The Treaty cannot be ratified in Germany until a new law guaranteeing the rights of the German parliament in the EU-decision making process has been approved by the parliament. Open Europe is quoted as saying: "BRITISH MPS NEED TO WAKE UP - AND DEMAND THE SAME POWERS."

A leader in the Sun writes that the German court decision "EVEN REJECTS THE EU PARLIAMENT AS A DEMOCRATIC BODY - pointing out that it does not even have a proper Opposition. This must surely put paid forever to the grandiose dream of a European superstate?"

Meanwhile Czech daily, the Prague Monitor reports that some Czech Senators have indicated that they might lodge a complaint over the Treaty with the Czech Constitutional Court in the first half of August.

Plans entailed in the programme to create A CENTRALISED EU SURVEILLANCE BODY are particularly controversial, and several different civil liberties groups have raised concerns over the plans' implications for privacy rights.

A leader in Expressen argues that the Stockholm Programme risks becoming a "milestone on the road TOWARDS A MORE REPRESSIVE BIG BROTHER-EU... In accordance with the tradition, THE PUBLIC WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW THE DETAILS OF THE [STOCKHOLM] PROGRAMME BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE TO PROTEST [AGAINST] IT. The only reason we know is because many of the details have in fact been leaked. Should there be a Europe wide surveillance regime the EU should at least bother to discuss it with the people it seeks to monitor."

THE EUPHRATES IS DRYING UP. Strangled by the water policies of Iraq's neighbors, Turkey and Syria; a two-year drought; and years of misuse by Iraq and its farmers, the river is significantly smaller than it was just a few years ago. Some officials worry that it could soon be half of what it is now. The shrinking of the Euphrates, a river so crucial to the birth of civilization that the Book of Revelation prophesied its drying up as a sign of the end times, has decimated farms along its banks, has left fishermen impoverished and has depleted riverside towns as farmers flee to the cities looking for work.

The poor suffer more acutely, but all strata of society are feeling the effects: sheiks, diplomats and even members of Parliament who retreat to their farms after weeks in Baghdad. The drought is widespread in Iraq. The area sown with wheat and barley in the rain-fed north is down roughly 95 percent from the usual, and the date palm and citrus orchards of the east are parched. For two years rainfall has been far below normal, leaving the reservoirs dry, and American officials predict that wheat and barley output will be a little over half of what it was two years ago.

It is a crisis that threatens the roots of Iraq's identity, not only as the land between two rivers but as a nation that was once the largest exporter of dates in the world, that once supplied German beer with barley and that takes patriotic pride in its expensive Anbar rice. NOW IRAQ IS IMPORTING MORE AND MORE GRAIN. Farmers along the Euphrates say, with anger and despair, that they may have to abandon Anbar rice for cheaper varieties.

BUT DROUGHT IS ONLY PART OF WHAT IS CHOKING THE EUPHRATES AND ITS LARGER, HEALTHIER TWIN, THE TIGRIS. The most frequently cited culprits are the Turkish and Syrian governments. Iraq has plenty of water, but it is a downstream country. There are at least seven dams on the Euphrates in Turkey and Syria, according to Iraqi water officials, and with no treaties or agreements, the Iraqi government is reduced to begging its neighbors for water.

AT A CONFERENCE IN BAGHDAD — WHERE PARTICIPANTS DRANK BOTTLED WATER FROM SAUDI ARABIA, a country with a fraction of Iraq's fresh water — officials spoke of disaster. "We have a real thirst in Iraq," said Ali Baban, the minister of planning. "OUR AGRICULTURE IS GOING TO DIE, OUR CITIES ARE GOING TO WILT, AND NO STATE CAN KEEP QUIET IN SUCH A SITUATION."

Wednesday's announcement followed last-ditch talks in which Treasury officials had expressed concern about a worsening liquidity crunch at the 101-year old lender and indications that government aid would not put it on a path to recovery. IT ALSO SHOWED THE POSSIBLE LIMITS OF WASHINGTON'S ABILITY AND WILLINGNESS TO RESCUE COMPANIES, after multiple bailouts engineered by Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp for larger companies such as American International Group Inc (AIG.N) and Citigroup Inc (C.N).

"At least in the eyes of the Fed and the eyes of the Treasury, we've turned the corner, such that the systemic kinds of risks facing the economy may be well past," said Mike Knebel, a portfolio manager at Ferguson Wellman Capital Management in Portland, Oregon, which recently sold CIT bonds.

If CIT were to go bankrupt, it would join Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (LEHMQ.PK) and Washington Mutual Inc (WAMUQ.PK) among large financial companies to collapse since the credit crisis accelerated last September. Standard & Poor's said on Monday that a CIT bankruptcy was possible if no federal aid emerged.

The deployment into the Red Sea, confirmed by Israeli officials to The Times of London, came ahead of long-range exercises by the Israeli air force with the US later this month and the test of a missile defense shield at a US missile range in the Pacific.

ISRAEL HAS STRENGTHENED TIES WITH ARAB NATIONS WHO ALSO FEAR A NUCLEAR-ARMED IRAN. In particular, relations with Egypt have grown increasingly strong this year over the "shared mutual distrust of Iran", according to one Israeli diplomat.

"This is preparation that should be taken seriously. Israel is investing time in preparing itself for the complexity of an attack on Iran. These maneuvers are a message to Iran that Israel will follow up on its threats," the Times of London quoted an Israeli defense official as saying. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told The Times that his government explicitly allowed passage of Israeli vessels, and an Israeli admiral said the drills were "RUN REGULARLY WITH THE FULL CO-OPERATION OF THE EGYPTIANS."

Robotic Technology Inc's Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot — that's right, "EATR" — "can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources), as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, heavy fuel, kerosene, diesel, propane, coal, cooking oil, and solar) when suitable," reads the company's website.

That "biomass" and "other organically-based energy sources" wouldn't necessarily be limited to plant material — animal and human corpses contain plenty of energy, and they'd be plentiful in a war zone. EATR will be powered by the Waste Heat Engine developed by Cyclone Power Technology of Pompano Beach, Florida, which uses an "external combustion chamber" burning up fuel to heat up water in a closed loop, generating electricity.

Mend, however, said a partial pullout of troops was a condition of the truce. The group also threatened to call off its truce immediately because a gunboat had been sighted near one of its bases. The ceasefire was declared after one of Mend's leaders, Henry Okah, was released from jail under an amnesty. Both sides have now called for further talks.

Ufot Ekaette, minister for the delta region, told the BBC's Focus on Africa he was confident that a lasting peace could be framed within the next 60 days. "That's a good time for us to work with them [Mend], chat with them and come out with some conclusions," he said. Mend promised to monitor its own ceasefire, but said it would not enforce the deal for other militant groups.

The government offered militants an amnesty three weeks ago, promising a rehabilitation programme, including education and training opportunities. CRITICS SAY THE AMNESTY IS UNLIKELY TO WORK BECAUSE THE UNREST IS NOT A STRAIGHTFORWARD POLITICAL STRUGGLE. Mend says it is fighting to drive out the military and oil firms, and to give local people more control over the natural resources. But its campaign has been tainted by violent kidnappings of civilians and the theft of oil.

Beijing now expects China to achieve 8% growth for 2009 as a whole, which compares with a predicted contraction of between 1% and 1.5% in the US. However, the Chinese government warned that some economic challenges remain. China's growth figures, which peaked at 10.6% in the second quarter of 2008, are widely watched for indications of recovery in world trade.

But officials said the numbers could not obscure continuing problems. "The difficulties and challenges in the current economic development are still numerous," said National Bureau of Statistics spokesman Li Xiaochao at a news conference. "THE BASIS OF THE REBOUND OF THE PEOPLE'S ECONOMY IS NOT STABLE," he said.

"The base for recovery is still weak. Growth momentum is unstable. The recovery pattern is unbalanced and thus there are still uncertain and volatile factors in the recovery process," the NBS said in a statement distributed ahead of a news conference.

TRYING TO CONVERT MUSLIMS TO ANOTHER RELIGION IS FORBIDDEN IN MALAYSIA, though Muslims may proselytise. Members of religious minorities have complained that their rights are being ignored in Muslim-majority Malaysia. The nine Christians, five students and four friends from Hong Kong, were arrested late on Tuesday at Universiti Putra Malaysia in Serdang, near Kuala Lumpur. District police chief Zahedi Ayob said they had been distributing questionnaires to other Christians, not Muslims, as security guards at the university had believed.

The arrests followed a controversy last week centring on two journalists who wrote about hiding their Muslim identity in order to receive Communion at a Roman Catholic Church. One of the journalists said they were investigating reports that Muslims had committed apostasy by attending prayers or Communion at the church, but that they found no evidence of this.

Police said officials were investigating whether the two men had caused religious disharmony, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison. Religious issues are highly sensitive in Malaysia, which has a 60% Muslim population. Christians, Buddhists and Hindus make up most of the rest of the population.

Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, will claim that BRITAIN WILL BECOME A WORLD LEADER IN LOW-CARBON TECHNOLOGY AND MANUFACTURING. He will argue that raising household energy bills to pay for investment in wind, solar and tidal power is justified not only by the dangers of global warming but also the opportunity to build a new "green economy".

However, tomorrow morning the Vestas factory in Newport, Isle of Wight, Britain's only significant manufacturer of wind turbines, will produce its last batch of seven-tonne blades. More than 600 people employed at the plant, and a related facility in Southampton, will be made redundant at the end of the month. ALL 7,000 TURBINES THAT THE GOVERNMENT WILL COMMIT TODAY TO INSTALLING OVER THE NEXT DECADE WILL BE MANUFACTURED OVERSEAS, MAINLY IN GERMANY, DENMARK AND CHINA.

Vestas managers and union leaders held meetings with Mr Miliband and officials to discuss the possibility of converting the factory — which supplies the US market — to produce a different type of blade suitable for British wind farms. The Government did not, however, offer any financial aid and was unable to give any assurances that it would break the planning logjam that has paralysed the British market for wind turbines.

L'Osservatore Romano said the movie was the best adaptation yet of the JK Rowling books, describing it as "a mixture of supernatural suspense and romance which reaches the right balance. THERE IS A CLEAR LINE OF DEMARCATION BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL AND [THE FILM] MAKES CLEAR THAT GOOD IS RIGHT. One understands as well that sometimes this requires hard work and sacrifice," the newspaper judged.

The broadsheet paper also praised the film's clear message that "THE SEARCH FOR IMMORTALITY EPITOMISED BY LORD VOLDEMORT" WAS WRONG. It even approved of the film's treatment of adolescent romance amid the halls and corridors of Hogwart's, saying that it achieved the "correct balance" and made the teenage stars more credible.

The favourable review IS AN APPARENT CHANGE OF HEART FROM THE VATICAN'S PREVIOUS ASSESSMENT of the best-selling series. Last year an article in L'Osservatore Romano condemned the books for encouraging an interest in the occult among children. The Vatican's attitude to the books has taken a harder line under the papacy of Benedict XVI in comparison with that of his predecessor John Paul II.

TWO YEARS BEFORE HE WAS ELECTED POPE, CARDINAL JOSEF RATZINGER, as he then was, wrote a letter to a German critic of the books calling the series "A SUBTLE SEDUCTION, WHICH HAS DEEPLY UNNOTICED AND DIRECT EFFECTS IN UNDERMINING THE SOUL OF CHRISTIANITY BEFORE IT CAN REALLY GROW PROPERLY". Earlier this year an ultraconservative Austrian priest, the Reverend Gerhard Maria Wagner, accused the Harry Potter novels of encouraging Satanism.

Goldman Sachs took £6.1billion from the US Government's bail-out funds at the height of the crisis last October, but repaid the cash in June. Total revenues leapt 46 per cent to £89 billion - even better than Wall Street expected, sending shares soaring. THE RETURN OF MASSIVE BONUSES WILL INFURIATE CRITICS WHO SAY LAVISH REWARDS FOR FINANCIERS ARE WHAT FUELLED THE BANKING CRISIS AND PLUNGED THE GLOBAL ECONOMY INTO DEEP RECESSION.

The bank faced further anger today as it was revealed that executives sold $700million (almost £431million) worth of shares in the bank following the collapse of rival Lehman Brothers last September. Most of the sales occurred during the period when Goldman was being propped up by $10billion (£6.1billion) of US Government money through the troubled asset relief programme.

The sudden increase in selling among Goldman partners is likely to infuriate US politicians as it came after Washington had thrown Wall Street a lifeline. It also came as MPs demanded that bankers should be hit with a punitive 90 per cent tax on bonuses. Vince Cable, liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said: 'THIS SUGGESTS THAT FAR TOO MANY PEOPLE IN THE BANKING SECTOR ARE GOING BACK TO BUSINESS AS USUAL AND APPEAR TO HAVE LEARNT NO LESSONS FROM THE PAST.' The MPs have accused City chiefs of pretending the financial crisis never happened as they dish out 'generally excessive' payments.

Liberal Democrat MP Paul Holmes accused Chancellor Alistair Darling and the financial sector of dithering. 'THE GOVERNMENT AND THE CITY CAN'T JUST IGNORE PRACTICES THAT ALMOST DESTROYED THE ECONOMIES OF THE WESTERN WORLD LAST YEAR,' Mr Holmes said. Analysts believe the Goldman Sachs bonus pool could double to £12billion this year if the trading performance continues.

Tests in several animals confirmed other studies that have shown THE NEW SWINE FLU STRAIN CAN SPREAD BEYOND THE UPPER RESPIRATORY TRACT TO GO DEEP INTO THE LUNGS - MAKING IT MORE LIKELY TO CAUSE PNEUMONIA, the international team said. In addition, they found that people who survived the 1918 pandemic seem to have extra immune protection against the virus, again confirming the work of other researchers.

"When we conducted the experiments in ferrets and monkeys, the seasonal virus did not replicate in the lungs," said Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin, who led the study. "The H1N1 virus replicates significantly better in the lungs." The new swine flu virus has caused the first pandemic of the 21st century, infecting more than a million people, according to estimates, and killing at least 500. The World Health Organization says it is causing mostly moderate disease but Kawaoka said that does not mean it is like seasonal flu.

"There is a misunderstanding about this virus," he said in a statement. "There is clear evidence the virus is different than seasonal influenza." Writing in the journal Nature, KAWAOKA AND COLLEAGUES NOTED THAT THE ABILITY TO INFECT THE LUNGS IS A CHARACTERISTIC OF OTHER PANDEMIC VIRUSES, ESPECIALLY THE 1918 VIRUS, WHICH IS ESTIMATED TO HAVE KILLED BETWEEN 40 MILLION AND 100 MILLION PEOPLE.

The deficit has been widened by the huge sum the government has spent to ease the recession, combined with a sharp decline in tax revenues. THE COST OF WARS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN ALSO IS A MAJOR FACTOR.

The soaring deficit is making Chinese and other foreign buyers of US debt nervous, which could make them reluctant lenders down the road. It could also force the Treasury Department to pay higher interest rates to make US debt attractive longer-term.

"THESE ARE MIND-BOGGLING NUMBERS," said Sung Won Sohn, an economist at the Smith School of Business at California State University. "OUR FOREIGN INVESTORS FROM CHINA AND ELSEWHERE ARE STARTING TO HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT NOT ONLY THE VALUE OF THE DOLLAR BUT HOW SAFE THEIR INVESTMENTS WILL BE IN THE LONG RUN."

Norma McCorvey, 61, of Texas, better known as "Jane Roe" in the famous Roe vs Wade case from January 1973, was arrested after she and another protester started yelling during the opening statement of Senator Al Franken (Democrat, Minnesota), according to Capitol Police. McCorvey, whose pursuit of the right to access to abortion in the early 1970s led to the ruling that has been a pivotal part of every Supreme Court nomination process since, eventually become a notable opponent of the procedure.

McCorvey, who used Roe as an alias in her court filings for fear of retribution, remained an abortion-rights supporter until the mid-1990s. Working at a women's clinic in Dallas, she befriended some Operation Rescue protesters. In 1995, she was baptized and has been an anti-abortion activist ever since.