The growing number of elderly people threatens to make debt unsustainable and HAS LED TO THE UK ECONOMY BEING RANKED ALONGSIDE NATIONS SUCH AS LATVIA, GREECE AND ROMANIA. The warning plunged the Government into a furious row with Brussels, as Treasury officials said it called into question the EC's ability to carry out 'credible economic analysis'.

But the Conservatives seized on the assessment as vindication of their decision to set out a package of spending cuts aimed at restoring the public finances to balance. Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Philip Hammond said: 'This latest rebuke from the EU is further evidence of the extent of Gordon Brown's debt crisis, and shows why we need a clear and credible plan to start reducing Britain's deficit now. If we don't act, interest rates may rise, causing the recovery to falter and putting jobs at risk.'

The EC's report said Britain was among the EU members projected to breach the bloc's deficit ceiling of three per cent of gross domestic product this year and next. It is forecast to have the second-biggest budget deficit at 13.8 per cent, behind only Ireland, at 15 per cent-plus. BRITAIN IS EXPECTED TO BORROW AN UNPRECEDENTED £200BILLION THIS YEAR.

Over the last three months, banks put 63 PERCENT OF THEIR NEW CASH INTO EUROS AND YEN - NOT THE GREENBACKS - a nearly complete reversal of the dollar's onetime dominance for reserves, according to Barclays Capital. THE DOLLAR'S SHARE OF NEW CASH IN THE CENTRAL BANKS WAS DOWN TO 37 PERCENT - COMPARED WITH TWO-THIRDS A DECADE AGO.

Currently, dollars account for about 62 percent of the currency reserve at central banks - the lowest on record, said the International Monetary Fund. Bernanke could go down in economic history as the man who killed the greenback on the operating table. After printing up trillions of new dollars and new bonds to stimulate the US economy, the Fed chief is now boxed into a corner battling two separate monsters that could devour the economy - ravenous inflation on one hand, and a perilous recession on the other. Investors and central banks are snubbing dollars because the greenback is kept too weak by zero interest rates and a flood of greenbacks in the global economy.

They grumble that they've loaned the US record amounts to cover its mounting debt, BUT ARE GETTING PAID BACK BY A CURRENCY THAT'S WORTH 10 PERCENT LESS IN THE PAST THREE MONTHS ALONE. In a decade, it's down nearly one-third.

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE CORRUPTION. Playboy marketers have launched a global seduction of 'tweens' by stripping Mother Simpson on its cover. PLAYBOY CARTOONS TRADITIONALLY BRAINWASH USERS into laughing at sexual trafficking, kidnapping, prostitution, incest, rape of women and children, and of course sexual harassment.

One news report on "The Simpsons" says its audience is "especially attractive." Why? The show has a 'tween' demographic. Children "between 12 and 17, is an especially key viewing group for 'The Simpsons,'" and thus for Playboy. However, THE TYPICAL DEFINITION OF 'TWEEN' IS YOUNGER, SOME MARKETERS CLAIMING BETWEEN 10 AND 15 YEARS OLD.

"And the magazine is giving the 'Simpsons' character the star treatment, complete with a data sheet, an interview and a two-page centerfold." Playboy's editorial director is coy about the "special issue," saying "it's very, very racy." Bringing the tween boys and girls into the print pornography format of course leads millions straight to Playboy's "soft" Internet pornography and from there to their hard-core, incest and similar vile addictions.

"TODAY IS REALLY A HISTORICAL EVENT FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE," organizer Levi Chazan said as another part of the school was completed. "It is the beginning of the work for the Third Temple." The school will include an exact replica of the Temple. The latest addition to the replica was the area in which priests offered wine and water libations.

The water offering was traditionally given on the Sukkot holiday, which was celebrated last week. Festivities accompanied the completion of another step in the school's construction. Among those present was Baruch Marzel, long-time Land of Israel activist and parliamentary aide to MK Michael Ben-Ari.

The timing of the work on the school is particularly appropriate due to recent Muslim riots against Jewish visits to the Temple Mount, Marzel said.

In an attempt to reduce the chance of riots, police have limited access to the Temple Mount to Muslims only - only females, or men who are under age 18 or over 50. In addition, only those with Israeli or Jerusalem identity cards will be allowed in, while foreign Muslims will be told to pray elsewhere. Tensions remained high on Thursday. While relative quiet was maintained in Jerusalem's Old City, attacks on Jews were reported in the nearby neighbourhood of Mei Shiloach (Silwan) and across Judea and Samaria.

As Israel attempts to reduce tensions, Hamas, Fatah and the Israel-based Islamic Movement have each called on Muslims to "defend al-Aksa." Hamas declared Friday a "Day of Rage" and called on followers to protest, while Fatah called for a general strike on Friday on behalf of the al-Aksa mosque. Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, accused Israel of working with "Jewish extremists" by allowing them to enter the Temple Mount compound.

The Islamic Movement, an Israel-based Muslim organization that does not recognize Israel, has called for Israeli Muslims to arrive in Jerusalem for Friday prayers, and to ignore police limitations on the number or age of worshippers to be allowed in.

Policy makers boosted foreign currency holdings by $413 billion last quarter, the most since at least 2003, to $7.3 trillion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Nations reporting currency breakdowns put 63 percent of the new cash into euros and yen in April, May and June, the latest Barclays Capital data show. That's the highest percentage in any quarter with more than an $80 billion increase.

WORLD LEADERS ARE ACTING ON THREATS TO DUMP THE DOLLAR while the Obama administration shows a willingness to tolerate a weaker currency in an effort to boost exports and the economy as long as it doesn't drive away the nation's creditors. The diversification signals that the currency won't rebound anytime soon after losing 10.3 percent on a trade-weighted basis the past six months, the biggest drop since 1991.

"GLOBAL CENTRAL BANKS ARE GETTING MORE SERIOUS ABOUT DIVERSIFICATION, whereas in the past they used to just talk about it," said Steven Englander, a former Federal Reserve researcher who is now the chief US currency strategist at Barclays in New York. "IT LOOKS LIKE THEY ARE REALLY BACKING AWAY FROM THE DOLLAR."

Clinton, in London on the second leg of a five-day tour of Europe and Russia, also joined British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in warning Iran that they would not wait long for the Islamic republic to convince the world that its nuclear intentions are peaceful.

Before stops in Ireland and Northern Ireland, Clinton pledged continued US support for the Northern Irish peace process and said those who continued to exacerbate tension and violence "are out of step and out of time." With her British counterpart, Clinton said there was nothing to suggest that Pakistan's nuclear weapons could fall into terrorist hands despite Saturday's audacious Taliban attack on the army headquarters in Rawalpindi that highlighted security weaknesses.

Clinton said extremists were "increasingly threatening the authority of the state, BUT WE SEE NO EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE GOING TO TAKE OVER THE STATE. We have confidence in the Pakistani government and military's control over nuclear weapons."

A report last week in The Independent claiming that China, Russia and Gulf States are among nations prepared to ditch the dollar for oil trades has heightened the uncertainty surrounding the US currency's future. The dollar slumped against rivals last week in the wake of the British daily's controversial report. "THE US DOLLAR IS BEING HURT BY THE CONTINUED TALK OF A SHIFT AWAY FROM A DOLLAR-CENTRIC WORLD," said Kit Juckes, an analyst at currency traders ECU Group.

"Three conclusions stand out very clearly. Firstly, the shift in economic power away from the G7 economies is continuing. Secondly, there is a growing acceptance amongst those winners that one consequence of this power shift will be to strengthen their currencies. And finally, as long as the US economy is not strong enough for any rise in interest rates to be conceivable for a long time, the dollar's underlying downtrend will remain in place," added Juckes.

In the USA, freezing temperatures are starting to shatter climate change theory. In the freezing foothills of Montana, a distinctly bitter blast of revolution hangs in the air. And while the residents of the icy city of Missoula can stave off the -10C chill with thermals and fires, there may be no easy remedy for the wintry snap's repercussions.

The temperature has shattered a 36-year record. Further into the heartlands of America, the city of Billings registered -12C on Sunday, breaking the 1959 barrier of -5C. Closer to home, Austria is today seeing its earliest snowfall in history with 30 to 40 centimetres already predicted in the mountains. Such dramatic falls in temperatures provide superficial evidence for those who doubt that the world is threatened by climate change. But most pertinent of all, of course, are the growing volume of statistics. According to the National Climatic Data Centre, Earth's hottest recorded year was 1998.

If you put the same question to NASA, scientists will say it was 1934, followed by 1998. The next three runner-ups are 1921, 2006 and 1931. Which all blows a rather large hole in the argument that the earth is hurtling towards an inescapable heat death prompted by man's abuse of the environment. Indeed, some experts believe we should forget global warming and TURN OUR ATTENTION TO AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENTLY PHENOMENON - GLOBAL COOLING.

The prime minister outlined initial plans to raise £3bn, including selling some government real estate. But opposition parties said Mr Brown needed to do far more to ensure the UK lives within its means. Downing Street said the sale marked the beginning of a radical assessment of what other non-core government business activities can best be done by, or in partnership with, the private sector.

Aides added that although these actions are important, a vital force for debt reduction will be the restoration of strong, sustainable growth within the economy. In April, Chancellor Alistair Darling forecast that public borrowing would reach a record £175bn over the next two years. The funds raised will help finance new capital investment and pay down debt, Mr Brown said.

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said the policy was fundamentally flawed. He said: "What worries me about the government proposal is that they're proposing to sell off in very depressed markets, under very depressed markets for land and for shares." Margaret Eaton, chairman of the Local Government Association, said she was amazed the announcement had been made without consulting her organisation.

A tsunami watch issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has been lifted. It comes hours after a tsunami triggered by a separate earthquake in the South Pacific killed more than 100 people across a number of islands.

Rustam Pakaya, head of the health ministry's crisis centre, told Reuters news agency a hospital was among the collapsed buildings. Medical teams were on their way to Padang, capital of West Sumatra province, from neighbouring provinces, he said. Local media reported the roof of the city's airport had also collapsed. Witnesses said residents ran out of buildings in Padang - which has a population of 900,000 - and surrounding cities.

The 7.9 magnitude quake struck at 1716 local time (1016 GMT) some 85km under the sea, north-west of Padang, the US Geological Survey said. Reports said the shaking could be felt in high buildings in the capital, Jakarta, and was also felt in Singapore and Malaysia. The quake was along the same fault line that spawned the 2004 Asian tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

The storm, which struck Manila and surrounding provinces on Saturday, gathered strength across the South China Sea, and claimed at least 23 lives as it made landfall Tuesday in central Vietnam, where 170,000 were evacuated from its path. It was weakening as it headed west into Laos.

TWO NEW STORMS WERE BREWING IN THE PACIFIC and threatened to complicate relief efforts in the Philippines, officials said. The homes of nearly 1.9 million people in Manila and surrounding areas were inundated in the weekend flooding, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said. Nearly 380,000 people have sought shelter in schools, churches and other evacuation centers.

Ketsana dumped more than A MONTH'S WORTH OF RAIN IN JUST 12 HOURS, causing the country's worst flooding in 40 years. Philippine authorities rescued more than 12,000 people, but unconfirmed reports of more deaths abound, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said. Water that reached shoulder-depth in parts of the capital's streets on Saturday had subsided in many areas by Tuesday.

"I expect that when it comes time to tighten monetary policy, my colleagues and I will move with an alacrity that, if needed, will be equal in speed and intensity" to when the Fed was slashing rates to battle the recession and the financial crisis, said Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Although Fisher has a reputation for being one of the Fed's toughest inflation fighters, it marked the second such warning by a central bank official in recent days. Fed member Kevin Warsh on Friday said the central bank will need to move swiftly when the time comes to raise rates.

Charles Plosser, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and also a hawk against inflation, waded into the debate in a speech Tuesday in Easton, Pennsylvania, saying the Fed may need to act "well before" unemployment - now at a 26-year high of 9.7 percent - returns to normal. The Fed, he said, will need to be on guard "to prevent "the Second Great Inflation." It's all part of a high-wire act that the Fed has to perform as the economy transitions from recession to recovery.

Health care workers in Hauppauge screamed "No forced shots!" as they rallied Tuesday against the state regulation requiring them to roll up their sleeves. "I don't even tend to the sick. I am in the nutrition field. They are telling me I must get the shot because I work in a health clinic setting," said Paula Small, a Women, Infants and Children health care worker. Small said she will refuse, WORRIED THE VACCINE IS UNTESTED AND UNPROVEN, LEAVING HER VULNERABLE. In 1976, there were some deaths associated with a swine flu vaccination.

Registered nurse Frank Mannino, 50, was angry. He said the state regulation violates his personal freedom and civil rights. "And now I will lose my job if I don't take the regular flu shot or the swine flu shot." When asked if he's willing to lose his job, Mannino said, "Absolutely. I will not take it, will not be forced. This is still America."

Around 500,000 health care workers are slated to receive the vaccine. "It's certainly their prerogative to voice their opinion," said Dr Susan Donelan of Stony Brook University Hospital. Donelan said most in the medical community see the benefits and safety of the shots and welcome them, and that HOSPITALS MUST OBEY THE LAW.

"Parents want their children to go to an orderly school with a strong head teacher who won't tolerate bullying or disruptive behaviour," he will say. His speech follows Gordon Brown's pledge to reduce anti-social behaviour. Mr Balls is set to emphasise the importance of discipline in schools - and the rights and responsibilities of pupils, parents and teachers.

"We will back head teachers, and expect all parents to back teachers too, so they have the confidence to use their powers to the full so they can get on and teach and all children can learn," he will tell the conference. Parents will be given a leaflet warning them of the sanctions that can be brought against them - including the use of parenting orders - if they fail to control their children's behaviour.