In a speech at the opening of a summit of European and African leaders in Lisbon, the chairman of the AU Commission, ALPHA OUMAR KONARE, attacked the EU'S FORCEFUL CAMPAIGN to clinch new trade and development deals with former colonies. Most governments on the world's poorest continent have resisted EU pressure to sign NEW ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS (EPA) by Dec. 31, when a World Trade Organisation waiver allowing preferential treatment for developing countries' exports expires.

But EU trade officials have persuaded some African regional sub-groups and individual countries to sign initial interim trade deals, and talks have started with large regional groups, with the EU saying it wants to promote regional integration. Some developing countries and anti-poverty campaigners accuse Brussels of arm-twisting poor states into agreements that could open up weak economies to destructive competition.

But Africa's major economic powerhouses, South Africa and Nigeria, have been holding out against signing EPAs. EU Aid and Development Commissioner Louis Michel denied Europe's aim was to divide Africa. He told reporters EU trade negotiators were trying to help states that would be hardest hit by tariffs after the end of the year if no deal is in place.

But Konare insisted speeding up the trade negotiations would bring no benefit to Africa and called for a new strategic partnership in which both continents would gain. "It is time to bury definitively the colonial pact based on slavery and trading posts. We can no longer be merely exporters of raw materials, we can no longer accept being solely an import market for finished products," he said.

Konare noted that, as the EU continued to press Africa to sign EPAs, THE CONTINENT WAS INCREASINGLY ENGAGING WITH OTHER INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS, SUCH AS CHINA, INDIA AND LATIN AMERICA.

Delegates of the San Joaquin diocese in Fresno voted 173-22 to secede. It follows years of disagreement with Church authorities triggered by the consecration of a gay bishop in 2003. The Episcopal Church is the US wing of the 77m-member Anglican Communion, which is threatened by a deep split between conservatives and liberals.

"This is the first time, I believe, that a diocese has finally said 'enough' in terms of the liberal theology of the Episcopal Church," said Bishop John-David Schofield of the San Joaquin diocese ahead of the vote. Anglican leaders in many parts of the world were angered by the consecration of openly-gay Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.

Conservative churchgoers believe active homosexuality is contrary to the Anglican Communion's teachings, which are rooted in the bible. However, liberal Anglicans have argued that biblical teachings on justice and inclusion should take precedence.

WE LIVE IN STRANGE TIMES FOR PARENTS. Even though we know rationally that there isn't a child snatcher hiding behind every recycling bin, WE BEHAVE AS IF THREATS ARE ALL AROUND US, waiting for us to drop our guard. A report from the Children's Society warns that parents' fears about safety are stopping children from playing outdoors unsupervised. And it shows how today's parents are not giving their children the freedom to roam that they enjoyed in their own childhoods in the 1970s.

MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY THAT IS DRIP-FED INSECURITY. From the first car alarm of the morning, to the last police siren at night, we know much too much about the threats around us. Terrorism, ill-health, bad food, debt, global warming, moody loners with handguns are all out there waiting for us. Terrible stories, played through 24-hours news, seem more like the norm than the exception. Because we care most about our children, we worry most about them.

Children are hitting puberty before they've even crossed a road on their own. Of course there are real worries - like traffic. There are 80 people injured by hit and run drivers every single week in London. And in terms of children going missing, the Madeleine McCann story strikes a chord with every parent.
But what's changed? MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE THE FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN NOW BEGINS ON OUR OWN DOORSTEPS.

We moan about children being unfit and then stop them going out to play. Instead they can stay inside and watch DVDs about other children having adventures. How about Swallows and Amazons, good wholesome children's yarn. Bunch of kids get in a sailing boat on their own, not a lifejacket between them, live rough on an island, hanging out with the unattached uncle of another bunch of feral kids!

Hold on, where's that remote control?

With exotic names such as Colonel Murphy's and the Black Valentine, they were once common sights in the vegetable plots of Britain. Now around 98 per cent of our traditional greens have been wiped out, a study claims. RED TAPE AND MODERN FARMING METHODS HAVE MEANT THAT VIRTUALLY ALL THE VEGETABLES WE NOW EAT COME FROM JUST 20 SPECIES OF PLANT.

And the few remaining varieties from the Edwardian and Victorian eras face extinction because of European rules which only allow companies to sell seeds on an "official" list. Some of the varieties that have vanished were victims of changing tastes. But others were killed off by European regulations, introduced in 1970, which only allowed companies to sell vegetable seeds on an approved list.

Because it costs thousands of pounds to get a species approved by Brussels, many big growers no longer bother producing unusual seeds.

House prices are stalling. Consumer confidence is collapsing. Bad debt hammers at the doors of the banks. Things are "very, very tough" on the high street, according to Sir Philip Green, boss of Top Shop.

Meanwhile, financial advisers Merrill Lynch this week said that interest rates would have to fall sharply on both sides of the Atlantic if central bankers are to help prevent a recession led by rising oil and food prices, the house boom collapse and rising unemployment. They predicted that the economy was on the brink of the first consumer-led recession since 1991.

There's no doubt about it - the panic buttons are glowing red and a nation is moving its jittery fingers towards them. If it sounds grim, it also sounds familiar - at least to anyone over 35 who can remember the recession that kicked off at the fag end of the Thatcher revolution. After the booming 1980s it left a jagged detritus of collapsing house prices, home repossessions and rocketing unemployment.

Hawkins spent four years in treatment centres, care homes and foster care after threatening to kill his stepmother in 2002. Finally, in August 2006, social workers, the courts and his father agreed it was time for Robert Hawkins to be released - nine months before he turned 19 and would have been required to leave anyway.

On Thursday, while some of those who knew Hawkins called the massacre at the busy Omaha mall unexpected, not everyone was surprised. "He should have gotten help, but I think he needed someone to help him and needed someone to be there when in the past he's said he wanted to kill himself," said Karissa Fox, who said she knew Hawkins through a friend. "Someone should have listened to him."

After reviewing surveillance tape, a suicide note and Hawkins' last conversations with those close to him, police said they do not know - and may never know - exactly why Hawkins went to the Von Maur store at Westroads Mall and shot more than a dozen people. But he clearly planned ahead, walking through the store, exiting, then returning a few minutes later with a gun concealed in a rolled-up sweatshirt he was carrying, authorities said.

Acquaintances said that Hawkins was a drug user and that he had a history of depression. In 2005 and 2006, according to court records, he underwent psychiatric evaluations, the reasons for which Mr Landry would not disclose, citing privacy rules. In May 2002, he was sent to a treatment centre in Missouri after threatening his stepmother. Four months later, a Nebraska court decided Hawkins' problems were serious enough that he should be under state supervision and made him a ward of the state.

He went through a series of institutions in Nebraska as he progressed through the system: months at a treatment centre and group home in Omaha in 2003; time in a foster care programme and treatment centre in 2004 and 2005; then a felony drug-possession charge later in 2005. Mr Landry said court records do not identify the drug. The drug charge was eventually dropped, but he was jailed in 2006 for not performing community service as required.

On 21 August, 2006, he was released from state custody.

The heads of state of the world's largest trading bloc and its poorest continent are to approve an ambitious action plan intended to revitalise trade and improve cooperation in sensitive areas like immigration and peacekeeping. Even before the summit started, differences over getting new trade deals in place and over the attendance of Mugabe -- accused by the West of ruling like a dictator and wrecking his country's economy -- clouded the atmosphere in Lisbon.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is boycotting the summit because of Mugabe's presence, depriving the weekend meeting of high-level representation from a major former colonial power in Africa. The Czech president also stayed away.

Previous attempts to hold the summit have failed over the question of Mugabe's attendance but this time the EU, mindful of growing Chinese influence in Africa, lifted its travel ban on the Zimbabwean president. He arrived late on Thursday. Host Portugal, the current EU chairman, played down the controversy over Mugabe, saying there would be "no taboos" and that the meeting would not shy away from points of friction. EU officials were keen to emphasize the need for the summit.

"Africa and Europe are two neighboring continents, rich in a complex history. They are today determined to forge a new partnership and give up their sterile relation between the donor of the North and the beneficiary of the South," EU Aid and Development Commissioner Louis Michel said.

The supermarkets, along with a number of dairy firms, have agreed to pay fines totalling some £116m after an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) probe. Cases against Tesco and Morrisons will continue after no deal was struck.
The OFT said that in-store prices went up after the collusion, but the amount received by farmers did not increase.

However, the firms insist that the farm gate price paid for milk did rise and that they were not ripping off customers. The OFT said the collusion saw customers being charged 3 pence extra for a pint of milk, 15p extra per quarter-pound of butter and 15p per half-pound of cheese, the watchdog said.

The poll found that 27% of people were unable to identify Bethlehem as his birthplace, rising to 36% of people aged between 18 and 24. The poll, for public theology think tank Theos, also found 27% did not know who told Mary she would have a son. Last week a Sunday Telegraph survey suggested only one in five schools is planning a traditional nativity play.

The majority of the 1,015 adults questioned, 52%, could not name John the Baptist as Jesus's cousin. When asked where Joseph, Mary and Jesus went to escape from King Herod - which was Egypt - more than three quarters of people, 78%, gave the wrong answer.

The majority, 52%, thought they escaped to Nazareth. Paul Woolley, director of Theos, said: "The fact that younger people are the least knowledgeable about the Christmas story may reflect a decline in the telling of Bible stories in schools and the popularity of nativity plays.

"No one seriously thinks that being a Christian or a member of the established church is the same thing as being British today. But, at the same time, if we are serious about social cohesion we can't afford to ignore the stories that have bound us together as a culture for 1,000 years."

The quantity and auction venues will be announced Thursday or Friday, an official from the State Grain Administration told China Daily on Wednesday. State Grain Administration chief Nie Zhenbang said more corn will be auctioned if the price surges continue. Corn prices have been on the rise mainly because of expanded ethanol demand as global crude oil prices keep surging and the corn yield decreases both at home and abroad.

About 2 percent of the country's corn output, or 3-4 million tons, is used each year to make ethanol; and much of the rest is used for animal feed. Ethanol production is profitable even if oil prices hover around the $60-$70 a barrel mark. They are currently around $90.

The delegates each will produce an average 4.07 metric tons of carbon dioxide, or CO2, to reach the resort island 950 kilometers (600 miles) from Jakarta, according to estimates e- mailed to Bloomberg by the UN agency holding the conference.

Some of the 187 nations participating in the two-week forum promised to offset their so-called carbon footprint by planting trees or buying emission credits. The symbolic actions won't help stop global warming, some scientists say.

"It's very hard for the public to understand that you come together with so many people to a very distant place and cause a lot of emissions, and at the same time talk about emission reductions," Artur Runge-Metzger, head of climate strategy for the European Commission, said yesterday in an interview in Bali, adding that he had offset his own emissions.

It's two feet tall, travels ten miles an hour, and spins on a dime. Remote-controlled over an encrypted frequency that jams nearby radios and cellphones, it'll blow a ten-inch hole through a steel door with deadly accuracy from 400 meters.

The robot is fitted with the $8,000 Atchisson Assault-12 shotgun. It's made of aircraft-grade stainless steel, never needs lubrication or cleaning, and won't rust. Pour sand through it and it won't clog. It doesn't recoil, so it's accurate even when it's firing in automatic mode, which it does at a rate of 300 rounds per minute. Along with firing ridiculously powerful FRAG-12 ammo - a "straight-out-of-Terminator shell" - that contains a whirling miniature grenade - the AA-12 can handle non-lethal Tasers and even bullets that are deadly up to 120 feet but fall harmlessly by 800 feet.

"It delivers the lead equivalent of 132 M16s," says Baber. "When they start firing from every direction, it's all over. This will take the soldiers out of harm's way."

Pilgrims to the shrine in south-west France will receive "PLENARY INDULGENCES" from the Pontiff, which THE CHURCH SAYS REDUCE THE TIME SPENT BEING "WASHED" OF SIN AFTER DEATH. The indulgences will be available from this weekend until Dec 8, 2008. THE CHURCH TEACHES THAT PEOPLE WHO DO NOT GO DIRECTLY TO HEAVEN MUST SPEND TIME IN PURGATORY, WHERE THEY CAN BE PURIFIED OF RESIDUAL SIN. It is the latest initiative to get more pilgrims to the shrine, famous for the reported healing properties of its water. In August the Vatican opened an airline service offering pilgrims direct flights from Rome to Lourdes.

For those who cannot make the journey to France, the Pope will also grant indulgences to Catholics who pray at places of worship dedicated to the Madonna of Lourdes from Feb 2 to Feb 11. Indulgences may also be granted under special circumstances to people too sick to visit the shrine, the Vatican said. The offer comes as the shrine prepares to commemorate the 150th anniversary of when the Madonna was said to have appeared to a peasant girl in 1858.

The Pope is expected to visit next year, possibly in September or October.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas formally relaunched a U.S.-sponsored peace process last week and Israel has since stepped up raids on Hamas-run Gaza to try to curb rocket fire by militants.

Hamas Islamists, who have vowed to undermine the peace effort by fighting Israel, seized control of Gaza in a brief civil war with Fatah in June, prompting Abbas to dismiss a Hamas-led government and reopen talks with the Jewish state.

Hamas has since called for dialogue with Fatah but Abbas, who holds sway in the larger West Bank, rules out talks unless the Islamist group first gives up control of the Gaza Strip -- a condition Hamas rejects.

The prayer service was followed by a massive protest, co-sponsored by the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea and Samaria (Yesha), near the Prime Minister's residence. The protest was entitled, "It Will Blow Up in Our Face." At the time of the Western Wall prayer vigil, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was meeting in Washington with US President George Bush in preparation for the Annapolis summit on Tuesday.

The front line of religious-Zionist rabbis, led by Former Chief Rabbi of Israel Mordechai Eliyahu, called for the public to attend the Western Wall prayers. MK Uri Ariel (National Union party), among those who initiated the prayer service, said, "IT IS CRITICAL FOR US TO OFFER PRAYER TO OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN WHEN THE PRIME MINISTER WANTS TO SELL OUR NATIONAL HOMELAND. WE ARE HERE [AT THE WALL] TO SAY THAT WE TRUST IN G-D, AND THAT OLMERT HAS NO MANDATE TO GIVE UP JERUSALEM."

"Thus says the L-rd of hosts, 'This people says, "The time has not come, even the time for the house of the L-rd to be rebuilt."' Then the word of the L-rd came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 'Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your panelled houses while this house lies desolate?' Now therefore, thus says the L-rd of hosts, 'Consider your ways! You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.' Thus says the L-rd of hosts, 'Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the Temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,' says the L-rd." Haggai 1.2-8 [Arutz Sheva]