WHEN I LAST COUNTED THERE WERE 99 DIFFERENT POLITICAL PARTIES REPRESENTED HERE, forming trans-national alliances within seven political groups. Seven is not a large number. The system caters well enough with seven groups and a small number of non-attached members. So why do the [conservative] PPE-ED and the [socialist] PSE insist now on CUTTING THE NUMBER OF PARTY POLITICAL GROUPS IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT?

The effect of this measure in the present parliament would be to shut down the UEN (with only six nationalities) and the Ind Dem group (with only 23 members). Whatever one's views about their politics, it cannot be argued that these small groups do not represent a legitimate strand of European public opinion. We live in a diverse Europe, and if the European Parliament is to be the credible forum for post-national democracy, all sorts of minority opinions have to be given effective, if proportionate representation.

It does not look well for the two large groups of conservatives and socialists to be domineering. They already have a lot of power to determine how the house is run and to influence legislation. The D'Hondt weighting system, which governs parliament's internal division of power, already gives the larger groups a disproportionate share of posts, money and speaking time. IT WILL NOT LOOK TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD LIKE A STEP FORWARD FOR DEMOCRACY. The result will be increased political incoherence which is exactly the opposite of what is needed AT A TIME WHEN THE PARLIAMENT STANDS ON THE THRESHOLD, THANKS TO THE TREATY OF LISBON, OF ASSUMING VERY IMPORTANT NEW RESPONSIBILITIES OVER A WIDE RANGE OF ISSUES.

They came came as thousands of people were moved from near a lake formed by landslides, amid fears the water could breach banks and deluge the area. The official death toll from the 12 May quake in Sichuan province is 67,183. About 20,790 people are listed as missing, with more than five million people homeless since the earthquake.

As the region continues to be shaken, 63 people were injured, including six critically, in the latest aftershocks in Qingchuan county, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reports. One of the aftershocks measured magnitude 5.7, according to the US Geological Survey. The same county was strongly shaken on Sunday, wrecking 300,000 more homes, killing eight people and injuring hundreds.

Meanwhile, about 30 towns were being evacuated from near the newly-formed lake because experts fear the build-up of water at the swollen Tangjiashan lake could burst the banks, deluging the area. Chinese soldiers have dug a channel to ease pressure from the so-called "quake lake". About 70,000 people have already been moved from nearby Mianyang city in Sichuan province, Xinhua said, with a further 80,000 still being moved.

The Asian tiger mosquito has already established itself in northern Italy where it has transmitted chikungunya fever to scores of people. The insect has also been detected in a dozen other European countries, including Germany and the Netherlands. Health experts are concerned that Britain could be the next country to be invaded after scientists at the Government's Health Protection Agency (HPA) at Porton Down in Wiltshire found that the UK climate is suitable for the mosquito to breed.

The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, has spread rapidly around the world due to the international trade in used car tyres, which carry the mosquito's eggs in trapped water inside the rim of the tyre. However, the popularity of lucky bamboo - a Chinese house plant that is transported in water-filled pots - has also spread the insect through ports such as Rotterdam.

The female mosquito can feed on human blood and is known for her quick, penetrating bite and the fact that she feeds throughout the day, and not just in the evening like many other mosquitoes. It is also known to transmit dengue fever and can carry about 20 other viral diseases.

Those families can obtain a certificate to have another child, the Chengdu Population and Family Planning Committee in the capital of hard-hit Sichuan province said. The earthquake, and its destruction of almost 7,000 classrooms during a school day, left China heartbroken, with newspaper photos focusing on piles of dusty bookbags and small hands emerging from the debris.

Chinese couples who have more than one child are commonly punished by fines. China's one-child policy was launched in the late 1970s to control China's exploding population and ensure better education and health care.
The government says the policy has prevented an additional 400 million births, but critics say it has also led to forced abortions, sterilizations and a dangerously imbalanced sex ratio as local authorities pursue sometimes severe birth quotas set by Beijing and families abort girls out of a traditional preference for male heirs.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Soros said that although the weak dollar, ebbing Middle Eastern supply and record Chinese demand could explain some of the increase in energy prices, the crude oil market had been significantly affected by speculation. The comments are significant, not only because Mr Soros is the world's most prominent hedge fund investor but also because many experts have claimed speculation is only a minor factor affecting crude prices.

Mr Soros warned that the oil bubble would not burst until both the US and Britain were in recession, after which prices could fall dramatically. "You can also anticipate that the bubble will eventually correct but that is unlikely to happen before the recession actually reduces the demand. The rise in the price of oil and food is going to weigh and aggravate the recession."

Mr Soros warns Britain is facing its worst economic storm in living memory, dwarfing those of the 1970s and early 1990s, with a housing slump and serious recession. He said: "The dislocations will be greater [than in the 1970s] because you also have the implications of the house price decline, which you didn't have in the 1970s." The warning undermines predictions that Britain will suffer only a brief and relatively painless recession, unlike the precipitous dives of previous years.

Coca-Cola said it had begun withdrawing the additive from Diet Coke in January in response to consumer demand for more natural products. By the end of the year no can or bottle will contain E211. The company plans to remove it from its other products as soon as possible, but said that at present it had not found a satisfactory alternative to replace the additive in some soft drinks with a higher juice content, including Fanta, Dr Pepper, Sprite and Oasis. The chemical is not used in regular Coke.

While sodium benzoate occurs naturally in some fruits, it is used in greater strengths by the soft drinks industry.
Coca-Cola spokesman said: "We are continuously listening to our consumers' thoughts about ingredients." The firm stressed that E211 was approved as an additive by many bodies around the world including the European Food Standards Agency.

The news follows reports as far back as three years ago that ice caps on Mars are also retreating much as some of the ice in the Earth's Arctic circle. There's one striking difference between Earth and the other two planets, however. NEITHER JUPITER OR MARS HAS ANY PEOPLE - AND NO ARTIFICIAL ACTIVITY CREATING SO-CALLED "GREENHOUSE GASES" LIKE CARBON DIOXIDE.

Increased turbulence and storms first observed on Jupiter more than two years ago are still raging, according to astronomers from the University of California, Berkeley, and the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, who snapped high-resolution pictures of the planet earlier this month. The new images, the first since Jupiter emerged from its passage behind the Sun, may show that Jupiter indeed is undergoing a major climate change, as predicted four years ago.

MARS, TOO, IS BEING HIT BY RAPID CLIMATE CHANGE and it is happening so fast that the red planet could lose its southern ice cap, according to scientists. Scientists from NASA say that Mars has warmed by about 0.5C since the 1970s. THIS IS SIMILAR TO THE WARMING EXPERIENCED ON EARTH OVER APPROXIMATELY THE SAME PERIOD. Since there is no known life on Mars it suggests rapid CHANGES IN PLANETARY CLIMATES COULD BE NATURAL PHENOMENA.

Israeli intelligence is now estimating that Iran will master centrifuge technology and be able to begin enriching uranium by the end of this year, 12 months ahead of schedule. As a result, Israeli military officials believe the Islamic republic could have a nuclear weapon by the middle of 2009. "WITHIN A YEAR, THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT WILL HAVE TO DECIDE BETWEEN TWO OPTIONS: either not do anything and reconcile itself to the fact that Iran is now nuclear, or take unilateral military action," Giora Eiland, Israel's former national security adviser, told Scotland on Sunday.

According to the Jerusalem Post, Israel is also worried that Tehran is developing a cruise missile that can evade interception by the Arrow, Israel's anti-ballistic missile defences. Iran is suspected of using smuggled Ukrainian X-55 cruise missiles as a model for its own project. A cruise missile, which flies low to dodge radar and interception, could be used to carry a nuclear warhead.

With US President George Bush nearing the end of his term, the likelihood of US military action appears to be fading. THE STRONG CHANCE OF DEMOCRAT BARACK OBAMA WINNING THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE MEANS ISRAEL WILL HAVE TO CONSIDER GOING IT ALONE. "It's certainly not an option to be taken lightly, but at the end of the day, WE MAY DECIDE IT IS THE ONLY OPTION WE HAVE," an Israeli official told the Scotland on Sunday.

Eau Claire, where "old-fashioned winters" have been a thing of the past, recorded 43 days of below-zero temperatures, while folks down in Madison shoveled away at a 117-year record snowfall throughout the season, as did many in New England and Canada. Rare snowfalls struck Buenos Aires, Capetown, and Sidney during their mid-year winter, while China continually battled blizzards. Even Baghdad experienced measurable snowfall.

FROM JANUARY 2007 THROUGH THE END OF JANUARY 2008, THE AVERAGE GLOBAL TEMPERATURE FELL BY NEARLY A DEGREE FAHRENHEIT, based on data obtained by the MET Office in Great Britain and other international temperature monitoring networks.

What are we to make of this? The recent climate conference held in New York City, sponsored by the Heartland Institute, provides some answers. Several hundred climatologists in attendance dispelled notions that the global warming debate is over. Most attendees, who readily acknowledge the existence of post-Little Ice Age warming, BELIEVE MAN-MADE EMISSIONS ARE UNLIKELY TO CAUSE MAJOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND SIGNED A DECLARATION TO THAT EFFECT.

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Leading academics and watchdog groups allege that the UN's main offset fund is being routinely abused by chemical, wind, gas and hydro companies WHO ARE CLAIMING EMISSION REDUCTION CREDITS FOR PROJECTS THAT SHOULD NOT QUALIFY. The result is that no genuine pollution cuts are being made, undermining assurances by the UK government and others that carbon markets are dramatically reducing greenhouse gases, the researchers say.

The criticism centres on the UN's clean development mechanism (CDM), an international system established by the Kyoto process that allows rich countries to meet emissions targets by funding clean energy projects in developing nations. Credits from the project are being bought by European companies and governments who are unable to meet their carbon reduction targets.

The market for CDM credits is growing fast. At present it is worth NEARLY $20BN A YEAR, but this is expected to grow to OVER $100BN WITHIN FOUR YEARS. More than 1,000 projects have so far been approved, and 2,000 more are making their way through the process.

Pagan Amum, secretary general of the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), told reporters northern troops were building up around the remote central town, with southern troops likely to follow. Amum said the way to avoid a full-scale conflict was for all troops to leave the town, to be replaced by a U.N. peacekeeping force or, eventually, joint north-south military units.

"We are on the brink of war as we speak. Clashes have already happened and forces are building up," he said before a news conference in Khartoum. Sudan has witnessed sporadic, sometimes fierce fighting in recent weeks in the Abyei region, which is claimed by both Khartoum and the southern government. AT STAKE ARE A NEARBY OIL PIPELINE AND INSTALLATIONS THAT PRODUCE AROUND HALF OF SUDAN'S DAILY OUTPUT OF 500,000 BARRELS OF OIL, AND GRAZING GROUNDS AND TERRITORY COVETED BY NORTHERNERS AND SOUTHERNERS.

LATEST - from independent.co.uk - Abyei, in the heart of Sudan, was a town of more than 30,000 people. It had a school and a hospital, a marketplace and a bar. IT DOESN'T EXIST ANY MORE. Almost everything has been burnt to the ground. What remains is devastation.

BUT LEADING POLITICIANS CLAIM HE'S JUST TRYING TO DIVERT ATTENTION FROM HIS CORRUPTION SCANDAL. The announcement from the office of the Israeli prime minister in Jerusalem was short, dry and dramatic. Peace negotiations are underway between Israel and Syria, with Turkey serving as the intermediary. In making the announcement, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert confirmed for the first time what Syrian President Bashar Assad had already disclosed a month ago. At the time, Olmert had remained silent, only indirectly confirming Assad's statement.

LIFE IS BECOMING MORE DIFFICULT FOR OLMERT. The Syrian-Israeli talks can only become serious if he manages to shed the suspicions of corruption that currently weigh heavily on him. A prime minister who faces criminal charges would no longer be acceptable. Members of Olmert's Kadima Party are already discussing - openly, no less - the question of a successor, especially with Olmert under police investigation in other scandals, as well. This explains Olmert's decision to take the offensive and PORTRAY HIMSELF TO VOTERS AS AN APOSTLE OF PEACE. The cameras, Olmert hopes, would then highlight him as a statesman and not as much as a politician plagued by scandal.

The road to harmonious coexistence between Syria and Israel remains long - so long, in fact, that Israeli and Syrian negotiators still refuse to sit directly facing each other. They are staying in separate hotels in Ankara, while their Turkish hosts shuttle back and forth between the two delegations with interim results. BUT EVEN THIS IS PROGRESS. IN THE PAST, ISRAELIS AND SYRIANS WERE NOT EVEN WILLING TO MEET IN THE SAME CITY.

When Deputy Interior Minister August Hanning starts talking about his latest official visit to the United Kingdom, the otherwise unemotional security expert waxes altogether enthusiastic. The former head of Germany's foreign intelligence service, the BND, describes a super force of highly-trained specialists who sit at the most powerful and expensive computers where, in loyal service to Her Majesty the Queen, THEY PURSUE THE DELICATE TASK OF MONITORING, RECORDING, AND EVALUATING ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS. Everything top secret, of course, and extremely effective.

THE PROBLEM IS THAT NO AGENCY COMPARABLE TO GCHQ EXISTS IN GERMANY. There is the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA), the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), and the Federal Police. All four currently have their own separate systems for monitoring communications. And that's just at the national level - there are also numerous law enforcement and security agencies at the level of Germany's 16 federal states. All in all, there are more than 75 separate monitoring facilities in operation nationwide - and they are frankly not very effective compared to the central monitoring stations in the UK and US.

This is likely to change in the near future. On orders from Schäuble's ministry, a BKA project group has been working since April on THE AMBITIOUS PLAN OF GIVING GERMANY ITS OWN CENTRAL AGENCY FOR COMMUNICATIONS MONITORING, known in the trade as signals intelligence. This large-scale monitoring initiative is the latest in a series of bold security policy reforms Schäuble has proposed - and is one that is particularly controversial.

But the Green Party's security spokesman, Wolfgang Wieland, admits that he has a "very bad feeling about the whole thing." Despite all assurances to the contrary, he is afraid that "the police and intelligence agents will end up monitoring communications together" AND THE RESULT WILL BE THE FORMATION OF AN AGENCY OUTSIDE ANY KIND OF CONTROL.

The bonuses were paid to bankers, traders and other financial workers in the first three months of this year and are a record for the first quarter. The payout was four per cent, or around £500 million, higher than in the same period of last year. The figure for the first quarter of 2006 was £9.7 billion. According to the Office for National Statistics, BRITAIN'S ESTIMATED 1.04MILLION FINANCIAL SECTOR WORKERS POCKETED AN AVERAGE BONUS OF £12,100 EACH DURING THE FIRST QUARTER.

The bonuses come during one of the most challenging economic periods in Britain for years. Roger Bootle, managing director of Capital Economics, an economic research consultancy, said: "These bankers are not being paid for their brilliance. THEY HAVE EFFECTIVELY TAKEN A GAMBLE AND HAVE BEEN PAID HANDSOMELY. Now that it has gone so wrong, we are left to pick up the consequences."

One notable beneficiary has been Barclays investment banking chief Bob Diamond, who earned nearly £22 million last year despite the bank writing off more than £1.6 billion off credit crunch-related investments. Last week, it also emerged that the average pay for chief executives at ten of Britain's leading companies has soared by 33 per cent. The Financial Services Authority has recently hinted that it may try to take action against firms that continue to pay excessive bonuses.

In a report published on Monday, Carter was quoted as saying that the international community should conduct direct dialogue with Iran in order to persuade the country to drop its nuclear ambitions. The former president cited an Israeli nuclear arsenal as proof that it would be almost impossible for Teheran to develop such weapons in secret.

Although it is widely speculated that Israel indeed has nuclear weapons, no Israeli government official has ever admitted to such.