In fact, she had been tied to a fence, whipped by four boys, had to be dragged to safety and suffered burns to her wrists. BUT THE ATTEMPTED COVER-UP WAS EXPOSED WHEN CAROL HILL - THE DINNER LADY WHO SAVED HER FROM FURTHER INJURY - bumped into Mr and Mrs David and told them what really happened. Mrs Hill, 60, was suspended after the incident in June and yesterday it emerged that she has been FIRED BY A DISCIPLINARY TRIBUNAL FOR BREACHING PUPIL CONFIDENTIALITY at Great Tey Primary School, near Colchester, Essex.

Mrs Hill has previously told how another pupil alerted her to the bullying incident. She found Chloe bound up and terrified. She said: 'SHE HAD EIGHT KNOTS AROUND HER WRISTS AND HAD BEEN WHIPPED ACROSS THE LEGS WITH A SKIPPING ROPE. I took her back into the school, along with four boys who had been seen with her. Two admitted it.' Mr and Mrs David say Chloe, who had rope burns to her wrists and whip marks on her legs, was sent home with an accident notification letter. They could not find out what exactly had happened as she was in shock and refused to talk about it.

Headmistress Debbie Crabb has insisted that Chloe's parents were told of the incident according to school 'accident and first aid procedures'. But she said the procedures would be reviewed. She said yesterday: 'We can confirm that subject to any appeal Mrs Hill will not be returning to work at Great Tey Primary School.'

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon was asked by Reuters if that comment by Israeli President Shimon Peres, as reported on Sunday by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, was a guarantee there would be no Israeli strike on Iran. Ayalon replied: "It is certainly not a guarantee."

"I don't think that, with all due respect, the Russian president is authorized to speak for Israel and certainly we have not taken any option off the table." Echoing that, the chief-of-staff of Israel's armed forces, Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi, later told Army Radio when pressed on whether Israel could attack Iran: "ISRAEL HAS THE RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF AND ALL OPTIONS ARE ON THE TABLE."

Israel has long dismissed Iranian assurances that its nuclear programme is not intended to produce weapons and has said it would not tolerate such a level of armament in the Islamic Republic, which is avowedly hostile to the Jewish state. A Kremlin transcript of an interview Medvedev gave to CNN last Tuesday quoted him as saying that an attack on Iran would lead to "a humanitarian disaster" and risk provoking retaliation against Israel that would also affect other nations.

Last week, a former senior Israeli defense official told Reuters that Israel would be compelled to attack Iran's nuclear facilities IF THE INTERNATIONAL POWERS HAD NOT AGREED BY THE END OF THIS YEAR on crippling sanctions to force Tehran's hand.

General Stanley A McChrystal says emphatically: "Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) - while Afghan security capacity matures - risks an outcome where DEFEATING THE INSURGENCY IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE." His assessment was sent to Defense Secretary Robert M Gates on August 30 and is now being reviewed by President Obama and his national security team.

He repeatedly warns that without more forces and the rapid implementation of a genuine counterinsurgency strategy, defeat is likely. MCCHRYSTAL DESCRIBES AN AFGHAN GOVERNMENT RIDDLED WITH CORRUPTION AND AN INTERNATIONAL FORCE UNDERMINED BY TACTICS THAT ALIENATE CIVILIANS. He provides extensive new details about the Taliban insurgency, which he calls a muscular and sophisticated enemy that uses modern propaganda and systematically reaches into Afghanistan's prisons to recruit members and even plan operations.

McChrystal makes clear that his call for more forces is predicated on the adoption of a strategy in which troops emphasize protecting Afghans rather than killing insurgents or controlling territory. Most starkly, he says: "INADEQUATE RESOURCES WILL LIKELY RESULT IN FAILURE."

Nigeria, where the Anglican church has 17 million adherents, is split between Christianity and Islam. The country has been riven with religious strife in recent years, notably in the predominantly Muslim north. In a sermon in Beckenham, Kent, in July he spoke of African Christians being "surrounded by Islamic domination".

In extracts quoted by The Times, he said: "They spend a lot of money, even in places where they don't have congregations, they build mosques, they build hospitals, they build anything. They come to Africans and say, 'Christianity is asking you to marry only one wife. We will give you four'." He went on: "That is the type of evangelism they are doing: mass-production, SO IF YOU HAVE FOUR WIVES, FOUR CHILDREN, SIXTEEN CHILDREN, VERY SOON YOU WILL BE A VILLAGE."

As Archbishop of Nigeria's Bendel Province, he was one of the prime movers in the Gafcon meeting of conservative Anglicans in Jerusalem last year.

MarketWatch reports that a new Moody' housing forecast says that "It will take more than a decade to completely recover from the 40% peak-to-trough decline in national home prices." In many parts of the country, which include large states like New York and Illinois, home prices will not rebound to 2006 levels until 2018 to 2022. In the states where prices have fallen the most, particularly California and Florida, values may not rebound until 2024.

The prediction, if correct, means that Baby Boomers and even some of their older children may not be able to sell homes to help finance retirements. The use of homes to get equity loans will be out of the question. SOME HOMEOWNERS WILL HAVE TO GIVE BANKS MONEY TO GET OUT FROM UNDER THEIR HOUSES, DEFAULT BECAUSE THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO SELL THEIR HOMES AT A LOSS, OR STAY IN HOMES THAT THEY NO LONGER NEED.

The housing crisis, it seems, still has at least fifteen years to go and for some older Americans that is a lifetime.

Derek Simpson, leader of the giant Unite union, and his colleagues enjoyed a lavish dinner that included veal, venison and Cumbrian beef at one of Liverpool's top restaurants. The party of ten, who took the best table in the restaurant in the city's gentrified Hope Street quarter, started with cocktails before washing down their meal with wines costing up to £40. Mr Simpson himself quaffed a fine red.

Earlier in the week, Mr Simpson, 64, A WELL-KNOWN CRITIC OF 'FAT-CAT SPIVS' AND BANKERS' BONUSES – despite himself earning about £100,000 a year – led calls at the TUC rally for new help for hard-pressed working families. He said: 'Over the years, working families have funded tax concessions for big business and the super-rich. Now it's payback time.'

Talk of a virtual circle of recovery in asset values and the real economy abounds at big banks, a sharp if cautious contrast to the dire pessimism which prevailed until recently. Unusual simultaneous rallies in equities, US government bonds and commodities are linked to one factor: super-cheap monetary policies adopted around the world. Bank stocks have led the runaway US equity markets which have catapulted indexes nearly 60 percent above March lows. This has meant better earnings, rising profits and bigger bonuses.

One obvious candidate for an abrupt turnaround is the US stock market. Not only has it recovered more than half its value in the past six months, but THE REBOUND HAS ALSO BEEN LARGELY PREDICATED ON A RALLY IN SHARES IN FINANCIAL FIRMS, MANY OF WHICH ARE STILL BELIEVED TO REST ON SHAKY GROUND. An ongoing deterioration in consumer debt repayments and a worsening picture in commercial real estate are all putting additional strain on already-heavy balance sheets.

Joseph Stiglitz, a prominent economist and Nobel Laureate from Columbia University in New York, argued last week that THE US BANKING SECTOR IS NOW IN WORSE SHAPE THAN BEFORE THE COLLAPSE OF MAJOR INVESTMENT BANK LEHMAN BROTHERS IN SEPTEMBER 2008, because banks seen as too big to fail before the crisis had grown even larger. Lehman's demise set off a cascading storm across financial markets that stifled lending, crippled global industrial production and exacerbated an already severe economic slump.

Chikungunya virus has spread beyond Africa since 2005, causing outbreaks and scores of fatalities in India and the French island of Reunion. It also has been detected in Italy, where it has begun to spread locally, as well as France. "We're very worried," Dr James Diaz of the Louisiana University Health Sciences Center told a meeting on airlines, airports and disease transmission sponsored by the independent US National Research Council.

"Unlike West Nile virus, where nine out of 10 people are going to be totally asymptomatic, or may have a mild headache or a stiff neck, if you get Chikungunya you're going to be sick," he said. "THE DISEASE CAN BE FATAL. IT'S A SERIOUS DISEASE," DIAZ ADDED. "THERE IS NO VACCINE." Chikungunya infection causes fever, headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, muscle pain, rash and joint pain. Symptoms can last a few weeks, though SOME SUFFERS HAVE REPORTED INCAPACITATING JOINT PAIN OR ARTHRITIS LASTING MONTHS.

West Nile, spread by a different mosquito species, first appeared in New York in 1999 and now can be found in most of North America.

Shirley Chaplin said she believed The Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust Hospital was trying to prevent her from expressing religious beliefs although she had been told health and safety concerns were behind the order. Mrs Chaplin, 54, from Exeter, said: "For about 30 years I have worked in the NHS and nursed patients day and night and on no occasion has my cross caused me or anyone else any injury - and to my knowledge, no patient has ever complained about me wearing it."

Mrs Chaplin, who is due to retire in eight months, added: "Everyone I have ever worked with has clearly known I am a Christian: it is what motivates me to care for others." Mrs Chaplin claimed other members of staff have been allowed to wear necklaces. "This smacks of double standards and APPEARS TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST CHRISTIANS."

"This BLATANT PIECE OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS amounts to the marginalising of employees' personal human rights, a blanket 'secularising and neutralising' of the NHS intended to stop Christians from expressing their faith in the public services of the NHS."

HR3567 was introduced just days ago by US Representative Jerrold Nadler, and more than 90 co-sponsors. "This legislation would repeal the DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT (DOMA), a 1996 law WHICH DISCRIMINATES AGAINST LAWFULLY MARRIED SAME-SEX COUPLES," Nadler said in a statement on his website. The proposal has been assigned to committee.

In a written statement, Obama declared: 'The Department of Justice has filed a response to a legal challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, as it traditionally does when acts of Congress are challenged. This brief makes clear, however, that my Administration believes that the Act is discriminatory and should be repealed by Congress. I HAVE LONG HELD THAT DOMA PREVENTS LGBT COUPLES FROM BEING GRANTED EQUAL RIGHTS AND BENEFITS. While we work with Congress to repeal DOMA, my Administration will continue to examine and implement measures that will help extend rights and benefits to LGBT couples under existing law.'

The Justice Department said it "does not believe that DOMA is rationally related to any legitimate government interests in procreation and child-rearing" and evidence "THAT CHILDREN RAISED BY GAY AND LESBIAN PARENTS ARE AS LIKELY TO BE WELL-ADJUSTED AS CHILDREN RAISED BY HETEROSEXUAL PARENTS."

The AP report claims that senior officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) prepared a secret document on Iranian nuclear capabilities. Iran already has "sufficient information" to prepare an atom bomb, the report reveals, but the Islamic Republic is missing a sufficient delivery system. However, the AP says, quoting the secret report, Iran is expected to overcome that limitation.

The United States has claimed that outgoing IAEA Chairman Mohamed El Baradei had prepared just such a "secret annex". More generally, Israel and the US recently charged that the IAEA was not revealing all it knew about Iranian nuclear weapons development. On the other hand, as early as 2005, El Baradei said that it would take Iran only a few months to produce an atomic bomb if production went ahead at the nuclear plants the IAEA was not given access to at the time.

They have been charged under public order laws with using 'threatening, abusive or insulting words' that were 'religiously aggravated'. The couple, whose trial has been set for December, face a fine of up to £5,000 and a criminal record if they are convicted. Although the facts are disputed, it is thought that during the conversation THE COUPLE WERE CHALLENGED OVER THEIR CHRISTIAN BELIEFS.

It is understood that they suggested that Mohammed, the founder of Islam, was a warlord and that traditional Muslim dress for women was a form of bondage. They deny, however, that their comments were threatening and argue that they had every right to defend and explain their beliefs. The independent lobby group, the Christian Institute, which has seen both the prosecution and defence legal papers, is supporting their defence.

Christian Institute spokesman Mike Judge said 'important' issues of religious liberty were at stake. 'In recent years, we have backed several cases where CHRISTIANS HAVE SUFFERED UNFAIR TREATMENT because of their faith,' he said. 'We have detected a worrying tendency for PUBLIC BODIES TO MISAPPLY THE LAW IN A WAY THAT SEEMS TO SIDELINE CHRISTIANITY MORE THAN OTHER FAITHS.'

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the three-way meeting would take place after Obama meets separately with each of the two leaders. "These meetings will continue the efforts of President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Special Envoy George Mitchell to lay the groundwork for the relaunch of negotiations, and to create a positive context for those negotiations so that they can succeed," the statement said.

But the meeting will not serve as a preparation for negotiations and not constitute renewal of negotiations where they were left off, but rather be a preliminary meeting to set the ground for further meetings, the Prime Minister's Office said Sunday. Netanyahu, the statement continued, never set any preconditions for meeting the Palestinian leadership and was ready to travel anywhere in the world and meet any leader so long as the meeting would advance peace.

But his message is clear, and the German security authorities are taking it seriously. In the name of al-Qaida, the Islamist warns of terrorist attacks in Germany in the event that the result of the upcoming election does NOT REFLECT A DESIRE ON THE PART OF THE POPULACE TO WITHDRAW THE GERMAN ARMY FROM AFGHANISTAN.

"IF THE GERMAN PEOPLE CHOOSE WAR, THEN THEY HAVE DELIVERED THEIR OWN SENTENCE," says Harrach in the video, which has been obtained by Spiegel Online. Then jihad would come to Germany, he says. He advises Muslims in Germany to avoid any places that are not "essential to daily life" for a period of 14 days after the election and to keep their children close to them. He says that "the city of Kiel" will remain safe in any case, for reasons that are not explained. In the message, Harrach also alludes to the terrorist attacks in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005.

On the other hand, Harrach, who is believed to be in the Waziristan region of Pakistan, says that Germany still has a chance to avoid the "imminent" events. The last mujahedeen will be recalled from Germany when the last German soldier is withdrawn from Afghanistan, he said. Harrach has already appeared representing al-Qaida in two videos this year which are considered authentic, under the name "Abu Talha, the German."

In a statement issued to mark the Muslim festival of Eid, he referred to "huge casualties and sagging morale" among the more than 100,000 NATO and US-led troops in Afghanistan fighting Taliban-linked insurgents. "THE MORE THE ENEMY RESORTS TO INCREASING FORCES, THE MORE THEY WILL FACE AN UNEQUIVOCAL DEFEAT IN AFGHANISTAN," the statement said. Taliban-linked rebels have been resurgent in recent months, retreating from the battlefield as they intensify use of roadside bombs, particularly in the south.

This year more than 350 foreign troops have been killed, making it the deadliest year since the invasion on October 7, 2001. NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said Saturday a soldier - whose nationality was not given - was killed in a firefight in the south. On Thursday six Italian troops and at least 10 Afghan civilians were killed in a suicide car bomb attack in Kabul.

In his statement, he said that by maintaining their troops in Afghanistan the international community "will only prolong the current crisis but will never solve it."