Nine in ten young revellers experience the signs of ear damage after a night out, yet do nothing to prevent it, according to the Royal National Institute for Deaf People. The charity's report, Like it Loud?, reveals that 70 per cent of clubbers, 68 per cent of gig-goers and 44 per cent of those who drink in bars suffer symptoms of hearing damage such as dullness of hearing or ringing in the ears, known as tinnitus.

More than half of the 1,381 respondents, aged between 16 and 30, visited a bar where they had to shout to be heard at least once a week. The same proportion went clubbing at least once a month. But only 25 per cent thought the music was too loud and just one-third thought hearing loss would affect their lives.

The RNID is calling for the establishment of a recommended noise exposure level for audiences attending music venues, and wants the government to educate young people about the issue as a public health risk.
Dr John Low, chief executive of RNID, said: "We are all familiar with messages about practising safe sex and using suncream, but the lack of any guidance on loud music means this generation of music-lovers could be facing a hearing loss time bomb.

"With regular exposure to music at high volumes in clubs, gigs and bars, it is only too easy to clock up noise doses that could damage their hearing forever."

"There is no doubt whatsoever that there will continue to be attacks against the British government, its interests and the home front as long as we see the continued British and American occupation of Muslim land in Iraq and Afghanistan, support for criminal Israel, and draconian measures taken against Muslims in the UK," said Anjem Choudary, founder and former chief of two Islamic groups disbanded by the British authorities under antiterror legislation.

"A war is being waged against Muslims on every level. There are many in Britain who take their ideology from Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida and are ready to carry out many more attacks," Choudary said.
Choudary said the attempted terror attacks the past few days were "probably carried out by local British Muslims."

Choudary currently presents himself as an Islamic lecturer and a leader of Britain's Shariah Islamic court. He is a founder and former chief of Al Muhajiroun, a British group that sought to impose an Islamic state on the UK and that was allied with the goals of al-Qaida.

Al Muhajiroun, officially disbanded by the British government citing antiterrorism laws in 2004, and its main leader, Omar Bakri Muhammad, were banned from the UK in 2005. Choudary then became a leader of Al Ghurabaa, which was reportedly a continuation of Al Muhajiroun. Al Ghurabaa was banned in 2006 by the UK for reportedly supporting terrorism.

Former Al Muhajiroun members led by Choudary reportedly continue their activism at public protests and on Internet forums under a new banner group called Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah.
Choudary told WND the perpetuators of the attempted terror attacks in London the past few days "have their own justifications for carrying out their plans."

"Muslims in Britain are under siege. There has been unjustified internment, innocent Muslims are in prison, extradition laws have been applied for made up crimes, individuals are arbitrarily arrested. ... Don't be surprised when Muslims fight back," he said.

Guns and grenades were used in the fighting, with armoured vehicles and helicopters backing police units.
The violence began when more than 1,000 policemen advanced on Alemao, the slum stronghold of a drug-dealing gang.

Rio de Janeiro officials are trying to make the city safer before it hosts the Pan-American games on 13 July. Some 5,500 athletes and around 800,000 tourists are expected to visit the city for the games. The city is also one of the host venues for the global series of Live Earth rock concerts on 7 July.

Victoria state's Gippsland region, which earlier this month was suffering drought and the after-affects of fierce summer bushfires, has been inundated by days of heavy rain.

Scores of Gippsland residents have so far evacuated and about 350 more could be house-bound for three days until the flood waters recede, State Emergency Service (SES) officials said.

A combination of swollen rivers and a high tide caused by Saturday night's full moon resulted in the water peaking, in one area at 1,33m above normal levels.

"We do have a clear, precise and detailed mandate handed down to us. We believe that the conditions and guidelines are set out to us in that mandate," said Portugal's Europe Minister, Manuel Lobo Antunes, yesterday. "WE WILL BE STICKING STRICTLY TO THE TERMS WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN."

The article also reports that Angela Merkel told MEPs on Wednesday that "THE SUBSTANCE OF THE CONSTITUTION IS PRESERVED. THAT IS A FACT." Labour MEPs have pleaded with EU institutions, on behalf of Downing Street, to downplay elements of the Constitution to help the Government domestically "undersell" the deal to avoid a referendum.

But, the pleas have fallen on deaf ears, notes the article, and the drip, drip of opinions, especially those questioning the legal force of Britain's opt-outs, is predicted to continue throughout the summer. FORMAL TREATY NEGOTIATIONS BEGIN ON JULY 23 AND WILL MAINLY BE CONDUCTED IN SECRET, an arrangement primarily put in place to help Mr Brown. Foreign ministers will discuss a 150-page "draft treaty text" in the Viana do Castelo, Portugal, on Sept 7.

His tactic - to set up a number of straw men or 'red lines' which he knew he would be able to achieve - distracted many commentators from the other SIGNIFICANT POWERS HE HANDED OVER TO BRUSSELS.

THESE INCLUDE:
- AN EU PRESIDENT,
- AN EU FOREIGN MINISTER,
- MAJORITY VOTING IN OVER 60 NEW AREAS,
- A LEGAL PERSONALITY FOR THE EU
- A NEW VOTING SYSTEM WHICH WILL REDUCE BRITAIN'S VOTING STRENGTH BY OVER 30%.

Gordon Brown has suggested that a referendum is not necessary because the red lines "have been achieved". But it is becoming clear that even by the standards it set itself, the Government failed in the negotiations. As more and more experts begin to question the so-called safeguards in the coming months it will only add to the pressure on Brown to let the people have a say.

The Government aimed to focus attention on areas where it thought it was likely to get a result in order to distract attention from everything else it was giving up. For example, the 'red line' securing a safeguard on social security rights for migrant workers was never actually up for negotiation.

Unfortunately for the Government, legal experts have begun to question whether the safeguards that the Government has put in place to attempt to protect its other "red lines" will be worth the paper they are written on.
The Government repeatedly insisted that it did not want the Charter of Fundamental Rights to become "legally binding" in the UK.

But the new treaty states that "the article on fundamental rights will contain a cross reference to the Charter on Fundamental Rights, giving it legally binding value." Open Europe interviewed several European Court of Justice (ECJ) judges who said the Charter would change national laws, despite the safeguards. This is crucial, as it would be the Court's judges who would ultimately decide on how to interpret the Charter if the Constitutional Treaty is ratified.

One EU judge said it would be "a basis for challenging national law". Another has said it is "foolish" to think it will not affect national laws. Even the President of the Court explicitly refused to deny that the Charter may be used to change member states' laws. Several judges said that the Charter, despite the "safeguards", would give the court "more power". Asked whether the proposal for safeguards would work, one judge said "I guess not, because I saw what was the destiny of other safeguard clauses in the treaty."

The Government has inserted a new clause into the revised Constitutional Treaty which it hopes will give the UK an "opt-out" from the Charter, but legal experts have already called it into question.

Jacques Ziller, a professor at the European University Institute in Florence, said that the idea of one country opting out of the Charter was "nonsense" and would quickly be challenged in the courts. (European Voice, 31 May 2007) The Government has potentially created a lawyers' paradise with this messy fudge. It has clearly broken its repeated promise that the Charter would not become legally binding, whilst it is becoming clear that the much-vaunted safeguards simply will not work.

Mugabe, 83, had proved intransigent despite the "massive risk to life", said Ncube, the head of Zimbabwe's 1m Catholics. "I think it is justified for Britain to raid Zimbabwe and remove Mugabe" he said. "We should do it ourselves but there's too much fear. I'm ready to lead the people, guns blazing, but the people are not ready."

Some parts of Zimbabwe have seen 95% of crops fail, leaving families with only two or three weeks' food supply to last a year. Prices in the shops are more than doubling every week and Christopher Dell, the American ambassador, predicts that by the end of the year inflation could hit 1.5m%.

Ncube said that far from helping those struggling on less than £1 a week, Mugabe had just spent £1m on surveillance equipment to monitor phone calls and e-mails. "How can you expect people to rise up when even our church services are attended by state intelligence people?"

"People in our mission hospitals are dying of malnutrition. We had the best education in Africa and now our schools are closing. Most people are earning less than their bus fares. There's no water or power. Is the world just going to let everything collapse in on us?"

Jakob Kellenberger, the ICRC president, denounced the military regime for violating international humanitarian law by murdering civilians, forcing prisoners to serve as army "porters" in combat areas strewn with landmines and destroying village food stocks.

The abuses - recounted in thousands of interviews between 2000 and 2005 - occurred mainly in eastern Burma along the Thai border, where the military has spent decades battling ethnic minority insurgents, including the Karen National Union. The military's actions have "helped to create a climate of constant fear among the population and have forced thousands of people to join the ranks of the internally displaced, or to flee abroad", the agency said.

Meanwhile, the "institutionalised and widespread practice" of forcing prisoners to carry army supplies in the landmine littered conflict zone has subjected detainees to "the dangers of armed conflict". Along with malnutrition and exhaustion, prisoners used as porters had suffered abuse, degrading treatment, while "some had been murdered".

According to a report in Britain's Independent newspaper, some clergy fear that if the Latin Mass were brought back into common use, it would limit the Church's dialogue with Jews and Muslims, as well as create a schism among Catholics worldwide.

The 16th-century Tridentine Mass - recited every Good Friday - REFERS TO JEWS AS "PERFIDIOUS," AND CLAIMS THEY LIVE IN "BLINDNESS" AND "DARKNESS." The Mass prays that God might "take the veil from their hearts" so that Jews can come to acknowledge Jesus Christ.

Rev. Keith Pecklers, an expert on Jesuit liturgy, told the Independent that elements in the Church who embraced the old Mass tended to oppose "collaboration with other Christians and [the Church's] dialogue with Jews and Muslims."

Army helicopters and transport planes are dropping aid to the homeless in Pakistan's Balochistan province.
More that 140 people have been killed in storms and floods over the past week in India.

In flooded parts of Afghanistan, more than 80 people have died in recent days. The BBC's Ilyas Khan in Turbat district says much of the area is completely devastated, with trees uprooted, electricity wires down and roads destroyed.

He says that only buildings made of cement blocks have survived, but most people living in mud-brick houses have seen their homes destroyed.Heavy flooding has hit the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) with train services suspended and people urged to stay at home.

A storm off the coast of India's southern Andhra Pradesh state has forced the evacuation of 50,000 people from low-lying areas.

Parker County officials urged residents to seek higher ground for the night, saying that flood waters could re-enter homes that had been flooded earlier last week.

County spokesman Joel Kertok said roads near the river were waterlogged and remained barricaded. "It still could be a deadly situation and that is why we're strongly urging people to stay out of the water," he said.
Storms on the southern Plains have claimed 11 lives in Texas starting last week. On Saturday, there were reports of tornadoes touching down in southwest Missouri.

Heavy rain fell to the north and northeast on Saturday and the weather service issued flash flood warnings for parts of Kansas and Missouri.

One, the Bishop of Carlisle, even said that the introduction of pro-gay laws had provoked God to send the storms that have left thousands homeless.The bishops argued that while those affected are innocent victims, the flooding was a result of western civilisation's decision to ignore biblical teaching. The Rt Rev Graham Dow, said that the floods were not only a result of a lack of respect for the planet, but also a judgment for decadence.

"This is a strong and definite judgment because the world has been arrogant in going its own way," he said. "We are reaping the consequences of our moral degradation, as well as the environmental damage that we have caused."

The Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Rev James Jones, previously seen as a future Archbishop of Canterbury or York, said: "People no longer see natural disasters as an act of God. However, we are now reaping what we have sown. If we live in a profligate way then there are going to be consequences." God is exposing us to the truth of what we have done."

GLOBAL WARMING THREATS OUGHT TO BE STUDIED AND MITIGATED, AND THEY SHOULD NOT BE DELIBERATELY EXAGGERATED AS A MEANS OF BUILDING SUPPORT FOR A DESIRED POLITICAL POSITION. Many of the assertions Gore makes in his movie, "An Inconvenient Truth," have been refuted by science.

For example, Gore claims that Himalayan glaciers are shrinking and global warming is to blame. Yet the September 2006 issue of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate reported, "GLACIERS ARE GROWING IN THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS."

Gore claims global warming is causing more tornadoes. Yet the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated in February that THERE HAS BEEN NO SCIENTIFIC LINK ESTABLISHED BETWEEN GLOBAL WARMING AND TORNADOES.

Gore claims global warming is causing more frequent and severe hurricanes. However, hurricane expert Chris Landsea published a study on May 1 documenting that HURRICANE ACTIVITY IS NO HIGHER NOW THAN IN DECADES PAST.

Gore argues Greenland is in rapid meltdown, and that this threatens to raise sea levels by 20 feet. But according to a 2005 study in the Journal of Glaciology, "the Greenland ice sheet is thinning at the margins and growing inland, with a small overall mass gain." IN LATE 2006, RESEARCHERS AT THE DANISH METEOROLOGICAL INSTITUTE REPORTED THAT THE PAST TWO DECADES WERE THE COLDEST FOR GREENLAND SINCE THE 1910S.

Gore claims the Antarctic ice sheet is melting because of global warming. Yet the Jan. 14, 2002, issue of Nature magazine reported Antarctica as a whole has been dramatically cooling for decades. More recently, scientists reported that satellite measurements of the Antarctic ice sheet showed significant growth between 1992 and 2003. And the U.N. Climate Change panel reported in February 2007 THAT ANTARCTICA IS UNLIKELY TO LOSE ANY ICE MASS DURING THE REMAINDER OF THE CENTURY.

"The tomb that we discovered is the one that the popes and the Emperor Theodosius [A.D. 379-395] saved and presented to the whole world as being the tomb of the apostle," said Giorgio Filippi, a specialist with the Vatican Museums. An initial survey of the basilica enabled archaeologists to reconstruct the fourth century building's original shape.

The Vatican team found the sarcophagus during a second excavation under the basilica's main altar. Under the altar, a marble plaque is visible, dating to the 4th century, bearing the inscription "Apostle Paul, martyr."
Surprisingly, said Filippi, "nobody ever thought to look behind that plaque," where the Vatican team found the sarcophagus. "Absolute proof that it holds St. Paul's bones is impossible," Leonard Rutgers, an archaeologist at the University of Utrecht who visited the excavation, told Archaeology magazine in April.

St. Paul's remains were removed from the original burial site in A.D. 258, according to documentary evidence, reburied in another part of Rome, and then moved back to the site of the basilica when it was built over the original church in the late fourth century. "So they were moving these bones around a lot," says Rutgers. "It's hard to say if the remains in the sarcophagus itself belong to the saint. But it is still a significant late-fourth-century burial."

The Bible does not state how Paul died. Many scholars believe he was beheaded in Rome in about A.D. 64 during the reign of Roman Emperor Nero. The "apostle to the gentiles," as he described himself, was the most prolific of all the New Testament writers.