Wet snow fell for hours on Monday, after freezing air from Antarctica collided with a moisture-laden low pressure system. In higher climbs in western and central Argentina, snow fell heavily and blanketed the region.
"Despite all my years, this is the first time I've ever seen in snow in Buenos Aires," said Juana Benitez, an 82-year-old who joined children celebrating in the streets.

Argentina's National Weather Service said it was the first major snow in Buenos Aires since June 22, 1918, though sleet or freezing rain have been periodically reported in decades since. "This is the kind of weather phenomenon that comes along every 100 years," forecaster Hector Ciappesoni told La Nacion newspaper. "It is very difficult to predict."

The snow followed a bitter cold snap in late May that saw subfreezing temperatures, the coldest in 40 years in Buenos Aires. That cold wave contributed to an energy crisis and 23 deaths from exposure. Two more exposure deaths were reported on Monday.

Officials hinted that the U.S. president is being forced to act to ease discontent in his Republican party. A damning report on the Iraqi government's failure to meet crucial goals could bring the issue to a head later this week. The progress study was demanded by Congress and approved by Mr Bush.

Washington analysts say he could use the Iraqi government's poor showing as an excuse to withdraw troops.
The New York Times suggested administration officials were discussing whether the president should announce an intention to gradually bring back troops from high casualty areas. The White House had hoped to buy time until September when the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq delivers his assessment of a troop 'surge' in the Baghdad area.

But with public support for the war plummeting still further and Bush's own approval ratings at the lowest of his presidency, he is facing unprecedented demands for a U-turn. Senior Republican leaders are understood to have warned the president the party faces a pasting in next year's presidential polls unless urgent action is taken to initiate a troop withdrawal.

Two weeks after failed car bombings in London and Glasgow, Ayman al-Zawahri warned of more in the first Al Qaeda tape aimed mainly at Britain. The Egyptian-born fanatic, who is credited with planning many of the terror network's atrocities, directed his message to Gordon Brown.

He declared: "I say to Blair's successor that the policy of your predecessor drew catastrophes in Afghanistan and Iraq and even in the centre of London. "If you did not learn the lesson then we are ready to repeat it, God willing, until we are sure you have fully understood."

In the tape - called Malicious Britain and its Indian Slaves - Osama Bin Laden's number two lashed out at Britain for having making Bombay-born Rushdie a knight last month. He said it was an insult to Muslims to grant the honour to a man whose book, The Satanic Verses, is seen to defame the Prophet Mohammed. Al-Zawahri said: "I say to [Queen] Elizabeth and Blair that your message has reached us and we are in the process of preparing for you a precise response."

A Foreign Office spokesman said. "We will continue to tackle the threat from international terrorism as a priority in order to prevent the risk of attacks on British interests at home and overseas, including from Al Qaeda.
"These terrorists care nothing for the peoples of the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan. Al Qaeda has been killing civilians of all faiths, including many fellow Muslims, for years." "It was quite predictable that Al Qaeda would try to use the knighthood to try to further their own goals of polarising Muslims and the West. It was not unexpected."

Experts believe it is only a matter of time before cloning animals becomes a commercial farming practice, and meat or milk from clones or their offspring is approved for human consumption. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been studying the implications of cloning for six years.

A draft report from the FDA recently concluded that edible products from cloned animals presented no additional risks to public. Dr Simon Best, the chairman of the BioIndustry Association, believes it will not be long before cloned pork or beef, or, more likely, meat from the offspring of clones, is on sale in the US and visiting Britons would get their first taste.

He said: "I think it's very likely that millions of Brits will be eating McDonald's hamburgers from cloned animals or their progeny in two or three years, but only in America." But there is no early prospect of meat from cloned animals reaching dining tables in Britain and the rest of Europe.

US law holds that labels are only needed if a scientifically derived food product is materially different from one that is natural. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is working closely with the FDA. But cloned meat will be more highly regulated in Europe than in the US.

The statement brought swift criticism from Protestant leaders. "It makes us question whether we are indeed praying together for Christian unity," said the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, a fellowship of 75 million Protestants in more than 100 countries. "It makes us question the seriousness with which the Roman Catholic Church takes its dialogues with the reformed family and other families of the church," the group said in a letter charging that the document took ecumenical dialogue back to the era before the Second Vatican Council.

It was the second time in a week that Benedict has corrected what he says are erroneous interpretations of the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-1965 meetings that modernized the church. On Saturday, Benedict revived the old Latin Mass - a move cheered by Catholic traditionalists but criticized by more liberal ones as a step backward from Vatican II.

Among the council's key developments were its ecumenical outreach and the development of the New Mass in the vernacular, which essentially replaced the old Latin Mass. Benedict, who attended Vatican II as a young theologian, has long complained about what he considers its ERRONEOUS INTERPRETATION BY LIBERALS, SAYING IT WAS NOT A BREAK FROM THE PAST BUT RATHER A RENEWAL OF CHURCH TRADITION.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Benedict headed before becoming pope, said it was issuing the new document Tuesday because some contemporary theological interpretations of Vatican II's ecumenical intent had been "erroneous or ambiguous" and had prompted confusion and doubt.

The other communities "cannot be called 'churches' in the proper sense" because THEY DO NOT HAVE APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION - the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ's original apostles - and therefore THEIR PRIESTLY ORDINATIONS ARE NOT VALID, it said.

The new document - formulated as five questions and answers - restates key sections of a 2000 text the pope wrote when he was prefect of the congregation, "Dominus Iesus," which riled Protestant and other Christian denominations because IT SAID THEY WERE NOT TRUE CHURCHES BUT MERELY ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES AND THEREFORE DID NOT HAVE THE "MEANS OF SALVATION."

The commentary repeated church teaching that says the Catholic Church "has the fullness of the means of salvation." "CHRIST 'ESTABLISHED HERE ON EARTH' ONLY ONE CHURCH," only one church," said the document released as the pope vacations at a villa in Lorenzago di Cadore, in Italy's Dolomite mountains.

Despite the harsh tone, the document stressed that Benedict remains committed to ecumenical dialogue.

Burping cows and sheep are being targeted by UK scientists to help bring down Britain's soaring levels of greenhouse gas pollution. Experts at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research in Aberystwyth say the diet of farmed animals can be changed to make them produce less methane, a more potent global warming gas than carbon dioxide.

Farmed ruminant animals are thought to be responsible for up to a quarter of "man-made" methane emissions worldwide though, contrary to common belief, most gas emerges from their front, not rear, ends.

Mike Abberton, a scientist at the institute, said farmers could help tackle climate change by growing grass varieties bred to have high sugar levels, white clover and birdsfoot trefoil, a leafy legume, for their animals to eat. The altered diet changes the way that bacteria in the stomachs of the animals break down plant material into waste gas, he said.

The institute has started a new government research programme, with the universities of Wales and Reading, to investigate how this process could be improved. A similar project in New Zealand suggested that dietary changes could reduce methane emissions from sheep by up to 50%.

A baby mammoth unearthed in the permafrost of north-west Siberia could be the best preserved specimen of its type, scientists have said. The frozen carcass is to be sent to Japan for detailed study. The six-month-old female calf was discovered on the Yamal peninsula of Russia and is thought to have died 10,000 years ago.

The animal's trunk and eyes are still intact and some of its fur remains on the body. The 130cm (4ft 3ins) tall, 50kg Siberian specimen dates to the end of the last Ice Age, when the great beasts were vanishing from the planet.

The alert around Mount Gamkonora, in North Maluku province, has been raised to its highest level amid fears a major eruption could be imminent. Scientists have reported seeing fire and ash clouds rising as high as 4,000m (13,100ft) since Monday. Some 8,400 villagers have been moved to special camps away from the volcano.

Now $12 billion a month, and the total for Iraq alone is nearing a half-trillion dollars, congressional analysts say.
All told, Congress has appropriated $610 billion in war-related money since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror assaults, roughly the same as the war in Vietnam. Iraq alone has cost $450 billion. The figures come from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, which provides research and analysis to lawmakers.

The Vietnam War, after accounting for inflation, cost taxpayers $650 billion, according to separate CRS estimates.

The $12 billion a month "burn rate" includes $10 billion for Iraq and almost $2 billion for Afghanistan, plus other minor costs. That's higher than Pentagon estimates earlier this year of $10 billion a month for both operations. Two years ago, the average monthly cost was about $8 billion. Among the reasons for the higher costs is the cost of repairing and replacing equipment worn out in harsh conditions or destroyed in combat.

A predicted shortage of vegetables - including potatoes and peas, and cereals such as wheat - is likely to cause manufacturers and retailers to push their prices up and increase food-price inflation. Fields in prime vegetable growing areas of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire remain under water and only an extended dry period will give farmers any hope of salvaging this year's crop.

The cost of traditional fish and chips is already rising, according to the British Hospitality Association, which cites supply problems with all the principal ingredients. And, according to the National Union of Farmers, supermarket shoppers should brace themselves for a sharp rise in staple foods such as bread and vegetables, both fresh and frozen. Even meat prices may be affected. With so much wheat and soya being lost, the price of animal feed has risen, which could mean more expensive chicken and beef, especially organic varieties.

Other factors, including high oil prices - leading to an increase in farmers' transport and fertiliser costs - and rising global demand for agricultural raw materials and biofuels is also pushing up food inflation. Greater food shortages loom as more farmers, demoralised by falling profit margins and incentivised by high biofuel prices, begin growing crops for fuel rather than food.

This could send prices soaring and place a severe dent in global growth. In a report that painted a bleak outlook for the global economy, the IEA said spare capacity in oil production would dry up over the next five years, even as demand continues to jump significantly.

"Oil and gas price pressures look set to remain in the coming years," the report said. "Slower-than-expected GDP growth may provide a breathing space, but it is abundantly clear that if the path of demand does not change on its own, it may well be driven to change by higher prices."

The gloomy prognosis puts consumers on warning for higher petrol prices at the pump, soaring utility bills and increased food prices as suppliers bear additional costs for bringing goods to market.

The operative word here is 'hardly'. One of these fine days, Hoddesdon or Hemel Hempstead might well be trashed by a hummer of a hurricane. You never can tell. We've had freak storms, floods and heatwaves since time immemorial.

People still talk about the frozen winter of 1947. I seem to remember 1963 being a bit parky, too. Back in the summer of 1976, parts of the country looked like the Kalahari. We were assured then that this was the start of an inexorable shift in the weather, which would see vineyards flourishing in Aberdeen and giant wildebeest sweeping majestically across the Peak District. Newspapers hired Red Indian medicine men to perform rain dances in Trafalgar Square. Ministers urged us to start sharing baths and stop flushing the toilet to save water.

The then Labour government even appointed Denis Howell, a former football referee turned MP, as Minister of Drought. About 24 hours after he got the job, the heavens opened and it didn't stop raining for six months.

Frankly, I'm more concerned about the possible destruction of Epping Forest. While parts of the North and the Midlands are up to their necks in water, THE GOVERNMENT IS PROPOSING TO BUILD HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF NEW HOMES ON FLOOD PLAINS IN THE SOUTH-EAST. The imbecile responsible for this plan is none other than Two Jags, member for Hull, which is one of the cities worst hit by the recent flooding. I wonder what his constituents made of the preposterous preening at Wembley and elsewhere on Saturday. The chances of any of the money generated by Live Earth ending up on Humberside are less than zero.

Gordon Brown, last SEEN HANDING OVER £8 BILLION OF OUR MONEY to Africa just so he could have his picture taken with Nelson Mandela, has grudgingly ALLOCATED A PALTRY £14 MILLION TO FLOOD RELIEF here. Live Earth has to be the most fatuous fundraiser ever. Where is the money going?

Sorry if I sound like a heretic, but while I accept we shouldn't deliberately pollute and do our best to recycle our rubbish, I don't accept that 'climate change' is the biggest threat to the planet. THAT WOULD BE GLOBAL ISLAMIST TERRORISM RIGHT NOW. Its stated intention is to kill us and destroy our way of life.

If rock singers and TV stars want to do something constructive, why don't they have a series of shows against jihad? Madonna could kick it off in Iran, but the bare flesh and conical bras would have to go. Graham Norton could host the Kabul concert, though he might be lucky to get out without having a brick wall pushed on top of him. I'm sure rappers like Puff Doggy would go down a storm with the Wahabis in Saudi Arabia, given their mutual enthusiasm for women's rights, homosexuality and drive-by executions.

Send the Spice Girls to Lahore. They'd look very fetching in designer burkas. The whole event could be beamed round the world by the BBC, being careful not to mention any connection between terrorism and Islam, perish the thought.

Of course, it ain't gonna happen. THEY'D RATHER WORK THEMSELVES INTO A LATHER ABOUT THE OZONE LAYER THAN CONFRONT THE NUMBER ONE CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TO OUR LIVES. As Professor Higgins might have said: By George, they just don't get it.

A cold snap sent thermometers plunging in South America in recent days, killing three people in Chile and Argentina. The temperature dropped to minus 22 degrees Celsius (7.5 Farenheit) in Bariloche, in Argentina's southern Andes mountains, while snow flakes fell for the first time in Buenos Aires since 1918.

In Bolivia, heavy snowfall blocked the country's main highway and shut down its biggest airports, the National Meteorology and Hydrology Service said. Even in Peru, where warm climate prevails, the cold snap forced authorities to place half of the country's 24 departments under a state of emergency.

He was convicted of taking 6.5m yuan ($850,000; £425,400) in bribes and of dereliction of duty at a trial in May.
The bribes were linked to sub-standard medicines, blamed for several deaths. China has been criticised over a number of recent cases involving tainted goods, and correspondents say Zheng had become a symbol of the crisis.

Following Zheng's sacking in 2005, the Chinese government announced an urgent review of about 170,000 medical licences that were awarded during his tenure at the agency. At a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday the State Food and Drug agency said that its supervision of safety was unsatisfactory, and it vowed to improve matters. A senior official said Zheng Xiaoyu had "brought shame" on the department, adding that anyone abusing their power would be punished.

The BBC's Daniel Griffiths in Beijing says the government is hoping that this execution will show it is getting to grips with the crisis. But food and drug safety standards vary widely across this vast country and reform is going to be a major challenge, he says.

In updates to travel advice on the Foreign Office website, citizens were warned that Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers States are unsafe. The site states this is because of the very high risk of kidnapping, armed robbery and other armed attacks. A Briton was one of four foreign oil workers kidnapped in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State, last week.

Since January last year, 31 British nationals and more than 180 foreigners have been kidnapped in the area. One Briton has been killed. Most foreigners who go to the area, such as oil workers, already travel there with armed police escorts. Recent attacks in the area have led to a 25% cut in Nigeria's oil production.