New York's top income bracket could reach as high as 57 percent - rates not seen in three decades - to pay for the massive health coverage proposed by House Democrats this week. The top rate in New York City, home to many of the state's wealthiest people, would be 58.68 percent, the Washington-based Tax Foundation said in a report yesterday.

That means New York's top earners, small-business owners and most dynamic entrepreneurs will be facing new fees and penalties. The $544 billion tax hike would violate one of President Obama's ironclad campaign promises: No family will pay higher tax rates than they would have paid in the 1990s.

Under the bill, three new tax brackets would be created for high earners, with a top rate of 45 percent for families making more than $1 million. That would be the highest income-tax rate since 1986, when the top rate was 50 percent. The legislation is especially onerous for business owners, in part because it penalizes employers with a payroll bigger than $400,000 some 8 percent of wages if they don't offer health care. But the cost of the buy-in to the program may be so prohibitive that it will dissuade owners from growing their businesses - a scary prospect in the midst of a recession.

The review also recommends more transparent pay and bonus structures. The comprehensive review by the ex-City regulator Sir David Walker may pave the way for boardroom practices to be overhauled. Sir David spoke to banks, institutional investors and experts in remuneration and corporate governance in preparing the report.

"IT IS CLEAR THAT GOVERNANCE FAILURES CONTRIBUTED MATERIALLY TO EXCESSIVE RISK- TAKING IN THE LEAD UP TO THE FINANCIAL CRISIS. Weaknesses in risk management, board quality and practice and control of remuneration need to be addressed," he concluded. After many people, including MPs, questioned the level of banking experience of some directors, Sir David has set out plans for non-executive directors to receive formal training.

Non-executive directors are those who do not have responsibility for the day-to-day management of the business and who are, therefore, expected to keep a close eye on the overall risks being taken by banks. Some feel that they failed in this responsibility in the run up to the financial crisis. THERE WAS CONCERN THAT TOO MANY PEOPLE WORKING AT BOARD LEVEL WITHIN BANKS DID NOT HAVE ANY FORMAL TRAINING AS BANKERS.

Hosting the Jewish delegates in the White House on Monday, Obama said that Israel needs "to engage in serious self-reflection" if it is to succeed in reaching a resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The American president repeatedly made it clear that in his view this can only mean the creation of an Arab state within Israel's current borders. HE PRESENTED THE "TWO-STATE SOLUTION" AS A SOLUTION HE WISHES TO PROMOTE TO DEAL WITH ISRAEL'S PURPORTEDLY PRECARIOUS DEMOGRAPHIC SITUATION.

President Obama also said that he will continue to press his administration's demands on Israel urgently and publicly, regardless of opposition from the Netanyahu government. Keeping American disputes with Israel from the public eye, as he claimed was done in the past, has not served the interests of peace, Obama informed his guests. He likened this decision to the open and honest conversation needed among close friends.

At the same time, Obama stated, his administration would not adopt a foreign policy inimical to Israel's security needs. Some of those present suggested that a visit by President Obama to Israel would go a long way to assuring the Israeli people of that commitment. Obama expressed approval of the idea.

Several months ago a fundraising campaign was conducted in Greece, with a star-studded telethon for THE HOSPITALS THAT ISRAEL ALLEGEDLY "DESTROYED WITH THEIR BOMBS" during the Operation Cast Lead counter terrorist campaign from last December through mid-January.

THE JTA REVEALED THAT THE SUPPOSED HOSPITAL WAS NOT ON UNITED NATIONS AND RED CRESCENT SOCIETY LISTS OF DAMAGED STRUCTURES. OFFICIALS OF NON-GOVERNMENT GROUPS (NGOS) IN GAZA TOLD THE AMERICAN JEWISH NEWS NETWORK THAT ONLY ONE CHRISTIAN HOSPITAL WAS USED DURING THE CAMPAIGN AND THAT IT DID NOT SUSTAIN ANY DAMAGE.

When questioned, the Greek television station that broadcast the telethon said it was only responsible for providing the air time and that the government and a trade union were behind the campaign. The union referred the JTA to the government. After the investigation began, a financial newspaper in Greece published a small article that "a project is being sought in Gaza to be financed by the money" that was raised in the February telethon.

The judgement was initially greeted with relief by the pro-integration camp as it did not say the EU treaty was incompatible with the German constitution. But the 147-page ruling, now scoured by legal and constitutional experts, IS CAUSING STRONG DISCUSSION IN POLITICAL CIRCLES, just weeks before a new draft law incorporating the court's points is to be published.

CSU chief Horst Seehofer on Saturday (11 July) said his party wants parliament to have veto power on EU decisions. He said the parliament should be allowed to take a stance on certain issues and the government should be bound by it, but that parliament does not have to be asked for its opinion on every single EU decision. "We want the EU to be able to function BUT IT MUST ALSO BE DEMOCRATICALLY LEGITIMISED," said Mr Seehofer.

Wolfgang Reinhart, head of the Europe committee in the senate and leader of a working group on the regions, told the Sueddeutsche newspaper: "We do not want the government to carry on doing what it wants in those areas where, according to the constitution, we have core competences."

Like most developments in the area of European military co-operation, THE WORK OF THE EDA IS HAPPENING COMPLETELY OUTSIDE THE VIEW OF THE WIDER GENERAL PUBLIC. The lack of public involvement in an area that is still highly controversial, undermines its legitimacy and risks further erosion of public support for the wider European project.

The statement in the Constitution that "Member States shall undertake progressively to improve their military capabilities" is directly linked to the establishment of the EDA. IT HAS LED MANY TO DOUBT WHETHER EUROPE INTENDS TO BE A FRIENDLY MILITARY POWER. Such suspicions have been further fuelled by the EDA mantra that "we need to spend more and to spend better". Its claims that military co-operation would lead to rationalised forces and thus save money, have not proved credible.

Along the same lines, French President Sarkozy has argued that, "EUROPE CANNOT BE A DWARF IN TERMS OF DEFENCE AND A GIANT IN ECONOMIC MATTERS." Then Greek Defence Minister Papantoniou said in 2003: "We [Europe] must strengthen our presence, especially in the defence field, in order for the United States to view us seriously."

THE FACT THAT THE EDA HAS REMAINED LARGELY INVISIBLE TO MOST PEOPLE IS DEEPLY PROBLEMATIC. The referenda rejecting the Constitutional Treaty and the Lisbon Treaty showed the ambiguity and widely diverging, often negative, views of European citizens on the current state and proposed future of Europe - including its rapidly developing security and defence policies. Continuing on the road to further EU military integration, including the special role for the EDA, without broad public consultation and a serious public debate, risks further undermining trust in the wider European project.

You have recently received an Open Letter from the Woods Hole Research Centre, exhorting you to act quickly to avoid global disaster. THE LETTER PURPORTS TO BE FROM INDEPENDENT SCIENTISTS, BUT THAT CENTRE IS THE FORMER DEN OF THE PRESIDENT'S SCIENCE ADVISOR, JOHN HOLDREN, AND IS FAR FROM INDEPENDENT. This is the same science advisor who has given us predictions of "almost certain" thermonuclear war or eco-catastrophe by the year 2000, and many other forecasts of doom that somehow never seem to arrive on time.

The facts are: The sky is not falling; the Earth has been cooling for ten years, without help. The present cooling was NOT predicted by the alarmists' computer models, and has come as an embarrassment to them. The finest meteorologists in the world cannot predict the weather two weeks in advance, let alone the climate for the rest of the century. Can Al Gore? Can John Holdren? We are flooded with claims that the evidence is clear, that the debate is closed, that we must act immediately, etc, but in fact THERE IS NO SUCH EVIDENCE; IT DOESN'T EXIST.

The proposed legislation would cripple the US economy, putting us at a disadvantage compared to our competitors. For such drastic action, it is only prudent to demand genuine proof that it is needed, not just computer projections, and not false claims about the state of the science. SCIENCE IS GUIDED BY PROOF, NOT CONSENSUS.

Finally, climate alarmism pays well. Alarmists are rolling in wealth from the billions of dollars floating around for the taking, and being taken. It is always instructive to follow the money.

ROBERT H AUSTIN - Professor of Physics - Princeton University - Fellow APS, AAAS - American Association of Arts and Science Member National Academy of Sciences

WILLIAM HAPPER - Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics - Princeton University - Fellow APS, AAAS - Member National Academy of Sciences

S FRED SINGER - Professor of Environmental Sciences Emeritus, University of Virginia - First Director of the National Weather Satellite Service - Fellow APS, AAAS, AGU

ROGER W COHEN - Manager, Strategic Planning and Programmes, ExxonMobil Corporation (retired) - Fellow APS

HAROLD W LEWIS - Professor of Physics Emeritus - University of California at Santa Barbara - Fellow APS, AAAS; Chairman, APS Reactor Safety Study

LAURENCE I GOULD - Professor of Physics - University of Hartford - Chairman (2004), New England Section of APS

RICHARD LINDZEN - Alfred P Sloan Professor of Meteorology - Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Fellow American Academy of Arts and Sciences, AGU, AAAS, and AMS - Member Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters - Member National Academy of Sciences

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.