Experiments on rats fed falcarinol have shown they develop fewer tumours. The Newcastle University study will be presented at NutrEvent, a conference on nutrition and health, to be held in France. Lead researcher Dr Kirsten Brandt, from Newcastle University's School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, said: "Chopping up your carrots increases the surface area so more of the nutrients leach out into the water while they are cooked. By keeping them whole and chopping them up afterwards you are locking in nutrients and the taste, so the carrot is better for you all round." The Newcastle scientist, along with colleagues at the University of Denmark, discovered the health benefits of falcarinol in carrots four years ago.

Since then the scientists in Newcastle have been studying what happens when carrots are chopped and cooked. The latest findings show that when carrots are heated, the heat kills the cells, so they lose the ability to hold on to the water inside them, increasing the concentration of falcarinol as the carrots lose water. However, the heat also softens the cell walls, allowing water-soluble compounds such as sugar and vitamin C to be lost via the surface of the tissue, leading to the leaching out of other compounds such as falcarinol. If the carrot is cut before being boiled, the surface area becomes much greater - and so the loss of nutrients is increased.

Dr Brandt added that in blind taste studies the whole carrots also tasted much better. Eight of ten people favoured the whole vegetables over those that were pre-chopped. This is because the naturally occurring sugars which are responsible for giving the carrot its distinctively sweet flavour were also found in higher concentrations in the carrot that had been cooked whole. Dr Brandt said: "The great thing about this is it's a simple way for people to increase their uptake of a compound we know is good for you. All you need is a bigger saucepan."

The "Stockholm Programme" sets the agenda for EU justice and home affairs and internal security policy from 2010 to 2014 and will extend militarised border controls, discriminatory immigration policies, mandatory and proactive surveillance regimes and an increasingly aggressive external security and defence policy. The ECLN believes THESE POLICIES CONSTITUTE AN ATTACK ON CIVIL LIBERTIES AND HUMAN RIGHTS. It calls for active civil society engagement and opposition TO DANGEROUS AUTHORITARIAN TENDENCIES WITHIN THE EU.

An "information system architecture" to bring about the sharing of all data across the EU. The use of "security technologies" to harness the "digital tsunami" to gather through mass surveillance personal data on peoples' everyday activities through public-private partnerships.

What is new is the clear aim of creating the surveillance society and the database state. FUTURE GENERATIONS, FOR WHOM THIS WILL BE A FULLY DEVELOPED REALITY, WILL LOOK BACK AT THIS ERA AND RIGHTLY ASK, "WHY DID YOU NOT ACT TO STOP IT?"

In a hard-hitting speech in Parliament, he called for a change of attitude that would attach a 'stigma' to those who destroy family life and said a National Commission should be established to devise solutions for the 'EPIDEMIC' OF BROKEN HOMES. He said: 'The reaffirmation of marriage as the gold standard would be a start.'
Currently, one in three marriages ends in divorce. ONE IN TEN CHILDREN LIVES WITH COHABITING PARENTS AND A QUARTER LIVE WITH A SINGLE PARENT.

CHILDREN FROM SINGLE-PARENT FAMILIES ARE FAR MORE LIKELY TO DO BADLY AT SCHOOL, SUFFER POOR HEALTH, FALL INTO CRIME, DRUG ABUSE, BINGE DRINKING AND TEENAGE PREGNANCY. Sir Paul Coleridge, 60, who is married with three adult children, is a leading family judge, having presided over the divorce of Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills. He also made the ruling in Britain's largest divorce settlement in which Beverley Charman received £48million when she divorced insurance magnate John Charman.

The judge's comments stopped short of condemning the Government or any other political party for the breakdown of family life. But his support for marriage will be music to the ears of Conservative leader David Cameron, who has made clear that a Tory government would support marriage through the tax system. By contrast, Labour ministers insist alternative family set-ups are equally valid.

In his speech to the Family Holiday Association charity of which he is a patron, Mr Justice Coleridge said: 'I AM DRAWING ATTENTION TO THE ENDLESS GAME OF "MUSICAL RELATIONSHIPS", OR "PASS THE PARTNER", IN WHICH SUCH A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF THE POPULATION IS ENGAGED.' Condemning the 'endless and futile quest for a perfect relationship', he said many parents were in 'a complete and uncontrolled free-for-all where BEING TRUE TO ONESELF AND ONE'S NEEDS IS THE ONLY YARDSTICK for controlling behaviour'.

He added: 'THE CHILDREN ARE CAUGHT UP IN THE CONFLICT OF THEIR PARENTS' UNRESOLVED RELATIONSHIP ISSUES AND IT CAN LEAVE THEM SCARRED, SOMETIMES SEVERELY SCARRED, FOR LIFE.' The judge also said government should support 'those who chose not to marry but live a committed life with a partner', since they provide stability for children. Calling for 'a fundamental change in individual attitude and behaviour', he said: 'WHAT IS A MATTER OF PRIVATE CONCERN WHEN IT IS ON A SMALL SCALE BECOMES A MATTER OF PUBLIC CONCERN WHEN IT REACHES EPIDEMIC PROPORTIONS.

THE SUPREME LEADER, AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI - Iran's Supreme Leader is the country's most powerful figure. He appoints the head of the judiciary, six of the 12 members of the powerful Guardian Council, the commanders of all the armed forces, Friday prayer leaders and the head of radio and TV. He also confirms the president's election. Khamenei was a key figure in the Islamic revolution in Iran and a close confidant of Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic republic. He was later president of Iran from 1981 to 1989 before becoming Supreme Leader for life.

PRESIDENT MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD - Iran's president since 2005, was actively involved in the Islamic revolution and was a founding member of the student union that took over the US embassy in Tehran in 1979. But he denies being one of the hostage-takers. He became the first non-cleric to be elected president since 1981 when he won a run-off vote against former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in elections in June 2005. He is a hard-liner both at home - where he does not favour the development or reform of political institutions - and abroad, where he has maintained an anti-Western attitude and combative stance on Tehran's nuclear programme.

MIR HOSSEIN MOUSAVI - The 68-year-old former prime minister stayed out of politics for some years but returned to stand as a moderate. He was born in East Azerbaijan Province and moved to Tehran to study architecture at university. One of his closest associates and backers in this election was Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former President of Iran who now heads two of the regime's most powerful bodies: the Expediency Council (which adjudicates disputes over legislation) and the Assembly of Experts (which appoints, and can theoretically replace, the Supreme Leader).

THE REFORMISTS - The Iranian reform movement is a political movement led by a group of political parties and organizations in Iran who supported MOHAMMAD KHATAMI'S plans to introduce more freedom and democracy. In 1997, Khatami was elected president on a platform of greater freedom of expression, as well as measures to tackle unemployment and boost privatisation. However, much of his initial liberalisations were stymied by resistance from the country's conservative institutions.

THE REVOLUTIONARY GUARD AND THE ARMY - The armed forces comprise the Revolutionary Guard and the regular forces. The two bodies are under a joint general command. Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) was set up shortly after the revolution to defend the country's Islamic system, and to provide a counterweight to the regular armed forces. It has since become a major military, political and economic force in Iran, with close ties to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a former member.

THE MILITIAS - The Revolutionary Guard also controls the Basij Resistance Force, an Islamic volunteer militia of about 90,000 men and woman with an additional capacity to mobilise nearly 1m.

THE CLERICS - Clerics dominate Iranian society - only clerics can be elected to the Assembly of Experts, which appoints the Supreme Leader, monitors his performance and can in theory remove him if he is deemed incapable of fulfilling his duties. The Assembly is currently headed by Ayatollah Ali Rafsanjani, who is described as pragmatic and conservative. Former President Mohammad Khatami accused the clerics of obstructing his reforms and warned against the dangers of religious "despotism". Clerics also dominate the judiciary, which is based on Sharia (Islamic) law.

In recent years, conservative hardliners have used the judicial system to undermine reforms by imprisoning reformist personalities and journalists and closing down reformist papers.

Mr Walsh, who has said he will work unpaid in July, has urged employees to help the airline which lost £401 million last year. Keith Williams, the airline's chief financial officer, will also be working unpaid for the month. Line managers are approaching staff directly to ask what sacrifices they are prepared to make.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph during the aviation industry summit in Kuala Lumpur last week, Mr Walsh painted a grim picture of the current economic climate. "The trading environment is the toughest it has ever been, I don't think there is any evidence that it is improving," he said. "This is probably the most difficult period in the history or our industry." Mr Walsh, who will do without £61,000 as a result of his gesture, has written to the airline's 30,000 employees based in Britain asking them to volunteer for either unpaid leave or even to work for nothing for up to a month.

"I am looking for every single part of the company to take part in some way in this cash-effective way of helping the company's survival plan. It really counts," Mr Walsh has told staff. Other airlines, including Cathay Pacific, have also launched similar emergency rescue plans, where they have been backed by staff.

A graduate of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, a Reform seminary, the 45-year-old convert to Judaism was ordained at the Plum Street Temple in Cincinnati on June 6. In August, she will be installed as the new spiritual leader of Congregation Bayt Shalom in Greenville, South Carolina. "I am humbled and I am in awe," Stanton said of her achievement.

It was a milestone - both for Stanton and for the American-Jewish community - that was decades in the making. "It's been a long, difficult journey," she said. "If someone had told me I'd be a spiritual leader 15 years ago, I would have laughed." Indeed, her ordination comes during a particular juncture in American history, just months after the first African-American president took office.

"It is of incredible importance to note that her ordination coincides with the election of Barack Obama," the president of Hebrew Union College, Rabbi David Ellenson, told The New York Times. "It offers a ray of hope that the world can become a better place."

Whenever anyone calls his resourcefulness in difficult situations into question, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likes to recount an episode from his younger days. He was in his early twenties and was serving in the Israeli Defense Force's elite special forces unit Sayeret Matkal, which had been chosen to gather intelligence behind enemy lines and had a tough-as-nails reputation.

Netanyahu was leading a group of soldiers up a mountain when they suddenly found their path blocked by a giant boulder. With the side of the mountain to the left and a precipice to the right, the group's only real option was to turn around and abort the mission. But, as Netanyahu likes to relate, he knew just what to do. Using shrubs that were growing out of the cliff, he made his way hand-over-hand around the obstacle, dangling over the abyss, and reached the path on the other side of the boulder.

Forty years later, Netanyahu is being called upon to use his imagination once again. This time, the challenges involve defusing the conflicts in the Middle East and the question of how Israel's relationship with its protective power, the United States, will develop under President Barack Obama. The president has asked him, in no uncertain terms, to accept the possibility of the establishment of a Palestinian state, as his predecessors did.

Reporting from Washington - The Obama administration this week will propose the most significant new regulation of the financial industry since the Great Depression, including a new watchdog agency to look out for consumers' interests.

Under the plan, expected to be released Wednesday, THE GOVERNMENT WOULD HAVE NEW POWERS TO SEIZE KEY COMPANIES - such as insurance giant American International Group Inc - whose failure jeopardizes the financial system. Currently, the government's authority to seize companies is mostly limited to banks. But critics say the easing of the financial crisis that gripped the country last year appears to have reduced the momentum for some of the most far-reaching proposals, such as merging several banking regulatory agencies.

They're also concerned that the proposed agency whose mission would be to protect consumers against financial misconduct wouldn't have the authority to do so for a wide-enough range of products. "We had a system that proved too unstable, too fragile... Those are things we have to change," Treasury Secretary Timothy F Geithner said Monday at an economic forum in New York.

The final plan due to be released on Wednesday - which originally aimed to streamline and consolidate banking and securities regulation in one or two agencies - NOW IS EXPECTED TO SIDESTEP MOST JURISDICTIONAL DISPUTES AND SIMPLY IMPOSE ACROSS THE BOARD STANDARDS TO BE APPLIED BY ALL FINANCIAL REGULATORS, according to administration and industry sources. The most likely candidate for elimination is the Office of Thrift Supervision, whose failure to detect and forestall problems at Countrywide, IndyMac, Washington Mutual and other freewheeling mortgage lenders is thought to have contributed to the financial crisis.

The decision to concentrate sweeping new powers at the already overstretched Fed is not without controversy. Senator Christopher J Dodd, chairman of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, which must approve any regulatory overhaul, has raised objections to that approach, and so has Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Chairman Sheila C Bair.

Ms Bair advocates an alternative where a council of top bank regulators would make decisions on whether to step in, regulate or close major corporations like the American International Group whose failure posed a risk to the whole economy and financial system. The Fed stepped in to save AIG last year without having such powers, but the result was a costly and muddled bailout that no one wants to repeat.

Medvedev has made the proposal before. It reflects both the Kremlin's push for greater international clout and a concern shared by other countries that soaring US budget deficits could spur inflation and weaken the dollar. Airing it at a summit meeting underlined the challenge to US clout.

Medvedev spoke at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which includes China and four Central Asian nations. Later Tuesday he hosts a summit of the BRIC group of leading emerging economies — Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Amid efforts by Washington and Moscow to improve strained ties, the summit will be watched for signs of stronger support from Russia and its neighbors for American-led operations in Afghanistan. That will be a signal of the depth of Russia's determination to mend fences with the United States at a time of warming relations between the two countries.

ABCNEWS anchor Charlie Gibson will deliver WORLD NEWS from the Blue Room of the White House. The network plans a primetime special - 'Prescription for America' - originating from the East Room, excluding opposing voices on the debate.

"ABCNEWS prides itself on covering all sides of important issues and asking direct questions of all newsmakers - of all political persuasions - even when others have taken a more partisan approach and even in the face of criticism from extremes on both ends of the political spectrum. ABCNEWS is looking for the most thoughtful and diverse voices on this issue."

"ABCNEWS alone will select those who will be in the audience asking questions of the president. LIKE ANY PROGRAMS WE BROADCAST, ABC NEWS WILL HAVE COMPLETE EDITORIAL CONTROL. To suggest otherwise is quite unfair to both our journalists and our audience."

The order issued Tuesday limits journalists for foreign media to work only from their offices, conducting telephone interviews and monitoring official sources such as state television. It comes as foreign reporters in Iran to cover the elections began leaving the country. Iranian officials say they will not extend their visas.

Iran's Islamic leadership is prepared to conduct a limited recount of disputed presidential elections, a spokesman said Tuesday, drawing the ruling clerics deeper into a showdown that began with street clashes and quickly moved to the highest levels of power.

The announcement comes after Iran's state radio reported earlier Tuesday that seven people were killed during clashes in the Iranian capital the previous day - the first official confirmation of deaths linked to the wave of protests and street battles following last week's disputed election. Hundreds of thousands of Mousavi's backers poured through Tehran on Monday in a massive show of unity - that ended in bloodshed when seven people were killed in a confrontation with pro-regime militiamen.

The article reported that the couple claimed £6m in staff and salary allowances and would have received a further £1.7m if they had claimed the maximum to which they were entitled in subsistence and travel allowances. The Kinnocks did not dispute the figures when showed them by the paper. Open Europe also found that during their time in Brussels, both Kinnocks claimed a housing allowance on top of their incomes, even though they lived in the same home, and that this alone would have netted the couple almost £600,000 over 10 years.

The Mail on Sunday reported on Open Europe's findings that Glenys Kinnock can expect £67,835 a year from two pensions as an MEP and Neil Kinnock's pension as a former Commissioner is worth more than £80,000 a year. Tom McPhail, Head of Pensions Research at financial consultants Hargreaves Lansdown, calculated that these pensions would cost an ordinary taxpayer £4.4million to buy in cash.

McPhail was quoted as saying "Wow. NOT BAD FOR A FAILED PARTY LEADER AND HIS WIFE. But people will find this scale of indulgence on the part of politicians nauseating, especially at a time when British workers are having their pensions cut." Open Europe's Mats Persson was quoted by the Sunday Times saying, "The Kinnocks are Brussels' very own Lord and Lady Expenses. ONE HAS TO QUESTION WHETHER LADY KINNOCK IS A SUITABLE MINISTER FOR EUROPE. How can she distinguish between the interests of Britain and the interests of the institutions that she and her family have relied upon for their income for so long?"

He added that "NOTHING WILL HAPPEN" IF ISRAEL "DEPENDS ON THE EUROPEANS" TO STOP IRAN'S GENOCIDAL THREATS AGAINST THE JEWISH STATE. The Freedom Party campaigned on a platform for shifting more decision-making power away from Brussels, the headquarters of the European Parliament, and back to members of the 27 EU countries. The vote was on European representation within the EU Parliament in Brussels and showed that "people are not so interested in Europe. THE NETHERLANDS IS NOT AGAINST EUROPE," HE SAID, BUT "WE DON'T WANT A EUROPEAN SUPER STATE."

Asked about the EU's posture toward Israel and forcing the Islamic Republic of Iran to halt its nuclear weapons program, Wilders said the European Parliament has "always been biased against Israel." He said he regrets "that they (EU) have a foreign minister" and argued that the "European Parliament should not be involved in foreign politics."

Wilders said Israel was the "only light of democracy in the Middle East" and that Islamic war was "against us all." The Jewish state was "more like the canary in the coal mine," he said, and stressed that an "ideological conflict" was unfolding in the region. "It is not a territorial conflict. Please forget about this crazy concept." The Islamists "see Israel as a big settlement" and if Israel "gives Territory A," said Wilders, then the other side will ask for Territory B, "such as Haifa."

Commenting on the Iranian election and Teheran's nuclear enrichment program, Wilders said it "does not matter who wins. The rhetoric at the end of the day is the same."