If the nine countries go ahead, it will be the first time the legal mechanism - allowing a minimum of eight EU states to present the European Commission with a demand for "enhanced co-operation" - will have been activated.

France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Luxembourg and Romania are set to implement the so-called enhanced co-operation procedure, while other countries - including Germany, Belgium, Portugal and Lithuania - are also currently considering joining the initiative, according to the AFP news agency.

Provided that the commission accepts the move, it then has to be approved by a qualified majority of the bloc's 27 member states. Enhanced co-operation is seen as one of the ways to avoid EU-wide paralysis, which may increasingly come into play if the EU fails to quickly overcome the Irish No vote and implement the new Lisbon treaty. BUT CRITICS OF THE PROCEDURE SAY THAT IT WOULD LEAD TO A "TWO-SPEED EUROPE."

Brussels' move is prompted by frustration at the US government over the slow pace of talks on granting all EU citizens visa-free travel to the United States. "No tangible progress has been made regarding the United States despite all efforts of the commission and individual member states," the commission said on Wednesday (23 July).

"Therefore, the commission will propose retaliatory measures e.g. temporary restoration of the visa requirement for US nationals holding diplomatic and service or official passports as of 1 January, 2009 if no progress is achieved."

At the moment, citizens from 12 of the 27 member states need a visa when travelling to the US - these include most of the ex-Communist countries that joined the bloc since 2004 as well as Greece. The visa issue has bubbled below the surface continually since the EU's major enlargement to the east four years ago. Travel arrangements between the two blocs is set to continue as a hot topic for the coming months.

Speaking with military forces in Helmand, Nelson says it is accepted that the problem is not just one of domestic insurgency: war is being waged on Afghanistan by Pakistan.

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on Pakistan's border is arguably the most terrorist-infested zone in the world, and hosts substantial al-Qaeda camps. A failure on the sides of both Afghanistan and Pakistan to enforce border controls means that militant groups are free to cross it every day, with its sole significance for jihadis as a line beyond which NATO troops cannot chase them.

Therefore it is necessary to address Pakistan directly in resolving this problem. Both US Presidential candidates have expressed the need to target the FATA, although the idea of American incursions into Pakistani territory deeply unnerves Britain. As Nelson argues, accepting that the conflict now involves PAKISTAN, A COUNTRY WITH AN UNSTABLE GOVERNMENT AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS, IS A FRIGHTENING PROSPECT.

Agence Europe reveals that a new report from the European Commission has shown that the EU lost 1.4 billion euros in reported fraud and financial irregularities in 2007, compared with around 1.2 billion euros in 2006. This amounts to 6.5 million euros lost every working day.

The number of structural measures and Cohesion Fund irregularities reported rose by 19.2% (3,832 cases in 2007, compared with 3,216 in 2006). The estimated financial impact (828 million euros, or around 1.83% of commitment appropriations) was up by 17.7%. The Commission report reveals that suspected fraud has also increased - 208.9 million euros in 2007, compared with 188.93 euros million in 2006.

The article notes that for the first time, the report contains statistics on expenditure directly managed by the Commission. The estimated number of irregularities in this area came to 411, with an estimated financial impact of 33 million euros, 18.1 million euros of which was accounted for by 136 reported cases of suspected fraud.

However, French Trade Minister Anne-Marie Idrac stated that the EU would refuse to compromise on opening its markets for farm goods: "We can't go further; we won't go further on agriculture and we expect more open market access from emerging countries". UK Trade Minister Gareth Thomas told the programme that the EU had unveiled a 60% tariff reduction - but did not mention that the EU Commission admitted on Monday that this offer was in fact "nothing new", or that Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson had merely shifted the way the pre-existing tariff cut figure was presented. Mandelson conceded that the 60% cut was actually a "reiteration" of the EU's existing position.

Mandelson's actions show that "the Commission is more interested in propaganda than in proposing real pro-development solutions on trade - perhaps this emphasis on spin is a tactic designed to pre-empt a breakdown in the talks this week, ALLOWING THE EU TO SHIFT THE BLAME ONTO OTHER NEGOTIATING PARTIES AND DIVERT MEDIA ATTENTION AWAY FROM ITS OWN INTRANSIGENCE."

The Irish Times reports that the EU Commission has reassured EU Member States that the single-farm payment is not threatened by reforms proposed in global trade talks taking place this week.

Mr Hague added that a Cameron administration would look to scupper the Lisbon Treaty if it had not already been ratified by all other states: "WE WOULD WITHDRAW RATIFICATION BY BRITAIN AND SUBJECT IT TO A REFERENDUM, IN WHICH WE WOULD RECOMMEND A NO VOTE".

Mr Hague said that the party are, '"very positive about many aspects of the EU", including its commitment to tackling climate change and opening markets, particularly in the services area, and joint foreign policy action on issues such as Iran. The paper suggests that Mr Hague is worried voters are being 'turned off' by the perception that the Conservatives are 'obsessed' by Europe and he therefore preferred talking about nuclear proliferation than the EU.

Rabbi Elyakim Levanon of Elon Moreh said at the conference: "This council needs to be not just an entity that elects Knesset Members or creates the infrastructure for election of the party's candidates. It must accompany the Knesset Members with consultation, advice and guidance."

The unification initiative calls on members of the splintered national-religious camp to learn to work side by side with other people who share their ideals but disagree on methods, priorities, nuances and style.

"Everyone lifts his flag and says - only this way!" Levanon explained the problem emotionally. "If the other deviate by a millimetre to the left or to the right they are not willing to listen. The others become the enemies of the vision."

Officials feared Dolly's rains still would cause flooding problems in the coming days, possibly overwhelming levees along the Rio Grande. Dolly, the second hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, dropped up to 12 inches of rain in the first few hours after coming ashore at the barrier island of South Padre Island, where it ripped off roofs, bent palm trees in half and left thousands of residents without power.

The full effect of the flooding might not be seen for days as rain dumped by Dolly's inland march flows back down the Rio Grande to coastal areas, Nielsen-Gammon said. Rain was falling as rapidly as 4 inches (10 cm) per hour and the worst flooding could occur on the Mexican side of the border, he said.

In Cameron County near the Mexico border, officials had expected up to 20 inches of rain. "That's going to do a number on our county," said Johnny Cavazos, the county's emergency management coordinator. He said levees holding back the Rio Grande held under similar conditions during Hurricane Beulah in 1967 but have "seriously deteriorated" since then.

The second-quarter loss was deeper than analysts had forecast and Ford shares fell by 15 percent. Its bonds also traded lower. Ford cautioned that it did not expect a U.S. economic turnaround until 2010 with oil prices remaining "high and volatile" and no relief for the high prices for steel and other commodities that have hit automakers hard.

In response to the sudden premium on fuel efficiency, the No. 2 U.S. automaker said it would retool truck plants in Michigan and Kentucky to make small cars in addition to an already announced conversion for a Mexican truck plant.

In addition, Ford will bring four previously unannounced small cars to North America, including a Mercury-branded derivative of its popular Focus. It also said it would double its hybrid output in 2009 and double its capacity to make fuel-saving four-cylinder engines by 2011.

A low number of healthy sperm is thought to be one of the major causes of male infertility. Researchers asked 99 men attending a fertility clinic whether they had eaten foods including soy milk, tofu, soy sausages or other soy products such as roasted nuts, drinks, powders and energy bars in the last three months.

They then excluded other factors which can affect fertility including age, body mass index (BMI), alcohol and caffeine intake and smoking. The findings, published in the journal Human Reproduction, show that the men who ate the most soy food, on average more than half a portion a day, had around 41 million fewer healthy sperm per millilitre less than men who did not eat soy.

Although they do not know the reason for the findings, the researchers, from Harvard University, believe they could be linked to a plant chemical present within soy which mimics the effects of oestrogen, the female sex hormone, on the body. The study also found that the link was particularly marked in men who were overweight or obese, who already produce more natural oestrogen than thin men.

Bees pollinate numerous crops, and scientists have been expressing alarm over their falling numbers in recent years in North America. Experts warn the bee disappearance eventually could harm agriculture and the food supply. Scientists have been struggling to understand the recent decline in various bee populations in North America. For example, a virus brought from Australia has been implicated in massive honeybee deaths last year.

Canadian researchers studied another type of bee, the bumblebee, near two large greenhouse operations in southern Ontario where commercially reared pollination bees are used in the growing of crops such as tomatoes, bell peppers and cucumbers. The researchers first observed that the commercial bumblebees regularly flew in and out of vents in the sides of the greenhouses, escaping from the facilities.

"EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) says it has increased concerns regarding animal welfare and possible concerns regarding food safety due to the limited data available," one source said, citing from the EFSA document to be published on Thursday.

Obama, wearing a Jewish skullcap, placed a prayer he had written in the wall and bowed his head while a rabbi read a psalm calling for peace in the holy city. One worshipper chanted "Obama, Jerusalem is not for sale" and "Jerusalem is our land" as the Illinois senator stood at the wall, a relic of the ancient Jewish temple destroyed during Roman rule nearly 2,000 years ago.

Obama assured Israel and its U.S. Jewish supporters on Wednesday he was a friend who would not press for concessions in peace talks with Palestinians that would compromise its security. Hailing Israel as a "miracle", he vowed staunch support and held only a low-profile meeting with Palestinian leaders in the occupied West Bank.

He is due to fly on Thursday to Germany, where he will give the only public speech of his week-long foreign tour, an outdoor address on transatlantic ties that is likely to draw tens of thousands. Highly popular in Germany, where he is often likened to former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Obama will also meet for the first time Chancellor Angela Merkel, who opposed his initial plan to speak at the Brandenburg Gate.

Despite a long fall that has brought down several major financial institutions and taken the economy as a whole to the brink of recession, housing in the United States is still too expensive relative to incomes, rent and the availability of mortgage money with which to buy it.

And that's before you factor in rising unemployment or oil price inflation that is crimping budgets and making long commutes, and the houses built at the end of those commutes, no longer affordable. The implications are pretty dire; rising levels of write-downs at banks, more failures of financial firms and lousy economic growth, if any, until six months or so after a base is found.

While the overall disease is a debt bubble, the most debilitating symptom of its unwinding is house price falls.

Toyota sold 4,817,941 vehicles globally during the first six months of the year, company spokesman Hideaki Homma said Wednesday, beating GM by 277,532 vehicles. Toyota said its global sales rose 2 percent from the same period the year before, while GM's sales fell 3 percent.

It's the second time Toyota has beaten GM in sales in the first half of the year. In 2007, Toyota outsold GM by about 50,000 vehicles, although GM eked out a win for the full year, retaining its 77-year position as the world's largest automaker by sales.

Toyota didn't release regional sales totals, but the weakened U.S. market appeared to be the biggest battleground. With its reputation for small, fuel-efficient cars and less exposure to the plummeting truck and SUV market, Toyota's U.S. sales fell 6 percent, compared with a 16 percent drop for GM. Industry-wide sales fell 10 percent.