The beginning of the Arab exodus [from Israel] can be traced to the weeks immediately following the announcement of the UN partition resolution. By the end of January 1948, the exodus was so alarming, the Palestine Arab Higher Committee asked neighbouring Arab countries to refuse visas to these [Arab] refugees and to seal their borders against them.

Contemporary press reports of major battles in which large numbers of Arabs fled conspicuously fail to mention any forcible expulsion by the Jewish forces. The Arabs are usually described as "fleeing" or "evacuating" their homes. "THE ARAB STATES ENCOURAGED THE PALESTINE ARABS TO LEAVE THEIR HOMES TEMPORARILY IN ORDER TO BE OUT OF THE WAY OF THE ARAB INVASION ARMIES," according to the Jordanian newspaper Filastin (February 19, 1949). One refugee quoted in the Jordan newspaper, Ad Difaa (September 6, 1954), said: "THE ARAB GOVERNMENT TOLD US: GET OUT SO THAT WE CAN GET IN. SO WE GOT OUT, BUT THEY DID NOT GET IN."

Israel consistently sought a solution to the refugee problem, but could not simply agree to allow all Palestinians to return. No nation, regardless of past rights and wrongs, could contemplate taking in a fifth-column of such a size. And fifth-column it would be — people nurtured for 20 years [in 1967] in hatred of and totally dedicated to its destruction.

"THEY MUST RENOUNCE, ONCE AND FOR ALL, THE DEMAND TO SETTLE THE DESCENDANTS OF THE REFUGEES AND TO TAKE OVER ISRAEL'S TERRITORY PIECEMEAL AFTER OBTAINING A PEACE TREATY," Netanyahu warned. He was speaking at the official state memorial for modern Zionism's central visionary, Binyamin Zev Herzl, who died 105 years ago. Fifteen members of Herzl's family attended, as did President Shimon Peres, other dignitaries, soldiers and Jewish and Arab youths.

The Prime Minister added: "I yearn for the day that the Palestinian leaders face their people and say these clear words: 'We have had enough of this conflict. We, the Palestinians, recognize the right of the Jewish people to a country of its own on this land. We will live beside you in true peace.' Once these things are said, a window – even a huge opening – will be opened to peace," he said.

In explicit and direct language, the Pope calls for a "TRUE WORLD POLITICAL AUTHORITY" to manage the affairs of the world. At the same time, however, THE POPE ALSO WARNS THAT SUCH AN INTERNATIONAL ORDER COULD "PRODUCE A DANGEROUS UNIVERSAL POWER OF A TYRANNICAL NATURE" and must be guarded against somehow.

The New York Times got it right this time, noting THE POPE'S CALL FOR A WORLD POLITICAL AUTHORITY AMOUNTED TO ENDORSEMENT OF A NEW WORLD ECONOMIC ORDER, a long-time goal of the old Soviet-sponsored international communist movement. Bloomberg.com highlighted the Pope's call for a new world order with "teeth." THE "TEETH" MAY COME IN ADOPTING THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA, WHICH THE POPE WARMLY EMBRACES.

Sounding like Al Gore, the Pope said that one pressing need is "a worldwide redistribution of energy resources, so that countries lacking those resources can have access to them." He adds that "This responsibility is a global one, for it is concerned not just with energy but with the whole of creation, which must not be bequeathed to future generations depleted of its resources."

"THE CHURCH HAS A RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS CREATION AND SHE MUST ASSERT THIS RESPONSIBILITY IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE," he explains. In a statement that sounds like an endorsement of a new global warming treaty, which will be negotiated at a UN conference in December, the Pope says, "The international community has an urgent duty to find institutional means of regulating the exploitation of non-renewable resources, involving poor countries in the process, in order to plan together for the future. The technologically advanced societies can and must lower their domestic energy consumption, either through an evolution in manufacturing methods or through greater ecological sensitivity among their citizens." he declares.

"The signature will show that we are determined to make the Nabucco pipeline a reality as quickly as possible," European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said ahead of the signing ceremony, which would effectively end six months of intense negotiations on the use of the pipeline.

The 3,300-kilometer pipeline is expected to run between the Caspian Sea region and Austria, crossing Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. Ankara, for its part, wanted to take 15 percent of the gas flowing through Nabucco at a discounted price for internal consumption or even for re-exportation, but was not granted this. The Nabucco's entire capacity amounts to 31 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year.

"The [EU-Turkey] agreement is a very significant one," says Karel Hirman, an energy expert from the Slovak innovation and energy agency. "Turkey sought to become a gas dealer, while this agreement will make it a regular transit country profiting from transit fees."

Obesity alone has never been seen as a risk factor for seasonal flu. But in a report released on Friday, health officials detailed the cases of 10 Michigan patients who were very sick from swine flu in late May and early June and ended up at a specialised hospital in Ann Arbor. Three of them died. Nine of the 10 were either obese or extremely obese. Only three of the 10 had other health problems. Two of the three that died had no other health conditions.

Also remarkable were that five of the patients developed blood clots in their lungs, and six had kidney failure. Those complications have been seen in some swine flu patients before, but not usually in such a high proportion.

"Clinicians need to be aware that severe complications can occur in patients with the novel H1N1 virus, particularly in extremely obese patients," said Dr. Tim Uyeki, a flu expert at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Uyeki was a co-author of the report, released by a CDC publication, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), directed by Itamar Marcus, reports on a panel discussion on a television program of the Fatah organization broadcast this past week. Headed by Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah is considered THE MORE MODERATE WING OF THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY, compared with Hamas.

THE PANEL DISCUSSION SHOWS THAT IN ACTUALITY, FATAH IS NO LESS FIRM THAN HAMAS IN SEEKING THE GOAL OF ISRAEL'S DESTRUCTION. Kifah Radaydeh, the deputy head of the Jerusalem chapter of Fatah, says openly that the PA will resume violence and terror against Israel when Fatah is "capable," and "according to what seems right."

"It has been said that we are negotiating for peace," she further stated, "BUT OUR GOAL HAS NEVER BEEN PEACE. PEACE IS A MEANS; THE GOAL IS PALESTINE." Radaydeh is considered a "promising and rising young force" in Fatah, according to a PMW source, "and this report will likely give her extra prominence. But we have to publicize her words in order that the truth about the PA and Fatah be known."

People holding California State IOUs - including taxpayers, vendors and local governments - will soon have a tougher time redeeming them, as most major banks are standing firm on a vow not to cash the vouchers after today.

Many credit unions say they will continue to redeem the IOUs for customers. But without mainstream banks as an option, recipients of the IOUs who need cash immediately could be tempted to sell them at a discount to third-party speculators, including ones popping up on the Internet. Responding to that potential, the Securities and Exchange Commission determined Thursday that the IOUs are securities under federal law, which will generally require anyone trading them for profit to be a registered securities dealer.

The move is aimed at limiting the risk that IOU recipients could be defrauded by individuals or companies that offer to buy the scrip. In the last week, State Controller John Chiang's office issued 91,000 IOUs worth $354 million to people expecting tax refunds, as well as to state vendors and local governments, said spokeswoman Hallye Jordan.

"In the medium to long term, we need to do what we can to avoid the risk of currency losses or economic turbulence that could result if the dollar were to swing," Masaharu Nakagawa, the shadow finance minister in the Democratic Party of Japan, said in an interview in Tokyo on July 9. "MANY COUNTRIES ARE STARTING TO DIVERSIFY THEIR RESERVES."

Japanese investors are the biggest foreign holders of Treasuries after China with $685.9 billion of the securities in April, and Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said last month his trust in the bonds is "unshakable." The DPJ yesterday beat the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in elections for Tokyo's city assembly, boosting its prospects ahead of national polls that Prime Minister Taro Aso today called for August 30.

"The current reality of Japan's foreign-currency reserves is that their heavy weighting toward dollar assets means any fall in the dollar's value leads to valuation losses," said Susumu Kato, chief economist in Tokyo at Calyon Securities, the investment banking unit of Credit Agricole SA. "THE DPJ IS OPPOSED TO A FOREIGN-CURRENCY RESERVE POLICY THAT IS SO WHOLLY SKEWED TO THE DOLLAR."

The EU's Javier Solana made his comments on Saturday at a lecture in London while Palestinian and Israeli peace talks remain stalled. The Palestinians have said they will not revive peace talks unless there is a halt to Israel's settlement activities in the West Bank. "AFTER A FIXED DEADLINE, A UN SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION SHOULD PROCLAIM THE ADOPTION OF THE TWO-STATE SOLUTION," Solana said, adding this should include border parameters, refugees, control over the city of Jerusalem and security arrangements.

"It would accept the Palestinian state as a full member of the UN, and set a calendar for implementation. It would mandate the resolution of other remaining territorial disputes and legitimise the end of claims," Solana went on. Advocating a return to Israel's borders before the 1967 war with Egypt, Syria and Jordan in which it took the West Bank, SOLANA SAID MEDIATORS SHOULD SET A TIMETABLE FOR A PEACE AGREEMENT.

"If the parties are not able to stick to it (the timetable), then A SOLUTION BACKED BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SHOULD BE PUT ON THE TABLE," he said. The EU, along with the United States, Russia and the United Nations, is part of the Quartet of Middle East Negotiators.

"THE MORE ABU MAZEN'S AUTHORITY AND LEGITIMACY DECLINE, THE MORE HE INCREASES HIS DEMANDS and the more rigid he becomes in his attitude," Lieberman told Israeli public radio, referring to Abbas by his popular nickname. "Today you have Fatah-land in Judea and Samaria (the Hebrew name for the occupied West Bank) and Hamastan in Gaza," Lieberman told Israeli radio, referring to Abbas's Fatah party and the Islamist Hamas movement ruling Gaza.

"AND WHO EXACTLY DOES ABU MAZEN REPRESENT? ONLY HALF THE PEOPLE, AT BEST. All of Abu Mazen's demands are simply a reflection of his distress and inability to conduct negotiations and spearhead a true political process," he added. "The demand for a (settlement) freeze is not legitimate either."

Lieberman's comments drew an angry response from the Palestinian leadership, which accused him of using "diversion tactics" to mask Israel's failure to halt settlement building in the West Bank. Monday's fiery exchange was the latest in a row that erupted over the weekend after Abbas told the Egyptian press that Israel would be better off without its outspoken foreign minister.

The International Monetary Fund says the eurozone will contract by 4.8pc this year, worse than the UK (-4.2pc) or the US (-2.6pc). The deepest damage will occur next year as Europe remains mired in slump, even as the rest of the world recovers. It is the length of recession that matters most for jobs, social stability, and public finances. I am not easily shocked any longer but I did sit up when Spain's budget chief Luis Espadas said the economic collapse could "easily" push Spanish public debt to 90pc of GDP by 2011. This is up from 36pc in 2007.

NOBODY KNOWS WHERE THE TIPPING POINT LIES ON PUBLIC DEBT, though anything above 100pc of GDP in a currency union is courting fate. Some are already there. The European Commission says Italian debt will jump to 116pc in 2010. Greece is vaulting back to 109pc, Belgium to 101pc, France to 86pc.

EVEN GERMAN FINANCES ARE FALLING APART. After screwing down spending to balance the books, discipline has broken down. Berlin says the deficit is heading for 6pc next year, taking debt to 82pc. This is happening all over the world, of course. But the ECB is compounding the effect, whether for reasons of politics, Bundesbank fetishism, or misjudgment.

By refusing to join the US, Japan, Canada, Britain, and Switzerland in quantitative easing (QE) the ECB has allowed a contraction of private credit this summer. THE M3 "BROAD" MONEY SUPPLY has shrunk since February.

IGNORE M3 AT YOUR PERIL. IT FLASHED A WARNING SIGNAL IN THE US MONTHS BEFORE THE COLLAPSE OF LEHMAN BROTHERS LAST SEPTEMBER; IT IS FLASHING THE SIMILAR WARNING SIGNALS IN EUROPE NOW.

The funding will come from a levy on energy bills, meaning a rise of up to 20 percent or more than £200 annually. About 2 per cent of Britain's energy is currently derived from renewable sources but the Government has promised to increase this to 15 percent within the next 12 years, under EU rules.

A separate article looks at a new McKinsey report, commissioned by the CBI, which calls for the Government's "overly ambitious" targets on renewable energy generation to be offset by nuclear power. It suggests raising nuclear spend by £15bn and carbon capture by £7bn, while cutting investment in expensive gas projects by £11bn and wind by £12bn. The CBI argues this would mean 83% of our electricity will come from low-carbon sources, compared with 64% under a business as usual model. Meanwhile, power sector emissions would halve by 2020 and halve again by 2030, getting the UK back on track with its longer-term carbon targets.

Meanwhile, Roland Rudd of Business for New Europe argues in the Telegraph that the EU has a "crucial role" to play with regards to climate change efforts. John Grummer, the chairman of the Conservative Party's Quality of Life Policy Group, said that the Kyoto Treaty is evidence of the EU's influential powers, "the very fact that the EU made Kyoto possible should fire us up to raise our game on climate change".

The article notes that the centre has a budget of €100 million and will unite data centres which currently function independently. It will be called the 'AGENCY FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF LARGE IT SYSTEMS IN THE FIELD OF LIBERTY, SECURITY AND JUSTICE'. German liberal MEP Alexander Alvaro said "centralising such a gigantic quantity of different data ONLY MAKES SENSE IF THEY WANT TO CREATE PROFILES OF PEOPLE".

HANDELSBLATT reports that the Bavarian CSU party has declared that the German Parliament should have extensive binding powers with regards to the German government's EU policies. Horst Seehofer, CSU leader is quoted saying that "EUROPE SHOULD BE ABLE TO FUNCTION, BUT IT ALSO HAS TO BE DEMOCRATICALLY LEGITIMATE" ADDING THAT "ONE SHOULD NOT CUT DOWN ON DEMOCRACY TO SAVE TIME". Sueddeutsche notes that CSU's stance following the German Constitutional Court's judgement on the Lisbon Treaty is increasingly becoming a problem for the credibility of Angela Merkel's EU policies.

Meanwhile, in his FT column, Wolfgang Münchau argues that "European integration ends with the Lisbon treaty", as the judgement said that "member states must have sovereignty in the following areas: criminal law, police, military operations, fiscal policy, social policy, education, culture, media, and relations with religious groups." Singling out fiscal policy, Münchau argues, "A decision that essentially rules out effective economic crisis management in a monetary union, by anchoring all relevant political decisions at the national level, is hardly consistent with a sustainable single currency". THEY CONCLUDED THAT "AT THE VERY LEAST, ANYONE LOCKED IN A MONETARY UNION WITH GERMANY SHOULD BE VERY WORRIED."

"LATE BLIGHT HAS NEVER OCCURRED THIS EARLY AND THIS WIDESPREAD IN THE UNITED STATES," said Meg McGrath, a plant pathologist at Cornell University's extension center in Riverhead, New York. She said the fungal disease, spread by spores carried in the air, has MADE ITS WAY INTO THE GARDEN CENTERS OF LARGE RETAIL CHAINS in the Northeastern United States. "Wal-mart, Home Depot, Sears, Kmart and Lowe's are some of the stores the plants have been seen in," McGrath said in a telephone interview.

The disease, known officially as Phytophthora infestans, causes large mold-ringed olive-green or brown spots on plant leaves, blackened stems, and can quickly wipe out weeks of tender care in a home garden. McGrath said in her 21 years of research, SHE HAS ONLY SEEN FIVE OUTBREAKS IN THE UNITED STATES. The destructive disease can spread rapidly in cooler, moist weather, infecting an entire field within days.

"What's unique about it this year is we have never seen plants affected in garden centers being sold to home gardeners," she said. This year's cool, wet weather created perfect conditions for the disease.