Despite promises from the Irish government that they would not force people to vote on exactly the same text a second time around, the deal reached at the EU summit last week makes no change whatsoever to the text of the Treaty, MEANING IRISH VOTERS WILL BE VOTING ON EXACTLY THE SAME TEXT THEY REJECTED LAST YEAR. EU leaders agreed to attach a series of 'declarations' as a protocol to the Treaty after the second Irish referendum and once it is already in force, but the text of the conclusions of the summit notes that: "THE PROTOCOL WILL CLARIFY BUT NOT CHANGE EITHER THE CONTENT OR THE APPLICATION OF THE TREATY OF LISBON."

Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer said: "It is an explanatory clarifying text which changes not a dot nor comma of the Lisbon Treaty." The Irish Times reports that former Green MEP Patricia McKenna said that THE 'GUARANTEES' GIVEN TO IRELAND WERE NOTHING MORE THAN A "LUDICROUS CHARADE" and that the public had been given the false impression of legal certainty when this didn't exist.

According to Saturday's Irish Times, newly elected Socialist MEP Joe Higgins repeated at a press conference that the EU summit was an "elaborate charade" meant to distract attention from the key issues. "The debate on the Lisbon Treaty has yet to be held because we've been dealing with side issues." He said: "The reasons why people voted No to the treaty have not been addressed or rectified, and for that reason, once that message gets across to people, I don't think they are going to change their vote."

"GOD WILLING, THE NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL NOT FALL INTO THE HANDS OF THE AMERICANS AND THE MUJAHIDEEN WOULD TAKE THEM AND USE THEM AGAINST THE AMERICANS," Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, the leader of al Qaeda in Afghanistan, said in an interview with Al Jazeera television. Abu al-Yazid was responding to a question about US safeguards to seize control over Pakistan's nuclear weapons in case Islamist fighters came close to doing so. "We expect that the Pakistani army would be defeated (in Swat)… and that would be its end everywhere, God willing."

Asked about the group's plans, the Egyptian militant leader said: "The strategy of the (al Qaeda) organization in the coming period is the same as in the previous period: to hit the head of the snake, the head of tyranny - the United States. That can be achieved through continued work on the open fronts and also by opening new fronts in a manner that achieves the interests of Islam and Muslims AND BY INCREASING MILITARY OPERATIONS THAT DRAIN THE ENEMY FINANCIALLY."

One of the groups represented was UK Financial Investments, which manages the 70% stake in RBS held by taxpayers. The package is made up of £1.2m in pay, up to £2m in non-cash bonuses and up to £6.4m in long-term incentives. The long-term incentives will only be payable if share price targets are hit over the next three years.

It is important that the incentives are linked to the share price because the government is keen to sell its shareholding, which was bought at a price of about 50 pence a share. In early trading on Monday, the shares were trading at 37p a share. Mr Hester could only get the maximum remuneration if the share price were to hit 70p, which would give the taxpayer a profit of £8bn.

The problem, according to BBC business editor Robert Peston, is that Bank of England governor Mervyn King believes BANKS ARE STILL NOT LENDING ENOUGH MONEY TO FUEL A RECOVERY. LENDING MORE MONEY WOULD BE RISKY AND MIGHT NOT BE COMPATIBLE WITH BIG GROWTH IN THE RBS SHARE PRICE.

Border guards in Chiasso see plenty of smugglers and plenty of false-bottomed suitcases, but no one in the town, which straddles the Italian-Swiss frontier, had ever seen anything like this. Trussed up in front of the police in the train station were two Japanese men, and beside them a suitcase with a booty unlike any other. Concealed at the bottom of the bag were some rather incredible sheets of paper. THE DOCUMENTS WERE APPARENTLY DOLLAR-DENOMINATED US GOVERNMENT BONDS WITH A FACE VALUE OF A STAGGERING $134BN (£81BN).

How on earth did these two men, who at first refused to identify themselves, come to be there, trying to ride the train into Switzerland CARRYING BONDS WORTH MORE THAN THE GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT OF SINGAPORE? IF THE BONDS WERE GENUINE, THE PAIR WOULD HAVE BEEN AMERICA'S FOURTH-BIGGEST CREDITOR, ahead of the UK and just behind Russia. No sooner had the story leaked out from the Italian lakes region last week than it sparked a panoply of conspiracy tales. But one resounded more than any other: that the men were agents of the Japanese finance ministry, in the country for the G8 meeting, making a surreptitious journey into Switzerland to sell off one small chunk of the massive mountain of US bonds stacked up in the Japanese Treasury vaults.

IN THE EVENT, LATE LAST WEEK AMERICAN OFFICIALS CONFIRMED THAT THE NOTES WERE FORGERIES. The men, it appeared, were nothing more than ambitious scamsters. But many remain unconvinced. And whether fake or otherwise, the story underlines one important point about the world economy at the moment: THAT THE TENSION AND PARANOIA SURROUNDING THE FATE OF THE US DOLLAR HAS HIT A NEW HIGH. It went to the heart of the big question: will the central bankers in Japan, China and elsewhere continue to support the greenback even in the wake of the worst financial crisis in modern history, OR WILL THEY ABANDON IT AS AMERICA'S ECONOMIC HEGEMONY DISSIPATES?

A LACK OF COMPETITION AND A SURGE IN REVENUES from trading foreign currency, bonds and fixed-income products has sent profits at Goldman Sachs soaring, according to insiders at the firm. Staff in London were briefed last week on the banking and securities company's prospects and told they could LOOK FORWARD TO BUMPER BONUSES if, as predicted, it completed its most profitable year ever. Figures next month detailing the firm's second-quarter earnings are expected to show a further jump in profits.

Warren Buffett, who bought $5bn of the company's shares in January, has already made a $1bn gain on his investment. Goldman is expected to be the biggest winner in the race for revenues that, in 2006, reached £186bn across the entire industry. While this figure is expected to fall to £160bn in 2009, it will be split among a smaller number of firms.

Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank are among the European firms expected to register bumper profits, along with US banks JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley following the near collapse and government rescue of major trading houses including Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland. Critics of the bonus culture in the City SAID THE DOMINANCE OF A FEW RISK-TAKING INVESTMENT BANKS IS UNDERMINING THE EFFORTS OF REGULATORS TO STABILISE THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM.

When finished in 18 months' time, the facility will house Virgin Galactic's space tourism business and other firms working in the commercial space arena. It will cost the New Mexico government almost $200m (£121m). Steve Landeene, executive director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, said: "THE FUTURE IS HERE AND WE ARE NOT TOO FAR OFF A NEW AGE OF SPACE.

"It is not just about private astronauts going up, it is about bringing the cost structure down and about new medicines, solar power in space and the entire range of scientific benefits that can come from it." When finished, Virgin Galactic - which hopes to begin regular tourist flights into space not long after the spaceport is completed - will base its headquarters and operations here, providing much of the spaceport's business, though Spaceport America is keen to point out it will not solely rely on the company.

If all goes to plan, the inaugural flight should carry Sir Richard Branson, his family and spaceship designer Burt Rutan on a sub-orbital ride within two years. They will be followed by a waiting list of 300 who have all ignored the current economic climate and are willing to pay about $200,000 for the privilege of experiencing six minutes of weightlessness during the two-hour flight.

In addition, a member of the Hamas terrorist organization's parliament in Gaza made similar accusations against Pepsi last year. Speaking on official Hamas TV station Al-Aqsa TV on April 23, 2008, Hamas MP Salem Salamah said, "There are companies established by the colonialists and occupiers - large companies with branches all over the world, like Pepsi, Pepsi Cola. This is a well-known company. Pepsi is an acronym. P-E-P-S-I - Pay Every Pence to Save Israel. Pay every pence - pence is one-hundredth of a dollar – to save Israel. Pay every pence to save Israel…"

Al-Aqsa TV promotes terrorist activity and incites hatred of Jews and Israelis, according to the Anti-Defamation League. More recently, this past February, Egyptian cleric Hazem Abu Ismail made a similar accusation. Speaking on Al Nas TV – a Muslim religious channel in Egypt that provides Islamic programming for Muslim Muftis – Abu Ismail all but CALLED FOR A MUSLIM BOYCOTT OF PEPSI BECAUSE IT STANDS FOR 'PAY EVERY PENNY SAVING ISRAEL.' Abu Ismail said a penny is "one-thousandth of a dollar."

They say: "Donate the small change you don't need, but give it to the right cause. If you collect small change, you can buy this drink." They took the first letter of each word - "Pay Every Penny Saving Israel" - and they formed the word "Pepsi." When you pay [to buy Pepsi], you are saving Israel. I am not talking about Pepsi, but about Coca Cola and all of them. I don't want to specify the products. See for yourselves. You are Muslims. You can tell me. I don't know. My little son knows more about the boycott than me. When we go shopping, he says to me: "Buy this, don't buy that." He knows them by heart. He has become an expert in this.

Carter's comments came during a joint press conference with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh following their meeting today in Gaza. The former president said he tried to convince Hamas leaders to denounce violence, accept the existing interim agreements and recognize the right of the Jewish state to exist. "Hamas leaders want peace and they want to have reconciliation not only with their Fatah brothers but also eventually with Israelis to live side by side, with two nations, both sovereign nations recognized by each other and living in peace," Carter said.

Haniyeh told Carter that he supported any plan that aims at preserving Arab rights and leads to the establishment of a sovereign Arab state on all the territories that were occupied by Israel in 1967 "WITH JERUSALEM AS ITS CAPITAL." He urged Carter to pressure Israel to lift the security blockade which was imposed on Gaza's border crossings to prevent weapons smuggling.

Asked about his feeling after touring Gaza, Carter said, "MY FEELING IS A FEELING OF SADNESS, ANGER AND DESPAIR AFTER SEEING ALL THIS DESTRUCTION THAT WAS CAUSED TO INNOCENT PEOPLE." He said that he would send President Obama a report explaining in details the situation in Gaza. The White House is livid with Carter, according to an experienced Middle East expert who was quoted on the website of the widely respected Foreign Policy magazine. "JUST LIKE WITH PRESIDENT CLINTON, CARTER IS BECOMING A HUGE PROBLEM AND A GROWING CONCERN FOR OBAMA," he said.

"Seldom can a British Government have gone into European negotiations with a greater lack of morale or democratic authority as a result of these elections", he said, according to PA. Gisela Stuart, Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston, criticised the appointment of Glenys Kinnock as Europe Minister, saying "to have a situation where the Europe Minister is not in the Commons, I think it is deeply, deeply unsatisfactory."

Labour MP for Glasgow South West Ian Davidson said that the results of the European elections were not solely due to the MPs' expenses scandal, adding "IT'S PERFECTLY CLEAR THAT BEING ASSOCIATED WITH EVER-CLOSER UNION IS TOXIC and I would have thought the Government would want to take that into account. I don't think the Government's commitment to democratic renewal will be taken seriously until we re-visit the question of a referendum on the European constitution."

An analysis in FAZ by Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger notes that US President Obama is said to have told David Cameron that, if he becomes the next PM, THEN THE QUALITY OF "OUR RELATIONSHIP" WILL DEPEND ON THE QUALITY OF BRITISH ENGAGEMENT IN THE EU.

It reported record UK losses in 2008 and tens of thousands of staff have lost their jobs. According to the Mail on Sunday, the RBS corporate hospitality package is costing up to £300,000. An email leaked to the paper describes the bank's booking of an "entertainment suite" for more than 42 guests for each of the tournament's 13 days, at a cost of at least £19,500 a day.

In addition, the bank will pay up to £100 for each Centre Court seat and £75 a head for lunch. Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said the spending was "TOTALLY INSENSITIVE". He added: "THE PUBLIC MOOD WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS KIND OF SELF-SERVING EXTRAVAGANCE. It's not acceptable for corporate fat cats to have a good time at the public expense."

John Mann, a Labour MP on the Commons Treasury Select Committee, said: "There is no place whatsoever for this kind of largesse at the current time. THESE PEOPLE ARE QUAFFING CHAMPAGNE WHILE MAKING THEIR EMPLOYEES REDUNDANT. THIS IS GREED FEEDING GREED."

An unusually cool late spring may be helping keep the infection going in the US Northeast, especially densely populated areas in New York and Massachusetts, the officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. And infections among healthcare workers suggest that people are showing up at work sick - MEANING THAT WORKPLACE POLICIES MAY BE CONTRIBUTING TO ITS SPREAD, the CDC officials said. The new strain of swine flu is officially a pandemic now, according to the World Health Organization.

So far the virus is causing mild to moderate disease, but it has killed at least 167 people and been confirmed in nearly 40,000 globally. The United States has been hardest hit, with upward of 100,000 likely cases and probably far more, with 44 deaths and 1,600 hospitalized. "THE FACT THAT WE ARE SEEING ONGOING TRANSMISSION NOW INDICATES THAT WE ARE SEEING SOMETHING DIFFERENT," the CDC's Dr Daniel Jernigan told a news briefing.

"And we believe that that may have to do with the complete lack of immunity to this particular virus among those that are most likely affected. And those are children," Jernigan added. CDC's Dr Mike Bell said, "WE'RE BEGINNING TO SEE A PATTERN OF HEALTHCARE PERSONNEL-TO-HEALTHCARE-PERSONNEL TRANSMISSION in some of the clusters, which is also concerning, because it gets to the issue of people showing up to work sick."

"The government told us several times they would help us and they didn't," he said, crouching barefoot on the ground in traditional Afghan loose shirt and trousers and explaining he feeds a family of 15 on occasional work as a day laborer. "If the government or the aid organizations don't help us - yes we will have to start growing opium," he said.

Wadud and around 30 other village elders from the area had gathered on a hillside deep inside the Hindu Kush mountains, to attend a "shura," or meeting, organized by provincial authorities to dissuade the men from growing the drug.

Their Badakhshan province in remote northern Afghanistan has been a showcase for government efforts to battle the drugs trade, WHICH ACCOUNTS FOR NEARLY ALL THE WORLD'S HEROIN. Until 2006 Badakhshan was one of the main opium growing areas in Afghanistan, producing the country's second biggest crop. Despite a marginal drop in production, AFGHANISTAN LAST YEAR STILL PRODUCED MORE THAN 90 PERCENT OF THE WORLD'S OPIUM, a thick paste from poppies which is processed to make heroin.

Last week public-interest groups were dismayed when his own administration rejected a Freedom of Information Act request for Secret Service logs showing the identities of coal executives who had visited the White House to discuss Obama's "clean coal" policies. ONE REASON: THE DISCLOSURE OF SUCH RECORDS MIGHT IMPINGE ON PRIVILEGED "PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS."

The refusal, approved by White House counsel Greg Craig's office, is the latest in a series of cases in which Obama officials have opted against public disclosure. Since Obama pledged on his first day in office to usher in a "new era" of openness, "nothing has changed," says David -Sobel, a lawyer who litigates FOIA cases. "For a president who said he was going to bring unprecedented transparency to government, you would certainly expect more than the recycling of old Bush secrecy policies."

The hard line appears to be no accident. After Obama's much-publicized January 21 "transparency" memo, administration lawyers crafted a key directive implementing the new policy that contained a major loophole, according to FOIA experts. The directive, signed by Attorney General Eric Holder, instructed federal agencies to adopt a "presumption" of disclosure for FOIA requests. This reversal of Bush policy was intended to restore a standard set by President Clinton's attorney general, Janet Reno.

But in a little-noticed passage, the Holder memo also said THE NEW STANDARD APPLIES "IF PRACTICABLE" FOR CASES INVOLVING "PENDING LITIGATION." Dan Metcalfe, the former longtime chief of FOIA policy at Justice, says the passage and other "lawyerly hedges" means the Holder memo is now "astonishingly weaker" than the Reno policy. (The visitor-log request falls in this category because of a pending Bush-era lawsuit for such records.)

Druid ceremonies took place alongside music and Morris dancing, however overcast skies obscured the sun. The event to mark the dawn of the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere has grown in popularity since a four-mile exclusion zone around the site was lifted nine years ago.

Druid King Arthur Pendragon told the BBC shortly before sunrise: "It's a very nice atmosphere and everything's fine at the moment. There have been more police present this year, more security, but everything's passed off very jovially and everyone's in a good mood. And the police for the most part are wishing people a happy Solstice and so are the security guards."

English Heritage issued an advisory note to visitors which warned: "The police will be on site during the access period and will take immediate action against anyone flouting the law. Summer Solstice is not a good time to experiment with drugs - the crowd, the noise and the sheer size of the place are likely to make any bad reaction much, much worse."

Senior bishops have signalled their backing for the paper, which is set to trigger a debate at the General Synod, the Church's parliament, over the alleged marginalisation of religious broadcasting. Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, met with Mark Thompson, the BBC's director-general, in March to challenge him about the issue. Now a motion prepared for the Synod calls on the corporation to explain the decline in its coverage of religion and its failure to provide enough programming during key Christian festivals.

The document accompanying the motion, published ahead of next month's General Synod in York, criticises the lack of regular religious programmes on BBC television and ALLEGES THAT MR AHMED, A MUSLIM, DISPLAYED ANTI-CHRISTIAN BIAS WHILE IN CHARGE OF COMMISSIONING AT CHANNEL 4. "The regular BBC Television coverage of religion consists of just two programmes." the Church paper says.