A Vatican communique reported, "Concerning the renewal of direct contacts between Israelis and Palestinians, scheduled for today in Washington, the hope was expressed that this may assist in reaching an agreement that is respectful of the legitimate aspirations of the two peoples and capable of bringing lasting peace to the Holy Land and to the entire region." In Washington DC, the first direct peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in nearly two years took place today.

Other topics of the "cordial" discussion included the Holy Father's pilgrimage to the Holy Land in May, 2009, as well as interreligious dialogue and the international situation. The Vatican reported that "the discussions also permitted the examination of the relations between the State of Israel and the Holy See and those of the state authorities with the local Catholic communities."

The Holy See is currently in negotiations with Israel over the terms of the 1993 Fundamental Agreement. The Fundamental Agreement established diplomatic relationships between the Holy See and Israel. Since then, the two sides have been negotiating the particulars of tax exemptions and property rights for the Church, in particular for the holy sites. The next plenary session of the commission will take place December 6 at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Peres also met with the Pontiff's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and the secretary for relations with states, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti.

Peres met Wednesday with Gilad Shalit's parents, Noam and Aviva, in advance of his meeting with the Pope. "We must never lose hope, we must continue to fight for Gilad's return," he said. Shalit's parents have led a campaign to bring their son home even at the expense of releasing many hundreds of convicted terrorists, including those responsible for multiple murders.

Peres praised the two for their struggle, saying, "I am proud of the noble way in which you are struggling to bring back your son Gilad, and I am proud of the Israeli public for standing at your side." Shalit's parents asked the president to use his influence to push for Gilad's release. After meeting with the Pope, Peres plans to remain in Italy over the weekend to attend an economic and diplomatic conference and to defend Israel in the media.

The Chinese government's currency reserves, the world's largest such stockpile at $2.45 trillion, are held roughly in line with what was described as the global average: 65 percent in dollars, 26 percent in euros, 5 percent in pounds and 3 percent in yen. The report in the China Securities Journal, an official newspaper, cited unnamed reserve managers. The allocation of Chinese foreign exchange reserves is considered to be a state secret, but analysts have long estimated that about two-thirds are invested in dollar assets.

Separately, Hu Xiaolian, a vice governor with the People's Bank of China, warned that depreciation loomed as a risk for foreign exchange reserves held by developing counties."Once a reserve currency's value becomes unstable, there will be quite large depreciation risks for assets," she wrote in an article that appeared in the latest issue of China Finance, a Chinese-language magazine published under the central bank. She reiterated China's long-standing discomfort with a global financial system dominated by a single currency in the dollar.

"The outbreak and spread of the global financial crisis has highlighted the inherent deficiencies and systemic risks in the current international currency system," she said. "A diversified international currency system will be more conducive to international economic and financial stability," she added. To that end, developing countries must speed up reform of their financial markets, and China would work to promote greater cross-border use of the yuan, she said.

A hurricane warning was expanded Thursday night to include part coastlines from Massachusetts to Maine as Hurricane Earl barreled toward the Eastern Seaboard. Earlier the National Hurricane Center in Miami had issued a tropical storm warning along the Connecticut and Rhode Island coasts into Massachusetts.

"Hurricane and tropical storm conditions will be expected in these areas over the next 48 hours," said Bill Read, director of the National Hurricane Center. A slow winding down was expected to continue as the storm moved into cooler waters, but forecasters warned the size of the storm's wind field was increasing, similar to what happened when Hurricane Katrina approached the Gulf Coast five years ago.

Read said Thursday that Earl is undergoing a change and its powerful winds are going to extend farther out from the eyewall. He said forecasters expect the eyewall to change but said they are not able to say how far inland the winds will reach, adding that strong winds could topple trees and knock out power to thousands of people.

North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue on Thursday warned residents to take Earl "very seriously," and said state emergency officials are "as prepared as we can be." Forecasters also were trying to figure out whether the storm would stay off the Northeast coast or bring hurricane-force winds to Long Island, the Boston metropolitan area and Cape Cod. "I would not downplay the potential threat to New England," Read told Fox News.

Red Cross officials in New York prepared to open as many as 50 shelters on Long Island that could house up to 60,000 people in an emergency. Emergency officials on Cape Cod braced for their first major storm since Hurricane Bob brought winds of up to 100 mph to coastal New England in August 1991.

For two decades, the IPCC has spearheaded efforts to convince the world's governments that man-made carbon emissions pose a threat to the global temperature equilibrium - and to civilization itself. IPCC reports, collated from the work of hundreds of climate scientists and bureaucrats, are widely cited as evidence for the urgent need for drastic action to "save the planet."

But the prestigious InterAcademy Council, an independent association of "the best scientists and engineers worldwide" (as the group's own website puts it) formed in 2000 to give "high-quality advice to international bodies," has finished a thorough review of IPCC practices - and found them badly wanting. For example, the IPCC's much-vaunted Fourth Assessment Report claimed in 2007 that Himalayan glaciers were rapidly melting, and would possibly be gone by the year 2035. The claim was actually false - yet the IPCC cited it as proof of man-made global warming.

Overall, the IAC slammed the IPCC for reporting "high confidence in some statements for which there is little evidence. Furthermore, by making vague statements that were difficult to refute, authors were able to attach 'high confidence' to the statements." The critics note "many such statements that are not supported sufficiently in the literature, not put into perspective or not expressed clearly.

What does the best evidence now tell us? That man-made global warming is a mere hypothesis that has been inflated by both exaggeration and downright malfeasance, fueled by the awarding of fat grants and salaries to any scientist who'll produce the "right" results. The warming "scientific" community, the Climategate emails reveal, is a tight clique of like-minded scientists and bureaucrats who give each other jobs, publish each other's papers - and conspire to shut out any point of view that threatens to derail their gravy train.

Such behavior is perhaps to be expected from politicians and government functionaries. From scientists, it's a travesty. In the end, grievous harm will have been done not just to individual scientists' reputations, but to the once-sterling reputation of science itself. For that, we will all suffer.

The temperature was 58 degrees at LAX, tying a record set in 1951, the National Weather Service said. Oceanside dropped to 66 degrees, tying a record that has stood since 1914.

And in Kentucky...

"The picture that was sent look like a bunch of popped corn, it's yellow. It's not white popcorn looking but corn literally did pop in the field. It was that hot," says Dr Lee. Dr Lee explains that the kernels formed during a time of high heat, then it rained and kernels began filling again. "It kept filling until it actually ruptured the seed coat and caused it to pop open," says Dr Lee.

Exploding kernels are very uncommon and something most agriculture agents have never seen before with this kind of corn. The E-town farmer along with many others across the Bluegrass are fighting crop disease and pests. Now that it's time to harvest, farmers are finding that the lack of rain and high heat are causing the corn to suffer. That in the end may cut into their profits. Dr Lee says, "We're seeing maybe a 20% drop in corn from what we had last year and very erratic conditions."

The announcement by Vladimir Putin came as the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation called an emergency meeting to discuss the wheat shortage, and riots in Mozambique left seven dead. The unrest in Maputo, in which 280 people were also injured, followed the government's decision to raise bread prices by 30 per cent. Police opened fire on demonstrators after thousands turned out to protest against the price hikes, burning tyres and looting food warehouses.

Although agricultural officials and traders insist that wheat and other crop supplies are more abundant than in 2007-08, officials fear the deadly Mozambique riots could be replicated. The 2007-08 food shortages, the most severe in 30 years, set off riots in countries from Bangladesh to Mexico, and helped to trigger the collapse of governments in Haiti and Madagascar.

The FAO said that "the concern about a possible repeat of the 2007-08 food crisis" had resulted in "an enormous number" of inquiries from member countries. "The purpose of holding this meeting is for exporting and importing countries to engage." Russia is traditionally the world's fourth-largest wheat exporter, and the export ban has already forced importers in the Middle East and North Africa, the biggest buyers, to seek supplies in Europe and the US.

European wheat prices on Thursday hit 231.5 euros a tonne, just shy of last month's two-year high of 236 euros. Wheat prices have surged nearly 70 per cent since January, and analysts forecast further rises after Russia's decision and concerns about weather damage to Australia's crop.

The platform, which caught fire, was not producing oil or gas, the Department of Homeland Security said. The blast occurred around 130km (80 miles) south of Vermilion Bay along the central Louisiana coast. Helicopters, boats and aircraft were sent to the site.

All 13 workers who fell into the Gulf are accounted for and have been transported to another platform by an oil support vessel, the Coast Guard said. One person is reportedly injured. Before being rescued by the support boats, all 13 workers were given special immersion suits to protect them from the water, said Coast Guard chief petty officer John Edwards.

The federal government was prepared to respond to the situation if there had been reports of pollution, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. Mr Gibbs added that President Barack Obama was in a national security meeting, and he was unaware if the president was informed of the blast.

The platform is owned by Mariner Energy and is located in shallow water, approximately 340ft (105m) from the floor of the Gulf. "Right now we're focused on search and rescue and then, ultimately, as this thing progresses we're going to be looking into the cause," Mr Edwards said.

Here are a few recent examples where rights are eroding into privileges:

* Air travel has become a privilege since 9-11. We must now forfeit all rights to our physical being by submitting to naked body scanners that emit unhealthy levels of radiation, or open-palm invasive frisking. Everyone is assumed to be guilty until thoroughly cavity checked for explosives.

* Free-speech Blogging on the Internet is now the target of taxes and licensing fees - the trial financial assault before free speech is ultimately killed with the end of net neutrality. Philadelphia is seeking a blog tax, while South Carolina has attempted to require all controversial speech groups to register, of course with a fee attached.

* Food rights may be disappearing faster than any other rights. Armed raids on raw milk producers and the proposed senate bill S.510 that seeks to essentially criminalize local food are the pinnacle of corporate-government tyranny.

* Rights to use Rainwater is becoming illegal or being taxed by the overlords who control mother nature and the slaves who dare to use her resources. Your basic right to nature's sustenance is now a taxable privilege in the land of the free.

* Gun rights are under continued pressure by the government and the media to make us believe it is a privilege to own guns.

* Capital rights, or the freedom to spend or invest our own money, are now under assault with capital controls.

* Property rights erode every time property taxes are jacked up because the Fed creates inflation. We own less and less of our property each day the dollar devalues. Property rights also erode as more strict zoning regulations continually pass.

In his latest book, The Grand Design, an extract of which is published in Eureka magazine in The Times, Hawking said: "Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist."

He added: "It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going." In A Brief History of Time, Prof Hawking's most famous work, he did not dismiss the possibility that God had a hand in the creation of the world.

He wrote in the 1988 book: "If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason - for then we should know the mind of God." In his new book he rejects Sir Isaac Newton's theory that the Universe did not spontaneously begin to form but was set in motion by God.

In June this year Prof Hawking told a Channel 4 series that he didn't believe that a "personal" God existed. He told Genius of Britain: "The question is: is the way the universe began chosen by God for reasons we can't understand, or was it determined by a law of science? I believe the second. If you like, you can call the laws of science 'God', but it wouldn't be a personal God that you could meet, and ask questions." Until his retirement last year Prof Hawking was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, a post previously held by Newton.

The term "peak oil" is used by energy experts to refer to a point in time when global oil reserves pass their zenith and production gradually begins to decline. This would result in a permanent supply crisis - and fear of it can trigger turbulence in commodity markets and on stock exchanges.The issue is so politically explosive that it's remarkable when an institution like the Bundeswehr, the German military, uses the term "peak oil" at all. But a military study currently circulating on the German blogosphere goes even further.

The study is a product of the Future Analysis department of the Bundeswehr Transformation Center, a think tank tasked with fixing a direction for the German military. The team of authors, led by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Will, uses sometimes dramatic language to depict the consequences of an irreversible depletion of raw materials. It warns of shifts in the global balance of power, of the formation of new relationships based on interdependency, of a decline in importance of the western industrial nations, of the "total collapse of the markets" and of serious political and economic crises.

The study, whose authenticity was confirmed to Spiegel Online by sources in government circles, was not meant for publication. The document is said to be in draft stage and to consist solely of scientific opinion, which has not yet been edited by the Defense Ministry and other government bodies. The lead author, Will, has declined to comment on the study. It remains doubtful that either the Bundeswehr or the German government would have consented to publish the document in its current form. But the study does show how intensively the German government has engaged with the question of peak oil.

The BBC's Peter Martell in Southern Sudan says the floods add to the woes of a grossly under-developed region still struggling to rebuild itself after the brutal two-decade war with the north. "The rains are going to continue up until October, so the situation may get worse," Southern Sudan's Health Minister Luka Monoja warned.

"A serious situation has developed in Aweil - more than three quarters of the town is flooded and so many houses collapsed. We saw that all the people were chased out of their houses, and were now living on the road, because the road is the only area in the town that is raised."

Our reporter says the southern government and aid agencies have been working to support those displaced, but the challenge is enormous. The United Nations has already provided some kind of food assistance to almost half the population of the south this year, he says.

JERUSALEM

Israel

The Israeli government is unwilling to divide Jerusalem, held to be the political and religious centre of the Jewish people. It stands by the 1980 basic Israeli law that "Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel". In the past there has been room for manoeuvre on the margins. In talks in 2000 and 2007, the then Israeli governments proposed exchanging some outlying annexed districts.

Palestinians

The Palestinians want East Jerusalem, which was controlled by Jordan before being captured by the Israelis in 1967, as the capital of a Palestinian state. The Old City contains the third holiest place in Islam, the al-Aqsa mosque, and the Dome of the Rock, from where Mohammed is said to have visited heaven on his winged steed Burak.

United States

The US does not recognise the Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem and maintains its embassy in Tel Aviv. President Barack Obama has opposed the building of housing for Israelis in East Jerusalem though he said before becoming president that dividing the city would be "very difficult to execute".

BORDERS

Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepts that there should be a Palestinian state and that there will have to be an Israeli withdrawal from parts at least of the West Bank (captured by Israel in 1967) to accommodate this. Israel has already withdrawn from Gaza. Israel would like the borders to include Jerusalem and the major Israeli settlements that have grown up on the West Bank.

Palestinians

They want the talks to start from the basic position that all the land occupied by Israel in 1967 belongs to a future Palestine. Any land given to the Israelis would have to be compensated for by a balanced land swap.

United States

The US agrees that the starting point but not the end point should be the 1967 lines and that a land swap will have to be the basis of any agreement. It will encourage this.

SETTLEMENTS

Israel

The Israeli government insists on keeping the major Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Any departure from this would break up the coalition which forms the government. An immediate problem is that an Israeli moratorium on West Bank settlements is due to run out on 26 September.

Palestinians

Ideally, the Palestinians would like all settlements to be abandoned as they were in Gaza. However, they appear to accept that some will have to stay but they will argue for a minimum number and a land swap for any that are left. They threaten to leave the talks if the Israeli moratorium is ended on 26 September.

United States

As with the annexation of East Jerusalem, the US has not recognised the international legitimacy of the Israeli West Bank settlements. But it accepts their reality and will press for compromise. It is also trying to reach a compromise on the moratorium problem.

REFUGEES

Israel

Israel rejects the idea that Palestinian refugees from previous wars should be allowed any "right of return" to their former homes. They say that this is a device to destroy the state of Israel by demography in order to re-establish a unitary state of Palestine. For that reason Mr Netanyahu has called for Israel to be recognised as a Jewish state.

Palestinians

Formally, they maintain the "right of return", arguing that without it a great injustice would not be put right. However, there has been regular talk among Palestinians that this "right" could be met by compensation. They refuse to recognise the concept of Israel as a "Jewish state", saying that this is unnecessary and that it ignores the Israeli-Arab citizens of Israel.

United States

The US understands the Israeli refusal to take back refugees and hopes that this can be resolved by compensation and development aid for those who cannot go back to their previous family homes.

SECURITY

Israel

The Israeli government is afraid that a Palestinian state might one day fall into the hands of Hamas and will be used as a stepping-stone to turning Israel into Palestine. Therefore it is insisting that it keeps a large measure of security control, including in the Jordan Valley, and that a state of Palestine be largely demilitarised.

Palestinians

They argue that security will come from a stable two-state solution not the other way round. They want as many attributes of a normal state as possible. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas fears that client-status would be untenable and open to a Hamas takeover.

United States

The US accepts the Israeli need for security but also the need for Palestinian statehood and reconciling these is the aim of its diplomacy. It is unlikely, however, to recognise a state of Palestine which has not emerged from negotiation.

Even so, Mr Abbas is still insisting that Israel must stop building homes for Jews in the occupied Palestinian territories. Mr Abbas has threatened to walk out of the talks on the settlement issue. It's not clear where the compromise will come from. Warm words alone won't do it - but perhaps Mr Netanyahu's were a start.

There might not be room for many more failures. The conflict is changing. A religious war is now being grafted on what used to be fundamentally a competition for territory between two national movements. You can make deals with nationalists. IT'S MUCH HARDER WITH PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE THEY'RE DOING GOD'S WORK.

It's rare to get an actual surface meteorological sampling from the stronger parts of a hurricane with no land to weaken it. Eyewall hits on buoys are rare, though it's likely the winds would have been even stronger if it were on the Northeast side. Prior to this, the biggest waves witnessed live from buoy readings were 47 feet with Hurricane Katrina. The buoy either stopped transmitting due to damage from the waves, or the data was cut off by quality control algorithms when over 50 feet.

Several computer forecast models are predicting that Hurricane Earl will become a Category 4 storm, something that's only happened 9 times since 1966 off the Southeast coast.