Voters rejected the raft of reforms by a margin of 51% to 49%, the chief of the National Electoral Council said. Mr Chavez described the defeat as a "photo finish", and urged followers not to turn it into a point of conflict. Correspondents say the opposition could barely hide their delight and that the victory will put a brake on Mr Chavez's self-styled "Socialist revolution".

The BBC's correspondent says that some of Mr Chavez' loyal supporters have gone against him on this occasion. Though some of them may still support him, he says, they think he has gone a little too far in a country which has a history of dictatorships. With his constitutional reform proposals, Mr Chavez was seeking an end to presidential term limits and the removal of the Central Bank's autonomy. Having lost the vote, the current rules state that he will have to stand down in 2013.

The main opposition parties had claimed during the referendum campaign that Mr Chavez was seeking to give himself too much power, and was trying to establish a dictatorship. Mr Chavez said the package of reforms was necessary to "construct a new socialist economy".

There is a near-consensus among economists, in fact, that the Anglo-Saxon world created this credit crunch and will likely bear the most pain. The eurozone, it is widely assumed, has been less affected by sub-prime. Most investment banks predict the 13-country region will out-perform the UK in 2008.

A slew of recent data tells me we should now question that assumption. If I'm right, and the eurozone does a face serious drop, us Brits would be foolish to grin. We like to revel in Continental misfortunes, but the single currency area matters hugely - accounting for three-fifths of UK trade, more than four times as much as the States.

The reason the eurozone now worries me is the emerging picture of sharply rising consumer prices on the one hand, and falling output on the other. Just like the Bank of England, the European Central Bank will on Thursday try to set monetary policy not only to deal with inflation, but also bolster growth.

Then, of course, there's the US currency - that is, the impact of the feeble greenback on the euro. Over the last year, the single currency has risen more than 15 per cent against the dollar, which has seen investors dump US assets. This makes European leaders see red, of course, as a rising currency undermines exports and jobs.

The eurozone also sends less than a tenth of its exports to the US. So, on a trade-weighted basis, the euro is up only 7 per cent against the dollar since January - less than half the straight euro-dollar rise.

Even up to the second world war, honey was being used for its antibacterial properties in treating wounds. But with the advent of penicillin and other antibiotic drugs in the twentieth century, honey's medicinal qualities have taken a back seat. But that might be about to change - thanks to one New Zealand based researcher. Professor Molan has shown that honey made from the flowers of the manuka bush, a native of New Zealand, has antibacterial properties over and above those of other honeys.

He said: "In all honeys, there is - to different levels - hydrogen peroxide produced from an enzyme that bees add to the nectar. In manuka honey, and its close relative which grows in Australia called jellybush, there's something else besides the hydrogen peroxide. And there's nothing like that ever been found anywhere else in the world." That 'something else' has proved very hard to pin down. Even now, after more than twenty years of research, Peter Molan admits he still has no idea exactly what it is. But he has given it a name: unique manuka factor, or UMF.

And he has found a way to measure its antibacterial efficacy, by comparing UMF manuka honey with a standard antiseptic (carbolic, or phenol) in its ability to fight bacteria. The results are astonishing. He said: "We know it has a very broad spectrum of action. It works on bacteria, fungi, protozoa. We haven't found anything it doesn't work on among infectious organisms." In fact, he says UMF manuka honey can even tackle antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria - a growing problem for hospitals around the world.

That's a view shared by beekeeper Bill Bennett a few kilometres up the road from the hospital. He and his wife Margaret run the Summerglow Apiaries, one of just a handful of registered suppliers of UMF manuka honey in New Zealand. The honey is rigorously tested three times during production for that elusive unique manuka factor; only then can it carry the label "UMF manuka honey. There is a lot of manuka honey out there that doesn't have this special property. That's why it's so important to look for the name UMF."

Olmert has already agreed to give control of the Temple Mount to a coalition including the PA, Egypt, and Jordan, the unnamed source said.

The negotiator said Olmert may not have told the public out of fear for his standing, and concerns that his coalition with Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) would fall apart. Olmert had easily agreed to give up Judaisms most holy site, he said, and the PA delegates were "pleasantly surprised" by his lack of resistance.

Olmert has not yet responded to the WND report.

The USS Reuben James had sought permission to visit Hong Kong over the New Year holidays, but the request was denied last week. A separate request for a C-17 cargo aircraft to make its quarterly visit to Hong Kong to supply the US consulate was also refused, according to US military officials. China last week also refused to allow USS Kitty Hawk permission to visit Hong Kong over Thanksgiving. Beijing reversed the Kitty Hawk decision after John Negroponte, the deputy secretary of state, complained to the Chinese ambassador to the US. It also recently refused requests from two US minesweepers that were seeking refuge from a storm.

Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said on Friday the incidents "have not inhibited our ability to work together". He added that a Chinese military delegation would meet Pentagon officials on Monday for discussions that would include the installation of a telephone hotline between the US and Chinese militaries.

The spat has also spilled over into Sino-Japanese military relations. Japan this week refused a Chinese request for its soldiers to tour an advanced combat ship. The move marred the historic visit this week of a Chinese missile destroyer to Japan, the first by a Chinese naval ship since the second world war. China had requested that the sailors on the Shenzhen be allowed to tour an Aegis-class destroyer, but a person familiar with the Japanese decision said the Pentagon had told Japan that the move would not be appropriate, given the Kitty Hawk incident. The US embassy in Japan denied that the US military had influenced the decision.

An outraged Labour councillor immediately accused the Tories of bigotry and contacted the national watchdog which regulates town hall standards. The Conservative councillors angrily counter-attacked, claiming their religious freedom was under assault. Following the case of the British teacher jailed in Sudan for letting children name a teddy bear Mohammad, this row has again focused attention on how to balance freedom of expression and cultural sensitivity.

Perry Schmidt-Leukel, professor of religious studies at Glasgow University, said: "For many Christians, Buddhism - is the hardest to find common ground with - because it doesn't acknowledge a creator." Ani Lhamo, the Buddhist abbot's secretary, said: "We have no problem with people not wanting to take part. People have the right to follow their own beliefs and stay outside if they want."

Roberta Tuckfield, who works in tourism, said: "I don't believe anyone was offended. We made a point of coming in discreetly through the side door. If we had all walked out and made a show of it that would be one thing but the fact is that people often come into meetings late and no one notices."

Margo Moffat, a Lockerbie businesswoman, said: "They should have gone because this was all about showing respect and tolerance, not about taking part. "If you are elected then you are a public figure and you are often going to be invited to events and you have a responsibility to show a commitment to equality and to tolerance." Victor Spence, general secretary of the Edinburgh inter-faith council, said: "Public figures have a responsibility to all their constituents, of all faiths. Going along to something does not mean you are taking part."

California, Canada and the European Union are so persuaded he's right, the three governments are in the process of banning the sale of incandescent light bulbs, following the trailblazing paths of Fidel Castro in Cuba and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is on board, urging American citizens to do their part for the environment and switch to the twisty little CFL bulbs that last longer and use less electricity.

But opposition is building among other environmentalists who say the threat of mercury contamination as a result of hundreds of millions of broken CFLS, each containing about 5 milligrams of the highly toxic substance, outweighs any benefits from a switch from Thomas Edison's trusty old invention.

One new voice weighing in against the tide is Andrew Michrowski of the Canadian-based Planetary Association for Clean Energy: "I feel it's very important to warn people these 'green' bulbs contain mercury, which will end up in landfills throughout the country if we make the switch to them. In addition to filling our landfills with mercury, if the bulbs break you will be exposed to the mercury they contain." He says consumers shouldn't buy them - even though they are now showing up in stores all over America.

A major debate has erupted among architects about the pros and cons of CFLs, with many "now calling for lower mercury in lighting systems," says Michael Driedger, a Vancouver-based architect specializing in green technologies. "Many people, especially in the lighting industry, are waiting for the lighting industry to develop mercury-free light emitting diode (LED) lighting as a safe substitute for CFLs," he says.

Although the news media generally have portrayed CAIR as a legitimate civil rights group, the organization has had a hard time maintaining its squeaky clean image. Current CAIR leaders also have made statements in support of Hamas and the domination of the U.S. by Islam. As WorldNetDaily reported, CAIR's chairman of the board, Omar Ahmad, was cited by a California newspaper in 1998 declaring THE QURAN SHOULD BE AMERICA'S HIGHEST AUTHORITY. He also was reported to have said that ISLAM IS NOT IN AMERICA TO BE EQUAL TO ANY OTHER RELIGION BUT TO BE DOMINANT.

The culprit behind the wintry mess is a Pacific storm that West Coast Expert Meteorologist Ken Clark states delivered generally welcome rain to Southern California Friday. As snow continues to pile up in the mountains across the Four Corners, the Midwest Regional News story reports the storm has begun to create widespread winter woes east of the Rockies.

The Winter Weather Center reports the heaviest snow this weekend, ranging between 6 to 12 inches, will blanket areas from southern Minnesota to northern Michigan. When the storm intensifies off of the New England coast, snow amounts will exceed a foot in parts of New Hampshire, Maine and New Brunswick starting on Sunday night.

Rain will be found to the south of the storm's snow and ice this weekend. The soaking rain, however, will not spread over the southern Plains or the Southeast. When the storm's cold front arrives over the Southeast on Sunday night, the South Regional News story reports limited showers will hardly put a dent in the drought.

Chavez told tens of thousands of supporters late Friday he was putting Venezuela's oil field and refineries under military "protection" and would halt the exports "if this (referendum) is used as a pretext to start violence in Venezuela." Venezuela, an OPEC member, currently exports around 60 PERCENT of the two million barrels of oil it produces per day to THE UNITED STATES, WHICH RELIES ON THEM FOR 11 PERCENT OF ITS OIL NEEDS.

The 53-year-old president said Friday he wanted to reign "until 2050," if the people backed him. Changes to allow the government to take over the central bank and expropriate private property in the name of "economic socialism," and gag the media in times of emergency are also being proposed. Opponents, whose number has swelled in past weeks with the defection of some Chavez allies, say the reforms would amount to making Venezuela a Cuba-like communist state, with an elected 'dictator'. Chavez, who reveres Cuba's Fidel Castro, dismisses those ranked against him as 'traitors' acting to further US 'imperialism.' "A vote 'yes' is a vote for Chavez -- a vote 'no' is a vote for (US President) George W. Bush," he said. The United States is not the only target of Chavez's verbal broadsides. Recently, the Venezuelan president has accumulated international disputes.

Last month, Spain's King Juan Carlos told him to "shut up" at a summit. Stung by the opposition's adoption of the phrase in its campaign against the referendum, Chavez has demanded an apology -- failing which he said he might nationalize Spanish banks in Venezuela. He also fell out spectacularly with his Colombian counterpart, Alvaro Uribe, after the latter dropped him as a mediator in negotiations to release hostages held by leftist FARC guerrillas. Chavez said he would have nothing to do with Colombia's government as long as Uribe remained in power -- another potentially costly decision, given that Colombia supplies much of Venezuela's basic food supplies, including eggs, milk and chicken.

The investor, which specializes in acquiring distressed businesses, flagged its interest as German banks put the finishing touches to the second rescue of subprime casualty IKB in four months. Karsten von Koeller, who heads Lone Star's German business, said the global credit crunch was throwing up good investment opportunities in Europe's biggest economy and singled out IKB as a possibility.

Lone Star, which has snapped up portfolios with 12 billion euros ($17.7 billion) of credit so far in Germany, said IKB's 5 billion euro commercial property credit portfolio could be of interest. "The ongoing finance crisis has hit German banks, which makes restructuring in the industry necessary. That will provide us with new opportunities," von Koeller told Reuters.

The credit crisis, which started when higher-risk U.S. home owners were squeezed by falling property prices and rising interest rates, has shaken investor confidence and cost banks around the world more than $50 billion. Germany has taken an especially hard beating. Two of its banks nearly collapsed under the strain.

IKB, a formerly little-known lender to small businesses, has become a by-word in Germany for the subprime crisis. The government-led rescue of that lender is set to cost more than 6 billion euros. Regional bank SachsenLB was also saved by a last-minute rescue.

Steve M.Collins who has authored 5 books on the dispersion of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel shows through archaeological finds that indeed, there is proof that there were transatlantic voyages on a regular basis between the two hemispheres, and probably made by King Solomon's navy.

Sure, Israelis and Palestinians agreed to talk about the "final status" issues of creating a Palestinian state, with the U.S. urging them on. But the governments representing the two sides in Annapolis may actually be further apart on the substance of some of those issues than were their predecessors who failed at Camp David.

At Annapolis, the parties agreed to talk, again, about the issues of Jerusalem, the borders of a Palestinian state and the fate of refugees and water rights, setting the goal of reaching agreement by the end of 2008. The key statement in the declaration adopted at Annapolis, however, is in its concluding paragraph: "IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FUTURE PEACE TREATY WILL BE SUBJECT TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ROAD MAP, AS JUDGED BY THE UNITED STATES." In other words, the discussions launched by Annapolis will simply flesh out a political "horizon" as an INCENTIVE TO IMPLEMENT PRESIDENT BUSH'S 2003 ROADMAP. And therein lies the problem.

THE ROAD MAP was adopted in 2003, after the Bush Administration was told that progress on the Israeli-Palestinian front was an essential precondition for the U.S. to win Arab support in Iraq. It, too, was launched with minor fanfare, as President Bush made what, at the time, were deemed historic calls for Palestinian statehood. BUT AS ANY KIND OF PEACE INITIATIVE, IT WAS STILLBORN.

The first phase of the Road Map required of the Israelis a freeze of the West Bank and Gaza settlements, and dismantle outposts built after March 2001. And it required that the Palestinians crack down on violence and dismantle "terrorist capabilities and infrastructure." Given that the U.S. - which is the arbiter of the Road Map, according to Annapolis - defines Hamas as a terrorist organization, that would presumably mean Abbas would have to dismantle Hamas.

At the same time, Roadmap required extensive institutional reform of the Palestinian authority, including "FREE, OPEN, AND FAIR ELECTIONS." Those were held, of course, in January of 2006, and THEY WERE WON BY HAMAS. SO PRESIDENT ABBAS IS HARDLY IN ANY POSITION TO IMPLEMENT THE ROAD MAP.

TO IMPLEMENT THE ROAD MAP, ABBAS WOULD NEED NOT ONLY TO ELIMINATE HAMAS IN THE WEST BANK, BUT WOULD ALSO HAVE TO REASSERT CONTROL OVER GAZA. And the Israeli security services know better than anyone how unlikely this is. Nor would it be easy for Olmert to rein in the West Bank settlers, given his own political weakness. Any attempt to envisage a peace process that excludes Hamas - which remains the majority party in the elected Palestinian legislature - gives that group incentive only to sabotage any progress.

Thus, THE PEACE PROCESS AS ENVISAGED BY ANNAPOLIS ESSENTIALLY REQUIRES ABBAS TO WIN A PALESTINIAN CIVIL WAR BEFORE ANY PEACE AGREEMENT CAN BE IMPLEMENTED. His prospects for doing so at all, much less in the space of 12 months, are slim at best.

A network of unelected institutions controlled by the highly powerful conservative Supreme Leader is countered by a president and parliament elected by the people.

For much of the last decade, Iranian politics has been characterised by continued wrangling between these elected and unelected institutions as a reformist president - and, at times, parliament - struggled against the conservative establishment. But with hardliners' regaining control of the parliament in 2004 and the presidency in 2005, all the organs of government are now dominated by conservatives.

Mr Solana will meet Saeed Jalili in London in talks correspondents say may determine whether the US and its allies press for more sanctions on Iran. The UN has demanded Iran suspend its uranium enrichment programme. Iran insists its programme is for peaceful purposes but some Western powers fear it is making weapons.

If Mr Jalili shows no inclination in his talks with Mr Solana to suspend Iran's enrichment activities, our correspondent says the stage would be set for a renewed push for UN sanctions. However, despite pressure from the US and its key European allies, Russia and China have been reluctant to press for new measures. Ahead of the talks, Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham did say that Mr Jalili would "present new ideas and initiatives" to Mr Solana.

However, on Wednesday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted Iran was "a nuclear nation", adding: "After this, no-one can threaten the Iranian nation as we have all stood united so far and [the West] did not do anything." Mr Solana has appeared frustrated that his talks with Mr Jalili have been frequently delayed.