove these denials are not true."

Campaigners also want an opening up of family courts, where adoptions are overseen in utmost secrecy. Parents are warned that if they tell anyone - even their closest family - what goes on they could face prison for contempt of court. Family law solicitor Sarah Harman, the sister of Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman, said: "IT'S NOT THE WELFARE OF THE CHILD THAT IS BEING PROTECTED - IT'S THE WELFARE OF SOCIAL WORKERS".

As the destructive pests finish their annual feast and move to the next phase of their metamorphosis, officials in both states say recent airplane inspections have revealed staggering damage. The fuzzy caterpillars have turned brown an area the size of Delaware, leaving miles of forest exposed to increased fire risk and government officials arguing whether enough was done to prevent the devastation.

This year's caterpillars were so voracious that they gobbled the needles off pine trees and the leaves from trees they usually find unappetizing.Ed Lempicki, chief of the New Jersey Forest Service, said he was stunned by his air survey two weeks ago.On a 15-acre expanse in Monmouth County, he said, the caterpillars stripped every leaf from 200-year-old oak, yellow poplar and sugar maples with two- to three-foot diameters.

"It looked like something out of a sci-fi magazine," he said. "Caterpillars were crawling everywhere, all over the trees and buildings. They had completely inundated the area. Now, instead of these gorgeous trees, you have great big dead monstrosities that have to be taken down." Deciduous trees can survive leaflessness for a year, but many of the Monmouth County trees also were stripped last year. Conifers likely will die soon after they're without needles, foresters say.

Joe Zoltowski, chief of the New Jersey Bureau of Plant Pest and Disease Control in the Department of Agriculture, estimates that the caterpillars inflicted fatal damage on more than 17,000 acres of Garden State trees. Many other trees, he said, are so weakened they'll likely die in a few years.

Nine in ten young revellers experience the signs of ear damage after a night out, yet do nothing to prevent it, according to the Royal National Institute for Deaf People. The charity's report, Like it Loud?, reveals that 70 per cent of clubbers, 68 per cent of gig-goers and 44 per cent of those who drink in bars suffer symptoms of hearing damage such as dullness of hearing or ringing in the ears, known as tinnitus.

More than half of the 1,381 respondents, aged between 16 and 30, visited a bar where they had to shout to be heard at least once a week. The same proportion went clubbing at least once a month. But only 25 per cent thought the music was too loud and just one-third thought hearing loss would affect their lives.

The RNID is calling for the establishment of a recommended noise exposure level for audiences attending music venues, and wants the government to educate young people about the issue as a public health risk.
Dr John Low, chief executive of RNID, said: "We are all familiar with messages about practising safe sex and using suncream, but the lack of any guidance on loud music means this generation of music-lovers could be facing a hearing loss time bomb.

"With regular exposure to music at high volumes in clubs, gigs and bars, it is only too easy to clock up noise doses that could damage their hearing forever."