Every town hall has been ordered to send out surveys demanding local residents' personal information and opinions. The forms will ask householders to give details of their children, mortgage, ethnic background, religion and sexual orientation.

Civil rights campaigners yesterday called the survey 'intrusive and very sinister', pointing out that any information handed over will not be kept confidential. The New Place Survey - which is expected to be launched next autumn after trials in the spring - is likely to cost at least £15million by 2012.

Matthew Elliott of the Taxpayers' Alliance said the operation was a "pointless waste of money". "Councils should be trying to make people's lives better by reducing the burden of taxes and improving crumbling services, not poking their noses into our lives," he added. Christine Melsom of the council tax protest group Is It Fair? said: "This is highly intrusive and very sinister. I can think of an awful lot of other things they could do with the money."

But skeptics question whether such a move is politically and legally tenable - or wise. "There are a lot of pedophiles in the Catholic Church but no one is talking about outlawing" the church, notes Ulrich Battis, professor of constitutional law at Berlin's Humboldt University.

Scientology's claim to be a church despite the German courts' ruling denying it such status could also cause problems for the government at home, where many Germans believe the question of what qualifies as a religion is a matter of personal conscience rather than government authority. Skeptics warn that taking steps to ban Scientology could backfire by making them appear as victims of state persecution. The 1997 government probe prompted several Hollywood stars, including Dustin Hoffman and Goldie Hawn, to sign an advertisement printed in German newspapers comparing the move to the repression of Jews under Nazism.

Still, the state interior ministers appear determined to press ahead, portraying themselves as protectors of their citizens from a "threat," and suggesting, in the words of one government statement, that Germany's Nazi past obliges the government "TO MONITOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANY EXTREME GROUPS WITHIN ITS BORDERS - EVEN WHEN THE GROUP'S MEMBERS ARE SMALL IN NUMBER."

The Schengen agreement, which allows passport-free travel across the area, now embraces 24 nations. Some 2,000 people celebrated with the EU anthem, Beethoven's Ode to Joy, and fireworks in the town of Frankfurt on Oder at Germany's border with Poland. The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia joined the zone.

On Thursday a checkpoint between Austria and Slovakia was dismantled in one of several events marking the enlargement from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic. Initially the lifting of internal controls involves just land and sea borders, but that will be extended to airports at the end of March 2008. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said: "From midnight tonight you can travel 4,000km (2,485 miles) from Tallinn in Estonia to Lisbon in Portugal without any border controls."

The UK and Ireland are not involved in the zone - which embraces 400m people - but they have signed up to agreements on security. A significant element of the Schengen agreement is the Schengen Information Service (SIS) which features an enormous database in the French city of Strasbourg. The SIS database enables police in any Schengen state to find out whether a suspect has been involved in any kind of crime across the EU.

Over 400 prominent scientists from more than two dozen countries recently voiced significant objections to major aspects of the so-called "consensus" on man-made global warming. These scientists, many of whom are current and former participants in the UN IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), criticized the climate claims made by the UN IPCC and former Vice President Al Gore. The new report issued by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee's office of the GOP Ranking Member details the views of the scientists, the overwhelming majority of whom spoke out in 2007.

Even some in the establishment media now appear to be taking notice of the growing number of skeptical scientists. In October, the Washington Post Staff Writer Juliet Eilperin conceded the obvious, writing that climate skeptics "appear to be expanding rather than shrinking. Many scientists from around the world have dubbed 2007 as the year man-made global warming fears 'bite the dust'." In addition, many scientists who are also progressive environmentalists believe climate fear promotion has "co-opted" the green movement.

This blockbuster Senate report lists the scientists by name, country of residence, and academic/institutional affiliation. It also features their own words, biographies, and weblinks to their peer reviewed studies and original source materials as gathered from public statements, various news outlets, and websites in 2007. This new "consensus busters" report is poised to redefine the debate.

Many of the scientists featured in this report consistently stated that numerous colleagues shared their views, but they will not speak out publicly for fear of retribution. Atmospheric scientist Dr. Nathan Paldor, Professor of Dynamical Meteorology and Physical Oceanography at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, author of almost 70 peer-reviewed studies, explains how many of his fellow scientists have been intimidated.

"Many of my colleagues with whom I spoke share these views and report on their inability to publish their skepticism in the scientific or public media," Paldor wrote.

Patriarch Michel Sabbah said that by ignoring the "mystery of God" and failing to "see his loving providence" mankind fails to understand the call to act with justice and fulfill the promise of living in a land of peace. "Dealing with all kind of difficulties, with the conflict, the occupation, the need of security, we do not deal only with men," Patriarch Sabbah said. "All the inhabitants of this land - Jews, Christians, Moslems and Druzes - have to deal with the mystery of God in it."

"In the political leaders' planning or action, God seems to be absent," he said, "the more so, in the actions of 'religious' extremists who try to justify or to sustain the political leaders' action by the word of God." HE SAID THAT DEALING WITH GOD REQUIRES LIVING BY "ALL THAT GOD HAS TAUGHT MEN IN HIS HOLY SCRIPTURE," INCLUDING COMMANDMENTS TO "LOVE EACH OTHER AND DO NOT KILL, DO NOT EXPROPRIATE OTHERS FROM THEIR HOMES."

The promise of the land to the Jewish people carries with it the call to "deep conversion of the mind and the heart" whereby every believer becomes a "messenger to God in this land, messenger of his love and justice." Acknowledging the importance of "peace conferences and peace talks" between political leaders and nongovernmental organizations throughout the world, Patriarch Sabbah stressed that WHAT IS NEEDED IS A "TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD" and acceptance of those who are different.

"In all religions in the land, there are true believers," he said, "who worship in spirit and truth. They pray in silence, and are full of love for the other who is different." Yet, he added, the region is crippled by those "believers who see their life possible only with the exclusion of the other" and those "who see that they are sent by God to kill the other." PEACE WILL ONLY BE SECURED WHEN GOD'S COMMANDMENTS ARE HEEDED.

Speaking at a conference in Tel Aviv University on the use of Electro-optics on the future battlefield Halamish said that sometimes luck plays more of a factor when facing the Kassam than Israel's military capabilities. "This is a close threat that has an impact on the home front as well as the national morale," Halamish said. "Our ability to deal with this threat is difficult, becoming almost impossible in certain places."

Halamish said that Iran and Syria were transferring know-how to the Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip and that the characteristics of warfare in Gaza today were similar to those used against the IDF by the Hizbullah in Lebanon and against American troops in Iraq. Halamish said that the use of rockets by terror groups was due to their understanding their ground forces are limited in their capabilities.

We all reach for the automatic remedies. Lock them up. Zero tolerance. Build more prisons. Crack down on thugs. And I am certainly not saying that our instincts are wrong. We need to get more police out on the street, and we need to end the combination of bureaucracy and political correctness that keeps police filling in forms when they could be on patrol and reassuring the public. We need to end the appalling rowdiness on the buses and we need people to feel safe on the platforms of railway stations.

BUT WE ALSO NEED TO RECOGNISE THAT WE ARE DEALING WITH THE CONSEQUENCES OF VAST SOCIAL CHANGE - and that we cannot rely on law and order alone. Before these kids start killing each other, we can save time, and money, and lives if we get to the heart of the problem. THESE CHILDREN ARE GROWING UP WITHOUT BOUNDARIES. THEY HAVE NO RESPECT FOR ADULTS BECAUSE THEY HAVE NEVER BEEN TAUGHT ANY SUCH THING.

In some cases, they will be full of THE RAGE OF TEENAGE MALES WHO NEVER HAD A FATHER, and who find themselves teased about the relationships subsequently formed by their mothers. They are sucked into gangs, into crime, and they help to degrade the quality of life for millions of people who yearn for the streets to be safe, and who have become nervous of children in a way that was unthinkable 20 or 30 years ago.

THEY NEED PEOPLE WHO CAN TALK STRAIGHT TO THEM, AND GIVE THEM A SENSE OF RIGHT AND WRONG, AND AMBITION AND CONFIDENCE. That is a hard task. The schools can't cope. Think of the advantages to our society if we can start to get this right. Think how much more wonderful London and every other British city would be, if we could restore security to the streets.

Unless people feel safe on the streets of an urban area, they won't open shops there, and they won't locate their businesses there, and they won't buy houses there, and they won't send their children to the local school - and so the inequalities are deepened. We must tackle this problem, and, as Mayor of London, it will be my number one priority. I will encourage and support groups such as "Kids Company," AND I WILL DO SO IN A WAY THAT IS RUTHLESSLY POLITICALLY INCORRECT.

Denise Mafi, a nine-year veteran of homeschooling, has confirmed to WND she and her children packed up their essentials - clothes and homeschool materials - and fled Utah over the weekend, spending more than 50 hours on a bus trip to another undisclosed part of the country.

There she has obtained an empty home, and is spending the Christmas break trying to find beds for her children and herself, and after the New Year, will involve the children in a local homeschooling process. Her home, furniture and other possessions are left behind in Utah "I'm not going back unless the judge removes the threat of arrest," she said. "I'll fight for the cause but I'm not going to be a martyr."

At issue are the threats issued by Judge Scott Johansen, who serves in the juvenile division of the state's 7th Judicial District, which threw out the agreement Mafi thought would resolve the charges. She has reported that Johansen told her homeschooling fails 100 percent of the time and he would not allow it.

John Yarrington, president of the Utah Home Education Association, said. "There's no excuse for this kind of bias and prejudice. I can tell you there are several legislators working on this, including one on the judicial retention committee."

Dr Rowan Williams has claimed there was little evidence that the Magi even existed and there was certainly nothing to prove there were three of them or that they were kings. He said the only reference to the wise men from the East was in Matthew's gospel and the details were very vague. Dr Williams said: "Matthew's gospel says they are astrologers, wise men, priests from somewhere outside the Roman Empire, that's all we're really told. It works quite well as legend."

The Archbishop went on to dispel other details of the Christmas story, adding that there were probably no asses or oxen in the stable. He argued that Christmas cards which showed the Virgin Mary cradling the baby Jesus, flanked by shepherds and wise men, were misleading. As for the scenes that depicted snow falling in Bethlehem, the Archbishop said the chance of this was "very unlikely".

In a final blow to the traditional nativity story, Dr Williams concluded that Jesus was probably not born in December at all. He said: "Christmas was when it was because it fitted well with the winter festival."

"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us," long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means told a handful of reporters and a delegation from the Bolivian embassy, gathered in a church in a run-down neighborhood of Washington for a news conference.

A delegation of Lakota leaders delivered a message to the State Department on Monday, announcing they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the United States, some of them more than 150 years old. They also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and will continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months, they told the news conference.

Lakota country includes parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. The new country would issue its own passports and driving licences, and living there would be tax-free -- provided residents renounce their US citizenship, Means said. The treaties signed with the United States are merely "worthless words on worthless paper," the Lakota freedom activists say on their website.

The treaties have been "repeatedly violated in order to steal our culture, our land and our ability to maintain our way of life," the reborn freedom movement says. Withdrawing from the treaties was entirely legal, Means said.
"This is according to the laws of the United States, specifically article six of the constitution," which states that treaties are the supreme law of the land, he said. "It is also within the laws on treaties passed at the Vienna Convention and put into effect by the US and the rest of the international community in 1980. We are legally within our rights to be free and independent," said Means.

The exercise is taking place between 20 and 28 December in China's Chengdu military region. India and China fought a brief but bloody border war in October 1962 over a disputed Himalayan frontier. The situation eased after the two countries signed a treaty for peace and tranquillity in 1993, agreeing to reduce troop levels on the borders.

"War games are aimed at building and promoting positive military relations, inter-operability and to undertake joint operations in counter insurgency," Indian army spokesman Brig SK Chatterjee told the Press Trust of India news agency. India and China signed an agreement on defence cooperation in May 2006 during the visit of former Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee to China.

Last year, China agreed to reopen the strategic Nathu La pass to border trade, thereby accepting Sikkim as a part of India. But in the last year China appeared to be uncomfortable with India's growing strategic ties with US, cemented through a series of joint exercises, including the huge five nation naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal, this year. In recent months, Indian border forces reported more and more Chinese "intrusions" across the disputed border even as Beijing stepped up its rhetoric on the disputed frontier, reiterating its claims to the northeast Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Analysts say visit of Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi to China last month has helped put the bilateral relations back on the right track, and China appears to be no longer objecting to the India-US nuclear deal that had initially upset it.

Cardinal Luís Martínez Sistach, archbishop of Barcelona, closed the conference with a reflection on the importance of the Second Vatican Council and the re-proclamation of sacred Scripture as the "center of the life of the Church."

"Doing theology today implies taking seriously THE CHALLENGE OF THE UNITY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES," the 70-year-old cardinal continued. Catholic theology is "necessarily ecumenical" AND "THE DREAM OF CHRISTIANITY ARTICULATED IN FULL COMMUNION IS SHARED BY MANY."

"The miracle of the incarnation of the Word shakes the human heart, which now witnesses the height and depth of God's love. Since Jesus Christ, nothing is the same. The Word has broken men's isolation, made them neighbors of each another, giving them the sense of fraternity, a consequence of their condition as sons."

"If there's a state of one religion, other religions are naturally discriminated against," Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah told reporters at the annual press conference he holds in Jerusalem before the Christian holiday. In his address, which he read in Arabic and English, Sabbah said Israel should abandon its Jewish character in favor of a "political, normal state for Christians, Muslims and Jews. This land cannot be exclusive for anyone," he said.

With his statements Wednesday, Sabbah, a longtime advocate of the Palestinian cause, waded into a debate that has marred the fledgling peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Israel has defined itself as the homeland of the Jewish people since it was established in 1948. The Palestinians, however, refuse to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, saying that would mean Palestinian refugees who lost their homes after Israel's creation would not have the right to return.

Israel opposes any return of refugees, for fear they would eventually outnumber the Jewish majority. Israeli leaders recently demanded that Palestinians recognize Israel's Jewish character as part of peace talks that got under way last week, but the Palestinians have rejected the call.

Sabbah, who has been the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem since 1987, is the first Palestinian to hold the post and is frequently critical of Israel. According to the Jerusalem Center for Jewish-Christian Relations, there are an estimated 170,000 Christians in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

In a reflection of the increasing influence of Islam, figures released yesterday showed the most popular spelling of the name - Mohammed - had climbed five places to 17th in the annual list of top baby names. However, when the seven other spellings of the name are taken into account, the total comes to 6,347 babies, making it the second most popular name of the year - up from 5,936 last year.

The other spellings are Muhammad, Mohammad, Muhammed, Mohamed, Mohamad, Muhamed and Mohammod. The last national census in 2001 put the UK Muslim population at 1.6million, but this will have grown substantially in the past five years.

Religious commentators suggested the remark would inevitably colour the way he was viewed by voters, though it was not immediately clear whether his lack of belief would prove an obstacle in his efforts to restore the Lib-Dems' fortunes. Mr Clegg's readiness to declare his lack of faith sets him in contrast to the church-going Mr Cameron, not to mention Prime Minister Gordon Brown who frequently speaks of the moral lessons he learned from his minister father.

Interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live, Mr Clegg was asked directly "Do you believe in God?" and answered with the single word: "No". The Lib-Dem leader later issued a statement clarifying his position: "I have enormous respect for people who have religious faith. I'm married to a Catholic and am committed to bringing my children up as Catholics. However, I myself am not an active believer. But the last thing I would do when talking or thinking about religion is approach it with a closed heart or a closed mind."