The peace process has been beset by conflict and adversity which President Barack Obama has pledged to address. There is no indication the Arab and Israeli leaders will meet directly. Mr Obama's spokesman Robert Gibbs said the visits were likely to take place before the president's scheduled trip to France on 6 June.

"With each of them the president will discuss ways the United States can strengthen and deepen our partnerships with them, AS WELL AS THE STEPS ALL PARTIES MUST TAKE TO ACHIEVE PEACE BETWEEN ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS AND ISRAEL AND THE ARAB STATES," Mr Gibbs told a news conference.

He said the invitations had been extended after Mr Obama met Jordan's King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday. Mr Obama has "invited other key partners in the effort to achieve a comprehensive peace in the Middle East to the White House in the coming weeks". He added: "We are actively working to finalise dates for the visits."

Meanwhile, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is to address the House of Lords via video despite objections by the British government. In a separate development, the Bloomsbury theatre acceded to demands from pro-Arab groups that it cancel an appearance by an IDF choir scheduled for Israeli Independence Day celebrations.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband told Parliament Tuesday that it will review weapons export licenses "in light of recent events in Gaza," meaning the Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign three months ago. The statement came a day before Hamas's top leader Khaled Mashaal was to address members of the House of Lords and Members of Parliament via video from Damascus. The address comes shortly after four British parliamentarians, led by British Labor party member Roger Godsiff, met with Mashaal in Damascus.

The Foreign office comments, "We are aware that some MPs are planning to talk to members of Hamas in a private capacity on Wednesday. Hamas is a terrorist organization. We believe that to talk to Hamas directly at this time would simply undermine those Palestinians who are committed to peace." The European Union officially has defined Hamas as a terrorist organization, but Hamas has succeeded in breaking the boycott, working through constant international pressure on a country-by-country basis.

The cloning was recorded by an independent documentary film-maker who has testified to The Independent that the cloning had taken place and that the women were genuinely hoping to become pregnant with the first cloned embryos specifically created for the purposes of human reproduction.

Panayiotis Zavos has broken the ultimate taboo of transferring cloned embryos into the human womb, a procedure that is a criminal offence in Britain and illegal in many other countries. He carried out the work at a secret laboratory, probably located in the Middle East where there is no cloning ban. Dr Zavos, a naturalised American, also has fertility clinics in Kentucky and Cyprus, where he was born. His patients – three married couples and a single woman – came from Britain, the United States and an unspecified country in the Middle East.

None of the embryo transfers led to a viable pregnancy but Dr Zavos said yesterday that this was just the "first chapter" in his ongoing and serious attempts at producing a baby cloned from the skin cells of its "parent". There is absolutely no doubt about it, and I may not be the one that does it, but the cloned child is coming. There is absolutely no way that it will not happen," Dr Zavos said in an interview yesterday with The Independent.

Banks may need $1.7 trillion in additional capital, the IMF forecasts. And it warns that the cost of the bail-out will severely hit UK government finances with its added debt burden. The IMF report estimates that the total costs of bailing out THE UK BANKING SYSTEM WILL ADD 13.4% TO GOVERNMENT DEBT, OR ABOUT £200BN - compared with 12.1% in the US and 13.9% in Ireland.

One year ago, the IMF estimated that total losses from the credit crunch would be $1 trillion, which has been exceeded, showing how rapidly the financial meltdown has escalated. The IMF now says that banks are likely to lose $2.7 trillion, but other financial institutions such as insurance companies and pension funds are also coming under strain.

The IMF's latest Global Stability Report says that the banking system has not yet been stabilised, despite the billions of dollars spent by governments. But it warns that political support for further bank bail-outs is waning. It says that there may be "a real risk that governments will be reluctant to allocate enough resources to solve the problem" because the public has become "disillusioned by what it perceives as abuse of taxpayer funds".

UPDATE - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was facing a potentially huge embarrassment after IT WAS FORCED TO WITHDRAW A CLAIM THAT BRITAIN FACES A BILL FOR ALMOST £200 BILLION FOR THE BANK BAILOUT. IMF retracted the figure correcting it to the original estimate of £130 billion. There was no immediate explanation for the error in the IMF's Global Financial Stability Report. The Chancellor is expected to give a much lower estimate of a final bill of £60 billion.

Katz claims that in a private meeting with the unnamed leader, Emanuel said, "In the next four years, there will be a peace agreement with the Palestinians on the basis of two states for two peoples, and it does not matter to us who is the prime minister."

In the letter, a Hebrew version of which was provided to The Jerusalem Post by Katz's parliamentary aide, Katz wrote: "For many Israelis, this report is a cause for worry because it reveals a condescending attitude toward our prime minister and Israeli public opinion. This is an attitude that Israel does not expect from a real friend such as the US, and all the more so from an Israeli Jew who has succeeded in being appointed White House chief-of-staff."

Katz went on to compare Emanuel to the biblical Esther, who ended up using her influence with Persian King Ahashverosh to intervene on behalf of the Jews of the Persian Empire. "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" Katz wrote, quoting from the Book of Esther (4:14).

Katz was hinting that Emanuel should use his influence to protect Israeli interests, which, he believes, are best served by preventing the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Emanuel was born in Chicago in 1959. His father, Benjamin M. Emanuel, a Jerusalem-born pediatrician, was a member of the IZL (Irgun).

Around 20 delegates, including envoys from the UK, France, and Finland stood up and left the room at what was considered an anti-Semitic remark by the Iranian leader, who has repeatedly called for Israel to be wiped off the map. Nine Western countries including Israel and the United States had already decided to boycott the conference entirely because its draft declaration endorsed the conclusions of an anti-racism conference in South Africa eight years ago in which Islamic nations pushed through a text equating Zionism with racism.

Opening the conference this morning, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon urged the world to rally against the threat of intolerance. "I fear that today's economic crisis, if not handled properly, could evolve into a full-scale political crisis marked by social unrest, weakened governments and angry publics who have lost faith in their leaders and their own future," Mr Ban said. "In such circumstances, the consequences for communities already victimised by prejudice or exclusion could be frightening."

Dr Phil Edwards, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: "Moving about in a heavy body is like driving in a gas guzzler." Each fat person is said to be responsible for emitting a tonne more of climate-warming carbon dioxide per year than a thin one. It means an extra BILLION TONNES of CO2 a year is created, according to World Health Organisation estimates of overweight people.

The scientists say providing extra grub for them to guzzle adds to carbon emissions that heat up the world, melting polar ice caps, raising sea levels and killing rain forests. Dr Phil Edwards said: "Food production accounts for about one fifth of greenhouse gases. We need to do a lot more to reverse the global trend towards fatness. It is a key factor in the battle to reduce carbon emissions and slow climate change. It is time we took account of the amount we are eating. This is about over-consumption by the wealthy countries. And the world demand for meat is increasing to match that of Britain and America.

UK health surveys estimate fatness has increased from an average body mass index of 26 to 27 in the last ten years. That's equivalent to about half a stone for every person. Anyone with a BMI above 25 is overweight, while more than 30 is obese. A staggering 40 per cent of Americans are obese, among 300 million worldwide.

It warns agencies are in danger of being overwhelmed by events such as flooding, storms and drought. The group called for a radical shift so that humanitarian aid is sent impartially, instead of on the basis of political or other preferences. Oxfam's Rob Bailey told the BBC a big increase was needed in aid spending, but that the problem was not just about the amount of money.

"We need to see that money spent in better ways," he said. "At the moment, poor people in the developing world who are facing up to these disasters, they are almost facing a kind of lottery on a global scale." He said that in 2004, the equivalent of more than $1,200 (£823) was spent on each victim of the Asian tsunami, compared with just $23 per person for the recent crisis in Chad. "There's a huge mismatch in where the money goes," said Mr Bailey.

The Sun normally undergoes an 11-year cycle of activity. At its peak, it has a tumultuous boiling atmosphere that spits out flares and planet-sized chunks of super-hot gas. This is followed by a calmer period. Last year, it was expected that it would have been hotting up after a quiet spell. But instead it hit a 50-year year low in solar wind pressure, a 55-year low in radio emissions, and a 100-year low in sunspot activity.

According to Prof Louise Hara of University College London, it is unclear why this is happening or when the Sun is likely to become more active again. "There's no sign of us coming out of it yet," she told BBC News. In the mid-17th Century, a quiet spell - known as the Maunder Minimum - lasted 70 years, and led to a "mini ice-age".

According to economist and political scientist Jacques Attali, that is what the future has in store for us by 2025. In the belief that past experiences are indicative future events, Attali combs through the history of human kind, all the way back to Homo Habilis, separating the past into nine distinct periods to isolate "what is possible, what changes and what is unvarying" and applies those trends to the coming century. Attali's predictions range from the future of journalism (completely paperless) to the end of the economic crisis (around 2011), offering a glimpse into the future that is both provocative and petrifying

Attali correctly notes that our future is not inevitable. Mankind must learn how to appropriately respond to the crises and opportunities that await us, and grow cognizant of the fact that large-scale violence can be so dangerous to humanity so that we become "AWARE OF THE NEED FOR A RADICAL CHANGE IN ATTITUDE."

Today the opposite is threatening: if Europe were to be shattered by the global economic crisis, there would be no limits to the unhappiness, poverty and shame of its politicians and its 500 million people. Twenty years ago, the Berlin Wall collapsed unexpectedly, followed by the socialist Soviet Union, and the cold war bipolar global order. Now the capitalist model - the idea that the free market is the solution - whose triumph was celebrated at the time, is threatening to collapse, and drag the EU down with it.

WHERE CAN WE FIND THE PASSIONATE EUROPEAN REBELLIOUSNESS OF A CHURCHILL TODAY, A VISIONARY VOICE TO BRING HOME TO EUROPEANS THAT THE NATIONAL PROVINCIALISM THAT IS PROLIFERATING IN THE GLOBAL CRISIS IS NOT ONLY JEOPARDISING THE EUROPEAN MIRACLE - NAMELY, THE TRANSFORMATION OF ENEMIES INTO NEIGHBOURS - BUT IS DESTROYING ITSELF? No one wants that, of course. But nobody wanted the state socialism for the rich and the neoliberalism for the poor that we suddenly have, either.

The choice is between more Europe and no Europe. This imperative of possible failure justifies hope in a falling market: only an EU rejuvenated by the crisis - hand-in-hand with the US openness to the world under Obama - can build on the seeds of a united global solution that were sown at the start of this month.

"We are trying to push the envelope as far as we can within the current environment." Staff are being discreetly trained, "without being too obvious", on 59 courses with the help of foreign ministries from 17 member states, according to EU sources. Secret negotiations on the EEA negotiations recognise the need "to remain cautious in presenting these issues" ahead of the second Irish referendum.

Conservative Europe Spokesman Mark Francois is quoted saying, "This project shows how much more power Brussels would gain over our foreign policy. IT IS OUTRAGEOUS THAT THE BRITISH PEOPLE ARE BEING DENIED ANY SAY" OVER THE LISBON TREATY. The paper notes that the External Action Service will take over the EU's 160-plus representative offices, which will be granted the same legal diplomatic status as national embassies. Last Spring, Britain narrowly blocked a proposal to call the offices the "Embassies of the Union".

He also called on voters to use the European elections in June as a "protest vote". Mr Hague went on to say, "It's not too late to stop the Lisbon Treaty… I think it's time to ring the alarm bell, it's time to alert people to the fact that THIS DENIAL OF DEMOCRACY IS NOT FAR AWAY UNLESS WE DO SOMETHING."

He also raised the possibility that Gordon Brown could be forced into holding a belated referendum on the Treaty, saying "He [Mr Brown] doesn't want to have a referendum, he doesn't like having elections about anything. But I think it's a Government of such spectacular u-turns you can't rule anything out."

Mitchell, who arrived in Israel Wednesday evening, made the comment after he met for the first time with Lieberman in his new role as foreign minister. Lieberman raised eyebrows earlier in the month when he stated that the Netanyahu government would not be bound by decisions made in Annapolis in November 2007, noting they had never been ratified by the government, nor had they been approved by the Knesset.

"The U.S. policy favours a two-state solution, which would have a Palestinian state living in peace alongside with the Jewish State of Israel," Mitchell told reporters following the meeting. Interior Minister Eli Yishai commented that regardless of what the new administration of U.S. President Barack Obama might want, ISRAEL COULD NOT BE FORCED DOWN A PATH THAT MIGHT BE UNREALISTIC.

"The preferable course of diplomatic action at this time is two economies for two peoples, and not two states for two peoples," Yishai told reporters. "The American emissary also knows that forcing the region into virtual diplomatic discourse will only breed the opposite results."

Speaking during a ceremony on Iran's Army Day, Ahmadinejad said Iran was one of the strongest countries in the region and that "the gall to threaten the Iranian nation has been quashed forever. The Iranian nation is ready to become more involved in maintaining order and security based on justice in many regions of the world," Ahmadinejad said.

His speech on Saturday was much more toned down than Army Day speeches from previous years. In 2006 Ahmadinejad warned that Iran's army would "cut off the hand of whoever dares attack it." In 2007 he said "the resistance of the Iranian people will bring down world powers."